Buckeye Reservoir

Portal RV Resort
Moab, UT
June 15, 2016

About an hour drive from Moab, on the west side of the LaSal Mountains, in Colorado is a little slice of heaven called Buckeye Reservoir.  Scott and Chris had been there before and planned an impromptu ride for anyone interested in escaping the heat from the valley.  With their puppy Zuni and grill loaded, they led a group of 7 vehicles to the reservoir for a picnic and afterwards a ride through the forest.  

Buckeye Reservoir is a 109 acre reservoir and a favorite fishing, canoeing and camping spot. It is stocked with Random Trout by the Colorado Division of Wildlife. The recreation area is spread out around the reservoir and includes Pioneer Campground (reservable sights with no hookups), a boat ramp, a group camping site, a day-use picnic area and vault toilets.

We all met at the rest stop south of town just before "Hole N' The  Rock".  










It's the nicest and cleanest rest area I have ever seen with magnificent cottonwoods, lots of birds and bunnies and even a bit of history.

Getting to Buckeye Reservoir on a paved county road (Hwy 46) which turned into a well maintained gavel road was beautiful.  The wild iris had just peaked.  

Fields of wild iris lined the road.  Dee and I had to stop for pictures. 

Buckeye Reservoir/Recreation area is located in a valley at 7600 feet elevation and is set among mature stands of Ponderosa Pines. 

The birds were singing, the squirrels were scolding, and cool breeze was blowing...ahhh !





Much to my delight, bright purple lupines filled the forest floor.

Scott grilled hot dogs, brats and burgers which we devoured with salads and deserts.  Its been a long time since we have enjoyed a picnic in the woods...so yummy food and so much fun.  

After our delightful picnic we loaded up our vehicles and headed out to explore with Scott leading the way.

 Here the forest floor is covered in Mule's Ear...








with wild roses scattered in.

 What an awesome day.  Buckeye Reservoir and the surrounding area is quite pretty.  Joe and I recommend it...if for no other reason, just to have a change of scenery and cooler temps for a few hours. 

Until next time, happy days and...

  

HAPPY TRAILS !

Collared Lizards

Portal RV Resort
Moab, UT
June 14 & 18, 2016

This past week we did a couple of fun trails.  The first was 
Porcupine Rim. It's a moderate to difficult trail in the Sand Flats area of Moab and is a shared trail with bicycles.  It's a fun trail with tricky spots, and "epic" views.  Dee led us in a "new to us" way.  We rode past the end of Negro Bill Canyon all the way to the scenic overlook of Castle Valley with lots of twists, dips and climbs along narrow rim trails, slick rock, and ledges.   

Below is a picture of Round Mountain.  It is a volcanic plug sitting near the southern end of Castle Valley.  The LaSal Mountains and Castle Valley's Round Mountain rose up about 24 million years ago as a result of underground volcanic activity.  

 On Saturday, Strike Ravine was on the Moab Friends For Wheeling calendar.  Joe and I have only done this trail once a couple of years ago.  Strike Ravine is 9 miles that include  narrow, tippy, rocky sections which give it a difficult rating.  Dee led our group of 11 vehicles of varying sizes. Seven of us were club members with 4 guests. Of those 4, 2 were very new to wheeling in Moab.  Dee adds so much to these adventures...her enthusiasm is catching.  Not to mention her knowledge of the trail/area, her decisiveness (yes, we did have to strap a couple of jeeps out of  tricky situations), her humor, and helpfulness.  
   
There is only one named obstacle on this trail...Big Ugly.  

But there are many more places that look like the photo below with tall ledges.  Dee took this photo (thanks Dee!) of our jeep Pearl as we approached this one.  

Today was our lucky day...as we crawled along, we saw 5 collared lizards over the course of the 9 miles.  That is certainly a record for me.  I only got good pictures of three of them.  
These beauties are distinguished by two black collars around it's neck.  Adult males have bright green scales as well as tan, olive, bluish and yellow scales. 

We spotted this one in the grasses.  Collard lizards are one of only a few lizards that can run on their hind legs.

Their diet mostly consists of insects. 

Their average life span is 5-8 years and they can reach a size of 10 inches.  When the female is carrying eggs, she develops bright red splotches of color on her body.  After she lays anywhere from 1-13 eggs in early summer, the splotches disappear.  Seeing a mama with red splotches would be so awesome...I will be looking extra harder next year.

(Information on collard lizards was taken from the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum website.) 

Throughout the day we could see the south side of the LaSals.  Those are not white fluffy clouds you see, but rather as Dee pointed out, smoke from a controlled burn.

 It was a great day and we were home by 3:00 with the hottest part of the day between 4:00-5:00.  

Until next time, happy days and...

  HAPPY TRAILS!