Sandhill Cranes

 

On Friday the 14^th we drove to North Platte. We decided to leave early to have more time with the Sandhill Cranes. We stayed at the Husker Inn, as usual, and had dinner at the Cedar Room.

On Satuday the 15^th we had breakfast at the Espresso Room in North Platte, and then headed to Kearney, and checked into the Days Inn. We had lunch at Wendys. We went to the Crane Trust, changed clothes, and then went to meet the Nature Conservancy folks for our visit to their blind. Nick gave us a presentation on Cranes, and what the Nature Conservancy was doing. We ended up with 30 people in the blind, which was not ideal. The cranes ended up well downstream of us, also not ideal. The spectacle was still impressive, with more cranes than we could count. After it got dark, we headed back to the cars and our hotel room. Margaritas Mexican restaurant was still open, so we ate there.

Sandhills in the field.

On Sunday, we went to mass at St. James church in Kearney, and then has lunch at the Laughing Goat. We drove back roads to see cranes in the field, and then stopped at the Audobon Society Rose Sanctuary. We made it to the Crane Trust to hear Michael Forsberg talk about his years photographing Sandhill Cranes and Whooping Cranes. We enjoyed the presentation; the hall was packed. Sandi got a book signed. We continued to Omaha and checked into our Airbnb. We had dinner at Spezia with the family to celebrate Jack's birthday week.

Monday we slept in, and went for a walk at Memorial Park. We had lunch at El Basha, and then went to see our accountant. We had to wait an hour to see him, and then it took two more hours to go through our taxes. We were tired after all that, and bought dinner at HiVee supermarket. We also changed our Airbnb reservations, because of a forecast blizzard on Wednesday.

Tuesday we had brunch with family, and then went for a 3 mile walk on the Keystone trail. The day was beautiful, shirtsleeve weather. However, a winter storm is forecast to start tonight.

We did a little shopping in Dundee, and then picked up a grandkid at school, and had dinner with the grandkid at El Basha.

Wednesday was a blizzard day, with I-80 closed, and everyone told to stay home.  We read in our cozy Airbnb house.

Thursday we drove home.  The roads were snowpacked and bumpy between Lincoln and Kearney, but otherwise good.  We were tired when we got home.

Puerto Rico

Friday we drove to the Hilton Garden Inn at the Denver airport, as we had an early flight. We had dinner at our usual Pho 92 restaurant, where we learned that the owner has a handicapped daughter, and that most of her employees have some kind of issue, if not a physical handicap, “Everyone has a story”.

Saturday, we took the shuttle to the airport at 4 AM, and were near our gate by 5 am, for a 7 am flight. The flight to Orlando was full of families, taking kids to Disneyworld. The families got to board before we did, so we did not sit together, not unusual for us on Southwest. We had lunch in the Orlando airport, before a 3:45 PM flight to San Juan. We took a taxi to our Airbnb, where we had to search a bit to find the right door to get into the building, and then got confused about which door was which. We had a code for the building, which had an electronic lock, so we looked for an electronic lock on the door. However, there was a lock box to get our door key for the apartment. Not what you want to deal with after a long day of travel. Unfortunately, it was Saturday night, and there was a pop up nightclub blaring a block away. We are not impressed by our host; there was no hot water, and no response to our email.

Sunday, I slept in, and we made it to the long 11am mass at the San Francisco church. We had lunch at LA Madre restaurant, where our waitress was very helpful. We then walked up to the nearby fort San Christobal, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The fort was in use for almost 500 years, by the Spaniards and then the USA. The fort is huge. 

 We noticed that the bricks paving the streets were blue; they were brought over in ships from Europe, used as ballast. The blue bricks were a byproduct of refining iron. We visited a good art studio and a real bookstore, which had some English books. We picked up groceries and hiked uphill to our apartment. Then we went to La Mezzanine, where we had very good tapas, including fresh hummus. The décor was mostly of art and newspaper clippings related to the drive for independence for Puerto Rico; our waiter also supports independence. We walked through the rain to Anita's Gelato, which was packed.

