Ghost Ranch- Near Abiquiu New Mexico

Ive always wanted to check out the Ghost Ranch that was made famous by Georgia O'Keefe.  She lived here almost every year. This was where she created some of her gorgeous desert paintings.

This is a resort center where many groups come for various activities. It happened to be family week while we were there. This is the church building. I attended an orientation with some singing one night here.

There are beautiful cliffs all over with many colors. We wanted to do some hiking. They have very sketchy hiking instructions. They have a list with only the location of the trailhead.

We reserved a room near the pool months ahead. I wasn't able to get a room on the phone but day of they had an opening in a bunk room that I had to myself.  It was nice to stay right on the grounds.

There were sweeping views on the one hike we went on. It was so hot in June we could only do one trail in the morning. I definitely want to go back after researching where the 5 trails go.

We carried water spray bottles during the hike to keep us cool I would recommend to go in Spring or Fall.

We loved all the desert plants.

On our last day we went on a tour entitled "Footsteps of Georgia O'Keefe" We were allowed onto property that Georgia visited regularly. The tour guide had many paintings that were painted from the desert scenes we saw.

This was the actual setting that inspired the above work.

I asked about the bone paintings she did. It was explained there was a famine when she painted and lots of cattle bones were all over the land.

Here is another painting "Hill"

At the end we got to see her actual home while she painted here. We were not allowed to go in because they are still working on the structure to allow visitors. She has another home in Abiqui a short distance away you can visit. Next time we will check it out. We did have dinner at the Abiqui inn. Highly recommend eating on the porch. Delicious!

Chaco Canyon National Monument- New Mexico

We went camping in New Mexico to check out Chaco Canyon National Monument. Here is our camping site that Debbie found for us. It was wonderful because it had a bit of shade covering because of the high rocks on either side. It was SO hot in the day- almost 100 degrees but the evening cooled down nicely to sleep in our tent.

We did several hikes in the early morning before it got hot.

There were many ruins from ancient Indians that had gathered here and built structures. Between the early 900s and 1100s Chaco was the center of far-reaching trade networks extending in all directions.  The first trail we took went to Casa Chiquita to see the Petroglyphs.

Here are some of the Petroglyphs we saw. They had nice little guide books you can buy in the bookstore for 75 cents for each trail.

The ruins weren't much to see on this trail but lots of Pictographs.

The next morning we hiked further to Penasco Blanco. We had the place to ourselves but enjoyed the cool morning. There were rock formations and some Ruins at the end.

This is what the trails looked like.

There were lots of desert plantlife.

Here is the Fajada Butte Overlook as you come to the visitor center. We were worried there would be no ice anywhere. There was some ice at the visitors center. No food to buy. Only a few snacks at the gift shop.

Our last trail we took was the best ruins of Pueblo Bonito. We purchased a guidebook that had lots to tell us about the old place. For the Hopi and Pueblo peoples of New Mexico, Pueblo Bonito is an important place where clans stopped and lived during their sacred migrations. 

The large site is a great house with multistory construction and kivas built starting 850 AD.

The guidebook is divided into numbers for each site to stop and read. Here shows where a big rock of sandstone had fallen on part of the building in 1941. 

There were four great kivas in the plaza of Pueblo Bonito. These included wall niches, fire pits, and masonry boxes built to support the roof.

There were four different door types used in Chacoan architecture. Here is a t-shaped door .
We enjoyed touring the ruins and hiking among the desert landscape. I would recommend to visit in the spring or fall rather than the Hot summer.

Cub Lake- Rocky Mountain National Park

We started at the Fern Lake Trailhead.

There is a Big Thompson river along the trail. Fun bridges to cross.

The river was running very fast.

The wildfire burned in 2012  3500 acres in the Cub Lake, lower Forest Canyon and Moraine Park ares, making it the largest wildfire in Rocky Mountain National Park History.  

Coming to the Cub Lake.

Cub Lake is known for the lovely lily pads. It was a bit too early for the blooms.

We spotted a young Moose. There was no mother to be seen.

We took the road back to the trailhead. Hike was approx 4.6 miles.

Devils Head Lookout- Pike National Forest

This was a lonely drive out to the Trailhead. I would recommend carpooling by meeting in the town of Sedalia. The road the last 35 minutes is washboard and slow. There are lots of camping sites and other trailheads that dirt bikes use. There is a restroom an picnic table here at the trailhead. The trail is 2.8 miles round trip with elevation gain of 940'.

This is one of the few remaining fire lookout left in Colorado. A 79 year old ranger still oversees the tower in the summer months. Here is an article from the Denver Post:
 http://www.denverpost.com/2011/07/10/still-useful-fire-lookout-tower-once-cutting-edge/

The trail begins with junipers and super tall Aspen trees as you climb the moderate trail.

I found it helpful to bring a hiking pole for the way up.

Once you make it to the tower- its 143 steps to the top.

The 360 views of mountains upon mountains are beautiful and reward for the climb.

Pikes Peak was still covered in snow at the beginning of June.