The San Luis Valley Outdoor Report for the week of Sept. 3, 2024. The SLV Outdoor Report follows the recording of the Outdoor Citizen podcast. 

In September we’re focusing on hiking and hiking trails. It’s a great time right now to get out and get on any one of the San Luis Valley’s plentiful and fulfilling trails. To help us get oriented, we talked with Ryan Hess and Shawna Lease who coordinate outdoor adventure programming and fifth-day programs for the Boys and Girls Clubs of the San Luis Valley. They get kids and young people out into the vast wilderness, teaching them how to feel comfortable in nature and giving them skills they may use for the rest of their lives. 

We also had a special guest. India Wood criss-crossed the state of Colorado on foot a few years back. Going 700 miles from corner to corner, twice, she is unlike anyone we’ve talked to before. She’ll soon be trekking from Monte Vista to San Luis. 

Tune in here, or wherever you get your podcasts. We hope you enjoy. 

OUTDOOR CONDITIONS

The summer of 2024 is being recorded as one of the wettest on record. The Valley floor saw 4.4 inches of rain from June to August, with a summer temperature average of 65.2 degrees which is the second-warmest summer on record, according to the National Weather Service Pueblo office.

Alamosa has received 8.16 inches of precipitation since January 1, or almost an inch more than what is normal for a full year.

What will September, October and November feel like? Well, above-normal daytime highs are expected, and equal chances of precipitation. 

We’ll see if the snows materialize in late fall and early winter. Snowpack is the key to the overall health of the Upper Rio Grande Basin.

High Desert Field Notes:

What are YOU noticing? Have any specific birds, plants, or insects caught your eye this season? What changes have you seen in the landscape you live in? Send your field notes or observations to jocelyncatterson@gmail.com or post to social media with #highdesertfieldnotes. 

Here is the quarterly journal High Desert Field Notes by Jocelyn Catterson. What you discover feeds into this.

Outdoor Field Reports

September has arrived and we think late summer into early fall is the perfect time for a hike. The weather is great, the fall leaves are beginning to show their colors, and soon the cold will settle in and for some of us our hunger for trailing may go a bit into a winter hibernation. 

We took a hike on Labor Day up the Middle Frisco Trail to kick off our month of September trailing. We hope you’ll join in and tell us through a video or a simple email where your favorite fall hikes might be. Send your correspondence to info@alamosacitizen.com We’ll mail you back one of our Alamosa Citizen bandanas when you do. 

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

ABC BIKE AND WALK AUDITS

In September, October, and November, the Alamosa Bicycle Working Group will host three bicycle and walk audits. These audits are a community process that involves observing and documenting how safe, bikeable, and walkable a location is. The goal is to improve the safety and accessibility of a community’s streets and paths for all users, including pedestrians. Audits can also involve documenting unsafe behaviors or conditions, and identifying concerns for pedestrians and bicyclists. Here are the dates and locations for the three audits:

  • Monday, Sept. 23, from 5-7 p.m. This audit will start and end at Boyd Park at 410 12th Street.
  • Thursday, Oct. 10, from 9-11 a.m. This audit will start and end at the Rio Grande Farm Park at 6935 CO Highway 17.
  • Tuesday, Nov. 12, from 2-4 p.m. This audit will start and end at the State Avenue River Trail access at 6901 North River Road.

STEPHANIE L. MINER WALK AND RUN

Saturday, Sep. 21, is the 21st Annual Stephanie L. Miner walk and run. The event will start and end at Cole Park in Alamosa. This annual event features a 1-mile healthy walk, and  2.5-mile and 5K runs. Proceeds benefit the MRI Enhancement project at San Luis Valley Health. Registration is $33, and you can register here. 

SLVGO BIKE RIDE

San Luis Valley Great Outdoors is hosting outdoor mountain bike group rides on Tuesdays, Sept.10, Sept. 17 and Sept. 24, from 5:30-7:00 p.m. The bike rides will be at Alamosa’s Riparian Park. 

And don’t forget, SLVGO’s community walk and runs are still happening every Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Alamosa Disc Golf Course. 

OUTDOOR NEWS

GRAY WOLF UPDATE

The Copper Creek gray wolf pack is being relocated after too many reports of predation in Grand County. Just weeks after identifying three wolf pups and establishing Colorado’s first officially named wolf pack, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the US Fish and Wildlife Service will trap and relocate the pack after a series of predations on farms and ranches. Since April, wolves have killed 16 cows and sheep in Grand County. According to wildlife experts, this operation may be tricky and could take an unknown amount of time. CPW has not provided an update on the operation and likely won’t until it is complete. 

CRESTONE SAR RECOVERY

Custer County Search and Rescue recovered a 66-year old man’s body on Aug. 22 after he descended off-route between Crestone Peak and Crestone Needle. The man’s family reported him missing after his Garmin GPS signal hadn’t moved for several hours. Bad weather hampered the rescue for several hours. Technical team members were able to reach the climber’s location at 13,300 feet and assisted an Army National Guard blackhawk helicopter in hoisting him out of the area. 

BEAVERS!

In a recent special feature, the Citizen spent a day with Rosalee Reese of the Forest Service and Connor Born of the Rio Grande Headwaters Restoration Project. They all packed into a Forest Service truck with a special delivery: five beavers being relocated from the Valley floor to the Rio Grande National Forest. It’s part of a translocation program that hopes to remove troublesome and nuisance beavers from creating more problems here and give them a chance to do their work undisturbed and away from people. Beavers are second only to humans in their ecosystem engineering, where they thrive in some places they can be real problems in others. This program is fairly new to Colorado. We hope you’ll read along and learn something new like we did.