Monday I slept in. We headed for the El Morro fort, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is at the end of the island, with a large lawn area in front of it, part of the defensive design. The fort has mutiple levels connected by ramps, so that they could move cannon as needed. It is just huge, with six levels. The fort was started in the 1530s; it was repeatedly expanded and remodeled by the Spaniards and later the Americans. We had lunch at El Convento, a high end hotel. We had gelato at Anitas, and then took the ferry over and back to the mainland, letting us get a better view of the harbor. We stopped at Poet's passage, where we bought a print of one of the paintings by the owner, Nico. Nico is a very nice Frenchman who met a Puerto Rican woman, and never left. The blue bricks were prominent in the painting. We picked up a little from the supermarket and headed back to the apartment, having walked over four miles.

Tuesday we took an Uber to the airport, where we picked up a rental car and headed west. The first part was expressway, but then it was heavy traffic with stop lights. We stopped for lunch in Hatillo, at Marilyn's beach restaaurant. We had sandwiches, and watched people play in the water, very laid back. We continued to Ricon, where we found our Aitbnb, after driving around some. We visited the Econo supermarket, and Sandi cooked dinner.  We wandered down to the lighthouse nearby.

Wednesday we headed downtown, and had lunch at Cafe 413. We also bought a cable so we could charge our phones in the car, as the car uses USB-C connectors. Sandi bought a sundress at Ocean State of Mind, and T-shirts for gifts at Uncharted Studio. There was a health fair in the town plaza, with music.

Thursday we drove to Mayaguez, the second largest city in Puerto Rico. We admired the Cathedral and the town plaza, and had lunch at La Jibarita nearby. 

 We went to the boat dock in Rincon to go on our sunset sail. Unfortunately, we saw no whales. Richard enjoyed talking to the captain about boats. There was an art walk in the plaza, very popular, lots of beading work, but a little of everything.

Friday Richard slept in, and felt lousy when he woke up. He rested around the house, while Sandi knitted  We kept seeing Tsunami warning signs. We had dinner at the nearby Beach House, and heard a musician play. We headed to Domes beach, near the decommisioned nuclear powerplant, and watched the surfers and the sunset.

Saturday Richard slept in, we visited the Coqui bookstore, which we enjoyed. We had dinner at the Gylro Greek restaurant, and then went to mass downtown. Downtown was very busy

Sunday we drove to the Caguana Indigenous Ceremonial Park, which is the largest Taino ruin on the island. The Taino were the indians present when the Spaniards arrived. They were peaceful, and had women chiefs. The ruins were ballcourts, small versions of the Mesoamerican ball courts. We took our shoes off and walked in the mud. Some of the stones had petroglyphs, enhanced with black to be easily seen. The drive was on twisty narrow mountain roads, so slow and required concentration. We had dinner at the Beach House and then watched surfers at Domes.

Ceiba tree ar ruins

Monday we drove back to San Juan. We had a nice lunch at Mesa restaurant in Ponce. My phone kept routing us on very narrow twisty roads. We finally figured out that I had set my phone to avoid toll roads. After that we got on the toll roads, and made good time into San Juan. Our $300/night hotel was something of a disappointment; the room was small, there was no elevator, and no coffeemaker. We walked down the street to the Tryst hotel, where we had lunch overlooking the beach. The peoplewatching was great, including a large group of gay guys. We walked back to our hotel, stopping at Anita's gelato on the way.

Tuesday we got up at 5 AM, to leave the hotel at 6 AM for an 8 AM flight. No real breakfast opportunities at the airport that early. We flew to Orlando, had lunch there, and then flew to Denver. We got into Denver at 2 PM Denver time, but that was 5 PM Puerto Rico time. We picked up our car and headed home.

Puerto Rico has a very relaxing vibe. It was easy to move about the country. While it feels a bit like Mexico, Puerto Rico is clearly better off economically. Sandi was happy not to be constantly accosted by someone trying to sell something. We enjoyed hanging out on the beach. Sandi was happy to unplug in a hassle free environment It was easy to be there.

Paddling Canyonlands - Stillwater Canyon on the Green River

Mike and Tracy

Thursday night Mike came to my house to pick up the canoe, mostly to save time on Friday morning. Friday morning I drove to Mike’s house, and we loaded up gear and headed out. We went on to Boulder, where we picked up Steve. We continued south through Golden and drove west. We had lunch at blue Moon deli in Silverthorne, and bought gas in Grand Junction. We drove on to Moab, where we had to drive around a bit to find our group campsite, Datura C. 

We went down to Mike’s diner in Moab where we met Cathi and Dick from Arkansas. We had seen them on video conferences, but none of us had met them face-to-face. Craig joined us about the time we were finishing dinner. We walked over to get gelato at the food truck park, and drove back to our campsite. Ben and Dottie and Becky showed up about 9:30 pm.

