Dick Brooks and live at The Ranch, 10 miles North of town on Hwy.550 is selling ski tuning equipment & waxes. He is asking $100 for the items shown above. Their cost new is “in the neighborhood of $500.
Dick’s cell is 512-797-7603.
Dick Brooks and live at The Ranch, 10 miles North of town on Hwy.550 is selling ski tuning equipment & waxes. He is asking $100 for the items shown above. Their cost new is “in the neighborhood of $500.
Dick’s cell is 512-797-7603.
Recently I was asked at what pace I hike in comparison to the Durango Seniors Outdoors pace descriptions. That’s a good question and one that it appears can be difficult to answer satisfactorily if you’ve never hiked with the person. My moderate pace could be quite speedy for some or slow for others. I know I go more slowly than some hikers uphill but faster down. I also know I can clip along off-trail faster than many. So to really answer this properly I think you need a yardstick for comparison. I propose that yardstick is a single timed hike that everyone knows and probably does at least once a year (if they can deal with the crowds). That hike would the loop from the Coal Bank Pass trailhead to the social rock on Engineer Mountain and return.
That’s a super common hike with enough elevation (1145′) and distance (4.67 miles) to assess speed relative to many on-trail San Juan hikes.
Having now suggested this, I decided to time my hike this morning by walking at my normal pace for this loop. My results for this loop are almost exactly 2 hours total. That pace is 2.33 mph which is my moderate speed. I didn’t attempt to make it speedier or slower, but just walked at the pace that I normally clip along at.
So what Seniors Outdoors pace is that and how close do the SO paces match up with your expectations? To get a real answer you need substantive comparison to other hikers against the proposed metric and then build speed categories within some timed percentage of common hike times.
For instance if many hikers fell within plus/minus 5 to 10 percent of this, that might be a category. Building an accurate category list would be dependent on having sufficient data points (individual timed hikes). To that end I’d suggest the next time you do this hike…time it and send me the results either by email (wimberosa at gmail) or posting a comment on this blog. I’ll add it to the following table and see if we can come up with good speed categories.
Dave Craft
Many of us have accumulated outdoor items and clothes that could be put to life saving use by donating them to individuals without permanent shelter.
Harding Cure brought the collection at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church to our attention at the last SO meeting. Put your old tents, sleeping bags and warm clothing to a good use…..help our homeless neighbors survive the Durango winter.
Support & Services Donation Day,
November 23rd from 9:00am – 12:00pm
@ St. Marks Episcopal Church, Durango
Many SO! members may have used gear and clothing that they no longer use which could benefit the unhoused in Durango.
Needed item are:
And if you can’t pull things together in time for this event, Manna Soup Kitchen is always a great place to drop off items.
Manna accepts ongoing donations of outdoor gear throughout the winter. Each day after meal time, some clients volunteer to clean up the soup kitchen. In return, they are provided clothing, sleeping bags, tents, etc. So there is an accountability piece that plays into Manna’s outgoing donations.
Manna Soup Kitchen also serves brunch on Christmas Day when they distribute gifts, such as coats, sleeping bags, hand warmers, and whatever other winter gear they have.
Manna accepts donations as long as they have someone on the campus. This is generally Monday Tuesday, Thursday, Friday from 7 a.m. – 5 p.m., Wednesdays from 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., and weekends from 7 a.m. – noon.
Please consider one of these worthy causes if you have winter clothes or gear that you no longer need.
As many of us are seeing the first snowflakes recently and this week is decidedly colder, many of our thoughts are turning from hiking, climbing, biking, and water activities to winter activities like snowshoeing, downhill skiing, cross country skiing, snowboarding, ice climbing, and more. Before you know it, we will be posting avalanche precautions on the website again!
As we gear up for the cold weather outings/activities, we welcome blog submissions about fall/winter activities, tips/tricks, your favorite outing this time of year, or your favorite clothing/equipment.
And if you don’t have a blog submission, let us know if we should continue the blogs on the website (email blog@seniorsoutdoors.org). You have probably noticed that we have made a change in that the entire blog is included in the email announcement about the new posting. This was done in response to one member’s comments. (You can still read all of the blogs on the website as well.)
Our membership is so diverse in skills, age, knowledge/experience, and interests that not everyone will be interested in every posting. We’ve tried to provide a variety of information although it has been geared a bit more for the members that are newer to the area or activities. Submissions from/for the more experienced members are welcome to make the postings of interest to a wider range of members.
And speaking of gear, if you want to sell (or give away gear), that can be posted on the blog as well. Please note that Seniors Outdoors! will not take responsibility for the accuracy/condition/safety of any gear postings however we will provide the blog as a vehicle for members to connect to sell gear.
And don’t forget that Seniors Outdoors! members receive a 10% discount on regularly-priced merchandise at the following retailers: Backcountry Experience, Brown’s Shoe Fit, Brown’s Sport Shoe, Gardenswartz, Pine Needle Mountaineering, and Spaah Shop. Just tell the merchant you are an SO! member.
Here’s to a great winter season!
Now that we are starting to have some rain, it is time to think about hiking in the rain…or getting caught in a storm while you are out hiking.
As you know, the weather here is ever changing, especially in the mountains. Sudden showers crop up so be prepared.
While this won’t cover all considerations, I wanted to remind you of at least a few ways to prepare:
This may be basic but it is just meant to jog your mind and plan ahead.
Have some favorite rain gear? Shoot me an email and we can let our members know.
