We hied off to John Martin again this weekend, to the Hasty campground. 

Things are winding down there. Most of the campsites were vacant. The main shower house and the secondary one, back in the 'eighties' sites, were still open. IIRC, they will close at the end of the month, though the laundry, dishwashing sink, and accessible shower, all at the same end of the main building, will remain open.

Ducks are quacking about, but we did not see any geese to speak of. The water level has dropped drastically from the glorious days of this past spring.

The new Blackstone griddle really does work like a champ. We did a heartstopper breakfast Saturday morning, and fajitas Saturday evening. We also did burgers - roadkill patties with grilled potatoes, actually - Friday evening, but Friday evening was quite nippy and still a bit breezy, so we snuffled inside the Cassie. 

We went over to the main reservoir, intending to flail the water to a froth with one of the highly vaunted Panther Martins, but the water levels were so low that I wasn't going to climb down those rocks to get to it. Instead, we cruised around Hasty Lake by way of Trumpville (Caddoa). The dam road is closed for work so you have to take the roundabout way to get to the other side.

Before that, however, having neglected to bring water along, we went over to the visitor center. It was closed while the rangers were out doing ranger things. So we went to the Hasty Market - actually, Valley Market - over in Hasty. In all the years we have been going to John Martin, this was the first time stopping in there. It's quite the nifty little joint, offering pizza, and deli sandwiches and lunches. The young lady at the cash register was quite friendly. 

Over on the far side of John Martin, The Squeeze gathered some more dye and fiber plants, including more yucca. Her hand-rolled yucca twine project came out very well indeed; she is going to make more to use in an as-yet-to-be-determined project.

It was quite nippy both nights we were there, dropping down below freezing for short periods in the early hours. No frozen pipes, though, and we were quite toasty in the Cassie.

And a good time was had by all.

The large spaces are one of the nicer things about the Hasty campground. Campers are not squashed in like so many sardines.

Fajitas! Along with home made hummus and a fine avocado dip.

The Squeeze weaves ...

A heartstopper breakfast. There's nothing like the smell of bacon wafting across a campsite of a frosty morn.

Water levels are down considerably, at the main reservoir.

 Here we have The Squeeze scraping the goop off yucca leaves, then separating the fibers within.  She is using a bit of sea shell - Atlantic cockle, from Ocracoke Island, NC - for her scraper.

The leaves/spikes have been boiled to make the scraping easier. Or even doable.

Alternatively, the spikes can be pounded with a stone and then chewed. I was kind of hoping to see that, but nope, she took the easy route.

The fibers can then be used for making cords or yarns, or for basket making and other such bits of creativity.

There are some separated fibers in the tray in the background.

 Our haul from Musso's. They will be open one more weekend.

Some apples, Anaheims, avocados, shishitos, San Marzano tomatoes, spaghetti squashes, a banana squash, a couple of Delicatas, turnips, acorns, and a small Hubbard.

I'm going to split the Hubbard up and stick the chunks on the grill. 

I'm wondering how much of that Hubbard is going to make it to the freezer. We're starving.

 Last batch of the year. I'm going to miss these till next year.

Shishitos in olive oil with Montreal steak seasoning.

Oh bay-bee oh bay-bee oh bay-bee ...

 We recently made our last trip of the year to Musso's over in The Steel City, and snagged, among other things, a nice pile of San Marzano tomatoes. These are among the best canning tomatoes, but they are also very good for drying. We have eight racks of them in the Excalibur as we speak.

The Squeeze got us the Excalibur some years back, when we were still tent and popup camping. She also got us into dehydrating veggies and meats, and putting together dehydrated meals.

Her main resource for this is Backpacking Chef. These make excellent camp meals, require no refrigeration, and take up little space with very little weight.

Most of the recipes are quite good. There are a few I found underwhelming, even if they would keep a backpacker going on the PCT or John Muir for a week.

The no-cook recipes are surprisingly tasty, and very useful if water for cleanup is in short supply.

It's starting to cool off, and we have maybe two or three local weekenders left for the year, after which we'll winterize the Cassie, take a bit of a break, and then when winter sets in, start putting together some of these eats. We vacuum pack them with a Food Saver.

The Excalibur site is linked here. The Squeeze, who is not one to do things half measure, went with the 3926TB. I thought it was a bit overkill, but as usual, she called it spot on. We have really used this thing.

From "The Backpacking Chef."

 

This past weekend we took off for Great Sand Dunes National Preserve.

This has become something of a ritual trip with us this time of year. We've done the Medano Pass Primitive Road several times, and like hiking the trails.

This trip we stayed in Pinion Flats campground on the Preserve. We have stayed here before, tent camping and in our pop up.

Pinion Flats is bare bones. There's no electricity or water on site. Many of the sites are very small, well-suited to tent camping and small trailers or self-contained campers. If you decide to try for a Pinion Flats site, pay very close attention to the description in the booking process. If a site descriptor says 'RV to 20 feet' then take it as gospel, and the closer it is to that footage, the tighter it will be for parking your tow vehicle. Satellite surveillance via Google is helpful.

Though each of the loops has Campbell hydrants for water, the hydrants do not have a threaded connector. In other words, you cannot hook up a hose to fill your tank. You can get potable water at the dump station. It is well separated from the non-potable water for flushing out black and grey tanks and hoses. There is no threaded connector on this one, either, but it’s a flexible tubing with a fitting that allows filling.