We arrived at Tex’s about 7:15. We learned that one of the group was a no show, so our group will be 11 people. It was a crazy drive down to Mineral Bottom, with huge drop-offs. We saw some base jumpers jumping off cliffs with parachutes.  We got organized, and were on the water about noon. 

We had a muddy stop for lunch, and paddled until 5 o’clock, mostly because we were having trouble finding campsites, due to steep river banks and Tamarasks. Our camp was up a steep bank, but perfectly nice on the upper level.

Sunday was cloudy, but it cleared up.  We passed the Sphinx rock formation.  We traveled about 14 miles, and found a camp with a nice shade tree, where we all gathered.  It was continuing to be very hot.

Monday we got on the river at 9 AM. We paddled past various rock formations. Including two story ruin perched on a cliff; the access looked impossible. We had hoped to camp at a particular camp, but we found that there were people already camped there. We proceeded onto another camp at mile 9, and saw canoes there also. However, we realized that they had not unloaded their canoes; they were just taking a hike to see the ruins. We were glad to be able to stop, after 15 miles. The ruin was a grainary, near to camp.

Tuesday we got on the water around 9, as usual. It was only 9 miles to the confluence, so we were a bit lazy paddling. When we arrived at the Colorado River, we started looking for campsites. We tried one on the right, but there was not deep enough water for the jet boat. Then we checked the campsite on the left, and not only did there seem to be enough water, there was actually a jet boat mark on the riverbank. This became our campsite. We washed our muddy boats, per the request of Tex’s. In the afternoon we had cocktail hour, and people got fairly merry.

Wednesday we prepared to be picked up. The jet boat went by at about 10 AM, and went further down river to pick up some other parties, before returning to pick us up. The Tex's employees later complimented us on how organized we were, and how clean the boats were. The jet boat took us up the Colorado river to Potash, where they loaded the jet boat onto a trailer; we got on a bus to return to Tex’s. At Tex’s the employees handed us gear and boats, to be sorted and put with their respective owners. We had a nice dinner at Tapatio restaurant in Moab. Most of us returned to the same campsite that we had been in the previous week.

Our trip home on Thursday was uneventful, with Egg McMuffins in Moab, and sandwiches at Culver’s in Glenwood Springs. We returned to Boulder to drop off Steve and his gear, and proceeded on to Fort Collins.

All in all, it was a particularly great trip. Everybody was was very easy to get along with, and everybody knew what they needed to do. The weather cooperated by providing us no wind for the entire time, which was outstanding, and perhaps unprecedented. The group was predominantly composed of senior citizens, but that didn’t seem to keep us from enjoying ourselves. ;-)

Taos

We drove south to Walsenburg and ate at Georges’s diner. We headed west into the mountains; Sandi drove in heavy rain, all the way to Taos. We ran into construction and rush hour in Taos. Our B&B, Old Taos Guesthouse is lovely. We ate at Antonios; our waiter was the owner. His sister-in-law seated us. Richard was pleased to see chiles en Nogado on the menu.

The Taos Pueblo, about 1000 years old, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. A young lady named Turquoise gave us a group tour of the pueblo. She talked about several revolts and colonizers. The old church was demolished by US cannon fire during one revolt. We visited several artists, and bought some small items.

.

 Next we went to historic Taos, had lunch at Manzanita Market, and visited several shops, including Mooncat Yarn, Common Threads, Opcit books, galleries, and Taos Rockers rock shop. The rock shop owner was a geologist, who also designs patterns for knitters. We had an inexpensive dinner at La Cueva; the owner is from Guanajuato.

Thursday we headed north to the Rio Grande Bridge, over the dramatic Rio Grande cañon. Sandi bought a pair of beaded earrings from a Guatemala lady; there were many vendors set up there.

We continued to Arroyo Seco, where we visited Taos Wools; Sandi may take a weaving class there at some point. We ate lunch at Sol Restaurant. The town is delightfully arty and funky. We drove the twisty road to Taos Ski Valley, where Richard skied many years before.

We went on to the Millicent Rogers museum. It is a large museum of Southwestern Art, with pottery, jewelry, and wood carving.

We had dinner at La Terraza restaurant, and went across the street to Taos Llfestyle, a furniture store with an open area for concerts and events. The speaker was Mirribai Starr. She read from her book, Ordinary Mysticism. Sandi wanted to hear her, and she got her book signed.

