Washington Capitals Hockey 9 Dec

Had great seats for the Caps game.  Just off to the left behind the bench.  My section did not have glass so I could hear what the players were saying, what the coaches were saying and what the trainers were saying about injuries, sticks, tape, and gloves.  I could lean over and nearly touch the players.

Geocaching in the Ramparts

Today did a little Geocache hunting.  We knew of one that is off one of our favorite trails---Deadman's creek overlook.  Here are the pictures... Enjoy

Found it under a tree near a cliff

 Contents included a few things. You are welcome to take something, but then you should leave something.  If you take something it's customary to put it in another cache.

 Even the dogs were searching for this little box.

 Zamboni gets distracted and starts looking for squirrels.

 Bridie saying "I think its by this rock"

 Overlooking the Academy and Dead Man's creek.

In case you are looking, this is the tree...

Greenland Dog Park

Well finally after all these years, I am the Mayor.  Well, its a foursquare Mayor, but nevertheless, I am the Mayor of Greenland Dog Park (fourquare).  Here are few recent shots of the Dogs and me.

This is the view looking South from the Northeast corner.  You can see why the dogs like it-plenty of running room.

 Of course this time of year it is still active with little critters trying to find food for the winter, and my dogs trying to dig to find them.

Bridie Murphy rolling in the grass to get the smell of the land

 Zamboni just likes to run, she often does one lap with us, then gets lost digging.  When she comes up for air, she runs to where we are.  Once she would not come back to leave, so we left her.  She did not mind as there was plenty to do.  So had to go and drag her back home.

Found something!

Could they get their heads any further down the hole?

 Pikes Peak in the background.  From this view you can see why Zebulon Pike thought he could just hike up there in one day. The summit is about 25 miles from this point.

A newly refurbished barn sits north of the dog park.

Pikes Peak and Mt Herman

Panorama of the area

Colorado In the Fall

People know about Pikes Peak, but there is a back side to it.  Took a trip up when the Aspens were turning and this is what I found..  Wish the sun was out, but you can still see the Gold.

The back side of Pikes Peak

Above the Cripple Creek mining area

More of Pikes Peak

An hour in beauty to relax and unwind

This is San Diego University.  I was up there for two reasons; I have seen it from the Highway and always wondered what it was, and a friend working on a project asked for me to take pictures of Churches that had letters he could use in posters.  I needed to find letters to spell things like Love, Christ, Catholic, etc.   I got a lot of O's. You know how hard it is to find A's or C's?  I wish I had traveled up here sooner.  It provides a nice view of San Diego.  I think I will figure out the shortcut from the Air Port to the Spectrum center so I can spend a few moments here when I arrive.  

Hike up Palmer Watershed

Tried out a new hike today over in Monument.  It follows the watershed for the town of Palmer Lake and Monument.  Its pretty well traveled so you will run into a lot of people, but for this type of hike that is okay.  You start off on the edge of a canyon and follow the watershed.  You pass two reservoirs and when you finish the second you are about a mile in.  Then you have some choices, follow the access road or take any number of small trails up into the hills.   Bridie took the hardest one, it was steep, but got us the best view.   We ended up on an access road that leads to Rampart Road.  This was the first time in a long time that I came across someone in a 4-wheel drive vehicle, an old Range Rover.   We were probably 3 miles in now so turned around.  Thank God Bridie was paying attention because we came on a very small and hard to see trail.  I checked my GPS a few times and Bridie was right on all the turns.  She has good hiking sense.  I went farther than I wanted, but this has a lot of level hiking areas so it's not a constant grind until you get to the end of the second reservoir, then its steep and does not stop for over a mile.  The geology is interesting.  Lots of granite  I would rate this easy to moderate.  However, you can make it challenging by just picking one of the many side trails that seem to be everywhere.  Be sure to take your GPS or know where you are going farther in this trail its easy to get lost as the roads wind and intersect all over the place.

New Morning Exercise--Hiking the Ramparts

So I decided that since the sun comes up so early every morning, and the dogs need a good walk to leave me alone, and I work well into the night sometimes, I have started a daily hike up Stanley Canyon.  I don't go all the way, that is 2 1/2 miles and about a 3 hour trek.  I only go up to what I call the twisted tree--that is a huge log that is all twisted.    Here are some photos.  In the early morning you see more wild life; wild turkeys and deer.  The bears are still staying up high, they start coming down in September to gorge...  I link this hike because there is a nice stream and the dogs love that!  Starting to see the summer amateurs.  Entire families not prepared for the day.  For the most part they are lucky and they don't have to deal with the weather or poor conditions.  Some still wearing sandals on a medium grade hike--unbelievable.