Bucket List: Cooke's Peak. Check.

Cooke's Peak

Cooke's Peak is hard to miss.  It peers over the mountains that line Interstate 25, 50 miles away.  When you're driving north on Columbus Highway in Deming it appears much closer than it really is.. as if it's squatting right on the road in front of you.  At 8408 feet, it's the highest point in Luna County.. more than a thousand feet higher than the Florida Mountains.  Part of the attraction is the peak itself, which appears (and mostly is) a solid mass of exposed rock.

I've wanted to stand on Cooke's Peak before we even lived here.  We began hunting in it's massive shadow when we were just February visitors in an RV.  The more I read about the hike up, the more I knew I wasn't going to attempt it alone.  It took years to meet the right "guide".

Enter Dave Shephard.  Originally from somewhere in New England, and a fellow former full time RVer, he now lives in Deming, and is an avid hiker, climber, and explorer.  He's also a fellow member of the Deming Photography Club.  We shared a beer after a reception at the Deming Arts Council where the club had an exhibit in January.  We hatched the plan at Mimbres Brew.   At first we were going in February, then early March.  Finally, Thursday, March 22 was firm.

We met up outside of town, drove to the parking area, and did it.  I should mention that, unlike other recent years, I hadn't done any kind of climbing this Winter.  Most of my exercise involved walking the flats while hunting with the dogs.  Make no mistake, this 9 hour adventure hurt me.  I lagged behind going up and coming down, but by golly, I did it.  the proof's in the slide show..

Bring on the next mountain!

Future Headlines

Posts coming up by the end of the weekend...

This happened yesterday.

This happened today.

This will happen tomorrow...

It Was Time.

My new boots arrived the other day, and not a moment too soon.  The old boots  (on right, as if I had to tell you), lived a long and productive life.  In this environment, three years is a long life.  The rocks and boulders in the nearby mountains that I hike are responsible for most of the gaping holes you can see.  It’s time to retire them.

I bought Hi-Tec boots again.  I’ll probably always buy Hi-Tec boots, because they’re cheap,  but more importantly, they’re unbelievably comfortable right out of the box.  In fact, that’s the stated  principle of the company: “Instant lightweight comfort”.

Speaking of lightweight.. I spent more on this pair of boots than on their predecessors… and their predecessor’s predecessors.  $85.00.  That’s amost twice as much, but the obvious trade-off is the weight.  The old boots weigh 3.5 pounds.  The new ones are a full pound lighter, and it was instantly noticeable this morning while out hunting with the dogs.

They’re also “waterproof”, which is probably meaningless where we live, because it’s obvious that it’s never going to rain here again.

So.. that’s my unsolicited testimonial.  If you’ve never worn Hi-Tec boots, you should give them a try.

Echoes Of An Ancient Forest.

A fine example of ancient Juniper at the top of the Little Floridas. One of many.

Where The Peaks Have No Name

My new fitness regime took a quantum leap yesterday. It was breezy and cool, the dogs didn't need to go for a run, having had a good workout the day before, so I decided it was time to do a little mountain climbing. The mountains I had in mind are conveniently located next to the house.. The Little Florida Mountains, also known as the North Florida Mountains. My initial target was the nearest peak to the house.. the same one I took last Winter. This time, however, I didn't plan on the bushwhacking route I took then. I could see there was a little bit gentler incline to take. What I found was even better: trails! Since I was starting from inside the boundaries of the Rockhound State Park, there were lots of trails.. maybe not all the way to the peak, but most of the way.

So I was making good time when I decided it was time to go more vertical. Problem was, I intially wanted to go vertical into a dead end. The back-track cost me almost 20 minutes, and a painful slip and fall into a dead prickly pear cactus patch. These are not things you want stuck in you.

As it turned out, I still made it to the peak in 75 minutes from the time I left the house. That's it down there:

On another day, I would have negotiated a descent, and plunked myself down in front of the Pro Bowl with a beer. This day I still felt fresh and saw a higher peak that wouldn't take long to get to. I set off.

But not at the pace I had set on the first pitch. I had no intention of exhausting myself when I still had a long downhill to negotiate. I had thought, from the house, that the peak I was going to was the highest on in the Little Floridas, and when I got to the top, and saw all the rock cairns other hikers had erected, I was sure. That was, until I looked to the west and saw that the next hill over was noticeably higher. I had some more uphill walking to do, and set off immediately. It was close.

