Pulpit Rock

A couple of weeks ago, before the big snows, I hiked up Pulpit Rock, which sits right off I-25 in Colorado Springs; it's a convenient hike when time is limited. As the name implies, It's basically a big rock, as seen in this photo.

The trail becomes quite steep towards the top. Socks loves to come with me on hikes and for such a small dog, he's amazing at bounding up and down these rocks.

From the top there is a panoramic view of the Front Range. Pikes Peak is in the center-right of this picture.

There are some interesting rock formations at the top.

Snow Wave

We just had the biggest snowstorm of the season, and the winds created a great wave of snow outside our front door.

Here's how I clear the snow. The intake on this snow blower is 21 inches in height, so that gives you an idea of how much snow I was clearing in places. I'm seeing drifts as high as 4 feet, and our road is completely impassable.

Hopefully these are the last snow pictures until next winter!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! Although once again it looks more like Christmas, as we woke up to 5 inches of fresh snow.

Centerport Mill Pond

This is the last of my posts from the New York trip. In Centerport, about an hour from New York City, there is a dam which creates a tidal pool called the Mill Pond, which is shown below.

Looking in the other direction from the dam, you see the end of a bay which lets out on the Long Island Sound.

On a clear day, the buildings in Connecticut are visible in the far distance. This picture is taken from the same location, but zoomed in instead of wide angle (in fact these this picture and the previous picture represent the extreme range of the photos I can take, wide-angle to telephoto).

These large gates swing open to let water into the pond when the tide is high, and as the tide goes down they swing closed as shown below. This keeps the water in the Mill Pond circulating and fresh but never lets the level get too low.

Spring Snowstorm

An early spring snowstorm just dropped 13 inches of the white stuff here, with winds strong enough to make it an official blizzard (drifts up to 3 feet, immediately in front of the camera in the second picture).

Queen's Canyon & Dorothy Falls

Just north of Garden of the Gods is the historic site of Glen Eyrie, owned by the Christian ministry The Navigators. They are generous enough to allow people to hike on their property (Monday through Thursday, see their website for details, and you'll need to sign a release), and since I had a day off work and the weather was beautiful, I decided to hike up Queen's Canyon from Glen Eyrie. It's a very worthwhile hike.

The trail starts like many, with scrub and rock outcroppings.

The canyon becomes very narrow in places, and there are some wooden bridges that cling to the walls.

The path crosses the stream many times. Sometimes there are logs to help, other times it's easier to step over the rocks. Waterproof boots help in places.

Finally, there's a beautiful waterfall (Dorothy Falls). The trail does continue up a very steep section but I didn't climb it carrying my camera equipment.

Empire State Building Views

Here are some views from the 86th floor observatory of the Empire State Building, taken on a cold winter day back in January.

First is a view looking West across the Hudson River towards New Jersey.

Next is one looking south. Note the Hudson River on the right and the East River on the left, joining in the Upper New York Bay in the far distance. The cluster of tall buildings in the distance is lower Manhattan, the Wall Street area.

Here are assorted tall buildings at dusk.

And finally, here is the Chrysler Building at dusk.