1039 6/9/14 Fox and dead snake

Total Miles: 1039
Animated streetview

I took my 5 mile walk starting about 4:00 am. It was about 50 degrees and a bit windy - a perfect day for the walk.

I saw a fox cross the road near the end of Jerry Murphy road. It walked into a small wooded area where I've seen a dead fox in the past. I got out my camera to take a picture. It was dark, but the infrared light from the camera made its eyes shine read like something in a horror movie. The fox was unsure of the light, moved a bit, and sat to look at me again. It seemed as curious as I was. Here is a picture, although it doesn't show anything. You may be able to see the faint outline of the fox. Mostly the picture is for the memory.

I also saw a squashed snake on the road heading into the University. It is about 2 feet long. I can't tell what kind of snake it is, but it doesn't appear to be a rattlesnake. It's surprising how much wildlife is in the city.

1033 Mace Trail - Trangia video. 6/8/14

Miles: 1.0
Total: 1033
Animated Street View

Krister an I hiked the Mace Trail today at  the Pueblo Mountain Park. Unfortunately, I left the Fitbit home, so I didn't count the miles. 

Recently, I started using the Trangia mini alcohol stove. It is simpler than the SVEA 123 and a little lighter. Here is a video.

Yesterday I experimented with taking a picture at every bend in the trail to create a virtual trail. It's probably only interesting to the person taking the video. I think making short videos along the way is more fun and gives better documentation.

We continued along the Mace trail and had coffee at Lookout Point, which is a place cattle rustlers used to watch for the law coming. We continued along the Mace trail to the trail that went to Burch Camp, which is an old Boy Scout camp that was washed away in a flood in the 1940's. It started to threaten rain, but never started to rain. It caught up with us about 15 minutes after we drove home when we had strong thunderstorms. There were some reports of tornados in the area, but none too near us.

I may add the video later.

June 7, 2014 Mud races 1031 miles

Miles today:: 8.8
Total Miles: 1031
Animated Street view

We were planning to go backpacking today, but there is a forecast for heavy rain. I walked up the bike trail to the University. The wildflowers are almost gone.

This rabbit posed for me until I took its picture.

It was cool, so there were many golfers out, all riding their white golf carts.

There was a mud race near the University. Looked like people were having fun.

This picture in the window of the sheriff's SUV caught my attention. It is advertising a website on not drinking and driving. http://www.evenzombiesknow.com/

The advertising is good as it made me curious.

June 6, 2014 - 1022 miles

Miles: 6.63
Total Miles: 1022
Animated Street view

The big excitement of the day was discovering the animated street view for Google Maps. The distance between pictures depends on the length of the trip. For a normal day's walk it is 2 to 3 per mile.

I didn't take any pictures today as I walked. Most of it was steps while doing work around the house and running errands. Yeah, that's a little cheating compared to hiking, but it's in the ground rules.

Automated Street View - Google

I found this great link for an automated street view in Google.

Back after a break - The 48 State Virtual Hike Challenge

It's hard to believe I took a two year break from this blog. I got caught up in writing eBooks for Amazon. Only one of them is related to backpacking, and only loosely.

Well, let's start over and get right to the meat.

The 48 state virtual hike challenge is what you want to make of it. In other words, break any of the following rules you like as they are suggestions. It's your hike to hike in your own way. These are my rules.

1. Plan a route that touches all 48 states.
2. Hiking on interstates is illegal, so avoid them.
3. Take a picture each day on your virtual hike.
4. Save the Google Street View each day on your hike.
5. Plot your position on a map.
6. Make the route one a person could actually walk.
7. The route should start and end in the same place.
8. Track your mileage with a Fitbit Zip or other Fitbit pedometer. Any other pedometer that interacts with a website will do. All steps taken during the day count.

I started over in Walsenburg, CO. I decided it would be more practical to walk westbound first instead of eastbound. This makes it possible to make it through Arizona and Nevada before it gets too hot. I didn't decide to restart this blog until over 1,000 miles into it, so I'll pick up the trek from there. Since it's a circular route, I can go around it as many times as I like.

Notice I added the Fitbit "requirement."  Here is my Fitbit page. https://www.fitbit.com/user/2D84F9.

