Trails 2000 Phil's World

Today, Tyler, Brianna, and I attended our first Trails 2000 event. Trails 2000 is a volunteer organization dedicated to creating and maintaining existing trails surrounding the Durango area. These trails are for hiking, biking, horse etc.

After hearing about this organization through friends, I felt the importance to regularly be involved with the activities for a number of reasons: one, the family's exposure to a culture new to us coming from the East, and two our kids can learn the importance of volunteer work and the impact it has upon a community.


The picture below shows the group getting ready to work and setting up the after-work BBQ! Notice all the dogs! Gwen would love it!

We worked near an enjoyable biking route called "Phil's World." It is located near Cortez, CO approximately 40 minutes west of Durango. The route we worked on is a new trail for beginner mountain bikers! Brianna and Rebecca will really appreciate this trail. (As soon as we purchase their bikes, which they both expressed interest in owning their own mountain bikes; needless to say, was thankfully influenced by the McFees.)

There are many tools utilized when creating a trail, the three of us had an effective process where Tyler initially dug any roots and rocks, I then raked his remnants and any loose soil while Brianna followed up stamping the trail.



After the trail, work everyone enjoyed a BBQ. The group then enjoyed a mountain bike ride over the trail. Unbeknown to McFee, I caught two gang kids (Notice the gang signs Brianna is throwing up) trying to steal his new single-speed. Thank goodness I caught them in time!

Rebecca unfortunately worked today but is looking forward to the next gathering.


Click on any of the images for the full size version.

Andrews Lake - Snowdon Peak

Today we decided to snowshoe the area south of Andrews Lake and enjoyed the Snowdon Peak vista. The kids were feeling lazy and decided to not attend; this allowed Rebecca and I to enjoy the day as temporary empty-nesters. Our upcoming future!

Rebecca and I posed for the 10 second timer. We are standing in front of a few named mountains: the Grand Turk, Sultan Mountain, and Bear Mountain (ranging from 12700 ft to 13300 ft)

Warm enough to wear a short sleeve shirt when the wind was not blowing. In front of me is Snowdon Peak.

Wheh, made it to the top! We ascended from 10600 ft to approximately 12300 ft. The hike was 3 miles.

Rebecca displays her acting skills on the camera. 3-2-1, ACTION

On the way back down, Rebecca stands in front of Engineer Mountain. We are going to summit Engineer during this summer.

It was a great day! Click on any of the pictures for the full version.

Arches National Park

Today, we decided to ride up to Arches National Park, it is two miles north of Moab, Utah. The trip is approximately 3 hours from Durango. We visited a few other sites but focused on the Delicate Arch.

Video from a window looking at the Delicate Arch

Notice the Ute petroglyphs in the background.

Here I was telling Brianna to get pumped up before we started the 1.5 mile hike to the Delicate Arch.

Finally, we made it to the arch...

There were lots of other folks there initially. It was a beautiful day, 65 degrees and minimal wind.

Tyler, Brianna and Rebecca walking away from the Arch, I appreciated this picture as it displays the relative size of the arch.

This shot was from a 10 second timer! Not bad!


I appreciated the sun here over the arch.


Click on any of the pictures for the bigger version. Overall the trip was great, it was not too bad of a drive. Now I have to re-read Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey!