March 29, 2026

Beautiful day again. Today after church and lunch we headed up over Log Hill. We stopped and walked a bit on the Escarpment Trail. There was some wind as usual there. We then headed up East Dallas to see how far we could go. Surprisingly we made it clear to the Blue Lakes trailhead. The road was mostly dry. That is the earliest I’ve ever made it to the trailhead. I read yesterday that this years snowpack in the San Juans is the lowest in history. I believe it now. The mountains look like it’s the middle of June. Hopefully we can get some moisture before it’s too late. I took some photos by the creek. It was beautiful up there and there were quite a few people but nothing like the busy times. 

 March 27, 2026

Today we headed over to Sanborn again.  We had a picnic of fire roasted hotdogs down by the Middle Sanborn Reservoir.  We met Dylan on the way.  He was coming back from looking for turkeys.  He found some and got a video of a Tom coming in pretty close.  The Pasque flowers are in bloom.  They're not as big this year due to drought.  The only wildlife - kind of - we saw was a horny toad.  Finding critters over there has been meager this spring.  I think it's because it's so warm.  The San Juans snowpack looks like the middle of June or so in a normal year.  We are still praying for snow up there.  God knows what He's doing.

 March 26, 2026

It was another warm day. 82. We messed around here. I mowed the lawn. It was too hot to walk. I sure miss my daily “dirt walks”. After supper we headed up to P77. Surprisingly it was totally dry. We saw a few elk there and on the Big Cimarron road. We only saw a couple deer. There were very few people which was nice. The bugs are already out in force. The Jeep windshield gets covered before we’re hardly out of town. Very warm even at 10pm tonight. We’re praying a lot this changes or it will be a very smokey summer. 

 March 25, 2026

Today Allen and I went coyote hunting in Sanborn. We didn’t see anything…no wildlife at all. But, it was unusually warm for this time of year. It was 72 over there and unusually snow free for this time of year. It was a good day outdoors anyway. 

 March 23, 2026

A nice cloudy day. It was still in the mid 70s. In the afternoon I went walking on the Sunshine Ridge road. They’ve done more masticator work in there recently. It’s much more open. I’m sure it’s for the wildlife in winter and fire mitigation. It was so thick in there you couldn’t walk through it. I’m sure the critters will love it. There are still quite a few elk and deer in there judging by the amount of tracks. I did four miles. It was quite windy up there. I only shot video so these photos are frame shots. This evening after supper we walked a couple miles around home. What a nice day. It’s going to really heat up the next few days so the clouds were nice even if there was no precipitation from them. Spring is in the air for sure.  Plants are popping new growth.  Photos from video frames.

 March 22, 2026

We went to church this morning. Then we decided to head up Gunnison way. We’ve been having record heat. It feels like May or June. It was mid 80s here yesterday and 90 in Delta. The little bit of mountain snow we have is going fast. More record heat all this coming week. We figured the Sapinero or Lake City cutoffs were snow free. Unfortunately both are closed until the end of May for sage grouse. Bummer. So we came home and took a very warm walk in the evening. Please Lord break this heat and dry pattern!

 March 20, 2026

More record breaking highs all over the west today. We were going to head up toward Ridgway today. This morning my buddy Allen text me that he and his wife went clear into Sanborn yesterday. So we shifted gears and headed that way. That’s far better than dealing with the Telluride zoo traffic on Hwy 550. (it’s no secret that I hate what that town has done to our area…from higher prices in everything to dangerous highway traffic and nonstop airport noise.  But the money worshippers who run things love it.) The snow was nearly gone in Sanborn. We got into a little mud in spots. We went down the Horsefly road and down the Crag Point road. The Crag was blocked off just partway down…I have no idea why. We did a bit of hiking - two miles. It was too hot to hike much. It was 73 over there. We didn’t see a single critter though. There were very few people…so nice and peaceful. That will change in a big way soon when the turkey hunters are out. 

 March 19, 2026

Very warm day. Depending on what thermometer you looked at it was either the upper 70s or low 80s. Really weird. There’s a huge wildfire in Nebraska…750,000 acres or so. Are we going to have another dust bowl this year?  This is the driest, warmest spring and winter I’ve ever seen. We are sure praying for it to change. A lot of farmers could go out of business if it doesn’t. Please Lord…end the drought! 

This afternoon I went up to the forest boundary to check things out. I couldn’t cross the dip due to mud and snow. But, I walked a couple miles anyway. It was even 68 degrees up there. Once again - frames from video.

 March 18, 2026

We went to Home Depot this morning and got 15 bags of mulch for the backyard. We scattered it around and actually worked up a sweat. Another day in the 70s. After supper we decided to head up Big Cimarron. We saw two herds of elk, about 22 deer in one group and a coyote. What a nice evening. The photos are all frames from video.

 March 17, 2026

Today I went with Allen up Cimarron. We surprisingly were able to go all the way over P77. There were a few sections of ice remaining, but it was still frozen. Later in the day it would be very muddy. That’s the earliest I’ve ever been able to go over that road. We went on up to the forest boundary on the Big Cimarron. That road was totally dry. We saw some elk and a large flock of turkeys. We then went up the Little Cimarron to the second bridge. From there the hill was icy and snow packed. There had been vehicles over it but we didn’t go any further. It was a good day. In the 70s in town. 

 March 13, 2026

Very warm today for mid March. It was in the mid 60s. This morning when we were outside Joann got bit by a mosquito. Crazy that they are already out. This afternoon I walked 5 miles up Sandy Wash road. It was toasty, but the breeze sure helped. I only took a few videos, no photos. It was a great walk basking in God’s great outdoors. This is a photo from the archives. Wetterhorn Peak  

 March 12, 2026

Today we decided to take the Defender out for a ride. It was warm, in the upper 50s but we weren’t too hot riding. Unlike previous machines we didn’t overheat. It was totally enjoyable. We roamed all over the Escalante Rim road country. We visited a point above the old Musser ranch that I hadn’t been to since back in February 2020 with the ole silver Tacoma. We also rode down the Rim Rd and over to Escalante Creek. That road sure has a couple gnarly spots. But, the rig handles it fine. Dry Creek was totally dry. Even the main stream wasn’t running that high. We stopped at Taco Time and had supper. What a blessed day.