The dump station is situated on a slope. For a Cassie, this was helpful in draining the grey tank, though we still had to toss a leveling block under the off side to get a proper 'lean' into the dump tank.

Each of the loops has 'real' bathrooms; that is, flush toilets, and sinks. They are clean and well-maintained. There is a dish-washing station at each of the bathroom buildings.

Our site was nicely shaded by pinions, though we were able to get a good sunny spot up the hill a bit for our solar panel. This is where a long extension cable is handy; ours is a thirty-footer.

All the sites are paved for parking RV and tow vehicle, with gravel pads for the fire ring and picnic table.

We hiked the Mosca trail, and the Montville nature trail, and part of the Ditch trail. We didn't do any part of Sand Ramp; this one is for either younger people or older folks who are insanely fit: "... after the first two miles, much of this trail is sandy soil or pure sand, up and down along the foothills, so this hike can be grueling. Allow for more time than the mileage indicates."

Yeah.

The foliage is not anywhere near peak yet. In fact, the aspens were just starting to turn. La Veta Pass used to be ablaze with aspens cloaked in fall yellow and gold but since the fire, there's far more Gambel oak than aspens.

Our last night there, there was a rip-snorter of a mountain thunderstorm. The lightning was spectacular, as was the rain. "Gully washer" is too tame. Next morning as we packed up, it was cold and damp, but the sky was perfect and the dampness brought out the forest scent so strongly it was like a drug. There was snow on Herard and some of the other peaks.

On the way back we stopped at the Veterans' Park in Fort Garland. The Squeeze was intent on scarfing up more milkweed, and snagged some additional rabbit brush as well. While there was plenty of both in the park,  The Squeeze will not  filch stuff from the parks and national forests. So she picked it alongside the county road by the city park. Item of interest ... there is a T-33 at the park. Well, the signage says it's a USAF T-33, but it isn't. It's actually a US Navy version of the T-bird.

Then we hied for home down US 160 to Walsenburg and thence on CO 10. The prairie is still quite green and wondrous.

A good time was had by all.

We always get a shot at the turnoff from US 160. Mount Blanca in the background.

Starting out on the trails above the dunes.

The beginning of the Sand Ramp trail. We did not go much further than this.

Mt Herard overlooks the national preserve.

Starting up Mosca Pass trail.

The sites tend to be small, but they are very nicely laid out.

 So we fled the scene over the Presidents Day weekend, visiting Santa Fe and Taos.

We took the interstate down, and came back up through Taos.

Saturday morning our first stop was at the Farmer's Market, where we had a really good cinnamon roll and a bowl of atole served as a soup.

We visited one of our fave churches - more than a 'church,' actually - the Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi. 

San Miguel chapel was just down the street from our digs. It's the oldest Catholic church built in the United States. Its history goes back at least as far as 1628.

We visited Museum Hill, another of our faves, this time taking in the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. Our last visit saw us in the Museum of International Folk Art, arguably The Squeeze's fave so far. The Spanish Colonial Art museum was closed for a special event, so we missed that one this trip.

No visit to Santa Fe is complete without a bit of face-stuffing. We hit Tomasita's for a late lunch on Saturday, snuffling their most excellent chicken tacos and a veggie burrito. The Squeeze thought the veggie burrito was exceptionally well done, with grilled onion, peppers, squash, and refried beans. A lot of these highly touted eateries are overblown in reputation; Tomasita's always lives up to their billing. They also have a range of excellent margaritas. The building provides a great ambience as well.

Speaking of overblown ... Cafe Pasqual's falls into that category, despite one of the best moles we have ever tasted. Perhaps the best. However ... their carne asada was really bland, though it came with a very good guac. Add to that, that diners are packed in like sardines, and the 'Pasqual experience' comes out lacking a good deal.

The Shed's another hot spot. With a 2.5 hour wait for dinner we passed on that, going instead for a margarita, a rather decent El Cumbre Amber draft, and a bowl of chips and salsa. Excellent ambience with a boistrous dinner crowd, good service, and a fun time ... though the 'Sweet Heat' margarita was a bit on the weak side it was nonetheless quite good, with a jalapeno-salted rim that added a bit of a kick.

Given that The Squeeze is a shameless chocoholic and more than a bit of a chocolate snob, no visit to Santa Fe is complete without a stop at Kakawa Chocolates, where we slurped and snuffled our way through a couple of Jeffersonians. 

And then we stopped by Miriam's Well School of Weaving, where The Squeeze lost her mind completely, albeit understandably given the range of fine yarns in stock.

On the way back, we stopped in Taos for a mid-morning breakfast. We tried Michael's despite it being low on our list of eateries. I've always found their Mexican dishes entirely too bland and lacking in imagination. With a 40 minute wait time, we opted for elseplace, with The Squeeze pointing out a little hole-in-the-wall outfit just south of the square on the main drag. Jalapeno's turned out to be a gem, with a chorizo breakfast burrito that far surpassed anything Michael's ever dreamed of turning out. The Squeeze went for a carne asada, which was also quite good. The green chile sauce on these dishes is perhaps one of the best we have ever snuffled.

With that, we hied for home, up through San Luis and Fort Garland and over La Veta Pass, pushed along by a gale-force tail wind that did wonders for gas mileage.

A good time was had by all.