2001-06-10 - Back on the road again. I left Socorro at noon time headed north toward Albuquerque and parts unknown. My intention was to do a volksmarch just to get back in the swing of things and then head for Petroglyph National Monument which is in Albuquerque County and see what there was to be seen. I have this thing about rock art I guess.

There was so controversy a few years ago about the authenticity of the petroglyphs in this part, some local chaps made public that they had done these many years ago when they were boy scouts. This claim certainly shook up the scientific community for a while but I think it has been pretty much determined that this was a hoax. I would think that it would be most difficult for an amateur to do and have it look authentic. I tried on a piece of rock but did get anything near what I have seen.

I did the hike which was nothing but a town walk but still counts. The pavement was extremely hot and just reflected the heat back up. I was drenched when I returned but of course with this humidity it dries rapidly. I have an idea that it will be difficult to adjust to having humidity again. I can hang clothes out here and the first piece I hung up is dry before I finish the entire load.

The park was easy to find despite a monstrous construction zone at the intersection of I25 and I40. From the looks of it there is a couple of more years of work left. It is not as bad as mixing bowl in D.C. where I95, I695, I395 and I495 come together but they are trying. I am wondering what changes have been made to my favorite intersection when I get back to Virginia. I know many people will be pleased to have that finished including Mimi. It has been a mess and there are several more years to go.

The rocks inscribed with the petroglyphs are all volcanic "bombs" cause by a series of volcanos about 135,000 years ago. The natural varnish that developed on the exterior surface is darker than the rock at Petrified Forest making it have a great contrast once the varnish has been chipped off. There has been vandalism of course but it could be worse. I think there has been more damage at Petrified Forest and that was probably because the railroad used to run the tours from the station out to the site.

There are three trails in the park, and I did them all taking pictures and I probably missed a few. There are at least two other areas in the park where there are petroglyphs but these areas have no yet been developed which probably means the archeologists have completed their thing yet. I keep hearing that new technologies are being developed that are less obtrusive, I hope this is the case.

I was impressed by the sophistication of these petroglyphs, they have far more detail than those of Petrified Forest and were done two or three hundred years later. It appears that after the great droughts in the 13^th Century, many of the regional tribes, Mongollon, Anasazi, Salado and Hohokam moved to the Rio Grand River Valley and merged resources there. There have been sixty more villages identified and there is probably more. Most of these villages were destroyed after the Spanish arrived from what I gather

. Coronado and his followers are not admired by the Indians of the area and in their tribal stories. The Spanish made their own rules that clearly reflected their attitudes toward the heretic Indians and their other slaves. Some of this brought the soldiers into conflict with their own priests who were attempting to convert the Indians and start commercial activities that create revenue for the order.

It was hot while I was there, the temperature in Tiny registered 105 while the radio was saying a mere cool 101. Once back on the Interstate it felt even hotter.

The directions given by my computer program proved once more to be faulty; I had to back track thirty miles and go through Santa Fe and then head for Los Alamos. This is always mildly aggravating but part of the game. The program usually is very good, out here I guess it is more difficult to get reliable information.

Traffic was surprisingly heavy in Santa Fe and I arrived here at the park just in time to set up and it was fully dark shortly there after. I am in the Bandelier Nation Park campground where they charge us old geezers $5.00 a night. It is dry camping without hookups meaning no air conditioning or microwave but I will tough it out.

The campground is virtually empty, and I cannot see another campsite with anybody in it. I could hear a couple of people talking early last night but it didn't bother my sleeping at all.

2001-06-11 - I am still at Bandelier, twisted a hip and just do not feel like either driving or hiking for a while. There is a pleasant breeze building up, the sun is behind Tiny so there isn't much heat coming in from the sides so it is just plain relaxing. I have done some reading, took a practice nap. There is to be a nocturnal ranger presentation and the amphitheater, it is a short walk. I believe from what I have heard on the radio that various stars and planets will be visible and will be explained. The comments are made by McDonald Observatory where by brother used to work.

I have seen several mule deer in the camping area, I suspect they enjoy the grass that has been planted as cushion for tent campers. I haven't seen any of the males which must also be in the area. There are also elk in the area which are much larger and I have not seen any. There are also mountain lions in the area but again they are rarely seen. Bear are in the park but are not seen until the apple trees are producing. I think I heard a wild cat last night but I am not sure. The ranger states they are here and that they do not fear humans and will show themselves if one invades their territory.

I did have one calamity occur, I seem to have replaced one of my volksmarching books. I know that I had it in Albuquerque as I know I stamped it. This is aggravating to me as it had quite a few stamps in it. It has my name and address on it so maybe some kind soul will mail it to me. I hope that if I do not get it back that the American Volksmarching Association will allow me to transfer the event credit from the distance book. I would think that they would as few people are going to do the hike without stamping both books.

