Afterthought ...

At the risk of hogging the blog, I can't resist sharing this image of a pothole in the slickrock at Canyon de Chelly when we were there Tuesday afternoon. It was VERY cold, but the high-altitude sun was producing a little melt around the edges of this tiny lake of ice. TV

Bakersfield or bust!

Made it to Bakersfield, in a longer day than intended.

Flagstaff was still snow and ice when we left, and travel was slowed on I-40 till Seligman or beyond. Then it gradually began to warm up as we got lower in elevation, the highway cleared and we were able to move along. By the time we had lunch in Needles, the temperature was in the 50s and it was shirt-sleeve weather. 

Then we hit the mountains east of Tehachapi ... in a few miles and minutes, the temp was down to 34 degrees, the wind was cold and there was a frosting of snow on the hills around us. The view above, with windmills on the crest of the hills, shows the weird, shifting patterns of clouds and sunlight we saw till we were out of Tehachapi and on to Bakersfield. Beautiful, rosy sunset colors painting the clouds and showing through in spotlighted areas where there were holes in the clouds.

We saw a billboard advertising a good price for a new La Quinta Inn in Tehachapi. We must have spent 45 minutes wandering around Tehachapi, asking people where it was, getting sent to the wrong places ... even folks at the post office knew nothing about it. Never saw a directional sign, never saw a big sign that you could see from a distance. We finally gave up and went on to Bakersfield and, after we got in the room and checked the La Quinta Web site; found them listing a location that must be in the only part of Tehachapi we did NOT search! 

Anyway, the snow and light and clouds were fascinating to see and that was a good part of our journey. It looks bright, clear and sunny this morning, so the rest of our journey to Stockton should be lovely. Sandy has suggested taking 99 instead of I-5 and, being in no hurry, that sounds like a more interesting route.

Good/bad news ... We got word from Mancos that now we have SO MUCH snow that the avalanche danger on a part of the Mush course is high enough that we will have to cancel the 40-mile run we were planning each of the two days ... just two 30-mile runs for a total race of 60 miles. That cuts down the variety of challenge a bit, but it raises the prizes for the mushers and, for spectators, it should have the effect of compressing the finish times ... more teams coming in closer together.

Of course, the implication for those of us who live in the Mancos Valley and rely on snowpack for our water is that, if the snow continues through February and March (usually our period of greatest snowfall), we will be in good shape water-wise next summer. For those who aren't familiar with the Mancos Valley, the Town of Mancos, Mesa Verde National Park and all of us domestic and agricultural users in the valley depend for our water on the rain and snowmelt that runs off the La Plata Mountains. TV

Where to start?

What a day! We left home in 1-degree sunshine and roads that were glare ice, ended up in Flagstaff, 400+ miles later, about 7:30 p.m. in clear weather in the high 20s. (Actually, as I think back, it started blowing and drifting as we approached Flagstaff, and it was a blizzard by the time we left our room to go get supper ... but it really was clear north of Flag before dark.)

The picture above, of Spider Rock in Canyon de Chelly National Monument, shows why it took us so long. What a day!

We crept along in 4-wheel-drive on US 160 toward and past the Four Corners Monument. The bright sunshine on fresh snow was beautiful to see on the landforms we were passing. Past Mexican Water, we turned south toward Chinle, going up the Chinle Wash (which flows north toward the San Juan River).

It was a great day to see and photograph the sandstone monoliths, buttes and mesas that dot the Chinle Wash ... blue sky above and white snow below, sandwiching the red rocks. 

At Chinle, we stopped briefly at the visitor center (where I saw an old NPS friend) and drove up the South Rim Drive to the Spider Rock overlook and worked our way back down the canyon. It was SO beautiful!!! The air was crisp and clear ... and cold, and the colors were sharp and beautiful. 

Time was getting away, so we took a pass on Ganado and Hubbell Trading Post NHS for this trip, turned west and went out through Hopi country to Tuba City and down to Flagstaff. A quick side trip up onto First Mesa gave us the awesome view from the villages on the top. Going west from Hopi in the sunset always gives you a vast landscape, painted with shadows and pastels from the sun and clouds. South from Cameron to Flagstaff in the dark ... well, there's not much to say. 

It was a long day, late when we got fed and settled into our warm room at the Pony Soldier (I stayed here about 30 years ago ... they've fixed it up since), but we have great memories and pictures, and we'll be back! TV

A new, clear day

Yesterday was pretty bad weather. It was snowing hard enough that a meeting in Durango was canceled. It snowed all day, sometimes the little hard pellets of snow, sometimes big flakes ... all of it with the temperature hanging right around 32 degrees. Just for variety, Mother Nature tossed in a taste of blizzard for a while last night, with a fierce wind blowing the snow ... and everything else ... around. 