Dell Manners gave me an unaccredited article on lacing your shoes/boots for a better fit. Since our feet are key to almost any activity that we do, a quick review of common issues may be of interest.
Pictures & details: American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society®
Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Foundation, , Enwild.com, and an unknown source.
I love Gail Davidson’s ball cap/visor with the havelock drape to protect her ears/neck from the sun. Janet Reichl modified an existing ball cap for her. Instructions are from Janet below.
How to Make a Ball Cap into a Visor
This is an easy project that will work with any ball cap that has an inside band that isn’t too thick to sew through.
Now I hate sewing so I came up with a faster/easier idea, although it doesn’t look nearly so nice. I took a clean handkerchief and a ready-made visor (so I don’t have to cut/sew) and pulled the handkerchief up from the inside and let it drape down a bit. So far, this has stayed in place and is easy to remove and throw into the washing machine. Janet aptly pointed out that it could blow away so I could put a pin or even add some Velcro (non-sticky part on the band of the visor, sticky part on the cloth handkerchief). If I ever have trouble, I will but so far, even though the visor is slightly large for my head, it seems quite secure.
If you have suggestions for things to make life easier/better for our members, send the information to blog@seniorsoutdoors.org.
I thought it might be interesting to see how many people participated in outings on a random week. Here are the results of outings for the week of June 30-July 6:
Date | Hike Name | Difficulty | Number of Participants |
---|---|---|---|
June 30 | Goulding Creek Trail to Jones Creek Trail | Hard, 11 miles, 2200’, Pace moderately brisk | 5 |
July 1 | Two Hour Monday Hike | 6 miles, 1500 ft, Brisk Pace | 5 (includes late comers) |
July 1 | Climb Madden Peak | Hard 5.5 miles, 2500 ft | 12 |
July 1 | Monday Bike Ride for Intermediate Road Cyclists | Moderate Pace | 12 |
July 2 | Vallecito Creek | Hard, 11 miles, 1,200 ft., Moderate Pace | 8 |
July 3 | Cascade Creek Trail | Moderate, 6 mile, 900 ft., HIGH ALTITUDE, min. elevation 9,000 ft., Moderate pace | 18 |
July 3 | Edgemont Highlands | Easy, Up to 3 miles, Up to 300 ft., Easy Pace | 18 |
July 4 | Bike Ride | Moderate to Leisurely Pace, 29 miles average 12 mph | 10 |
July 6 | Taylor Lake Saturday Classic | Moderate to Hard, 8 to 12.5 miles, 1000 to 2620 ft., Moderate Pace | 16 |
Thank you to all of our leaders for your information.
The flowers and plants are lush from the winter snows and especially if you are following a stream and in aspen spruce forest. Rocky Mountain Columbine are big bouquets, little white Canada violets still blooming in moist places, and tall light blue chiming bells are starting to bloom.
Edibles you might want to enjoy are tendrils of vetches, anise flavored seeds of sweet cicely, leaves of bittercress and osha but be sure you know poisonous water hemlock. Strawberries,raspberries, and thimbleberries will be ready for eating in a couple weeks.
Till next time enjoy the world of plants
In the past, I have sometimes felt that I wasn’t a “real” Seniors Outdoors member because I only do the Wednesday Easy Hikes (WEH). Of all of the outings offered, these are the easiest (except maybe for the River Walks in the winter). Before the WEH began, I had some trepidation the night prior to a hike that was new to me. Being relatively new to Durango, that meant most of the hikes. Now I feel almost no concerns before starting a new WEH.
Folks choose these easier hikes for a variety of reasons, most commonly because of age, physical condition, and pre or post surgery. While we are less likely to have lots of rocks to scale, we may well have long, and even fairly steep, inclines to climb. Our pace is slower than the Wednesday Wanderers but we usually hike about 3 miles. We have had anywhere from 3 to 18 participants each outing.
On a recent hike to Tripp Gulch, we were faced with a choice of crossing a creek that had washed out the culvert we had planned to walk across or returning the way we had come. We all agreed that we would move forward. Some hikers found a precarious crossing a little upstream but most of us climbed down 5 or 6 feet (well above my less than 5 foot height), crossed the stream, and up again. We all made it unscathed and happy that we were out in nature.
As a result, I feel I have earned the right to really be in SO! I look forward to our next outing. I’m pleased that SO! provides such a wide variety of activities and levels of activities to accommodate so many people. Keep it up!
Anyone who was a member prior to the website probably remembers the newsletter that SO! used to send out periodically prior to our awesome website. It was a way to communicate the outings but also other things like new members and topics of interest. This blog is a trial to see if there is interest in having member input on a variety of topics.
Up to now, we could post photos of our outings (thank you Tomas Ward for your hard work on this), we don’t have a way to really share fun, exciting, or interesting things that we experience (or want to experience).
Initially, the blog is somewhat of an experiment. We will allow it to be open to various types of communications to see what seems to suit our members best. Some examples of types of entries are:
We probably need a few ground rules, but I hope to keep them minimal.
New entries will be posted in the announcement section of the home page and if possible, in an email.
As I said in the beginning of this post, this new feature is offered as a trial to see if folks find it helpful/interesting. I know that many of you are doing many interesting things, and not just outings. So put on your creative cap and send your web team (David Wright, Tomas Ward, and Lindie Hunt) your submissions either to blog@seniorsoutdoors.org or using the Contact Us form (select the “website or blog” button).