I still have twelve states to do hikes in, including both Alaska and Hawaii. Hopefully I still have many years of hiking left. I do enjoy the walking and I know it is good for me. Part of the reason to travel is the opportunity to see new places, it sure had us cover a lot of territory when we were in Europe. I am looking to go back to Europe and do some more hikes there as well.

I feel guilty when Mimi isn't with me on these hikes, she enjoys it almost as much as I do. Hopefully we will be able to take off for a while after I get back. We will more than likely take Hanna and Red along with us as both of them think it is great. Poor Red just doesn't get any rest afterwards, Hanna is always checking him to see if he is resting afterwards and I think Red would just rather sleep.

Bandelier is quite interesting. It is a deep valley that has been cut into a mesa that is compacted volcanic ash called tuff. It has a unique characteristic of being very easy to cut in place but hardens rapidly. It is the same material that is used in much of Europe to construct many of their elaborate castles and châteaux. Because it is so soft, it erodes easily and splits in the rock will wash away just leaving a relatively thin shell in front. The rock wall looks like Swiss Cheese because of all the holes in the front. One can cut this rock with a knife but it sure doesn't taste like Swiss cheese.

I remember in Malta that when building a house huge blocks would be mined and delivered to the building site where it is cut to size using either a circular saw or a band saw. This has to be done rapidly as the rock hardens shortly after being exposed to air. Tuff is becoming difficult to find in Europe and a substitute will have to be found.

Bandelier was first known to white men when the Cochiti Pueblo Indians showed his the valley and told him that this was their ancestral home. Bandelier was not a trained archeologist and destroyed many of the artifacts on site or simply shipped them to New York City to a museum. There were a series of more knowledgeable archeologists after Bandelier and that has led to much of the discovery that has taken place.

There are both pueblos and cliff dwellings in Frijoles Canyon, and most of them have been at least protected by stabilizing to prevent further erosion and damage. There are sites that have not been excavated and are waiting for the technology of archeology to progress so this can be done without damaging the artifacts as was all too common when this area was located a hundred years ago.

The major pueblo is fairly large and probably housed over one hundred people. It was interestingly laid out in a manner I haven't seen before. There are the usual number of kivas, both for the entire community and the smaller ones that are probably just for a specific clan. Little has been done to the site other than stabilization and I believe partial reconstruction to one of the kivas. It will be interesting to see if sufficient funding either from the government or from research grants to open more of the sites.

The cliff dwellings were built against the canyon walls by making holes for the vegas (rafters) in the stone and then extending it forward. Frequently caves were dug into the cliff wall itself for storage and cooking. These were frequently multistoried dwellings as easily seen by the arrangement of the holes. One such dwelling stretches for some eight hundred feet.

Regrettably, some of what I would have enjoyed seeing the most is off limits to visitors. There are several caves that have fantastic displays of petroglyphs and pictograms that are blocked off and I will have to rely on other sources to get the pictures. I think that most have been photographed and that usually means the Library of Congress has them on file. As long as I do not use them for commercial endeavors it is permissible.

Learning about the people of Southwest is interesting as there doesn't seem to be a central source. I have read about a dozen books which of course is not that extensive but I manage to gleam new - at least to me - ideas out of each book. No one book contains it all and one almost has to create a montage from each and all the while hoping that eventually one will capture the entire picture. I suspect this is true about just any of the areas where written records were not maintained and conjecture and interpretation is a large part of the research results.

The literature here describes the Indians of the Southwest as being of five groupings, Chaco, Mesa Verde, Little Colorado, Kayenta and Rio Grande and also as being Ancient Pueblo or Anasazi. I know of other sources that would argue strongly over the time frames of each.

In more modern times, the Civilian Conservation Corps or CCC, did much of the work required to open the canyon as a national park. They built the buildings that now constitute the visitors center and all the other buildings in that area. They also built the access roads and many of the trails still used today. This area became a national park largely because of the efforts of Evelyn Frey who lived in the valley from 1925 to the time of her death in 1988, operating a lodge until 1977. The lodge was closed during the W.W.II to all but people involved with the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. Of course no one knew what was going on at Los Alamos either.

Recent park service surveys of the park indicate that there are several thousand more archeological sites in the valley whose research will add to the knowledge of the Anasazi or the Ancient Puebloans as the politically correct terminology of the day. While generally I do not feel the government should be funding the archaeology research do any great extent, I would certainly think money should be provided for the stabilization of these sites to protect them for the future. That is the charter of the Park Service. Using Petrified Forest as a reference point, I know there are sites which will no longer exist within my lifetime if something isn't done to protect the sites from natural erosion.

2001-06-15 - Raton, New Mexico. While I didn't do as much as hoped I did not do badly. I left Bandelier at 0700 as planned but when I arrived at Santa Fe I found out there was a serious accident involving at least eight cars with two or more completely totaled. It took two hours to get to the Interstate on the other side of town.

