At Catalina State Park Campground, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2014

Oliver Lee State Park, NM: Dog Canyon hike

Photos from the Dog Canyon hike, the one Leah describes as "up!" (picture a hand held vertically):

Part way up Dog Canyon, you can see our trailer just left of center. Right of center: stylish hiker.

This is a nothing photo, but Leah insisted I include it.

Dog Canyon climbs 6 miles up to the ridge at the top (above), but we only went 3 miles--to the 'Line Cabin', which is at the far end of the meadow above. Ranchers used to run cattle up here during ranching's heyday. Had lunch and a rest there. Just before we turned back, our new friend from Salt Spring Island, walked up behind us and sat down to chat. She and her partner had hiked up to the top, whereupon he had hiked directly back, whereas she had lollygagged and taken pictures and was just now coming down into the meadow. As the three of us were chatting, the father from a family who were also hiking Dog Canyon--and were on a grand adventure in their motorhome--walked up and handed us a heavy-duty plastic box with latches, saying his daughter had found it not far away ("She always finds things"), and that we might be interested in it.

Examining the contents of the cache box 

We were! It was a sort of geochache, but not one you find with a GPS; rather, it was a family's tribute to a man who'd recently died. Apparently, Dog Canyon was one of his favorite hikes, and the family decided that leaving a cache of some of his favorite items, as well as a short biography and 'visitation log', would be a fitting memorial. The three of us read the biography, signed the register, and intended to leave an item of ours, something the family asked visitors to do--but couldn't think of anything appropriate that would fit into the box. What a wonderful way to pay tribute to someone! We were impressed.

Leah chatting with the young girls from the Rolla Missouri family on a grand adventure in a class C motorhome. They're home-schooling (rather motorhome-schooling) their girls.