Best of 2007 - Part IV - New Tours!

Sept & Oct: After finishing tours in Glacier, we zipped back up to Banff to pick up gear used on the Canadian tours. September & October were a whirlwind.


Drove to Phoenix and the White Mountains bike route. Highly recommended trip if you like climbing hills on a bike! One of my best biking days of the season was the epic descent from Hannigan Mountain Lodge on the Mogollon Rim along the Coronado Trail Scenic Byway. We had an exceptionally fun group of people in Arizona, including Herb Winters, a 79-years young cyclist who led us all through the wind on our last day!


Flew up to Minnesota to scout & guide the Superior Hiking Trail tour. Reasonable temperatures, sunny weather most days, and forests displaying fall colors helped to make the week enjoyable for our group of hikers.


Flew back to Phoenix to lead White Mountains, then drove out to North Carolina to map & lead Blue Ridge Parkway. Memorable moments included cycling through all the tunnels along the parkway (we had headlights for our bikes), and hiking along the AT out to Charlie's Bunion in Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

Nov & Dec: After seven months on the road, we were spent! Rented a place in Salida, bought a couple ski passes, and settled in for the winter. See earlier postings for art/activity around Salida.

Happy New Year!


Photos from top: Brenda & Edith hiking along the Superior Hiking trail; view from Mt. Trudee on SHT; Along the Coronado Trail, AZ (photo by Deb Mohler); Steve, Deb, Peg, & Herb at the support van; Gary & Kevin exiting tunnel along Blue Ridge Parkway; Blue Ridge typical landscape.

Best of 2007 - Part III - Glacier

July & Aug: Led two hiking tours and three biking tours in Glacier this summer. People constantly ask me on tour, which do I like better: biking or hiking? Both! As I explain to newcomers to the park: the best thing to do to enjoy Glacier is to be flexible. You never know what you're going to get with regard to animal sightings, road work, bear grass, huckleberries, etc... carpe diem!

Photos from top: Going to the Sun Road; Steve wearing his old high school t-shirt at Logan Pass; hiking group taking a break enroute to Upper Grinnell Lake; Swiftcurrent Lake at sunrise; Two Medicine Lake reflection; Dawson-Pitamakin connector trail; Highline trail along Continental Divide.

More details about hiking and biking in Glacier to come later. For now, check out a Glacier hiking trails map here.

Best of 2007 - Part II

May: Not only was Splash Mountain a hit but the visit to Florida with my niece, Paige (see photo), was May's best highlight. We only wish we had more time at Cocoa Beach!
June: Part of the way through our "drive fest" from Denver to KY, OR, NM, Alberta, B.C. and ultimately MT, we led the Columbia River Gorge & Mt. Hood hiking tour. A colorful wildflower mountainside greeted us atop Dog Mountain (see photo).


July: We also were back in Windermere, B.C., visiting June at her "June's Originals" gallery (Photo: June's Originals gallery). I can't wait for June to get a website. She's a lot of fun and her art is so cool!

Steve says that one of his favorite tours of 2007 was the Glacier Park Alpiner. Wonder why? (See photo) He and Mike Heizman ended up lounging in Lake McDonald after a long, hot day of biking, literally! No, seriously, Glacier has great biking & hiking! More about that, later.

Late July also provided a week off enroute from Glacier back to Colorado for a SmartWool corporate bike tour. Snagging the opportunity along the way, we hiked the Cascade/Paintbrush loop in Grand Teton Park. (Photo: Steve hikes above Lake Solitude)

Best of 2007 - Part I

January: Denver released its snowy grip on us so we drive to Zion for Wilderness First Responder refresher. Ski Monarch & Telluride enroute during Colorado's January cold snap. Afterwards, we take refuge in Moab for a couple of days, the weather warm enough to run the Slickrock Trail loop.

February: Head north to Canada via SLC (where Steve picks up some downhill ski equipment) and Kalispell (we visit our friend, Stacey, and try out Steve's ski gear on Big Mountain).

March: Hibernating the rest of February at June's studio in Windermere, B.C., we emerge to take a short trip up to out to Bow Lake, one of my favorite spots on the Icefields Parkway (top photo). Options include ski touring, ice climbing, snowshoeing, and hiking -- we have snowshoes, so guess what? It's a beautiful trek out to Bow Falls and you might just be lucky enough to see ice climbers attached to them.

April: Who says that April showers bring May flowers? They haven't been to Texas in April, I bet! Central Texas boasts a colorful display of wildflowers, including the state flower, a lupine known as the Blue Bonnet. Texas Hill Country biking provides perfect distances and hill climbing for post-winter cycling warm-up. (bottom photo)

Bizarre Animal Sightings!

Well, it *is* the full moon, after all!

As I glance up from my notes, I notice a stuffed bear totem in the corner of the guest room at my friends', Fern & Bryan's, place. (See photo.)