I was amazed at the number of cars headed toward Los Alamos and the Atomic Energy Laboratory there. There was a traffic jam at one light that extended back at least one hundred cars. Considering how isolated that area is, one doesn't expect to see that many. I am glad they were going the other direction.

Once off the Interstate I drove past the sight of the largest Civil War Battle at Glorieta, a defeat for the Confederates that ended most of the Civil War activities in the Southwest as the Confederate troops returned to Texas after their defeat. It appears the commander of the Confederate Forces was at one time the commander of Ft Union and knew its strengths very well. This must have been a sticky situation for the current commander. Maybe it was fortunate that the confederate commander had a liking for sour mash bourbon that might have clouded his abilities just a little bit. This is another area of American history I know little about.

The first stop was at Pecos National Park. Pecos is an extension of the Spanish Mission trail that extends down to the Mexican border to include those at Salinas. There was original several large pueblos in which Spanish priests built a mission in order to convert the Indians that lived there.

Located at the southern end of the Sangre de Cristo mountains near a permanent source of water, this was an ideal location for all concerned. The Pecos Indian had developed into economically and offensive powerful people with more than 2000 people and traded extensively with other Indian tribes especially the Apache and later, the Spanish. The items of trade were usually crops, clothing and pottery for buffalo, flint and slaves. These in turn were usually traded further west for parrot feathers, turquoise, other pottery and turquoise. I do not think we give the "savage Indians" sufficient credit for the extensive trading in that period.

The Spanish entered the area in 1561 and near what is now Gallup, defeated the Zuni Indians. When the Spanish entered the Pecos area, they were greeted warmly. A Plains Indian told the Spanish of wealth to be found to the east and traveled as far east as Kansas of course without success. It cost the Plains Indian his life.

The Spanish were perhaps the most violent of the colonial powers to reach the Americas. For those Indians that survived the endemic diseases imported from Spain, the policy of slavery and genocide took care of the rest. The Carib Indians were totally annihilated in the 15th and 16th Century and major in roads made of the Indians of Mexico and the central Americas. There was not an attempt to colonize, only the ability to raise wealth and return this to Spain where it meant political power. The priests came closer to colonization in their attempt to bring Christianity to the heathens which would tend to reward the docility as the Christian way, reminds me of Karl Marx and his "religion is the opiate of the masses."

Coronado led his troops back to Mexico and was harassed by Indians most of the way. Sixty years later the Spanish were back, this time to colonize and convert the Indians. The mission was called Crown and Cross and it was to gain wealth for the Spanish Empire. In 1621 the most grandiose mission church ever to be built in the Southwest was started. The Indians were encouraged to learn new skills using the adobe which itself was a skill the Spanish learned from the Moors of North Africa. The Indian's skill with woodworking and wood carving became legendary and was widely sought after by both the military and the church. The Indians were also taught the skills required to lift heavy objects by using maritime acquired cranes and riggings.

However in 1680 most of the Indians in the Southwest were upset with the Spanish tyranny and overthrew the Spanish in the Pueblo revolt of 1680. As a byproduct of the revolt the mission church was destroyed.

To show just what was felt about the Spanish, a kiva was built in the courtyard of the church. It has been reconstructed and one can climb down inside it. When I got close to it I noticed that a ground squirrel was playing peekaboo with me at a ventilation hole but when I fumbled for the camera he disappeared before I could take a picture.

Twelve years later the Spanish returned and were welcomed by the Pecos. They supplied warriors to the Spanish defeat of the Indians in Santa Fe. The Spanish changed their attitude into one more of a trading partner. A second church was built, the one whose ruins still stand and the Spanish and the Pecos coexisted until the end of the Spanish rule. The Spanish left a legacy that changed drastically the face of the Plains Indians for three centuries - the horse. Horses had become extinct in North American as a product of evolution. The horse brought be the Spanish multiplied rapidly and the use of these descendants of the Spanish import became a way of life for the Indians.

The main or south pueblo has been stabilized as has been the mission. The north and Pecos pueblos are largely untouched and I guess excavation will take place sometime in the future. They still lay buried and left for future exploration. The paths were built on the debris pits left behind. Of course the debris pits themselves are invaluable to the research as the investigation of the debris reveals much about what was used, eaten, hunted and changes. Skeletons were found revealing that little significance was placed on the body of the deceased, or it was just easier to dispose of this way rather than digging graves.

Pecos was almost a ghost town by the time the Santa Fe trail came through the area in 1921. Disease, Comanche raids and migration reduced the population to 300 people. In 1838, the remainder of the people moved to Jemez Pueblo where their descendants live today.

