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INDEED! |
I spent two days in the Durango area visiting Rob and Sue Graham - friends from my college days.
There was only time for a short 4-hour, 6-miler in the mountains. The trail head started off Dry Fork Road; meandering on trails overgrown with Gambles' Oak until reaching a plateau. This oak is diminutive by oak standards. Heights average 15 feet with a
circumference of 15 inches. A wildfire had burned off the above ground
portion of the trees, resulting in regrowth of dense thickets from the
base. From there we walked to a view point of the La Plata mountains; still snow capped.
Had I stayed a week or two my lungs would adapt instead, I gasped for breath hiking to 9000 ft. in elevation.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLat8vcn6gtxaf3_n7eswP9oyREs0A9MsHa9Y-ekT_BOwQtprfRpsD3NmxtAhZn31PT1ckRA8sz0GT4Kw051Cseq3LgCU8KDc0NU6jOb6MxgculeyONTuaZCxKRbrkqt5JbGnKDg/s320/P5310008a.jpg) |
Mule's Ear (Wyethia amplexicaulis) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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A break from bushwhacking thickets of Gambel's Oak (Quercus gambelii) |
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Rocky Mountain Clematis (
Clematis pseudoalpina)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Y8Ip_1e0tzXLTz31aQxo7U5oHfA4TBSoxQd0-zY-7-HLjDfW19o4wlPxAUMW9pAvn-TpJkBZlQ6bUc1-ctalNP7ZalvQKDLV8-yAIaiPpNail4lsjUNUbmtjXtyo-zwbSir4Eg/s320/P5310018+%25282%2529a.jpg) |
Greater Short-Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi) | | |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjded0fkrszEM04um-WTx_dIEkDpSoIvj6J06_4XZcptIOr2sSwv_bcHLQ95vY6qtu_YGSK34z-uimAYA064HcE6ulrSLhU66R7PdVJP8dqd1jfTbSOoVV0i3W_rDkNq_XdUswZLw/s320/P5310027a.jpg) |
"I bow to no mountain" |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOrokEpcfQC0YruHEouLxAiBylH9sRe3bgfTLAkUb4iWxc-sH8c3jyWSS-Bcy4r59Ui7HCc8k096Q988d6i7lDPOXeLRQjjBeUU15QcBg4GgfJ1E_DEfvkVP2kU1-9cBkdu73kYQ/s320/P5310030a.jpg) |
Rocky Mountain Iris (Iris missouriensis) |