Back in the swing of (Colorado) things
Durango has been really great for the past few weeks. The only thing that’s missing, of course, is Sandhya – but this past weekend that was temporarily resolved, as she came to visit for a few days. We decided on a place to live (my current living arrangement is temporary, and it was good to have her input on a place), explored town a little, and got outside quite a lot. One excursion was a hike over the still-snowy trails to the meadows just below Engineer Mountain, which is just north of Durango. Starting at over 10,000 feet, we hiked up to around 12k, marveling at the ring of peaks all around. This relatively short hike was the closest we’d ever come to the Alps in Colorado – really steep, jagged peaks surround the north and east side of Engineer. Unfortunately, the light wasn’t good in those directions, and all the photos I shot of those mountains turned out poorly, more snapshot quality than anything. Here are a couple nice ones looking south and east, however:
Engineer Mountain
The La Plata range in the background, along with some nice lichen-covered rocks.
The next morning we headed out for a short mountain bike ride, meaning to have a relaxing last half-day before going to the airport. As a result of a freak slow-speed crash with a perfectly-horribly-placed stump, we ended up spending the rest of our day at the hospital, with Sandhya (who is going to be just fine) getting a few stitches. I feel absolutely terrible just because historically mountain biking is something I do and Sandhya is just learning… I would have traded (and still would trade) places with her in an instant. True to her nature, though, she’d smiled through the pain and blood and said that she still wants to get better, because she has fun every time we go riding. I am really lucky, for a lot of reasons. Looking forward to her permanent move back to Colorado! -Joey