When I saw the yucca stalk protruding from a rock cairn, and a Bud bottle stuck on the top, I knew I'd made it. I could go no higher in the Little Floridas. When I found the jar with the register (above), I was sure. I looked down at the state park campground far below, set up the camera to take some self portraints, got out of the wind and took a nap!

The day had gone better than I ever could have imagined. It was time to head home. I chose to hike down to the jeep trail that intersects the top of the range and headed toward home. My only mistake was choosing a descent route that was way too scarily steep and loose. No more falls, but it was very time consuming. I arrived home about 5 hours after departure, and according to my GPS, had negotiated 4 miles and 1450 feet of elevation change, give or take. I took a long, hot bath in Epsom salts, and I'm ready to do it again!

Having gone as high as possible in the Little Floridas, I guess it's time to start planning the next 2000 feet. The "Big" Floridas.

Margaret Shoots Me. On Site.

After seeing myself in a picture, I decided it was time to work a little more exercise into my days. Yesterday, I headed out to the canyon in the Little Florida Mountains behind the house. When Margaret got home from work I radioed her to grab the camera and shoot me. Can you see me? (you'll have to click the image to at least the next bigger size).

It wasn't even a mile and a half round trip, but as you can see, it's not an easy walk. I plan on exploring the rest of the cliff faces over the next few weeks of cool weather. Once the snakes come out I don't go there.

Darwin's Mountaineers.

A follow up article in the local paper goes into more detail on the four "hikers" who had to be rescued from the top of the mountains last week, but it fails to make them appear any... brighter.

Take a look at this picture:

The arrow at the bottom of the mountain is the parking lot and picnic area. The arrow at the top is Florida Peak, (partially obscured by clouds in this 2009 image), some 2500' above the lot, with no trails between the two. On a day when the sun sets around 5:30, who in their right mind decides to make a climb (not a hike) at 2 O'Clock? They may be in college, but they're obviously not math majors.

Darwin Award Candidates, Deming NM & Points (Far) East.

Yeah. Looks like a good place to hike when inclement weather is approaching, and you're wearing shorts and T-Shirts. Maybe you'd go up on "Lover's Leap", huh?. Then use your cell phone when you're completely out of your element and experience. Duh.

Wildflower Season

Wildflower season in the Desert Southwest is ramping up.  On Easter Sunday, we took a long drive into the hills, first to do some Geocaching Northeast of Deming.  The purpose of this was to work up an appetite for the huge buffet Albert Campos was laying out at his restaurant.  (It did not disappoint.. especially the Chicken Cordon Bleu with the surprise inside: Green Chiles).  The entire hillsides of the Goodsight mountains were yellow.. somewhat from the Mexican Poppies, but mostly the huge carpets of smaller yellow-green flowers which may or may not be mustardseed.

Following our huge dinner and desert, we needed more exercise, and drove the Mitsubishi up the power line "road" to a point about 3/4 mile from the big blankets of poppies.  Far from showing signs of fading away, new bunches of this beautiful flower are showing up every day.  Our yard is overrun!

In addition, we spotted many other flowers which are just beginning to pop up.  Most of them we've been unable to identify.  Some of them we think we've identified.  We're leaving it up to you, our loyal readers to look at the pictures in the slide show (below) and help us identify what we're seeing.  (It may be easier to click through to the album at Picasa Albums, and look at the larger versions).

Hello There.

(Please cue soundtrack, below)

Hello there..

I'm Indiana Gauss.

I'm a famed dashing and handsome blog-cheologist.  I seem to have stumbled upon this ancient and neglected blog.  It appears to have been vacated by some early race of idealistic, energetic blogger.  I've seen this before.  You would think that these indigenous writers would have vanished mysteriously from the face of the earth, but that's not so.  In true nomadic fashion, they've become part of the diaspora to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other so-called "social networking" sights.  Their laziness had gotten the better of them, and they no longer wanted to make the effort to toil at their thankless blogging tasks.

Fortunately, the final history of bloggers in general, and this blog in particular is far from being written.  Enough empirical evidence exists to predict that this blogging malaise is reversible, and that this blog will become a hive of literary activity very soon, (in blog-cheologic time, that is).

In fact, I can pretty fairly predict that soon you will here be reading about such diverse topics as:

• Geocaching

• The Pack Hunt, and Desert Hare Classic

• Driving miles and miles of desert and mountain jeep trails

• Desert wildflower reports

And probably a whole lot more.  You would be wise to monitor this location closely.  That is my professional opinion.  Now, I must be off to kill some Nazis and eat monkey brains.

