High Country News

Dominguez

Anyone that may or may not be reading this: I encourage all of you to check out High Country News on the Web at www.HCN.org.

It's a great news magazine that explores issues of the American West. It focuses mainly on natural resources and the cultures surrounding them. A lot of cool investigative stuff. So if you care about nature and what it has to offer, make sure to check it out. Spread the word! Let me know what you think.

I've been blogging a little for The GOAT Blog, which is a part of the HCN website.

We do on the ground reporting...

Boots of Spanish Leather

Dominguez Canyon area.

Around here, people know where you've been by the mud on your boots. This weekend, I took some of our recycling to Grand Junction, which is about an hour and a half West of Paonia. On the way back, I dropped in on the real Dominguez Canyon area. I hiked about three miles in but still didn't see the petroglyphs everyone's been talking about. It was getting dark, so I hiked back out. Definitely an area worth going back to. My boots were all covered in red mud when I got back, and people knew almost instantly where I was.

me and the cool bridge.

And for the past few days, I added a layer of gray mud to my boots. That's from visiting a farm after a couple days of unexpected rain. The farmers at White Buffalo Farm showed me around and we chased Daffy (the duck) around for a while. There's been a bobcat that's been catching some of the birds on the farm, so they wanted to help Daffy out and put him in a safe place. We never caught him while I was there though.

Pretty landscapes you don't get to see on the East Coast.

The boots I brought out here are usually what I wear for longer backpacking trips back East, but out here, they're good for everyday use. They feel like tennis shoes now; I've worn them every day. It's either been snowy or icy here, so they've come in handy.

Weirdest rock I ever did see.