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Permits available November 17 at Pagosa Ranger District downtown (970-264-2268)

It’s that time of year again here in the mountains when families throughout San Juans pack the kids in the car for a different type of hunt — the perfect Christmas tree.  It’s a magical experience. If you’ve never tried it, check out the information provided below and get out in the woods for an unforgettable experience.

The process is easy but the Forest Office is very strict in the rules enforcement. First of all you have to buy a permit. You can purchase a permit for only $8 at the Pagosa office or any of the offices listed below. Make sure you take your permit with you because you are required to attach the permit to the trunk of the tree before driving back into town.

Second, make sure you don’t cut a tree within 100 feet of any road or campground. Of course, don’t cut any trees in any designated Wilderness Areas, Wilderness Study Areas, Recreation Areas, Research Natural Area or tree plantations. Other areas specifically off limits are listed in the brochures below.

The Forest Service encourages you to choose the best tree for your family but certain trees are off limits. You MAY cut White Fir, Subalpine Fir and Spruce. You MAY NOT cut Ponderosa Pine or Douglas Fir. Check the brochures below for tree descriptions and illustrations.

Finding that perfect tree is the funnest part. Be sure to let the kids help.  Please take a shovel with you to dig out the snow around the tree and cut the tree as close to the ground as possible. Never cut down a tree taller than 20 feet!

The rest of the process you should know well since you’ve probably been through the ritual each year since you were a baby. Prop that tree up in the family room, heat up the hot chocolate, break out your family ornaments and cameras and create the memories that last a lifetime.

Below is a video we created on our first Pagosa Springs Christmas tree hunt. We start hunting our tree at minute 2:45 and cutting the tree at 4:00. I’ve included some helpful handouts from the Forest Service below the video. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

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Brutally cold mornings with crystal blue skies are my favorite time to photograph following a Pagosa Springs snow storm. The snow and ice still clings to everything standing and you have a short window capture to beauty before the sun melts away the unique scenery. I shot these photos up Steven’s Lake Road Sunday morning with the hope of capturing the snow-caked mountains reflecting off Stevens Lake. But photography is a game of seconds sometimes. The clouds moved quickly to obscure Pagosa Peak so I gave up on the mountain shots and focussed instead on the trees. Enjoy.

More Winter Pictures & Videos

All Things Pagosa Winter Pictures & Videos
All Things Pagosa Fall Colors Pictures
All Things Pagosa Videos
All Things Pagosa Parade Photos & Videos
Best of the Early 2011 Wolf Creek Videos
Pagosa Springs Music Festival Coverage

 

 

The 2012 Pagosa Springs Fourth of July Parade had special meaning this dry year with the fires we’ve experienced throughout Colorado. The crowd seemed much bigger and the temperature was definitely cooler this morning for another great small town parade.

Below are three videos showing the entire parade along with more great photographs and a special fast-motion stop gap video as well. In all, we shot 33 minutes of HD video, shot 200 photos and took 1,325 pictures with the GoPro Hero 2 for our fast-action stop-gap video. Feel free to share with your friends and remember that you can always email me to request a special picture you’d like to share for non-commercial purposes.

Video: Part 1 of 3

Video: Part 2 of 3

Video: Part 3 of 3

GoPro Hero 2 Fast Motion Stop Gap of the Parade
See more of our Pagosa Springs Parade coverage.

A few more pictures:

Here is the Stop Gap Video at only .5 seconds. I liked the fast motion better.

 

 

We had a perfect Pagosa crystal blue sky this year for Gecko’s Pagosa Rapids & Rythms River Fest on the San Juan River.  Morgan Murri and his crew had the music blaring through downtown as the crowd enjoyed a day kayaking expertise, river jousting and river dog fetching. Be sure to mark the event on next year’s calendar. Well worth the visit.

Below are parts 1 & 2 of the video coverage. Following are some fun videos of the Boater-X Race and the River Joust competition is regular and fast motion speeds followed by more great photos. Enjoy!

Check out all of our Riverfront Land For Sale
…and Riverfront Homes For Sale!

 

Yet even more pictures:

Pagosa’s Snowball Road is one of the most beautiful drives close to town and the pictures and videos below showcase just how much snow you can expect to see on this amazing drive.

