Green Table - Mesa Verde

Today we visited Mesa Verde (translated - Green Table) National Park learning about the Ancestral Puebloan's and their habitats from 1400 years ago. It was actually pretty nifty!! We participated in a tour guided by a knowledgeable park ranger explaining the various facts regarding the Cliff Palace. The most intriguing fact was learning the Puebloans disappeared without much trace around AD - 1300 taking with them any cultural artifacts defining their culture. It is speculated the culture dispersed and integrated into other Native American tribes. (or it was the Aliens!)

Enjoy some pics.

An overlook of the Cliff Palace.


Rebecca says she looks like a bug!


A small hike to the Palace.


Everyone is smiling while standing in front of a structure within the Cliff Palace. Cliff Palace has approximately 150 rooms. Archeologist began studying this dwelling around the 1800s.


Overall it was a pleasant day, 50 degrees and sunny with some winds. MVNP is located approximately 36 miles west of Durango. To view all the pics taken on the event visit the link to my Picasa web site.

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!

Avalanche Course: Field day 2

Today was field day 2 of the Avalanche field course! We went to Red Mountain Pass approximately at 11k and skinned up to Red Mountain 3 at 12k. We learned macro and micro route selection while considering what we learned from the past two days.


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Here are some of the pictures.


I am modeling my new backpack! Black Diamond Anarchist I absolutely love it! Notice how the picture is washed out by the snow. The day was cloudy, so no blue skies, but the day was still beautiful.



Tyler, near the top(12k) of Red Mountain 3. Notice the lack of blue sky and the wind blowing at his feet. He used his snowshoes while carrying his snowboard. This was his 3rd day ever snowboarding and in avalanche ridden backcountry; wait, someone is knocking on the door right now, oh, it is just a representative from the child-protective services.

However, the gang was impressed with his athleticism! (I was very impressed, and watching Tyler snowboard almost brought a proud tear to my eye.)

The gang up on the top.

Summary: the course was worth every penny. Invaluable course, I was thoroughly impressed with the instructors and their presentation of avalanche information. I would highly recommend anyone considering stepping their pinky-toe in the backcountry to attend this course.

Avalanche Course: Field day 1

Tyler, Jim, Dan O (co-worker) and I registered for an Avalanche course through the company Southwest Adventures.

The purpose of taking the course is to become familiar and risk-assess the variety of dangers while snowshoeing and skiing in the back country. I feel exposing Tyler to these courses at his age is exciting! I hope I am not living vicariously through him; however, he is excited about learning more avalanche details and states he wants a splitboard!

The course is three days long and utilizes the curriculum from the AIARE organization. The first day of didactic instruction consists of: avalanche anatomy, causes, effects, rescues, and risk-assessment. The second day was held at Molas Pass learning how to conduct rescues using tools such as beacons, probes and shovels. The last day will focus on route selection in the back country toward potential ski areas.

Josh, one of two outstanding instructors! (Don't tempt him with beef jerky, he will immediately morph into Sasquatch)



The class heading out. Engineer Mountain in the background. A beautiful day!


Above, Tyler and Jim simulate a search for me buried in the snow. I buried my backpack with my transmitting beacon. They are using their beacons as receivers to find the location.



Tyler narrows the search while Jim uses the beacon to possibly hit the "body". Aaron, on the far right, is another of our outstanding instructors.


After beacon finding we learned about digging snow-pits. These pits provide indictators regarding the various snow layers. The characteristics of these layers are merely one factor in assessing avalanche danger. Pits are 2 meters in length by 1.5 meters wide and the depth can be to the ground; we dug approximately 1.75 meters deep.


Jim and Tyler now identify and examine the layers!



A snap show of the various classmates digging their pits!


Thus far, the class has been priceless! I thoroughly enjoy the education and look forward to taking the Avalanche 2 course! Tomorrow I will post day 3 of the course! Click here to view more pictures from the course located to My Picasa site

Avalanche Course

I am attending an winter course during the weekend of Feb21. It is a 3 day A.I.A.R.E. Qualified Level 1 Avalanche Course. I am really looking forward to learning the basics of this topic and I do have plans to continue with the Level 2 course next year; apparently, the San Juan Mountains display unpredictable avalanche occurances. That being said, the San Juans are a center of attention regarding study by avalanche experts.

Learning about avalanches includes identification, avoidance, and rescue. All of which results in relative safety while exploring the backcountry! I feel this education will enable safer further exploration with friends and family deeper into the backcountry while skiing, snowshoeing etc! This class is the tip of the iceberg regarding future opportunities for whatever the future may hold!

And, I am told by a reliable source, the ability to Zen-out when exploring the backcountry is spectacular!


Here is a link to the company and course I am taking. South West Adventures . Here is a common website used as another indicator before travelling in the backcountry. Avalanche Site click on the regions to read reports of that area.