The second stop was at Fort Union National Monument. Built first in 1851 in the middle of nowhere to remove the troops from the Sodom of Santa Fe, it provided defense against the Indians and other marauders of that era. The first fort was rough and built by unskilled soldiers and had to be rebuilt within two years. The wood used was still green and decayed rapidly and depending on one source, troops were killed or injured when the roof, covered with earth as protection, collapsed and landed on some one.

The fort increased in size a number of times as new functions were added to the mission of the installation. As I understand it the original mission was to support the local inhabitants with cavalry, later infantry was added to accompany supply trains that were passing through to Santa Fe and further. Eventually a arsenal was added giving more strategic importance ti the fort and the beginning of its quartermaster function.

When the Civil War was eminent and then the commander joined the Confederate forces, it was decided to destroy the old fort and build a new one in a star pattern that was supposed to be the latest technology. After the battle of Glorieta it was decided that the Confederate forces were no longer a threat so they destroyed fort #2 and built fort #3 to a standard that just about every western Army post was modeled.

Ft Union became a regional supply depot located on the Santa Fe trail where bulk shipments from back East were broken down and distributed to other posts in the Southwest. It also became an armory where weapons were stored and repaired and a maintenance depot for wagons and the like was established. It seemed to be a very busy post. It also had the largest and best equipped medical facilities in the area. The hospital contained wards with sufficient beds to hold over a hundred patients and the medical expertise to treat most anything to include child birth.

After the colonization of the Mexican Acquisition was completed and the Indians pacified, there was little for the post to do and it was abandoned prior to the turn of the century. Photographs do exist of the post in its glory and I can recall other posts that were very similar in the Northwest. This was primarily a cavalry post but there was infantry stationed there however they were usually occupied with labor details and escort duty rather than the pacification of the Indians. It is an interesting place and I bet there are still all-timers that remember stories about this type of installation.

The last stop was at Capulin Volcano National Monument. The eruptions that caused the creation of this volcano occurred only 10,000 years ago but the origin of eruptions in that area is two million-year prior. There are at least four other volcanos in the area and they contributed significantly to the geological makeup of that section of the Rocky Mountains.

Capulin is unique because of the symmetry of the cone. Lava did not spill over the top of the cone but rather opened a supplemental vent at the very base and it ran out. The upper rim of the cone tops out at 8800 feet, about a thousand feet from the level of the mesa below. The explosive eruptions threw out countless lava bombs that landed up to two miles away from the vent. Of course the tons of ash have created extremely fertile soil and the grass is well developed and can support cattle easily.

There is both a trail to the bottom by the main vent and completely around the rim. Since parts of this are almost at the 9000 feet level, it is an interesting walk. The view is fabulous, there is nothing to obstruct your view for miles and the valley is mostly a dark green. To the west are the Rocky Mountains and Sangria de Cristo which are snow capped all year and to the east are the high plains.

I spent the night at the Kickback RV Park in Raton. The owner-managers were extremely pleasant and were most grateful when I fixed the office computer their ten-year-old had somewhat balled up. They can accommodate Internet, one of the few RV parks that are willing to discuss. If one is headed North on I25, it is at the Capulin Exit and the first left along the access road. The park is very new and is immaculately maintained. All sites are pull-trough with 50 amp service. If you stop say hello to Hershey, the chocolate Labrador. They do not have a web page yet but can be reached at <bakkin@baca valley.com>. They are nice people and the rates reasonable. I enjoyed sitting in the recreation room and talking with them for several hours. He is an engineer with the Burlington - Santa Fe railroad and had a number of interesting stories to tell. This was another evening that by the time I was ready to go to bed I was too tired to eat and just flopped on the bed. I did upload/download my e-mail while I was there and I had answers to write on them as well. An RV's life is so full.

2001-06-13 - Colorado Springs - I was up at the crack of dawn and out on the Interstate at a reasonable hour despite the temperature which was in the low 40s. All I really wanted to do was get back under the covers. I certainly didn't think I would need the heater again this year.

To get to Colorado one has to climb Raton Pass which is a long climb to the summit. There were a couple of places where I had to slow down to 35 MPH to keep moving, and the way down the other side is just about as bad. There are signs of any number of vehicles that lost control and took the quick way down the side of the mountain. For some reason I just didn't think that was the right way to go

The pass is also the route of the railroad and saw one train that required six engines to pull it up. I think coal was the major load with more than fifty cars hooked on.

The first objective of the day was Great Sand Dunes National Monument about 100 miles west of I25. One has to cross a pass that is almost 9000 but is much steeper than Raton. The area is fantastically beautiful, and it is so nice to see green trees and pasture. This is truly high plains rather than desert, farming is visible just about every where. There were dust storms that were caused by tractors plowing and there seems to be sufficient water to irrigate a lot of the land. It was an experience.

Great Sand Dunes was interesting but the weather was overcast with an occasional lightning strike in the area which discouraged any long hiking. It didn't rain while I was there but not long after I left we had a great cloudburst that lasted thirty minutes. It cleaned Tiny a little bit and she needed it. Once again if there were more wings on the upper surface in front, she would fly.