 

 

Below are some pictures I took this morning on my way to work of the grounds of the Fred Harman Museum in Pagosa Springs. It snowed in Pagosa Springs all weekend and I took the opportunity to capture a few winter shots before getting locked up in the office the rest of the day.

Mr. Harman was one of the founders of the Cowboy Artists of America and is recognized as “one of the country’s foremost painters of the American West. He is probably best known as the creator of the Red Ryder and Little Beaver comic strip which was nationally syndicated from 1938-1964.

The Fred Harman museum is located just south of the Piedra Road/Hwy 160 intersection next to the Wells Fargo Bank.

More Pagosa Springs Winter Photos & Videos

 

Below are some additional shots a little farther down the road from the Harmon Museum.

 

I missed much of the fall colors this year because my grandmother was gravely ill in Kentucky. So we packed the kids in the car and visited with her for two weeks in her home and the hospital. I took the pictures below on my first day back in Pagosa Springs. They are all taken up Nipple Mountain Road (FS Road 665) or the small Forest Service roads that branch off of it.

Unfortunately, I spent the rest of the week locked in the office playing catch up on the real estate business and had to watch the colors from my office window.

More Fall Colors Photos & Videos

  

Hey, that's Pagosa Springs in the distance.

Katriel playing in the leaves.

More Fall Colors Photos & Videos

Alberta Peak turned out to be a much easier hike than we have been taking lately.  You start the hike at the Continental Divide sign up on Wolf Creek Pass just before you get to the Wolf Creek Ski Area. You immediately find yourself in a pine forest with a spongy needle-covered ground which feels great on the feet. The first part of the hike is uphill with switchbacks but they are not too arduous — that is if you are already acclimated to the altitude.

I made this hike this week with my buddy and Pagosa Springs home inspector Eric Ziminsky of Total Home Inspections — great guy who does outstanding work.  Below is a video from the top of Alberta Peak. The video starts off with a 360 degree view and then includes some zoomed in shots of Chimney Rock and other surrounding peaks. Below the video are various pictures I took of the hike. Enjoy!

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Little Blanco Trail features enormous Continental Divide views and opportunity for wildflower viewing all along the way. The full trail is 8.3 miles long but the pictures below are from just the first 2.5 miles from Nipple Mountain Road (Forest Road 665). The first two miles are strait up the mountain but once you complete the initial rigorous climb the trail levels out until you climb again at the South San Juan Wilderness sign.

My brother and I got a late start (3 pm) so we started hiking back down at the Wilderness sign and it was a good thing because it was getting dark by time we returned to the car. But the hike was incredible and I highly recommend it. We saw enormous amounts of wildflowers and the views are enormous.

 

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Well we finally decided to take a trip out to the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge to see the 20,000 strong Rocky Mountain flock of sandhill cranes migrating north from the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. This refuge is where they fuel up with grains for their 850 mile journey north to their summer breeding grounds at Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Idaho.

The kids were excited from the beginning and surprisingly entertained with the active birds as they flew in and out of the meadows, stopping occasionally to strut their moves in their courtship dances where they leap and bow while flapping their wings while making a croaking sound to each other (check out the end of the embedded video below to hear them).

The Monte Vista Wildlife refuge is also an outstanding place to view other birds such as the lesser sandhill cranes, thousands of ducks and geese, bald eagles wintering and other raptors.

We visited on the last day of the Monte Vista Crane Festival but got there too late for the organized events. But it was easy to find. From Pagosa Springs we took Hwy 160 east over Wolf Creek Pass and took a right on Gunbarrel Road (15) in Monte Vista where 285 breaks north from 160. The refuge is about six miles south of Hwy. 160.

Mellane took this picture of me trying to shoot decent video of the cranes with the wind howling mercifully. You can get a an idea of the wind conditions from the video below.

The video below shows Evan having a great time running along the road while I was filming.

Piedra Road is a beautiful drive in Pagosa Springs from HWY 160 all the way up to Williams Creek Reservoir.   Below are pictures I took on New Years Day 2001 after a heavy snowfall.  Enjoy the pictures and be sure to watch the videos as well including our latest “Driving Pagosa Springs” video showing the massive amounts of snow up near the lake.  More “All Things Pagosa” snow-related stories.

You can also check out this area in the fall in our Pagosa Springs Fall Colors — Upper Piedra Road post.


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