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It's better in the winter — this is early December |
I was over in
Fremont County, south of
Cañon City, in an area where I used to wander some twenty years ago. Back then, a hike meant following deer trails, arroyos, or an occasional two-track road.
Now there is a trail network. That's a good thing, mostly.
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Stumps + rusty iron = trail art |
Winter is the time to be out in this country. The sun is bright, there is only a little ice in the shady spots, and the "piñon gnats" of summer — those little bugs that fly into your eyes, nose, and ears — are absent. So are rattlesnakes.
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Layers of shale. |
I found this little slot canyon that I had not known about.
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Tint the photo pink and say that you were in Utah. |
Other people knew about it though, as their old graffiti attested.
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1901 ?? |
I learned that some people believe there are dinosaur tracks in the canyon. I have seen tracks in places like the
famous trackway out in the Purgatory Canyon. To me, the various dimples in the rocks looked more the result of erosion.
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I don't think these are tracks from a prehistoric beach. |
But there is always something. These trails are on BLM land, and a Canadian mining firm,
Zephyr Minerals Ltd., wants to core drill part of the area and maybe mine it — or sell it to some outfit that would. So instead of year-around recreational area, there would be a big hole in the ground, maybe a cyanide-leaching pad or some crap like that.
There is a potential for polluting Grape Creek, which brings down the
DeWeese-Dye Ditch & Reservoir Company's water from the Wet Mountain Valley to serve hundred of shareholders large and small on the south edge of Cañon City.
So another battle to be fought.
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