Gasoline is pricey and darn hard to find sometimes. I drove more than 120 miles between gas stations and had to stop to get 10 gallons even though it was 2.09. I have been averaging more than 8 MPG so I guess I should complain too much. The more I travel the more I suspect that there is something dreadful sneaky about the way the price of gasoline is manipulated for maximum profit. b Gasoline downtown can be as much as .20 cents a gallon cheaper than those out by the Interstate. I have come to the conclusion that it is not the cost of oil that has increased so much but rather the cost of greed form and producers, the wholesalers and of course the retailers. Factor in the local politicians wanting to increase the gasoline tax for pet projects that do not always include the roads it appears that there are many hands out to fleece the consumer. While a number of publicity oriented politicians cry they will investigate this manipulation by the oil industry, nothing seems to come out of it. What will these people do as more hybrid power cars come on the market and onto the roads.

To get out of the valley one had to climb another pass and this was one well equipped with thunderstorms and a lot of rain. I was driving at 35 - 40 most of the way because the rain was so heavy. Once down the other side we met Route 50 at Salida and followed that and the Arkansas River until we reached Royal Gorge. This was a fantastic drive with the river along side rushing down this steep gorge with walls reaching up five hundred feet or so. The river had many more rafts on it than expected, it is some pretty rough water in places. I didn't see anybody in trouble so it couldn't have been too bad. I also so many fishermen out in the river, I couldn't tell if they were doing anything or not.

I was disappointed with Royal Gorge. It has gone totally commercial. There are more places to spend money than one can shake a stick at, all at inflated prices. I took some pictures despite the overcast and the occasional rain drop. I walked over the bridge and peered down to the river some 1000 feet below and watched the rafts go underneath. I could have taken the aerial tram across which would have given me an opportunity to photograph the bridge.

On the way from Royal Gorge to Canon City Tiny starting acting strangely and I discovered she had a flat tire. I was able to find a place that took care of it very rapidly and found out the flat was caused by the spine of a Russian Olive Tree. It is an awesome spine and I will bring it home with me. This did upset my schedule somewhat and then once in Colorado Springs things really started going haywire. It started to snow heavily and was sticking to the ground. I had hoped to drive to the top of Pike's Peak but with the clouds dropping lower and the snow I figured that was out of the question. Later I heard on the radio that the road had been closed and that there had been some people left of the top of the mountain.

I know there are some hotels on top so I do not think anyone was in danger and it is probably only a fun experience or an inconvenience at worst. I wonder if the hotels charge under those circumstances? I think that if they did it would be poor public relations at best. I know the peak is at almost 12,000 feet and that would be cold under the best conditions. Tiny has been to almost 10,000 feet without problem. I remember having a 64 Chevy that would not go to 12,000 feet, it just ran out of power and it had nowhere the amount of weight to contend with.

I know that newer cars have a computer chip that adjusts automatically for altitude, I do not think Tiny has that however.

I pulled off at the first RV park I could find as the only heat that I have is electrical and I didn't want to run the generator just to stay warm. The road crews are out salting the road so everything should be all right by morning. I had hoped to arrive early enough at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument before dark but it just wasn't in the cards I guess. The RV park was looking to profit as the rates all of a sudden went up. I squawked and stated I would move on and then the rates went back down. For what they offered they were still very high.

2001-06-14 - Ft Laramie Wyoming. - I was up early, cleaned off the snow that I could reach but there was several inches on the roof. I just had to let that melt. With the broken ladder it was impossible to get on top and sweep it off. I knew I would have water running off the sides and rear until it all melted.

I remember one time near Buffalo NY that we had close to a foot of heavy wet snow on top and I thought that the wheels would collapse. That was a lot of weight to be carrying. It took a full day to get that off as it did not warm up. Here it was bright sunshine and the temperature was in the 50s in a short period of time and I could see the water just pouring off.. Apparently the work I did sealing joints worked, I didn't see any leakage.

It was cold however, the temperature was hovering right around the freezing mark until after the sun had been up for a while. The drive to the park was all uphill, the pass topped out at 9800 feet and the park itself if at 9100.

I am struggling for oxygen at that level when I am doing any fast walking or other exercise, I guess I am getting old. There are no steep hills in the park, I was just attempting to stay warm and I didn't want to unpack half the RV just to get some warm clothes. There was about six inches of snow on the ground except where there were paths. These had melted but one had to be careful because of the mud. When I first went into the visitor's center they were vacuuming and I could hear the tons of pebbles being pickup up. Now I know where these came from, the rocky clay carried them in; the floor in Tiny is about the same way, I do not care how carefully I clean my shoes I always seem to have a ton of them on the floor.

