Raider Ridge Loop...

Or as Trevor calls it: Red Raider Ridge. Get your guns up.

(Whatever)

Today is *groan* my 30th birthday. Trevor offered to take me to a spa for a massage, but I decided what I really wanted to do was hike. The weather forecast, however, wasn't cooperating. So we chose to play it safe and take another relatively short hike near Durango (the farther north towards Silverton you go, the higher the risk of storms).

Raider Ridge Loop is about 4.6 miles roundtrip. The trail is popular with mountain bikers, and we saw a lot of them this morning. Because of this, we kept the dogs leashed - much to Haskell's marmot and lizard hunting dismay. Apparently, there is also a Raider Ridge overlook hike that is only about a mile (roundtrip), but we took the longer hike up the ridge past the so-called Meadow Loop.

Raider Ridge is located to the east of Durango, directly above Ft. Lewis College. It is the first ridge you see rising above the city in the picture below:


The loop takes you along the spine of the ridge, so you see many different views of the town and Animas Valley below. Because of this, we took a lot of pictures as the scenery changed as we traveled north.

An important note: This is a pretty dry, desert-like trail. If you like to hike with dogs (as we do), you will need to pack in water for your canine companions.

Hogsback and Perins Peak overlooking Durango from the west...

Looking north...

Fuzzball with his now 30 year old wifey...

If you look closely, you can see 550 as it snakes its way north...

A glider passed right overhead...

Looking southeast...

Looking northeast...

What attacked Haskell's paw on the hike along the ridge...

Haskell contemplating the dog at the bottom of the mountain...

What happens when you release Trevor's hair from its hat-like containment unit...

Looking south/southeast on the other side of the ridge...

Trying to get three dogs to sit still long enough for us to photograph them is quite a challenge. It obviously would have killed Gypsy to smile or for Alley to actually look at the camera. And then there was Haskell who couldn't keep his bum from sliding off the rock he chose to sit on. He just kept sliding slowly closer and closer and closer...

Another view of the other side of the ridge looking south...

About a mile from the car, the dogs collapsed under a bush and refused to move for almost five minutes. Apparently, we finally succeeded in wearing out the Awesome Pawsome...

And just so everyone knows:
IT NEVER RAINED ALL DAY!
The best laid plans, right?!

Bah!