Anne and I were planning to visit the Monte Vista area in
Colorado to see sandhill cranes that stop over in this area during their
spring migration. Anne decided to stay
behind to help look after our month-old grandson. Since most of the expenses have been
pre-paid, and are nonrefundable, we decided I would make the trip alone. This is the first sight-seeing trip I am
making by myself, so I will see whether I will have the same level of
enthusiasm as when we travel together.
Of course I used to travel a lot on business and on occasion would tag
on an extra day to see a new area, but that usually was with colleagues. Also, I went to Australia by myself a couple
of months ago, but that was to join up with other family members. Somehow this trip feels different, at least
at this moment with me typing inside the plane.
Friday March 7. The flight was at 7 am. I woke up a bit after 4, and left the house
at 5. I was surprised that the Turnpike
was already quite busy this early in the day, and EZ Way Parking was doing a
brisk business checking cars in. Things
ran quite smoothly, and I was through security a bit before 6. UA1248 left on time; it is quite crowded, but
there is an empty seat next to me. This
is 2:15 hours into the flight and I have not managed any sleep, though. Plane should land in 1:15 hours.
The plane landed a few minutes ahead of schedule. I got something to eat at McDonald’s, and
then checked out the rental car at Alamo – a Ford Fiesta with New Mexico
plates. At first I felt it was a bit
unstable, but eventually I got used to it, and the car has reasonable acceleration
and great gas mileage, even at these high altitudes.
The drive from Denver (at about a mile high in elevation)
to Alamosa (at about 7500’) involves climbing over the North La Veta Pass at
9413 feet. The more pressing problem was
the snow that was falling at that elevation, the problem in the back of my mind
was if I would have altitude sickness.
The last time I visited this area was quite a few years ago, I remember
driving by Leadville, Winter Park, Estes Park and other places, and developing
quite a headache.
In any case, I checked in at the hotel at about 3
pm. After settling down for a bit, I
drove to the Monte Vista NWR to look for Sandhill cranes. They didn’t disappoint: there was quite a
group lounging around an observation area.
The group close to us numbered perhaps a few hundred, and there were
more in the distance. While these are
large birds, the sight is not as impressive as the snow geese and gannets we
saw, mostly due to the huge number of the latter groups we saw.
After that I drove along the auto nature trail, but
didn’t see much.
Sandhill Cranes feeding. There are quite a few of them on the fields.
Lots of them taking off and landing in the background.
Foraging through the light snow that fell the previous evening.
Quite distinct in the way they fly.
The cranes become restless as sunset approaches. They seem to know it is about time to leave.
Hotel: Hampton Inn Alamosa, 3 nights.
Saturday March 8. After breakfast at the hotel, I drove back to
the MV NWR place to see the cranes again, sure enough they were still there,
although fewer of them.
This is the time of the Crane Festival at the town of
Monte Vista (31st, actually), and there are various events going
on. I went to the talk on “The Making of
a National Wildlife Refuge,” which is on the new(ish) Baca NWR. The speakers talk about various topics,
including the history of the land (started as land granted to Baca by Mexico,)
the water issues, the studies on birds, and that the “prime directive” of NWR
is to protect the wildlife instead of balancing multiple factions (e.g. gas
exploration, hunting.) All in all a
topic of at most moderate interest. By
the way, the Baca NWR is not open to visitors yet. I also stopped by the Ski-Hi Building to take
a quick look at the arts and crafts goods on sale; in that sense this is like
any other festival.
After a quick lunch, I drove to the other NWR in the
system: Alamosa. The most interesting
aspect was my short chat with the volunteer who was staffing the center. He is a retired biology professor from
Texas. Again I didn’t see much wildlife
on the nature drive. It occurs to me
that some point in time they must have expanded the term “wildlife” to include
the vegetation as well, otherwise it is difficult to understand why some of
these locations were picked to be refuges.
Since it was only mid-afternoon when I got done with the
Alamos NWR, I decided to drive down to Antonito, a town about 30 miles south of
Alamosa. The attraction there is the
Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. I
wasn’t planning to ride on it (it is closed for the season anyway,) but just
wanted to take a look. On the way I also
stopped by the oldest church in Colorado, Our Lady of Guadalupe; it was first
built in the 1850s.
Sunday March 9. Great Sand Dunes National Park is a
close 30 minutes from Alamosa, you basically make one left turn 15 or so miles
out of town, and then about 20 miles due north. The dunes are caused by sand grains blown
from the San Luis Valley but can’t make it past the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The actual archaeology and geology are a bit
more complicated than that, but this will do.
The 30 or so square miles of dunes reach a height of
750’. Frankly there is not much to see other than
the sand dunes. I did try to walk to the
top but couldn’t finish it. I blame it
on the high elevation (about 8100’) and the soft ground close to the peak. But I did make quite a bit of headway though.
The Sangre de Cristo Range east of the San Luis Valley causes the sand to be piled up into sand dunes.
The sand dunes rise as much as 750 feet above the valley, and cover an area of 30 sq miles.
I went back to Monte Vista and drove around looking for
Sandhill Cranes. At around 6:30 pm I
stopped by the “original” place and waited for sunset, which was at 7:05
pm. At 6:45 pm or so many cranes started
this flapping their wings and dancing (I am sure there is a term for it.) I know they like to spend the night in
shallow water to reduce predator risks, and was hoping that they would do a
group fly away at sunset like the snow geese do. Many did fly away, but only in small groups. I still managed some interesting photos, at
least that’s the hope.
Mountains along the Sangre de Cristo Range. The sunset colors are really nice.
I stayed at the observation area until after sunset, and caught some cranes flying away for the night.
Monday March 10. Today was mostly for the drive from Alamosa
to Denver. The trip if taken non-stop
takes 4 hours, so I had a lot of time. I
first stopped by Colorado Springs to visit The Garden of the Gods which we
toured many years back. The rock
formations were still the same, and this time I caught a raptor (probably a
peregrine falcon). What I didn’t know
was this place was given to the city with the proviso that it be free for
visitors. I got to Denver at around 4
pm, and decided to visit the Downtown Aquarium. It is a “gem” in the AAA guidebook, and was
okay, not quite in the league of the National Baltimore Aquarium.
Garden of the Gods was given to Colorado Springs with the proviso that it be free to the public. It is kept in very good condition.
With a permit, climbers are allowed to scale some of the rocks. Here are two of them.
Different people were calling this different things. To me they look like someone in prayer.
Hotel: La Quinta at Denver Airport.
Tuesday March 11. I woke up at 5:15 am to catch the 8
am flight. Today the process was quite
smooth, so I got to the gate at around 6:50 am.
The plane came from Alaska and needed an extra 20 minutes for cleaning.
I was upgraded to first class. Being in the 4th row, however,
meant my only food choice was cereal.
This is a relatively short 3 hour ride.
I ate something at the airport to make up for the paltry breakfast I
had, and then picked up the car and drove to Jersey City.