The wildlife, at least the ground squirrels and rabbits, were out in force. They were easy to spot with the white background.

This area had at one time been a redwood forest until a series of volcanic eruptions over several centuries changed the scenery. Between poisonous gasses and very light volcanic ash everything was covered with this ash and yet it was not violent and the flora and fauna were preserved for eternity or man destroyers whatever comes first. The lake that was in the area captured the insects and leaves as they fell into the water and of course the volcanic ash combined with the water to make a silica mixture that eventually replaced the cellular structure and fossilized. The term fossil covers many areas and includes footprints that have been preserved. I would think there would a unique term for this situation as nothing was actually replaced but who am I to change the world; if the academia are happy so be it.

Florissant rates at the third best insect fossil bed in the world, the other two are in Europe. Over a hundred thousand samples have been taken out for museums around the world, excavation has been halted until better methods are developed.

The petrified wood is mostly of the premineralized form with some agatized found. Much of the agate has been stolen, some of it quite recently, somebody used a crowbar to pry loose a large chuck for one of the stumps along a trail not far away from the visitor's center. In Arizona agatized is all that is found in the rock shops. Here, when the rock shops are open, you can not find agatized, it is all premineralized. If I could have found a shop open I would have purchased a large chunk to take back with me, however the shops that I saw did not open until the afternoon. I hoped to be north of Denver to avoid the rush hour traffic which I have been warned is as bad as my area back east.

I was told by the ranger that this disparate state is because Florissant occurred a hundred million years after Petrified Forest. It was interesting that the stumps are still standing, some of them quite huge, thirty or more feet in diameter and fifteen feet high. In one such stump there are saw blades left behind when there was an attempt to cut the stump into pieces to take it to the Chicago Exhibition early last century.

I did the volksmarch there at the park so I could color off another state. It was one of the prettier hikes I have done over the years. I saw foot prints of many larger mammals, of course the every present coyote and some I assume to be elk as it was fairly large. I do not think elk are known to have white spots on the rump as do white tailed and mule deer and these didn't have any markings that way. I played peekaboo with the grounds squirrels for a while, they seemed to be very interested when I talked to them.

I met a couple who were out camping in the back of their van, I made a cup of coffee for them as they were chilled to the bone. They hadn't expected snow and freezing weather. They were from eastern Nebraska where it is summer this time of year. They had gotten up at 0230 because of the cold and turned the engine heater on to warm up. I do not think I would do that, carbon monoxide poisoning is too much of a threat, especially if the vehicle is not moving.

Rush hour was over when I left the park and instead of taking the scenic route I drove directly to Colorado Springs and the Interstate. Traffic was very light and the lights had been changed to match the flow of traffic so it was much better than the night before. It is almost entirely downhill, there is a drop in elevation of 3000 feet. Almost the entire way is designed to separate the tourist from their money, there is just about every attraction imaginable. I filled up with gasoline for only 1.52, the lowest I have seen in a while.

The traffic situation in Denver is dreadful. It took me two hours to cross the metropolitan area, some of it because I was in the wrong lane but mostly because of the density. The driving style is no where as crazy as Washington fortunately. Denver is now a very large city and the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains make it spectacular. I could see the Air Force Academy complex on the side of the hill leading up to the Rocky Mountains themselves and they look most dramatic.

I had heard on the radio that Rocky Mountain National Park was at least partially closed because of the heavy snow over the last two nights. I decided to go up anyway as just the drive to the edge and the tourist town in front of it would be worth seeing. If the visitor's center is open then I could at least get the passport stamps for everybody. I would think that this park has a unique stamp for each visitor's center and I think there are three such centers.

Going up the first ridge of mountains wasn't that difficult, just long. I has seen clouds building up and just peeking over the top but I was not prepared for a blizzard, the visibility was not that great. I could see rough shadows but not what they were. I found my way to the visitor's center of the park and talked to the volunteer coordinator, it sounds like a very interesting park. I will in my application later on this year as this park has much to offer and is far enough north that some of the other major parks can be driven to on a three day weekend.

Estes Park is just outside the park and is the archetypical resort town. Everything is geared to separate the tourist from their dollars. I didn't stop anyplace, there is nothing I could think of that I need and there were no computer stores to be seen. I suspect that this is not a all season area except for skiers so most of the annual income for these stores has to be made in a span of about five months or so.

I came up one route from the south, I departed on another route headed north. This road paralleled the Big Thompson River as it bounced it was down to the flat land to the east of the mountains. I think there may been more fisherman in the river than fish, I didn't see any fish getting caught anyway. It is a beautiful river with all its rapids and a few small waterfalls. There are houses built along the river most of the way and of course there are shops wherever there is room to fit them.

I would think this area would be beautiful in the winter but I expect very cold. I didn't see many stacks of wood that I would expect to see if people expected to be here in the winter and they took preparations for power outages and the like. I would think that electricity would be a problem with snow covered trees coming down on the lines as even oil furnaces require electricity.

