Red Tail

 After Jax and I dropped off #31 at the train station Teresa got suspicious that we weren't just catching the same squirrels over and over so when she caught #32 while we were in town she painted it's tail red and we did the same when we took #33 up to the train station so now if we see a red tail, we'll know. Here's #31 and red tailed #33.

Never Bored

When hiking with Jax, never bored, the terrain changes so much in just a short space.

Hiking with Jax: Nothing better

Beach

Couple days ago a big beach, then some rain day before yesterday, and now all gone. He back in a few days when the water goes back down.

#27, #28, and #29

#27

Then there was #28.

#29 got creative on us. He ran around the train station rock a couple times, headed down the hill with Jax in pursuit (he's never caught one but hope springs eternal, like Kobae chasing a dog), saw the side by side out on the road, cut back and climbed up in the interior of the side by side where we csn't get to it. We had to catch a ride back to the lodge and go back in four hours and get it. If we stay there and wait it won't leave until Jax does.

Wood Cord

We have five fire pits on the property. One at each of the four units on the Last Hurrah side, two houses and two hogans. One at the lodge. From our regular guy wood was getting expensive at $175 for a hastily assembled truck load. We have a guy that will deliver a cord, which is about two and a half truck loads. Since I'm down to two trucks that can traverse Hurrah Pass we have to get a little creative to get the last half a truck load in so we stack it in rows and then stand some wood up around the perimeter and we can get another couple of feet or so in. Got to go kind of slow on the way back as the trucks are heavy. He drops it off and the unloading ramp at the end of the pavement so we can load downhill from the ramp into the trucks. This is one such truck after a lot has been unloaded already. It's a substantial discount the way it works out.

Busy Train Station

If you ever watched Yellowstone, they would take all the threats to their property to the "Train Station" which was a place across the border with no people, no sheriff, no anything, and dump them in a canyon. For 20 years I have tolerated the rock squirrels digging tunnels everywhere, collapsing the cisterns, eating the wires on two of my trucks, twice, running into the lodge, eating all the flowers off the desert willows, collapsing the branches with their weight, tipping over the trash......However this 2026 is a massive relocation operation. We put Kobae's leftovers, which are few, in a cage, trap the rock squirrel and take him to the train station and release them alive. Jax chases them around the rock designated as the train station and then they run off into the distance with Jax right behind, unless it's hot and then Jax is not as interested. The grooming lady is having a baby and Jax can't get a haircut for awhile so when it's hot, he's hot. This is #24 to the train station.

This is #25.

Then there was #26 who looks like this. I'm nervous we're going to pass the number of Haydukers we had this year which was 45.

Base Camp Sign

Teresa did a cool thing that I didn't think of for 20 years. She added some arrows to the Base Camp Entrance sign talking about lodging, camping, disc golf, and an arrow pointed to the drive way as we've had a few people miss the corner and wind up driving to the sand hill. We had to build the drive way entrance up to keep it from washing away each time we get a decent rain.

The Beach

The river is so low you have to drag kayaks about 50 feet to get to water but the beach is huge.

Bad Roads Lead To Good People: Noah

Noah comes out every year for three or four days and stays in the Condo, usually with three or so friends. They always ask me about something unique which usually has some difficulty to get to. They've climbed up to The Crack, Two Trains, Three Guys on a Roller Coaster, the abandoned mines in Dripping Springs, the 30 minute hike through the mine by Three Guys that goes out the other side, Amasa Back, Jackson Ladder, inside Jackson Butte, and this time I sent them the back way up Dripping Springs to the top of The Anti Cline. The quality of the guests we get out here is amazing. Noah handed me this.

Desert Willow

The three Desert Willow tress which always bloom between the 10th and 14th of May first started blooming April 30th this year. Since we're 24 Rock Squirrels short maybe the flowers will survive with out all being eaten.

Train Station

Jsx and I took Rock Squirre #24 to the train station. Except we don't kill them. Should be quite a colony up there somewhere.

Jax and I

Doing what we like to do the most.

Haydukers

Mechanic came through and then Iceman.

Happy David Goggins came through.

Clouds and Blur came through. Haydukers #s 46 and 47.

Hiking with Jax

We're both still doing pretty well after all these years.

High Water Mark

Generally the day after the high water mark in the Colorado River is when the mosquitoes show up. Most years it's after Memorial Day somewhere. Three nights ago there were two mosquitoes and none since. The water barely covered our beach for about a week and made it to the bottom of the beach stairs for a few days and now has retreated. To get in the river we have to drag the kayaks about 30 feet across the beach. On this day last year the snow pack in the Rockies was at ten feet. This year it's a little under three feet. There's nothing left to melt. I think we've hit our high water mark. The dock over at the boat house was level for one day and now the water barely touches it.