Summer in the Mountains.

[sedona]

Noticed the cat too.Looks like he was stalking you.Not a house cat.

 

[druryj]

Noticed the cat too.Looks like he was stalking you.Not a house cat.

I think that is the same cat they found down in Minco awhile back. Wait, I think that one was black maybe?

 

[SPDguns]

Nice pics. There is good fishing in Goose Lake. We took a full size 2wd V6 Chevy up to it one year. People looked at us like we were crazy. When we got to the top, all we saw were jeeps and ATV's. I guess we WERE crazy!

 

[dlbleak]

I took a Ford Explorer over California Gulch. I got some strange looks!

 

[kirk1978]

Nice photos!! Looks like a great time.

 

[dennishoddy]

I went back and looked. Damn! Is that a real cat?

No it’s an archery target. The ski company has a half dozen or so 3D target animals outside the lift house for people to take pics of. Elk, deer, cat, etc. I purposely put that in the corner of the pic to see if any eagle eye would spot it. Drury is the winner. [emoji106]

 

[dennishoddy]

Great pics Dennis. Any more info on the range? Location,cost etc?
For those that get out that way, there is a nice range maintained by the Lions Club east of Durango. It’s totally free and has two pistol bays and six rifle benches with targets 50 ,75 and 100. Also an area for archery and a place to throw clay targets. Pistol and rifle area’s are covered too

It’s a free range maintained by Conejos county south of Antonito on Hwy 17.
Very nice covered bays with concrete benches. Steel gongs at different distances, and life size elk with the kill zone swingers at 200 and 300 yards so you can tell you hit the vitals.
Archery, pistol, rimfire, and rifle bays.

 

[harley128]

Wow, very nice..........such a beautiful place to spend the summer

 

[dennishoddy]

Good shots, Dennis. I see you also have an affinity of getting a dead tree into a photograph. Oh, and I also want to hear more about the cat. It looks bigger than a house cat.

You got to the Great Sand Dunes National Park, but did you check out Zapata Falls on the way to there or back from there? Zapata Falls is a small waterfall that is back inside of a cave of sorts. One may have to walk in the stream to get to see it.

Another camping spot that we went to for decades is in that same area, but it is east of the Dunes and south of Highway 160. Go south through La Veta and Cuchara and up over the pass. Just past North Lake (one that the highway skirts around the edge of) is a turnoff just past a cattle guard and to the right. That road takes one up to Purgatoire River Campground. It is about 3 to 4 miles off of Highway 12. Lots of trees and the Purgatoire River runs through a part of the campgrounds. If one goes up the last of August and just before Labor Day, one can have the park almost entirely to themselves. Well, except for hunters and bears. The hunters, though, may be up on the mountain and not seen much. At least, that was how it was for the last several years we went up.

Made Zapata falls and took the hike to get there although I didn’t actually see it inside the cave. There was a line of folks waiting their turn to wade And take pics inside it. Unfortunately a family from India or Pakistan that hadn’t bathed in months came up behind me with the wind blowing from them to us, and the crowd cleared in a heart beat. I don’t understand how they could stand themselves in the van they drove up in before the hike to the falls. It was horrible!
Thanks for the tip on the camp grounds. We have already booked part of next summer. I hope it’s the last time we have to go through an Oklahoma summer sweat season.
Here is as far as I got.

 

[dennishoddy]

Nice pics. There is good fishing in Goose Lake. We took a full size 2wd V6 Chevy up to it one year. People looked at us like we were crazy. When we got to the top, all we saw were jeeps and ATV's. I guess we WERE crazy!

One guy from Tx was telling us the trail up there was tougher than he had ever seen in 12 years of visiting the lake. That would have been a tough trip in a 2WD!