Once back on the Interstate it didn't take that long to reach Cheyenne and do the volksmarch there. It was a town hike but it counts on the books. They had a fair supply of New Balance Walking shoes on sale and I purchased a pair and received an additional 20% off for being a volksmarcher. The shoes I had been wearing are just about shot. I like boots when I am not on city streets, my feet get too hot. I can wear a lighter weight sock with these and my feet are still adequately cushioned.

I loved the drive up to Wyoming, the grass, yes, real grass, and it is so green and lush. So far this year has been great with moisture There were pronghorn all over the place, mush more than can be supported at Petrified Forest. I think I saw one doe with four kids. What a problem she must have keeping up with that many. For one thing, I think she only has two faucets.

The gas prices were very reasonable, 1.50 or less. I wish it would be that way the remainder of the trip but I know that it will not be that way. It was getting late but I headed out anyway hoping to reach Ft Laramie before it was too late. I failed in that sense but I did reach Guernsey about fifteen miles short of my goal. The state rest area on that secondary road was quite good, signs stated no over night parking but I wouldn't do that now would I?

In Virginia it has been known that state policed will mark your tires in the same manner as a parking patrolmen will do so they can keep record of just how long a car stays. I think I remember that a law sit has been files against the state because of the two hour law and that someone was chased out even after he explained to the patrolman that he was ill and had taken medicine and then had an accident. Virginia doesn't like to spend any money on rest areas or any other frilliness expenditure that doesn't directly result in votes.

Actually I was writing on the computer when I fell asleep sitting up. About 0100 I woke up to see a state patrol car parked along side of me. I got out to talk to him, all he said that he would be patrolling the area about once an hour and to sleep good. I took his advice and slept until about 0530 when I got up and started typing again and the sun was well up. There isn't much sense at arriving at an entrance of the park and just wait for it to open. I have seen this at Petrified Forest.

2001-06-15 - North Platte Nebraska - I have to Wyoming credit, the road side area was a great job. Virginia should do half as much. There were interpretive signs up along the bluff lined with poles that had sighting tubes pointed at the scenic spots of the area. The Platte River itself is quite historic, it was the first highway used by the early trappers to reach the Rocky Mountains.

It later became part of the Oregon Trail that took thousands of westward emigrants to Oregon and to the Great Salt Lake. Know in part as the Oregon trail, south side of the Platte River and the Mormon trail on the north side of the Platte River and it was a major route for both groups. Joking I think I can say Highway 26 was named after the Oregon Trail and state highway 92 was named after the much poorer Mormon Trail. According to some reports I have read, the Mormons frequently didn't have animal pulled wagons, they pulled carts or small wagons themselves.

Later this became for the first route for the Pony Express, the telegraph and later the railroad. From what I can gather, Highway 26 was built at least parallel with the Oregon trail and many of the historic places are easily available from the road. I also think that part of the Pony Express also followed the same trail despite the Pony Express terminating in Sacramento, California..

Ft Laramie was quite interesting not only for what it is now, but what is was a hundred years ago. Constructed on the site of a former trading company site, it became the center of appeasement with Locota Sioux during the settlement of the dispute over the Black Hills and other treaties where the rights of the Indians were grossly violated by the whites and totally abrogated the treaty agreed to by the Locota and ratified by our Congress, all men of honor I am assured.

Infamous names are seen frequently in conjunction with this post. Fetterman based his operations out of this fort and the Battle of Wounded Knee is associated with this area as well. Our government's policies toward the Indians was extremely political and dent in the wind in accordance with what was perceived to be the vote getters. I do not recall too many instances where the Indians were taken into consideration. What has happened to the Indians is a major black mark in the United States history.

The fort was first developed by the trading company as an adobe walled installation that was quite small. As the commercial implications of the area increased the fort was purchased by the federal government and an Army installation was built to support the movement of settlers to the west and to protect the local settlers against Indian aggression.

The fort hosted annual trading sales of pelts and robes for consumer goods in which the Indians proved themselves as shrewd and patient negotiators. Despite the debauchery of the events, most deals were satisfactory to both parties. Alcohol was used by the whites in the attempt to get an upper hand and alcohol even now is a major problem to the Indian tribes. On many reservations alcohol is still forbidden by the tribal councils. Alcoholism is rampant and many think a genetic problem.

The fort was closed in the very late 19^th Century and auctioned off to whoever was interested. The place deteriorated rapidly as buildings were taken apart and used elsewhere. The National Park Service took over the fort in 1936 and restoration and stabilization is ongoing. I hope that all of the living quarters in the area no longer have to rely on such privys such as the picture depicts. I remember this years ago and they were quite common in many places in the states. Military training areas always seemed to have facilities such as these and in the summer could get fairly ripe.

