Back Home from CMSP

We are back from our short camping trip to Cheyenne Mountain State Park. Our timing getting home was perfect as we were welcomed by the hawk that frequently comes by to perch on the tree in front of the house. I was alerted to his presence by the Brewer’s blackbirds singing their hearts out.

The hawk doesn’t usually stick around for long. Today, however, he sat on the branch for nearly two hours. Changing positions occasionally. Grooming his feathers at times. My guess is that he might have had his eyes on the blackbird chicks hidden amongst the branches of the tree.
I wasn’t on the terrace when the hawk finally flew away. There was no commotion, however, so I am guessing that he left empty-handed today.

So, that’s what happened when we got home. How about what happened earlier in the day ... while we were still at CMSP.

When I got up at 6:00a the sun was shining bright. No wind. And the temp was merely 48F. Definitely not the temp one would expect on the first day of summer. No matter. We were cozy inside, with Mui deeming our mini ceramic heater a best buy.

By the time our minds turned to our morning meal, the temp was up to 51F. I stepped outside and determined that it was definitely an al fresco breakfast kind of morning. This time the weather cooperated with our plans … no extra layers required at the last minute.

After breakfast, we took care of our chores and began to break camp. By 9:30a, we were all set to leave our site to go for a short hike. Taking the Cruiser down to the Limekiln parking lot meant we wouldn’t have to worry about getting back to our site in time for the noon check-out deadline. Turns out that we didn’t have to worry about that.

The Limekiln parking lot has three sections. The first one had twice as many cars as compared to yesterday. But the second lot was empty … perfect. We parked up the car and the Cruiser and set off on our hike.

The plan was to do part of the Zook Loop, connect to the Medicine Wheel by-pass, and then get back on the Zook Loop again. All in all, I expected that we’d be hiking about 1.5 miles, with an elevation gain of 127 feet at a comfortable grade.

Well, we did gain that elevation — pretty steady uphill from the get-go — but our plans didn’t quite pan out. We relied on the trail map in the parking lot because we didn’t have the paper map with us. That map showed that we’d have to take a short jaunt on Blackmer between Zook and Medicine Wheel. So, we kept looking for the purple trail marker. No such junction.

Looking at the paper map later, we should have taken the first orange marker to get on Medicine Wheel. Darn. I’m guessing the trail junction was changed at some point. And, of course, it is easier to re-print paper maps than it is to change the signage boards. Oh well, we ended up doing just over a mile instead … all on the Zook Loop. Better than no hiking I guess, but that’ll teach us not to leave the paper map at home.

Short though our hike was, we enjoyed it quite a bit. Except for occasional sections strewn with big rocks, it was relatively flat. Despite the number of cars in the lot, we again had the trail mostly to ourselves, running into the occasional biker or hiker. No critter sighting; and flowers seemed to be few and far between. But the scenery was beautiful.

The temp was 72F by the time we got back to the Cruiser a little before 11:00a … up 12 degrees in the hour or so we were out on the trail. It felt a heck of a lot hotter in the sun. After hooking up the toad, we were on the road, heading back home. No issues with Saturday traffic. By noon, the Cruiser was snuggled into its spot at Bill’s Storage and we were at home.

Our next camping trip isn’t until July 2 and we will venture a little further afield.Read more