Date: 6/5/14
Mileage: 1015
Automated Street View

Squirrel Creek Trail - Miles 720.0 to 728.7

Miles: 8.75 (2 days)

Q to R (Points include a couple of short days before)

Google Map

The Squirrel Creek trail starts in Pueblo Mountain Park. It turned into a history lesson along the way. First this old sign at the trail head. The trail was not marked at all except with a VERY infrequent "I" blaze in the trees. 

A lot of times we quickly take these pictures on a high point and then move on. We've decided not to include those pictures unless we actually sit there awhile. 

This bird just looked like it was having fun gliding around.

This is where the history lesson began. We were planning to have lunch here and go on. But the Squirrel Creek had water in it this time. It was a short distance to the left of the picture. This shelter is the Carhart design and one of the first shelters made in the country. The fireplace is original, but the wooden part washed away in a flood. It was rebuilt in the 80's. It's hard to believe, but a road used to run here. There are old pictures of cars parked here.

We decided to spend the night.

The fireplace was made in 1927. (An optical illusion can make it look like 1937.)

This was supposed to be the brightest full moon of the year. It looked almost like a sunrise. Mares tails. Yes, it did rain late in the afternoon.

Fun moving the camera while taking a picture of the moon,

The fireplace was great. After the fire was going a couple hours, the stones got warm and it was very toasty.

Going on the next day, we crossed this stream many times. The trail went back and forth across it. After awhile, we just started walking through the water. It was easier and quicker.

There were old campsites all along the 4 miles or so of the trail. It was the nations first campground. The trail is on the National Historical Record. So don't take anything. There are big fines for that.

We must have taken a wrong turn because this is where the trail ended.

I went over this on the way home. 

There were a few of these and more holes.

Each campsite had a fire pit. Several families were supposed to camp around each one.

Virtual Hike End of Day Picture

TransAmerica Virtual Hike


Due to a bad couple of weeks, I lost some places. Down to 9th in the top 20. Worse, I lost a lot of miles. I'll have to see if I can catch up gradually. Maybe toss in a big day this weekend if I have the time. It was real tempting to say screw this program as it was down for a week. But I like the motivation from other participants.

Name	Distance
BernieS	992.6 mi
JohnZ	984.7 mi
AshleyA	971.5 mi
AnnF	948.9 mi
PatM	924.4 mi
JohnA	897.2 mi
DanaA	888.6 mi
johnd	886.0 mi
GaryT	881.6 mi
LT	859.8 mi
StaciR	858.8 mi
MarilynrH	839.0 mi
SusanP	836.4 mi
sarah w	835.1 mi
SHIRLEYE	832.9 mi
RebeccaJ	825.7 mi
JoyJ	816.3 mi
DavidG	811.5 mi
RamonaH	803.7 mi
LoreneE	796.7 mi

Miles 710.0 to 717.0

Miles Today: 7.07
Map Way Points: P to Q
Google Map

Today's theme is flowers. I saw the rose on the way to the mall.

The rest of the pictures were in the prairie on the way to the college. In the past, I never paid much attention to the prairie. Now I know it's a beautiful place that changes with the seasons. People go to the mountains to see flowers, but there are just as many beautiful flowers just a few blocks away.

Virtual Hike End of Day Picture

Miles 705.6 to 710

 Miles Today: 4.44
 Map Way Points: O to P
Google Map 

Combined 2 short days into one post.

Virtual Hike End of Day Picture

Miles 695.6 to 705.6 (Angel of Shavano backpacking trip)

Miles today: 10.0 (This includes Saturday and Sunday.)
Map Way Points: N to O
Google Map

This weekend, Krister and I took an overnight trip to Angel of Shavano Campground. We hiked the southern 5 miles of Segment 14 of the Colorado Trail to get there.

When we started out Saturday morning, it was VERY windy and about 35 degrees. We first had to climb about 1/2 mile up an exposed ridge. That was quite interesting. Once we were over the top of the ridge, the winds were blocked and it wasn't too bad.

There was LOTS of Elk scat on the second half of the trail. We did see a small herd of elk near Cree Creek, but weren't able to get a picture.

A lot of trees blew down this year. I heard they had a major windstorm in the area. All the trees were cleared from the trail. 

This is something you can't do with an internal frame pack.

Relaxing by the fire.

I took a video to see how quickly I could light a carefully prepared fire.

Virtual Hike End of Day Picture

 The TransAmerica Virtual Hike site seems to be down. I hope it hasn't been deleted.