First Hare

It was quite the color palette of girl dogs that hit the far reaches of the local public land yesterday.  All girls, because Dutch's girls are in season.  I joked we should have let Margaret and Cherie bring them out and we could just wait for them at Campos'.

There was the blue girl Ashley, the red girl Cinnamon, the red and white girl Phyllis, and the new star (we hope) Willow; in the yellow blanket.  This was, according to those who should know best, the first jackrabbit  she chased.  Fortuitously, it popped up right in front of us as I walked her on a slip.  She took off after it with great enthusiasm!

Then reality hit, as she fell behind the other dogs, and brought up the rear as they circled, and caught the jack a little over a minute later.  See, she's been in shelters, and foster homes, and on lead at our house for well over 2 months.  She's not even close to being in the shape the other dogs are in.  What she needs is time.  She may be competitive by the end of he cold weather season, (and I'll have to watch her more closely than the other dogs when it starts to warm up), but more likely it will be next Fall and Winter that she'll begin to really shine.  She's built for speed, and eventually I'm sure she'll show it.   Meanwhile...

...she'll just have to get by on her (considerable) looks.

Vertical Hiking

Meant to post this a couple weeks ago when it actually happened. Good intentions and all...

I'd been waiting for the daytime temperatures to cool sufficiently so I could do another scrabble up the North Florida Mountains behind the house.  Wanted snakes and all to be gone underground for the winter.  As it happened, I didn't see any snakes, but it certainly ended up warmer than I anticipated.  And I did see a couple of lizards out sunning.

If  you recall, the last hike (I have a hard time selling it as a "climb", because it's mostly steep hiking) took me to the radio towers to the East of the house.  This time, I decided to go North.  To here:

My original plan was to get up there, then come down through Rock Hound State Park, which is further to the left, out of the frame.  Once I got up to the top, I changed my mind, which was probably a mistake.  I decided to hike to the East, then follow the road South, past the radio towers, and down to the ravine I'd used for my return in the Spring.  So I ended up approaching the house almost 180 degrees from where I left.  It also took 4 hours, and I ended up 8 pounds lighter than when I began the day!  I was a tired, broken hiker.

But I did reach my target...

Last time I climbed, I had no one to record my progress.  This time, Margaret was home, and was able to man the telephoto I left on the tripod on the back porch.  With 2-way radio communication, we were able to get the above photos of me at the peak.

Datura Wrightii

Funny that while Patrick was writing about Jimson weed on the East Coast, I was taking pictures of our Western variety. Nasty, nasty stuff that even the Native Americans don't partake of anymore. This picture was taken in the evening at Spring Canyon State Park.

Mission Accomplished!

Don't think I mentioned it, but I'm going through one of those "bachelor periods" that happen a couple times a year.  Margaret flew off to New York late last week to visit with her kids, then made the hop to Michigan last night to visit her mother.

The fun addition to this trip is that she'll also be looking at vehicles.. something to load up with a fair amount of stuff from our storage unit and haul back here to New Mexico.  Right now, so I've been told, the leading candidate is a Ford cargo van.  We'll see what happens.

So with a lot of free time on my hands, and a cool (but very windy) day at my disposal yesterday, I decided it was time to climb a mountain.  There're plenty of them available, but I picked one that I can see from the back porch.  There are a couple of towers up there, so it makes an inviting target.

I filled my pack with water, a box of crackers, my Kabar knife, and binoculars, put my camera on the harness and walked away from the house at 11am.  By noon, I was probably a little better than halfway up.  I should note that this isn't exactly "technical climbing".  I only had to use my hands a couple of times, but the last bit was damn steep, and the rocks were shifting around. The wind was blowing strong enough to practically blow me up the hill.

Two hours and fifteen minutes after I started, I was back at the house, soaking my shaking legs in the whirlpool bath.  Today my legs are very sore, as I knew they would be, but not too bad.

Next time I do this, I'll make sure that someone knows what I'm doing.  It's not exactly wise to go off on an excursion like this alone.  But I do want to do it again.  There's a higher point on the Little Floridas I want to try.

Meanwhile, here's a little slide show.. images I stopped regularly to capture (and catch my breath) on the way up and back down again.  Enjoy.