Lanius Travels

Wednesday was a another beautiful day, despite the forecast. We took a 6 mile hike today, it was really a waterfall hike as you can see from the pictures. There was a Doe and a Buck on the trail also. Since Spring has finally come to the area, the wild flowers were everywhere. Virginia Falls, beautiful, but the spray was like standing under Niagara Falls. We got soaked. Buck on Trail Doe next to trail Same Buck close up Virginia Falls Bob and I at St. Mary's Fall St. Mary's Falls Baring Falls

Tuesday, June 22, was supposed to be rainy and cold, but what do the weather forecasters know. It was beautiful, sunny, and in the mid 60 to low 70's. Bob and I headed out to hike Ptarmigan Falls and Iceberg Lake. It was only 9 miles roundtrip with a gradual gain of around 1200 ft. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful hike. The snow melt was tremendous. Waterfalls everywhere, even where they were not supposed to be. The wild flowers were blooming everywhere. Except where the Snow was. This Big Horn actually crossed our path on the trail. Of course, we didn't get the picture until he stopped moving . Scenic view along the trail.

We started the day on Saturday early in order to get over to Sundance, Wy. Only 85 miles or so. We wanted to explore that area. Devil's Tower. After we got the rig bedded down , around 10 o'clock am. We headed out. First to the Vore Buffalo Jump. The Vore family owned property next to Highway 90. When they were building the highway, they were going to fill in a sinkhole and had to check to see if it was stable. In doing so, they discovered Buffalo Bones on top of Buffalo Bones. The Indians had used the sinkhole as a jump into which they herded the buffalo. They would then use all the usable parts and leave the excess bones there. This was used for several hundred years. As the dirt refilled the sinkhole, each strata of bones were preserved in cross sections. The first picture is of prairie dogs in the Devil's Tower National Park. The second is from the Vore Buffalo Site. Next is the Devils Tower and a view from the base of the Devils Tower. There were only 4 climb...

These pictures are out of order, but with the Indian culture so strong in this area, I needed to be sure that the Buffalo and Chief Crazy Horse were recognized. The Chief Crazy Horse carving has been being carved for the last 50 years. It is completely funded by the donations and admission fee to the carving area. Antelope with kids Crazy Horse Carving and Statute of what it will be when finished. We made it to South Dakota and overnighted in Custer, SD. wanted to see the National Woodcarvers Museum there and Jewel Cave. The Museum was interesting to me since I woodcarve. Most of it was about caricatures and movement of the carvings by machine. I'm not real fond of carving caricatures so I was a little disappointed that there were not more realistic carvings. The Jewel Cave was great. It had some formations in it that I had not seen before. There are a lot of crystals in the cave. Pictures do not do it Justice. Next we headed to Hart Ranch, an RPI Park outside of Rapid Cit...

Leroy & Barb Schmidt with Me and Bob We moved on to Greeley, Co. for the Rocky Mountain Senior Games. Of course, we played in the Pickleball games. Not having played much indoor, we didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be some great play. There was a great turn out for the games that started at 9:00 am with a venue in two places. A total of 9 courts were used. When we left at after 6:00 pm, the singles were still playing. Total results should be posted in a couple of days at the official website for the games. http://www.greeleygov.com/rmsg/default.aspx What I know is that I played at least 16 games with some of the games lasting 45 minutes each. Yes games, not matches. Women's doubles 60-64 Keren Zurbriggen and Jettye Lanius -- Gold Men's Doubles 50-59 Bob Lanius and Leroy Schmidt -- Gold Men's Doubles 60-65 Chuck Zurbriggen and Paul Brennan-- Silver Mixed Doubles 50-59 Leroy and Barb Schmidt (Palm Creek) -- Gold Bob and Jettye Lanius (Happy Trail...

We spent Tuesday in Town updating blog and working on web. I went shopping while Bob worked. On Wednesday, we took another hike, around 7 miles with an elevation gain of around 1,000 ft. Here are just a few of the beautiful scenes. The waters are flowing really fast due to the melting snow & warmer weather. They were starting to sand bag in places in Estes Park.