first supper

...in the new house.

All those fishless days this season?

Sooo totally worth it.

Sigh...we are home. :-)

monsoon season

Man we've been getting our fair share of the monsoons this summer. Weather dudes have pegged this July as within the top 10 wettest July's on record, schweet.

So nice to see all the green where just 6 weeks ago was nothing but brown.

Re-acquainted myself with the Otero trails this am, my first time on the bike since they lifted the forest closures. Lungs hurtin, legs all bandy, still was good to feel the pain, and endorphins, of the re-awakened season.

yeti demo daze

Yeti cycles surprised us all with their demo tour arriving in ABQ yesterday.

I got the call from Mrs Wulff yesterday AM, having read a posting on FB. Trust me, I wasted no time calling a vacation day audible at work.

We arrived at the TH late AM to find the Yeti guys spread out over a third of the lot, their full contingent of Yeti offerings gleaming in the sun.

Queue sunbeams, angelic hymns, rainbows and unicorns.

Yeti dudes got us all outfitted on carbon steeds straight away, I estimated we rode off on something like $18K in the finest two wheel drives on the market today.

Shredder absolutely luved the SB66 she rode, I've never seen her take flight like that in all her biking life. Will the Thrill as similarly smitten on his first ride with dual suspension. Mrs Wulff, her first ride on a 29r had her recalculating our home sale net outs, yikes.

Having now ridden both the SB95 & SB66 back-to-back, I must admit I was rather taken with the 95, did not expect that.

What a great time~

coal bank pass mtb

Thought I might post something a bit more substantive about one of my favorite rides scouted on our recent Durango trip.

Pass Trail and Engineer Mountain trail.

Pass Trail heads up at Coal Bank Pass (10.6k elev), around 25mi north of DGO. Pass Trail is only 2.7mi to the highpoint at Engineer Mt, but the first 2mi proved quite the workout at 11k above sea level.

Thank goodness the views are so stunning they take your mind off your pounding aneurism.

At about 2.2mi, the switchbacks finally give way to more moderate meadows approaching the shoulder of Engineer Mt proper. Here you will want to find a highpoint of yer own, to soak in the vistas, find any excuse to chill for a good bit. Take your time up there, it is indeed a special place- the meadows are simply packed with wildflowers. Paintbrush, buttercups, columbine, penstemons of all varieties.

Engineer Mt serves as the nexus for several trails. The CO trail finds its way down from Molas to the north, continuing on SW to Cascade Creek and then beyond to Kennebeck. Pure, undistilled, awesomeness.

The highpoint also serves as the jump off point for Engineer Trail- our target.

ET zips down the southern slopes of Engineer, plunging 3,000ft in 5mi. You are correct sir, if you shuttle a car at the bottom, you will climb 3mi/1k to then rip down 5mi/3k: I love that math!

ET plunges thru meadows, conifers, meadows, aspens, meadows again on down to the lower TH. Midway thru the conifers, the trail hugs those rocky cliffs overlooking 550 and the tiny ant cars below. What a trip to be carving turns with nothing but a tree or two between you and a Wile E Coyote cliff dive into the forest 500 feet below. Schweet.

The last couple of miles prove a real alpine Kessel Run: the switchbacks stretch out, you can lay off the brakes, give the Yeti her head. I came to a smokin stop to let everyone 'catch up' only to have  11yo Will the Thrill show me his cateye's max speed readout at 23.0mph.

Nearly 1mph faster than his ole dad. And so the Apprentice has outstripped his Jedi Master.

Damn those kids are fast!

I take credit, tho. ;-)

So if you're exploring the high country north of DGO, I'd say you can't go wrong on those trails between Cascade and Molas. Hoping to hit it again before the snow flies- fingers crossed mis amigos.