I also see some motion out the window of their third story condo here in a north Denver suburb. No, it isn't just the animated electrical bear on the balcony (did I mention Fern's bear collection?). A young eagle has landed on the railing. No, I'm not hallucinating. And no, unfortunately, I do not get a photo as I am afraid my movement might scare the big bird away. Instead, calling softly to my friends in nearby rooms, they all sneak in slowly to see the eagle.

P.S. That's an early '90's painting of mine on the wall behind the bears, a "tempera batik" of Mount of the Holy Cross in Colorado.

Colorado Clear!

Bright, beautiful day at Monarch Mountain. After last week's huge dump, conditions seem like mid-season! Inspired by grooming, Steve attacks the smooth black-rated slopes with enthusiasm. :-)

Mountain Views

Check it out! Look at the expansive view over the Arkansas River Valley on this cloudless December afternoon! Winter Solstice is near so get out there and enjoy the sunshine whenever you can.

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Hiked up behind Tenderfoot Mountain (that's the cone-shaped peak in the background of the upper photo) above Salida to get a good shot of the Sawatch Range (lower photo). Several of the peaks are over 14,000' in elevation, "14'ers". Shavano, at 14,229', is the southernmost of the peaks (left hand side of lower photo). You can check out the rest of the range here.

Winter?

Here's another example of what I've been working on this week. I'm apparently all over the place and can't figure out why I'm doing flower drawings in winter! Perhaps it's because I'm on the road leading hiking & biking tours all summer long? This drawing uses Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor pencils, more of an oil based type media. Prismacolor has usually been my pencil of choice, they're great, too. Haven't decided which is better, if either.

We got another big dump of snow last night. Drifts of snow are oozing off roofs, plows are scraping the streets, and we're nice and cozy inside. It's a hot chocolate kind of afternoon. Gotta get up to Monarch and make some more turns this week. The skiing is awesome right now, yay!

More Art!

Here are some more recent drawings. The top one is a landscape inspired by the Wind River mountain range in Wyoming. The bottom photo shows part of a drawing of avalanche lilies. The plan is to get some ideas down on paper and loosen up the drawing brain after being on the road all summer! See what you think. It has been a bit of a stop & go process -- work for a while on a drawing, get distracted by playing with CorelDraw on the computer (the sign artist in me!), paint for a while, then surf the web! Now with the added distraction of the ski area being open, who knows. Ugh. Moving forward, though. Now if anyone has any suggestions as to how to take photos of artwork at home with a digital camera without getting reflections, please let me know! Thanks! :)

New Mountain Artwork

This is one of the mountain paintings I've been working on lately. My hope is to finish it by the end of the week. This image represents one of my Top 10 favorite hikes in the West -- Glacier National Park's Upper Grinnell Lake.

Woohoo! Snow!

Note that the photo of my truck outside reveals the evidence that winter has arrived. No mountain views today... Yes, yipee, yahoo, it's snowing! Monarch ski area is now scheduled to open for the season tomorrow.

It's borderline cold enough here in town so the individual flakes are large, making it feel like I'm in a snow globe...!

More Ramblings in Santa Fe

'Tis the season..! Luminaria are popping up all over Santa Fe. Traditionally, these are brown paper bags weighted with sand and lit by candles. I noticed that most of the luminaria atop buildings were mostly plastic. A safety precaution, I assume.

It has been a wonderful visit to SFe. There's so much visual input here that I find myself overwhelmed! On top of that, holiday shopping is exhausting... sigh. I think I'd rather be skiing, running, or climbing!

Short Road Trip to Santa Fe, NM

Gorgeous day today despite the cutting wind. Drove down via Taos, though didn't stop for long (except a short visit to Cyd's Market for Luna bars and chocolate!). My 18 1/2 year old Toyota pickup took a beating on the bumpy pavement from Ft. Garland to Taos. I've driven her over a quarter of a million miles so far... and she's still going -- somewhat cautiously up mountain hills these days, though.

I entered historical downtown Santa Fe by way of Tesuque. Don't think I ever have driven this road north to south. Bike tours I've lead through here head north on this road up towards Nambe, Chimayo, and the High Road to Taos. The difference from May or September is the bare branches on the trees. Springtime brings a sort of leaf canopy to the road, making it feel quite intimate. Still a nice drive, though, with minimal traffic.

My curiosity led me to wander over to Canyon Road. Pine or fir boughs tied with red velvet ribbons draped over many of the gallery entrances. Gave it a real Christmasy feel.

The Kaleidoscope

The word "kaleidoscope" is derived from the Greek kalos, eidos, and skopos; meaning beautiful, form, and view, respectively. Since my daily life revolves around various mountain sports and art, this seemed appropriate.

Ski season is almost here. I'm looking forward to making some tele turns as soon as we get some more snow. Hopefully the weather will turn cold enough to ice climb (although not too cold!). I haven't been out ice climbing in a couple seasons, so I'm excited about getting out there at some point.

A few final strokes of the paintbrush should complete my painting of Mt. Gould in Glacier Park. I just started working on another canvas... who knows how that will turn out?