Friday we went to the small community market at Talpa, and then to the famous San Francisco de Asis adobe church. It was too early for lunch, so we took a drive on the High Road to Taos. We had lunch at the Trading Post Market in Rancho de Taos.

In the afternoon we visited a used bookstore, Somos, and bought some $1 books

We had a light dinner at a new Lebanese restaurant, the Earth oven.

The artist's unique Nativity scene, with Jesus, Mary and Joseph on one motorcycle, and the three kings behind

In the evening we went to the Harwood museum, to see a very impressive show of work by Nicholas Herrara. He is a folk artist, making pieces tied to the religious and cultural traditions of northern New Mexico. This was an opening, so we got to meet the artist.

Our drive home was routine. We started up the trail to the Stations of the Cross in San Luis, but rain turned us around.

All in all a great trip.  We did a lot.

 

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Upper Green River paddle

I am continuing my project to paddle the length of the Green River.  Earlier this year, I paddled 80 miles with my friend Dave.  On this trip, Tom and I picked up where Dave and I had left off.

On Thursday, I drove up to Reardon Draw Campground, near Big Piney Wyoming.  Tom and Joan had already arrived.   The campground was primitive but not bad, with shade, and space for a few campers.  Joan cooked us a nice dinner.  She cooked dinner and breakfast for us each day.

On Friday, Joan drove us up to the Green River, east of Big Piney.   The river looked very low, considering that the gauge said 500 cfs.  A few miles below the put in, the New River joined the Green, and added a lot more water.  This area is ranchland; with some irrigation to grow alfalfa or grass for cattle.  There was some wind, but not too bad.  Our highlight of the day was seeing a moose.  When we got to where we had planned to take out, after 15 miles, we decided to continue on the 3 miles to camp.     

On Saturday, we planned to paddle 15 miles to Whelan Bridge, near LaBarge.   The weather was perfect, blue skies, no wind.  We did enjoy a bald eagle flying not far over our heads.  When we got to the Bridge Tom thought that we should continue, since things were going so well.   Of course, once we resumed paddling, the wind picked up, but not too bad.  The next take out was at Names campground, an additional 8 miles.  By the time we had gotten to Names, we were tired.  Joan picked us up.  My plan had us paddling the 40 miles from Big Piney to Names in three days, but we did it in two days. 

Beyond Names is Fontenelle Reservoir, which I plan to paddle in 2025.  I am getting very close to completing the Green River.  I need Fontenelle and a few days below Fontenelle.  I also need about four days south of Vernal Utah.  With any luck, I will finish the Green River in 2025.

Sunday, I drove home, with a stop to go to mass in Spanish in Rock Springs.  I was quite tired when I got home.

Yellowstone and Craters of the Moon

On Sunday August 4^th, we started our drive to Yellowstone around 10 am. We made a couple of stops, and arrived in Lander around 4PM, about 280 miles. The Mountain Range campground is only three years old, about 20 sites. No shade, but well cared for, with a nice view, and far enough off the main road to not have road noise.

Our host suggested that we visit the nearby Sinks Canyon State Park, where a river goes underground in a cave, and reappears a quarter mile later. It was a pretty canyon, and there was a pool with huge trout at the bottom. We were told they were 8 to 10 pounds, huge for trout. We had dinner at Cowfish restaurant, where we had a Oaxacan chicken salad, followed by ice cream around the corner.

Monday turned out to be an RV repair and driving day. The cable that operated the dump valve pulled out from the valve, requiring a lot of time on my back working over my head, and two trips to the hardware store. We stopped at the Sacagawea cemetary in Fort Washaki, and had lunch at a park in Dubois. We continued into a smoky Grand Teton National Park and then Yellowstone. After some confusion about what site we should be in, we settled in, only to find some loose bolts holding the slide motor. I tightened the bolts, but in order to prevent this happening again, I will need to drill all the way through the frame, and use nylock nuts rather that tapped holes.

Tuesday we agreed to minimize our driving. We walked near the lake in Grant Village, and had lunch at the restaurant there. In the late afternoon we drove to Old Faithful, where we sat on the deck and watched the geyser for the 7:10 Pm erruption. We went to the evening ranger program at Grant Village, on navigation.

