May continued busy on the homestead, with Dandelion kidding (one doeling and one buckling), so fast and easy that Jeanne missed seeing one come out as she'd run up to the cabin for a moment. As a new Momma, Dandelion needed to be milked, as her kids weren't able to drink all of what she could produce. Unfortunately, Dandelion (one of our most skittish goats ever) refused to jump up on the milk stand, and when Jeanne would try to milk her, she would lay down. We tried putting a bucket under her to help keep her off the ground, but she folded herself around it like a giant slug, and broke the bucket. We resorted for the rest of this month to having Linc pick up her rear end while Jeanne milked her. See June for the continuing Saga...
Linc continued prepping and planting garden beds, mulching, and started fertigating garden and pastures with a variety of bacterial and fungal inoculants and soil life stimulants. Somehow, we also got away again this month (thanks Amber). This time, we drove down to Ouray, at the north edge of the San Juans, for two nights, 3 days of hiking, mountain biking, and hot spring soaking. Linc caught a ferocious cold at the end of the first day, but we stuck with the plans and had a great time (paid for it the following week).
First, we hiked the Ouray Perimeter Trail. Here's Jeanne, at the trailhead sign on the north side of town, with the steaming Ouray Hot Springs pool behind her across the road.
The view south across town from the trail.
Being acrophobic, we were both a little surprised at the amount of exposure on this "family" trail. Despite that, we really enjoyed it - a great day hike with some spectacular views.
Swinging around to the west side of town, the trail goes through an old water works tunnel after crossing Box Canyon on an old iron walking bridge. Jeanne looks like most people probably feel as they head through this section. "Really? The trail goes in here!?"
After the tunnel, you stay high on the steep valley wall for awhile, with more great views out over town to the mountains. It's probably impossible to pick out, but the east half of the Perimeter trail traverses that super steep slope above town in the photo.
The second day we spent sightseeing in Ouray. We also drove up the highway 550 (the Million Dollar Highway, also known as one of the most unsafe roads in the country) towards Red Mountain Pass. Great views from the road, just don't try to look at them and drive at the same time.
With all of the snow the winter before, there had been some gigantic avalanches. Here's one that buried the avalanche shed (which protects the highway in winter on a major avalanche path), closing the road for a few weeks. Now, in May, the shed was open to drive through, but the snow and debris lingered on.
On the last day, we spent a few hours mountain biking the Ridgway Area Trails (RAT) north of town. And I do mean bike - I think we rode nearly every trail in the system for a total of about 20 miles. Extremely fun riding and lots of great views.
Then to Orvis Hot Springs for a couple hours of alternating between the Lobster Pot (110F) and the cold plunge pool (60F) before a visit to the Himalayan Restaurant in Montrose and home.
All in all, a really nice month.
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