Maybe … was up Cerro Grande yesterday, and the gate for the road going down toward St Peters was open.? From up top on Cerro Grande, I could see a vehicle parked at the gate to St Peters where the gate is always locked.

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Historically, gates have been unlocked April 1 or soon after.? The gate on 32 mile road must be open as Geo and company went to Clara…

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Fd

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The “area of peak 9700 may be “open,” but the ROAD from the ski basin to the parking for the trailhead, is not.? It is gated and locked.

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fd

Coupla things…

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On the east side there are three deadend parallel roads.? Houses are being built on the upper two.? We parked on the lowest and most east, which is gated, walked south on this road, then on the usual paths up.? Distance was 1.5 miles, and up 900 feet.? Soft wind blown sand, one hour ascent, 30 minute descent hi hi.

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Radio conditions.? Not as a result of the drop off near the antenna, rather than short deep QSB, the QSB was deep but long lasting.? Even after arriving home then listening I heard nothing from W1ND in TN for fifteen minutes, then he appeared, rose to 589, and after ten minutes faded, dropped to nil.

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On another note… t-dahhh… no, seriously… Debby and I went to a Los Lunas restaurant called Europa.? We enjoyed it very much.

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73? fred kt5x

Dire wolf, for obvious reasons, in Wikipedia came upon this: A dire wolf fossil found in Hermit’s Cave!?? “Kurtén designated a found in Hermit's Cave, New Mexico as representing the nominate subspecies C. d. dirus.^”

There apparently are only 169 mexican wolves known in New Mexico.? Mostly I think in the bootheel, the gila, and into Arizona mtns.? They need to be in a pack to bring down their normal big game like deer and elk.?

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fd

New Mexico history:

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Something more about the Jemez, Cochiti, San Ildefonso, and the reconquest.

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I saw the ruin of the Cochiti ancestral pueblo revealed in the aftermath of the fire.

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Black Mesa, the mesa you see to the north from Otowi peak and just north of present day San Ildefonso, is the mesa of which they speak.? I have been up it with Enky, the head kashari at that time, and he told me his version of the battle there.? He said that the Spanish canon could not reach the mesa top, and showed me where the canon balls had hit the sides of the mesa. He showed me the cave that is mentioned, and he showed me how braves were able to climb down the back side of the mesa, and run down river to solicit help from the Cochiti.? They then caught the Spanish between them and chased them back to santa fe.? Enky said they caught and killed the Spanish attackers, but since the attackers included vargus himself, they must have caught only some of the Spaniards.

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Enky showed me shrines on top of black mesa, in Tewa called, Tunyo, and he showed me river rocks.? The geologist in me was puzzled by river rocks on top of the basaltic mesa, but now I see the Indians carried them up to use as weapons to, throw onto the Spaniards below!

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More about Enky…? Encarnasio Pena, Indian name, spoken Soquawa but he always wrote it Soqween, he was born in the early 19teens.? He was educated at IAIA as a painter.? He was a teen when he was part of a team from Harvard that excavated the Pecos Ruin in Rowe.? He told me stories about his time there.? He also was involved excavating Bandelier which is ancestral to the San Ildefonso.

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typical of his paintings:

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Enky said the dancers always wore sprigs of the spruce tree.? He said it was a symbol of purity.? The origin of this tradition comes from Spruce Tree House in Mesa Verde and the full story can be found told by White Bear Fredericks in Book of the Hopi… ?I walked up canyon from Spruce tree house as described by White Bear and found the story in the petroglyph just as White Bear drew in an illustration in the book.

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fred

First the good news, Steve Gachupin, King of the Mountain, was able to return home today after nearly three months in hospital then assisted care.? Steve is six time winner of the Pikes Peak Marathon in the 70’s and a very dear friend.

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Tom says there is a ruin on top of Guadalupe Mesa.? This is between La Casa Mesa, and Garcia Mesa, both SOTA peaks.

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You can read the story here:

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The battle of Astialakwa:

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fred

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Club Moab Itinerary: Mar 27th-Apr 1

Day 1: Gemini Bridges, Baby Lions Back, Fins n Things ($5 per day per vehicle or $10 for 7 day)

Day 2: Shafer Trail/petroglyphs/Long Canyon Trail?

Day 3: Seven Mile Rim Trail/Tusher Tunnel/Dino tracks

Day 4: Hells Revenge ($5 per day per vehicle or $10 for 7 day), Town/Souvenirs

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Of these,

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Day one:? Gemini Bridges, very easy, the road up off the highway affords brilliant views, and the Bridges themselves are neat.? A DOPE drove his jeep onto the bridge, missed the bridge and plunged to his death.

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Day 2: Shaffer Trail and Longs Canyon, in that order is down hill off Island in the Sky… tell your friends that your SOTA buddy ran up Shaffer Trail (passing trail bikes).? Just had to.? Petroglyphs, along river, along highway, assume that is what he means, see if you can find the BIG BEAR glyph.? There are three tiny Indians with bow and arrow, I think together took it down.? I think three teens just had to tell the story!

Shaffer was a rancher and drove his cattle down that in the fifties I think.? It is the beginning of the White Rim Trail.? If you follow the White Rim Trail for just a few miles, you will get to Mussellman Arch. Worth the side tour.

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There IS a 4x4 track that goes along side of Deadhorse Point, and down to the hwy by the river that is in itself a very neat excursion.? There is an Arch, signage to it, that can be hiked to, short hike, but terrific, over the paved highway that approaches Longs Canyon.

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Day 3 and 4 are beyond my pay grade ?

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Fd

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