Video Editing

First attempt with audio and video editing from my FUJIFILM FinePix F20.

Tyler Snowboarding!

Be sure your speakers are on!

2nd day

Day 2 at Wolf Creek, we had two full days this weekend downhill skiing at the resort. Yes, Tyler's helmet is in the mail.



Getting ready to shred the "white gold"




I felt Tyler displayed exceptional skill by performing controlled S-turns on day 2!

Check out the below video.

We will be hitting Wolf Creek next weekend for day 3!

Brianna focused upon her toe-slipslide today (The next step after heel slidding), and expect her to begin her basic S-turns next weekend! Rebecca also attended the event and performed well on the bunny-hill. She will be on the bigger slopes as well next weekend.

It begins!

Today, the kids and I drove to Wolf Creek ski resort east of Bayfield to build upon our downhill experience. I cannot expect to be in the back country tomorrow if we cannot apply simple downhill skills at a resort today.

Stage one: get them comfortable skiing downhill and learning the basics of snowboarding.

The pictures below are of a simple slope within Wolf Creek that the Nova chair lift accesses. The newbie slope is perfect for learning novice snowboarding skills and is ideal for Tyler and Brianna. Skiing only this lift costs $20 dollars and I felt a fairly reasonable price. Lessons are also available; however, the expense is now $60 dollars for lessons including the Nova lift, this seemed a bit more expensive and we decided not to attend the lessons.

Tyler and Brianna researched the web for the basics of snowboarding and felt comfortable applying their book knowledge. After I felt confident they were on a path of progression I decided to go explore the resort's more difficult slopes and it went better than I thought. What can I say, I am a stud.

I returned from the various slopes to check upon Tyler and Brianna. I noticed many snowboarding lessons were ongoing and I thought to myself "those suckers are paying so much for lessons, pfft. who needs them!". Tyler and Brianna smiled as I approached and excitedly informed me of their learning. "Dad, we have been sitting out of noticeable view from these classes instructors and picked up tips for free!" Oh boy, my brain spun and I had mixed emotions when I heard of their frugal action: one, I felt like a cheap bastard and two, I was quite impressed with their perseverance. Life goes on...

Here is Brianna: her first EVER day of snowboarding. Click any of the pics to view the full size image.


She already looks like a PRO!


Tyler and Brianna decided to do a synchronized downhill.


It was a BEA-utiful day, not a cloud in the sky!


Tomorrow we will be heading back for locals day; a cheaper price is a result of this special day! Rebecca will be with us displaying her downhill skills!

Anniversary Hike

We decided to go on a hike/snowshoeing celebrating 17 years of marriage. We were really looking for any excuse to go explore and the anniversary excuse seemed fitting. We revisited the hike I completed yesterday with Matt. Thanks again Matt for sharing this route.

Here is the crew on snowshoes and Tyler looking too serious. The temperature was in the upper 30s with a storm heading our way; we could feel the wind velocity increasing while the sun was playing hide and seek. Thankfully for the first part of the hike you climb from 7900 to 8350 allowing the heart rate to increase and keeping us warmer!

We found a decent overlook at the 8350'ish look. The trail would continue on into the Weminuche Wilderness. We have plans to definitely explore this much further! As I mentioned in the picasa editorial. There is something about visiting the mountains, sitting, relaxing, and eating food. Everything tastes, smells, and feels better. Maybe I am an becoming an addict, but I will wear that badge with pride.

Color coordinated, smiling and happy. Once again, what more can you ask for?



To view all pictures taken during this event please visit My Picasa site with editorial comments included.

To view all pictures during the Ozvat Experience, feel free to visit it's parent directory located here.

Mental break.

I felt like exploring some new areas. Matt suggested exploring a drainage near Vallecito Reservoir. The trail head begins North of Vallecito within the San Juan and enters the Weminuche Wilderness. The dryer month of January has made for some beautiful sunny days hovering around 40 degrees. These sunny days alter the snows behavior; hiking with the snowshoes feels like walking on Creme Brulee. One moment you are walking on top of the snow, next moment you broke through the harder top layer and sink into the underlying layers.

Here we have Matt and Samson striking a pose overlooking what I think is Vallecito creek around 8000 feet.

Same overlook as above, to my right is the drainage (Vallecito Creek) it was a decent drop. The picture does not do it justice. Notice the ice formations on the bottom left of the picture.

Looking up the Gorge in the general direction off Irvine Peak (13051ft)

All in all, it was a great relaxing mellow hike, (much needed, thanks Matt) Today, I just purchased a decent set Backcountry skiing. Karhu BC 100s, beacon, skins etc. I am itching to get skiing again, especially in the backcountry further away from folks. (Am I turning into hermit or was always one by nature?)

Tyler and Brianna now both have snowboards; I am hoping they get into the lifestyle and want split boards in their near future. Rebecca expressed interest and wants to start skiing as well. One day, maybe we will be a complete backcountry family!