Quemazon Trail – Take One

In the library bookstore, I found a great book on local hikes. There is a section on hikes that are perfect for kids, so we picked one off the list for the following weekend. Most of the kid-friendly hikes are either really short, really flat, or really wet, all things that make the young’uns happy. Our kids are old enough now that we can pretty much drag them on any trail we come upon, but sometimes it is nice to find one that has a “kid attraction.”

The hike we chose went to a cave, and who wouldn’t like to explore a cave? So Rob plugged the trail coordinates into the GPS, we loaded our packs, and set out to find the cave. The trail started off at a pretty steep incline, but I thought it would level out soon. So we climbed. And we climbed. And we climbed some more. At this point I was wondering which part of this trail was considered “kid-friendly,” because I was no longer convinced it was even “adult-friendly!”

The thing about us, though, is that we are stubborn, and once we start out, we have a hard time turning back until we have found what we are looking for. So we kept climbing. And climbing. The Quemazon Trail was only supposed to be a 2-mile loop, and this one was definitely longer, with no signs of a cave in sight.  

Eventually, though, we came upon a sign pointing to the Quemazon Nature Trail, only 1.7 miles away. Wait, the Quemazon Nature Trail? Was that the one we meant to take? So I dug the hiking book out of Rob’s pack to look up the trails. Sure enough, there were two: The Quemazon Nature Trail and the Quemazon Trail. We were on the latter. It was 3-miles one way (sounds about right), difficult skill level (um, yup), with an elevation change of 1,400 feet (so that’s what my thighs were trying to tell me). And no cave.

We decided we were Quemazon-ed out for the day, and rather than head to the Nature Trail, opted to head back down the mountain to the car. Here is the cool thing, though: This particular trail was once the wagon road leading over the Sierra de los Valles into the Valle Grande. There are wagon ruts remaining today. We did not even notice them on the way up, but once I read about them, we kept our eyes open on the way down, and sure enough, they were everywhere! It was absolutely amazing!

The trip down was soooo much easier! Once we made it down, we decided to go check out the trailhead for the Quemazon Nature Trail. Yea, we were way off, and nobody was overly eager to get back out of the car, so we put it on the calendar for the following weekend. Perhaps if we started out on the right trail, we may even get lucky enough to find that cave…

Happy Spring!

Let me just start by saying… I LOVE SPRING!! Something about life returning to the landscape makes me giddy as a little school girl. The trees are budding, flowers are blooming, birds are flying everywhere. It can all be summed up with one magical word: Love.

I am not sure where this last month and a half have gone, but time has just flown by. We have been busy getting everything settled here, updating addresses and insurance, getting new license plates and driver’s licenses, finding a new doctor and dentist. Everyday has been filled with a dozen things that need to be done. I think we are just about settled, so things should calm down a little bit now.

The kids have settled into a routine at their new school, and Rob has done the same with work. I agreed to fill a temporary position in the park and I will start tomorrow, so I guess it will not be too long before I settle into a new routine as well.

Overall, I guess you could say we are doing great. When I jokingly ask the kids if they are ready to move, they all yell at me, “Noooooooooooo!!!” I am going to take that as a good sign. 🙂

Burnt Mesa

I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to have hiking trails right out our back door! The hardest part is deciding which one to do first! We used to hike all the time, but this last year or so we have been rather lazy. There was not much to choose from in North Dakota, so we did not get outside nearly as much as we would have liked. That is definitely not the case here!

I see you!

We decided on a short five mile hike on the Burnt Mesa Trail. Unfortunately, dogs are not allowed on this trail, so Charbie had to stay home. It was an absolutely beautiful day! The trail meanders through an area burnt by past forest fires. What was truly amazing was just how much poop there was! Deer, elk, coyote, every other step you were dodging poop! We, of course, love this because we rather enjoy the critters.

My place is usually in the back, making sure we do not lose anyone, so I think I have a “rear hiking” shot from pretty much every trail we have ever gone on. This one was no exception. 🙂 Eventually we end up all spread out, usually with the boys running up ahead, Rob following them, and Catheryn and I following shortly behind.

The view at the end of this trail was amazing. We sat on a large rock for quite some time, enjoying the scenery, watching a couple of bull elk climb out of the canyon, and enjoying lunch. When the boys started screwing with the cactus, we figured it was time to be moving on.

After we made it back to the car, we decided to drive down the highway for a little while. We normally turn off towards town, but continued on instead. We climbed and climbed and climbed. I am pretty sure Peej had never seen that kind of elevation before! We found many more hiking spots that will have to wait until the snow melts. Perhaps next year we will have to invest in snow shoes!

9,115 feet!