Wednesday we drove to the Fishing Bridge area, and then to Storm Point, where we hiked over 2 miles to Storm Point on the lake. It is a loop trail; we came back through a forested area that had an impressive amount of downed timber. Then we headed for the Hayden Valley, looking for bison.

We did find a few bison there, including one that walked down the road next to us. We continued to Canyon, where we looked at the upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone, both quite impressive. Today we saw very busy parts of the park, a reminder to come back in September, as we have done in the past. We drove home, where Sandi made dinner.

We stopped at Isa Lake, straddling the continental divide; Amazingly, it drains both to the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico.

Richard was frustrated that he had no working phone or internet in the park. In the past, using AT&T, he had some coverage, but with T-mobile, nothing. The registration desk for the hotel was supposed to have internet, but too slow to be usable, even for getting email. Luckily Sandi has Verizon, which has some coverage in the park.

Thursday we hiked to Mystic Falls, near the Biscuit Basin, which was closed due to a recent hydrothermal explosion. Then we went to the Tribal Center at Old Faithful, where an indian couple from Pine Ridge were selling and educating the tourists. Sandi joined an impromptu drumming circle, while the man chanted. We headed back to the campground, and met Tim and Cindy, who drove down to meet us.

Friday Sandi cooked breakfast. Tim and I drove to the northeast corner of the park and fished the Yellowstone River. It was a 3.5 mile hike, up and down over a ridge to get there. The traffic was heavy, as you would expect in Yellowstone in August. We saw large herds of bison, an elk, and Tim saw a bear. Tim caught a nice Cuthroat Trout. We drove back to camp, and Sandi made a nice dinner. It was great to see Cindy and Tim; Cindy and Tim and Sandi got to get better acquainted.

Saturday we ate breakfast at the restaurant in Grant Village, and headed for West Yellowstone. We did some shopping, and ate lunch with Tim and Cindy. They headed home, and we headed for Island Park Idaho. Sandi had never been to Idaho, and was pleased to cross it off her list. We camped at Flat Rock campground, near the Henry Fork of the Snake River. There were many people boating on the river.

Sunday we drove to Idaho Falls, where we went to a Spanish language mass. Next we went to a kind of dive Mexican restaurant, where we could watch the old guys in the kitchen cook. We were told that everyone who works there is friends or family; the food was good. We bought some fresh tortillas for a dollar, fresh out of the machine. A cultural experience, for sure. We then went to the Museum of Idaho, where we learned about Idaho geology, indians, and history. We continued to Arco Idaho, where we stayed at Mountain View campground.

Monday we drove 20 miles to Craters of the Moon, which exceeded our expectations. We took a Ranger hike to a lava tube cave, which Richard explored. Some of the lava flows are only 2000 years old, and have barely started to revegetate. We continued to the Fort Hall reservation, where we had a very interesting conversation with the director of the Shoshone Bannock Museum. She speaks Shoshone, and made the museum worthwhile, telling stories of her youth and family. We visited a store to buy beaded earrings, where they also had a huge supply of bulk beads; beading is big in Shoshone culture. We continued to Pocatello Idaho, where Sandi wanted a photo in front of the Pocatello sign, to prove that she had been there. We called some RV parks, but got no answer or return call. We chose the Bastiste Springs RV Park because they answered the phone; they employee was very nice and efficient. The park is in an industrial area, but with a nice view of a green valley with a stream.

Tuesday we followed the Oregon and California trail to Montpelier, where we visited the trails museum, which turned out to be a hodgepodge of old stuff. We enjoyed chatting with the hospital auxiliary ladies, who were hand quilting. The quilts on exhibit were generally of high quality. We had lunch at Dan's, a small time 50's style burger joint. The area was mostly wheat fields, and very rural. 

This is a display of fossil coprolites, fossilized poop. 
Amusingly, it was found in the men's bathroom

 We continued to Fossil Butte National Monument, near Kemmerer WY. Sandi had a phone call to make, but I went into the visitor center and enjoyed listening to the ranger talk to a group of men whose job is to find fossils on private land. I got to ask my own questions as well. Not sure that I understood everything that he said, as there were lots of references to long extinct species. Sandi bought postcards and t-shirts for the grandkids. We continued on to Green River Wyoming, where we got a back-in site at Green River RV Campground. Sandi laughed at the small site; I unhitched and parked the truck in a vacant site. We discussed the various campgrounds that we had stayed in during this trip, and the pros and cons of each. Lander was the nicest campground, and the lady in charge was super-nice. Sandi said that she has camped in three different Yellowstone campgrounds, and Grant Village is her least favorite.

