Pueblo Mountain Park is Alive with Activity

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Karin Snowy Tree PanoramaI remember back to the days before there was a Mountain Park Environmental Center. Once the calendar moved towards the end of October, visitation to the park would drop to almost nothing, and stay that way until well into the spring. Sure, there was the Yule Log Celebration in December that brought lots of folks to the park for a few hours, but that was about it, until April or May.

The dozen or so Beulah folks that used to walk our dogs in the park throughout the winter used to joke about how nice it was for the City of Pueblo to have this lovely mountain park for what seemed like just us and our pups. It may have been nice in a way, but the reality is that never would have lasted. As the budget challenges of the 2000s hit, it is highly unlikely that the City would have continued spending money on a park with such limited use.

Well, that is certainly no longer the case. Yesterday, about 60 students were in the park for outdoor education. Same goes for today, and tomorrow too. Tomorrow evening a yoga class will take place at the lodge. There are guests who are registered to stay at the lodge throughout the month. Along with the Yule Log Celebration this Sunday, there is an Open House at the lodge, including an Artists Fair, and there is a Holiday Cookie Baking event Sunday morning as well. Next week there is a full schedule of school programs, plus a Winter Solstice Drum Circle Friday night, then a Winter Break Camp for youth the last week of December and the first few days of January. Yes, Pueblo Mountain Park is bustling, and the activities described above continues very much the same every week. Sure, in the summer, camps take the place of school groups, but the park is now a vibrant center for outdoor-based education and recreation.

Now, if all of this sounds like the place is so humming with people that you can’t find quiet Nature in the park, that is very much not the case. The park’s many miles of hiking trails, the open meadows, the forests – all covered in snow these days – offer numerous opportunities for solitude, surrounded by wild Nature. I know this to be true, because whenever I want to find some of the natural solitude and wildness, which I do very often, I easily find it. Right here in Pueblo Mountain Park, even on days when 90 kids are in the park for their educational experiences, wild Nature is here and it is wonderful.

A Quick Hike up the Northridge Trail

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I hiked up the Northridge Trail to the far west edge of the park this afternoon to cut a tree off the trail (using my trusty axe and bow saw). I took this photo looking west into the National Forest roadless area – a pretty fall day in a magnificent landscape. I so love this place!

Welcome Snow!

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fall evening I woke early this morning to a landscape covered in the season’s first snowfall. The snow was finishing off as the day lightened. I measured 4.6″ of wet snow, which contained 0.41″ of moisture. A nice start to what will hopefully be a snowy winter. I hope we all get numerous opportunities to slip on our snowshoes or cross-country skis and experience the magic that Pueblo Mountain Park offers when it is a winter wonderland full of lots of snow. I recall, many winters ago, on a Sunday afternoon, guiding some friends on a snowshoe up the Mace Trail and then bushwacking through many feet of soft powder down the north facing slope into the Devil’s Canyon drainage. And another time, when Helene and I arranged to meet some friends before the sun rose on a cold, crystal clear morning, to ski the meadows in the park. When the sun finally made it up over the ridge, we skied through a field of glimmering crystals, illuminated by the sunlight. And another time, just a couple of years ago or so, when my son Sequoia and his wife Brianna were down from Longmont on Christmas Eve. We skied upper road and the meadows in the moonlight and starlight. Helene and I were done, but they stayed out for more of an absolutely magical evening. They then spent the night in the lodge – a perfect Christmas Eve for all of us.

I took this photo this evening, from my deck looking towards the park – a lovely chilly evening sky over Pueblo’s very own mountain park.

 

Autumn is Flirting with Winter

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fall 2fall 1The season’s first attempt at putting some snow on the ground is taking place today. Just a few flakes are lazily floating down out of low clouds – probably won’t amount to anything, but it is a nice sign of what lies ahead. It’s cool, damp and one of those ideal days to put on a warm sweater and experience a perfect socked-in autumn day.

Autumn color arriving late this fall!

