When was the last time you set eyes on or touched a rock hat is 2 billion years old? Our first stop on our Balloon Festival Road trip was Black Canyon of the Gunnison. This is a deep canyon that was cut in the valley floor by the Gunnison River after volcanic activity and earthquakes open up a fissure in the valley floor. We had the opportunity to explore the canyon rim, the bottom of the canyon and hike several trails that took us into the canyon and along the plateau at the top. The colors, and composition of the rocks was breathtaking.
The next stop on our road trip was Mesa Verde, the home of the Pueblo Indians starting around 550AD for 750 years until the 1300's. It is a magical place to visit with the a sophisticated community structure, amazing cliff houses for protection and abundant food because of the great agricultural conditions of the land around Mesa Verde. If you listen, you can hear the voices of the ancients.
Durango is a quiet little mountain town along the Animus River. We stayed at the Alpen Rose RV Park just outside of town and it was one of the best RV parks I've stayed at. Toby was excited too since they have a 2 acre dog park for him to play in... which he did a lot! We also took the train ride from Durango to Silverton on the narrow gauge railroad. It was a beautiful ride along the Animus River through valleys, mountain passes and along the side of the gorge. It a great adventure and we saw many fall colors as the Aspens were turning yellow.
During our first day at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, we attended one of the premier events. The Twilight Twinkle Glow is a night time exhibition where a few pilots light up their balloons in the dark while most of the other pilots ignite their burners around the few balloons that are inflated. It gives a panorama of flames shooting into the air with several inflated balloons illuminate in the darkness. It is a sight to behold and is followed by a spectacular drone show and fireworks.
We got up early Sunday morning and got on a bus at 5:00 AM to go down and see the Dawn Patrol and Mass Ascension of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. It was cold and dark but we got a great position to watch the festivities! Dawn Patrol is a group of 10 balloons that go up at night just before dawn. You get to see them all lit up right before sunrise. After that, all of the participants get ready for the Mass Ascension where all of the balloons are launched over a 2 to 3 hour period. All shapes, all size and many funny characters will be floating overhead. It is a sight to behold!
During our first day at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, I had the pleasure to talk to Susan Lindsey of AZ Air Ventures and balloon pilot for Just Duckie. This is her story of how she became a balloon pilot along with her husband Greg Lindsey. She also tells the story behind her balloon, Just Duckie, and her husband's balloon, Flying Awaysis. I hope you enjoy!
We arrived in Santa Fe on Oct. 8th. This is one of my favorite places to visit. Rich culture, good food, beautiful Santa Fe skies and lots of great hiking... what's not to like! We all ate at The Shed the first night and the food is excellent. We visited the Indian Museum of Arts and Culture which was a really wonderful experience. Afterwards we met some of our friends for dinner that night. It was great that they were visiting the same time that we were. The next day, after everyone had left, we took off on a hike with Toby on the Chamisa Trail up above Santa Fe. I love exploring other areas.
On Oct 11, 2024, we headed for Taos to spend a few days exploring that area. We visited the Kit Carson home and museum, Taos Pueblo, hiked the rim trail at the Rio Grand River Gorge and hiked up to Williams Lake in the Taos ski area. It was a pretty stunning adventure but the most interesting part was Tarantula mating season at the River Gorge where we found many crawling around near the trail. They do look scary!
One of the things we did while in Great Sand Dunes NP was to hike to the High Dune on First Ridge Trail which takes you to the top of the 2nd highest sand dune in the park. Its only 3 miles long out and back and ~650 ft of elevation gain but you are walking in sand the whole way and it gets very, very hard to make progress uphill. It was great hike and something I am so glad I did. It made we think about walking across the Sahara Desert and what the chances of survival would be like.