Wednesday was a routine drive from Green River home, using I-80 and US287.

Paddling the Upper Green River in Wyoming

I continue to work on my quest to paddle the length of the Green River.   In 2023, Dave and I paddled from Green River Lakes, in the Wind River mountains, to the Forest Boundary.   This year, Dave and I planned to paddle 80 miles, from the forest boundary to the Big Piney Cutoff.   Dave is a part time resident of Pinedale; these paddles are not far from Pinedale Wyoming.   

The drive up was routine, through Laramie and Rock Springs. I did stop at Farson at the general store, which claims to be famous for ice cream; they made me a big root beer float. I went to mass in Pinedale, with a Asian priest, who is very enthusiastic. I grabbed a sandwich to go after mass. I then drove up the Warren Bridge Road to Warren Bridge campsite number 12,  which is quite a good campsite. Dave had been set up with his trailer for hours. He had also run some of the rapids which we would do on Monday.

I had a cold night in my summer sleeping bag.

Sunday, we got up early and drove quite some distance to the national Forest Boundry. Even after the drive, we launched at 8 AM, which we thought was good. Somehow I managed to flip my boat on some flat water. Not sure how that happened. Perhaps a lapse of attention. Dave pushed my boat to shore. I managed to continue paddling, despite being wet and cold. It helped to have a rain jacket. Later, I stopped and took off some of my wet clothes. The dry pants that were in my semi-dry bag were not dry, so I put the other pants back on, which had dried a little bit.

Beaver swimming.  I was surprised it did not dive.

The wildlife was fairly impressive during the day. We saw a moose, quite a few elk, a few Antelope, a pair of Trumpeter swans and a couple of beavers. We saw no one else on the water, and only a handfull on land.

We continued on and reached the halfway point a little after 10 o’clock, despite the delays associated with my mishap. The high water meant that the current was pushing us along rapidly. I arrived at our camp at about 12:30; Dave had decided to explore a site channel not far from our camp, so he was behind me.

Dave was nice enough to loan me an old sleeping bag as a comforter, so I would not have to sleep cold..

Monday  we put in at our campsite. There were some rapids and one class 2+ rapid. I flipped when I hit a rock, and inexplicably flipped when I was in a calm eddy arranging my stuff. I think our average speed that day was about 4 1/2 miles an hour, the river was really moving. We moved to Warren Bridge campsite in the afternoon. We helped a lady with an electrical problem with her RV.

Lots of cattle

Tuesday we put in at Warren Bridge Campground, intending to paddle as far as Daniel. We got there at noon because of the strong current; we were going 6 mph! I decided to continue alone, with Dave picking me up down the river. I stopped at the wrong bridge, and met a polite rancher who chatted for a bit and then informed me that I was on private property. He also informed me that this was not the county road that I thought it was. So I apologized and got back on the water. I ended up taking out at Huston, making it a 30 mile day, probably the most mileage that I have ever paddled in one day.  I was happy not to have flipped. Our moving average was 6 mph! The day was notable for more moose than I could count, including a baby moose.

I had found what looked like a grave near our campsite, so I went to ask the campground host about it. He didn’t know anything about it, and he called his boss, who didn’t know anything about it either. His boss came out with a camera to take a photograph; they’re going to send the archaeologist out. Apparently their practice when they find a grave is to fence it off, which makes sense.

Wind River Range

Wednesday was a short day, from Huston to Sommers, only 5.7 miles, which took us less than one hour.  We decided to treat the rest of the day as a rest day.  Dave headed to Pinedale to do some work on the yard at his cabin.   I headed to Pinedale for shopping and lunch, and then back to the campground.

One of the many moose we saw

Thursday we put in at Sommers at 9 AM.  Sommers is an historic ranch with visiting hours.  We continued to see moose, more than we could easily count, including three baby moose.  We admired an Osprey soaring overhead. The river continued to be very fast; we covered 20 miles in 3.5 hours.  The take out is on the Big Piney cutoff road; it is unmarked, with a primitive boat ramp.

Friday morning we packed up camp and headed for Pinedale.  I bought Dave breakfast at the Heart and Soul cafe, and headed for Rock Springs, then Laramie, and home to Fort Collins.

It was a good trip, with cool wildlife.  Dave is a good paddle partner, and I want to thank him for his help with my quest.