At 1 a.m., when I had a little moonlight stroll with the dog, the moon and stars were out and there wasn't a cloud in sight. Same thing at 4:30, with a temperature of 4 degrees.

The Mancos Snotel just came on with this morning's readings: 66.6 inches of snow at 10,000 feet, up 8.3 inches from yesterday's readings!

So, I'm looking forward to beautiful snow scenes as we head west across the Navajo Nation this morning. 

We spent the early part of the school day yesterday at SWOS with the staff and kids and the rest of the board members who could make it. The Baptist Church next door, which has been SO supportive of the SWOS kids, let us use their assembly hall for a giant circle to be together as a community and to speak out about the losses we were feeling. Most of the kids and teachers spoke about Kai Craig, who was a student, but several also remembered her mother, Suzan. The memories of Kai were very multi-faceted reflections of someone ripped so suddenly from their midst. There were extra counselors on hand, but, in a way, every staff member was probably a counselor yesterday ... they're a lot closer to the kids than in traditional teacher/student relationships. TV

The highs ... and an awful low

It's finally stopped snowing, after keeping at it all day yesterday. Six inches of fresh snow on the ground in front of the house. The Mancos Snotel, located at 10,000 feet, shows a snow depth this morning of 58.3 inches, up four inches from yesterday's reading before dawn. Good new for the Mancos Mush.

That's not much comfort, though, in the face of news yesterday that one of the SWOS students and her mother were killed Saturday in an auto accident out near Naturita. Kai Craig and her mother, Suzan Greefkens, were on their way to Denver, where Kai was to receive the Golden Key Award in a state ceremony for her 16-minute animation. The roads were icy and that seems to have been a key factor.

Kai had just been featured in a Cortez Journal story about local Golden Key winners. 

Southwest Open School is a close-knit community, and "community" is the focus. To my knowledge, we haven't had a student death before and this is a very heavy blow to that community. So, Sandy and I are going over to SWOS this morning to help in any way we can. This is likely to be a long, teary, wrenching day. When I heard the news, I just wanted to look up into the sky and ask, "Why?" Not for us to know, I reckon. TV

The Renaissance Ball

Last year Southwest Open School started a chapter of EPYCS ... El Pomar Youth in Community Service. Folks in Colorado know El Pomar Foundation is one of the biggest philanthropies in the state. A few years ago, they started a youth philanthropy program. El Pomar donates $7,500 to a high school group that raises a set matching amount ... at least $500. 

I think the SWOS chapter raised about $3,000 last year, and was recognized as the outstanding chapter in the region in their first year of existence. In addition to taking on the janitorial chores at a local shelter and other fundraising activities, they sponsored a Renaissance Ball. 

Last night was this year's Renaissance Ball, shown in the picture. We were impressed that a number of the kids really did dress up in medieval-like clothes and looked great. The music was ... well, not exactly minuets, though we did at least recognize a few songs. Good, clean fun! As Sandy noted, it's a good thing it wasn't held the night before, in the blizzard!

Don't know how much the kids raised, but I hope it was a good amount. They will now accept requests for funding from local nonprofit organizations, set up their own criteria for donations and pass along the cash they've raised to worthy causes. The SWOS kids probably have a little different view of community service organizations than the average high school student does; many of them have seen firsthand how they function.

More snow, inner glow

Well, Thursday started and ended in snow! 

There was about an inch-and-a-half of new snow at dawn, with sputters of snow off and on through the day. The first view at the right is of Webber Mountain, at the south end of the Mancos Valley, shrouded in clouds. 

The second picture is of SWOS students doing Sixties songs during the student art exhibit reception at the Cortez Cultural Center last night. I had meetings in the afternoon, so Sandy joined me for the reception. When we walked out of the Center, we walked into a blizzard! We drove in tandem back to Mancos ... the 24-mile trip took about 45 minutes! In places, we could hardly see the road, traveling at 15-20 miles an hour. We probably got another four inches of snow, total, which may translate into a lot more up on the Mush course.

SWOS (Southwest Open School) is an alternative high school that's publicly chartered; it's part of the Montezuma-Cortez School District, though it accepts students from Mancos, Dolores and Dove Creek as well as Cortez. I've been on the governing board for less than a year, and it's quite an experience. In the songs presented last night, the kids were doing tunes that they'd had two days to practice ... the music they had been working with was stolen. They got into it like troupers and gave a very good performance. 

You can see the variety of flatwork on the walls behind them ... there must have been at least a hundred pieces from the students, along with a few from staff and board members and some student poetry. Some of the poetry was read to the audience by the authors. It was gratifying to see at least a dozen "sold" stickers go up before we left.

It was also gratifying to talk to a person I know whose child transfered to SWOS this year. She was enthusiastic about the changes in her student ... wanting to go to school, not being bullied, interested in her subjects - and not having to choose between art and music! tv