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One of the obvious signs that autumn is happening is when the leaves begin to turn. The three leaflets of poison ivy are always the first to change here in Pueblo Mountain Park. It is not unusual to see some color in this plant during the latter part of August in the park. Not this year. Maybe it was all the moisture, maybe it was the late summer heat wave, but the poison ivy is only beginning to turn the past few days. I took this photo along the park’s main road, not far from the caretaker house. A colorful feast for the eyes, a sign that the seasons are about the change – just don’t touch it!poison ivy spet 13

The Calm After the Storm

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This morning’s 1.33″ of rain that I measured for the previous 24 hours brings the past week’s total precip for the park to 3.53″…a nice amount that came in tolerable and manageable amounts, and a far cry from the record rainfall that parts of Colorado’s northern front range received the last week. After a drizzly morning and mostly gray afternoon, the skies were clearing on my after dinner walk this evening. The almost-full-moon was up in the eastern sky, peaking through the low clouds that were there and then gone-again, there and gone. The haunting call of a great-horned owl only added to the sublime ambiance of the evening. I hooted back, then heard two other owls from further away let their presence known. A lovely evening, and hopefully it will be just as lovely for MPEC’s full moon music hike that I am guiding this Wednesday, 7pm.

Snow in May – you gotta love it!

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may 2Through February 19, the park had received only 37.5″ of snow. Things were looking pretty dismal in the moisture and fire danger departments back then. By the beginning of March, a few small storms brought the total to just beyond 50″ – progress. After a decent March (35.7″) and April (19.1″), and then last night’s 9.4″, the season’s snow total is now 116.5″. This is an inch more than average, and I must say I am happy and pleasantly surprised to be here. May should be a terrific wildflower month in the park, so I will be sure to get out there and enjoy them. Now, if we could only get the spring and summer rains going…

A bit of Pueblo Mountain Park’s snowfall history!

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With this winter’s snowfall now up to 88″, I decided to take a look at the park’s recent winter totals to see just how dry, or unusual, this one is. Since 1990, we’ve had five winters with less than 90″ of snow: 2001/2002 with 48″; 2010/2011 74.3″; 2005/2006 74.5″; 2000/2001 75″; and 2008/2009 83.5″. If we don’t get any more snow (which is unlikely), then 2012/2103 will be added to this list. The snowiest was 1997/1998, when 209.5″ of glorious snow blanketed the park. The average of the last 23 winters is 117.18″.

One thing that I notice from these numbers is that few winters bring what is often referred to as “normal” snowfall. When the news weather person says that we are above or below “normal,” what is really being said is that we are above or below “average.” And an average is just that – add up all the numbers, divide by the quantity of entries, and there’s the average – for the park, 117.18″ over the past 23 years. It doesn’t mean that 145″ or 85″  are not normal snowfall amounts – they are certainly normal, and point out that drought years and wet years are a normal part of this land.  If you took the height of every child in my grandson’s class, and determined that the average height is 4’9″, it doesn’t mean that my grandson, who is 5’2″ is not normal, he is just taller than average. So…years with 150″ of snow, or 90″ of snow, are perfectly normal.

I also noticed that the driest years, at least out of the last 23, have been in the last dozen years. Beyond the “normalness” of varying snowfall amounts, might this recent string of drier years be a symptom of global warming? It is consistent with what climate scientists have been saying – that there will be lots of weather extremes, with a general movement towards drier winters in the Rockies, due to the increase of carbon in the atmosphere. But, we’ve had dry years in the past…even strings of dry years? Oops, here I am, moving into the global warming debate, which was not my intent (although, for the record, according to the vast majority of climate scientists, there is no debate – global warming is real, and it is at least partly caused by human activities. It’s only a debate in political and social circles).

snowman

 

The campers at MPEC’s Spring Break Camp this week probably aren’t thinking about any of this – they are just enjoying all of this great snow! Happy Spring Break!

 

Snow is Falling from the Trees!

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beulahwintervalleykarin2012I took a walk this lovely blue sky afternoon to enjoy the sunshine and the snowy landscape. The prolific snow that yesterday’s storm delivered was falling off the pines and splattering everywhere. The storm’s 13.6″ of snow was wet, containing 1.29″ of moisture, a delightful and typical spring storm. This brings the winter’s total snowfall to 67.3″. A handful more of these kinds of storms would be most welcome. In spite of the moisture, this storm was not a drought-buster. But it’s wet out there now, and I think it’s fair to say that mud season has officially begun. Here’s to wet snow and mud! (I didn’t have a camera with me, so I am including this lovely photo of Karin Kyte’s to accompany this post.)