Friday, November 1, 2024

I Spy on the Trails - October 2024

One small area of the Big Kachina petroglyph panel 
in Bears Ear National Monument

October has been full of travel hikes. So I have been watching the trail sides in Colorado, Utah, Madison, WI and along the North Shore of Lake Superior with only a few brief hikes in the Driftless.

I’ll share a few observations and thoughts in each travel region. 

House on Fire Puebloan granaries
Bears Ears National Monument
The name comes from the unique way the sun
reflects off the overhanging rock.
Image - Linda Pole
In UT, CO and NM, we arrived at the peak of the aspen color season as well as before the cold hit other trees and plants. Our hikes were centered primarily on Ancestral Puebloan and Chacoan cultural sites and geographical features of the Southwest. We took advantage of opportunities to go on interpretative hikes that expanded our knowledge of the culture and peoples who inhabited and thrived on the land long before the appearance of Europeans. While our eyes were dazzled by the incredible geology, our minds were swept away by the petroglyphs, buildings and exploration of the ancestral and modern cultures of the Indigenous people of the region.

To my delight, in Bluff, a small community in southwest UT, the highway welcome sign says “Bluff Utah, Founded 650 AD". We seldom see communities acknowledge the precedence of indigenous ancestral people. I found great meaning in that simple statement of fact.


Image- Nola Larson
Back home in the Driftless, I took advantage of the high fall leaf color time and slightly cooler temps to hike up bluffs and mounds for great views with no sweating! My biggest surprise, during these climate-change-fueled, lingering above-normal temp days, was a friend's discovery of a blooming Jack-in-the-Pulpit on a trail in Hixon Forest (WI).  It was a sobering testament, along with unseasonably warm temps so far into Oct (70F on 10/28/24 and 82F on 10/29/24) to how our climate is warming


Just-past-dawn hike at Pincushion Mtn
to a gorgeous outlook - Grand Marais
Along the North Shore, there were still some patches of beautiful colors despite the forests being past peak. My hiking partner had badly sprained his ankle so we alternated driving adventures together with my solo hikes. 

I did all my hikes at the crack of dawn to leave time for afternoon adventures. I was alone on all the trails, and at outlooks and viewsheds. It was wonderful to find that level of solitude in parks and trails that are busy even in the off-season. I treasured that experience. 

With Lake Superior and the amazing geological formations everywhere, I didn’t need flora or colorful leaves to dazzle my eyes. I was a truly happy hiker.


What are YOU noticing on your hikes?



A month of hikes:
Hikes below in bold color or underlined have links to previous posts OR descriptions/location of the trails found online

Walking through a series
of underground storage areas
Aztec Ruins Nat'l Monument

Bluff, UT & Bears Ears National Monument

Aztec NM



Chalk Mountains and aspens
San Juan National Forest



Pagosa Springs, CO
San Juan Mountains National Forest






Madison WI 



A "keyhole" peep at leaves and sun through
massive rocks in Levis Trow Mounds
Image - Lavon Court



Driftless Area
Upper Hixon Park, La Crosse WI 
Levis Trow Mounds, Black River Falls WI 














Dawn at Temperance River-Carleton Peak SHT trail

North Shore of Lake Superior
Pincushion Mountain, Grand Marais, MN






Rock scrambling to Wolfman's petroglyph panel
in Bear's Ears National Monument UT
All my Driftless bluff hiking paid off!
Image  - Lee Coveney

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters

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