This weekend Kevin and I spent a sunny Saturday afternoon resetting posts and restringing barbed wire. There is so much downed barbed wire that rather than risk punctured tires, we once again camped just to the north, in the National Forest.
The top priority for the immediate future is to keep cows out in order to allow the vegetation to regenerate and reduce erosion. Since the property borders National Forest, there is evidence of decades of trespass cows. The road is washed out due to runoff, and boy howdy are the mosquitos loving the standing water. The hope is to reduce standing water as grasses flourish with the exclusion of cows. Additionally, we hope that with one more weekend of barbed wire clean up, we may be able to drive a vehicle onto the property.
While we want to exclude cows, we hope to disrupt the fall elk megaton as little as possible. As such, we restrung the barbed wire according to Colorado Fish and Game guidelines, with the top line being no more than 42” high. We also looked for the area with the most elk prints transecting the fence and restrung the fence in that area with a smooth top wire, which can be stepped or jumped over without injuring the elk. Cows can’t jump that high.
Sunday we biked the 3 1/2 miles up the Mesa, from base camp at 7,500 feet to the 9,300 feet at the top. From there we traveled towards the Chama Wilderness, finding an abundance of high altitude mushrooms popping up from the monsoons. We even found a few varieties on the property itself!
Also soon, a logo!
Dawni