I met a young chap from Pretoria, South Africa who is doing research of the use of lime concrete structures for possible use in the construction of low cost but durable housing there, the climates are similar I suspect. He was quite interesting, he is a lecturer at the university there and is much interested in the migration of people. We talked about the migration of the Altec-Ural people throughout Europe and possibly the migration that took place through Kimchatka over the Bering Land Bridge into North America in addition to the basic migration that seems to have come out of Africa during the dawn of mankind several million years ago. This is an area that is still much conjecture about and more than one person has suggested that mankind evolved in two areas, one of which was Africa and the other being Asia. There is just so much to be looked at and I do not recall many links to prove or disprove.

Next stop was at Agate Bed Fossil National Monument north of Mitchell, Nebraska. A very new park, the paleontology exhibits were some of the best I have seen. About the turn of the century a local land owner discovered some fossils and encouraged two universities to explore, as a result the two hills are named Carnegie Hill and University Hill. Apparently there was more than just friendly competition between the two camps and each delighted in one-ups-manship on what was being located.

Some of the findings changed ideas of what took place in the northern plains and discovered species of animals never before noted. It appears that little or no damage to the fossils had taken place as they were found on private land with little access to it but the great unwashed. Researchers from all over the world came here to report on the findings, even the son of the land owner became a highly respected researcher and wrote several books of his findings.

Most of the fossilized remains are from the Cenozoic era or the last 65 million years. It is felt by some that this dense collection of fossilized remains are the result in the change of climate in the area and the exhaustion of the food supply to where the animals could no longer range that far to eat and return to the water so just stayed near the water and starved to death. The Serengeti of Africa experiences this very same problem today when there are droughts, animals starve to death simply because the food supply and the water supply are too far apart.

The rancher also had an interesting relationship with Red Cloud, Chief of the Oglala Sioux and the one of the participants along with Crazy Horse in Custer's Last Stand. Many of his weapons and clothing are on display there in the museum. Red Cloud's family and the Cook family are still close and meetings between the two families are frequent.

Scotty's Bluff is an imposing geological feature on the Platte River that is visible for many miles, and in the case of the western bound emigrants, days before the slow moving wagons would reach the location. Wagon trains rarely moved in a single line as depicted in the movies, rather they moved in a "V" formation so as to avoid the dust of the wagons ahead of them. Only at Mitchell's Pass at Scotty's Bluff did they have to go single file because of the narrow pass. As a result a deep trench was formed that is still visible today. This trench is about twenty feet wide and four feet deep, and while overgrown, is still very visible.

Driving Highway 26 east of Scotty's Bluff there is Windlass hill which was so steep that wagons were winched down at the end of ropes to control the rate of descent. The brakes of the wagons could not control the weigh even if the wheels were locked so they could not rotate. The tracks are still visible.

The trip to the top requires going through two tunnels which I didn't want to try with Tiny because of height but there is a shuttle that goes up when required. My driver was a seasonal ranger who is a local but very knowledgeable and made it interesting She allowed me the opportunity to photograph what I needed and backed up what I saw with her information. She did a very commendable job.

The view from the top is fascinating, one can see Chimney Rock some forty miles to the east. This would be a several day journey for most wagon trains. People left knowing that a third of the journey was completed, probably the easiest third at that but by this time the travelers had experience and the know how to survive, the weaklings would have turned back or perished before they got this far. It is estimated that 20,000 perished along the trail in their attempt to reach a better land for their families.

As I drove further east toward North Platte the land changed to huge grain fields that stretched to the horizon. The rainfall this year has been very generous and the fields were extremely green. One can understand why this area is so frequently called the bread basket of the United States.

However, not all is well in the great plains, it is not utopia by any means. Farming has become big business and the smaller farm cannot compete. When one sees just how large these farms are and the capital equipment that is required to support it it is amazing that any families are left at all. Some of the tractors one sees can cost a half million dollars or so I am told. They may be state of the art with air conditioning and radio but ouch.

The Interstate is very poorly built. It is concrete with very narrow slabs that shift when driven over setting up a rocking motion that is most annoying. I saw the same thing in Oklahoma and Arkansas several years ago. If one can find just the right speed it is not bad, however, at the 55 I usually drive it is probably at its worst. I remember from Dads trip the proper speed was about sixty five but that rental truck just couldn't hold that speed with the weight it was hauling. Of course I do not usually drive Tiny over 55 due to the gas mileage.,

2001-06-16 - York, Nebraska - Bummer, Tiny broke down and I cannot get it worked on until Monday. It appears the oil change I had was not done but I paid for it or they did not check the oil level when finished. The tow truck operator thinks it is a burnt valve. At least I am at a comfortable camp ground rather than on the highway as I have been stranded before. I hope it doesn't take too much time to repair nor more than one arm and leg in cost.