The Mountains Around Here, and Their Names

The weather has been deteriorating all night, and this morning, early, I woke to the sound of the wind howling. It's that intermittent wind I've mentioned here before. I can almost imagine it building over behind the mountains, forcing its way up and up, and then collapsing on itself and into our valley. Sometimes you can hear the fierceness of this wind, but if you step outside it's calm down on the ground. It's a high wind, and often passes right over us without bothering to come down here among the mortals. I find the mountains and what they do to weather to be infinitely fascinating.

I have been studying topographical maps online of our valley and the mountains around us. For some reason, I have to know the names of the mountains, where they're located, the names of the valleys and canyons, where they're located, the streams. It isn't an easy thing to learn. For one thing, the people around here call everything variously, almost as if they're making all of it up on the fly.

For instance, I was told by the real estate agent who sold us this house that the tall mountain to the west, the one that has snow on it even in July, that mountain, she said, was Elk Mountain. And so for months I called it that. Then my neighbor down the street, who has a envious view of that mountain through their back windows, well, they called it Gascon Peak. I then began to look through my mountain books, and could not find a Gascon Peak listed at all. This mountain is well over 11,000 feet and is pushing 12,000. I know this because of the very fact of that snow that stays up there practically year-round. So it would stand to reason that a mountain that tall, in this state, would be listed in the books. Hermit's Peak is listed and it's just 10,600 and rarely has a snow-cap past March. But Gascon Peak seems to be what all the people living right here want to call the damned thing, I guess because it's down Gascon Canyon.  So I was going to just go with it, too. Except that it just isn't really IN me to do that.

The president of our association wrote a column in our newsletter in which he mentioned Gascon Peak and Lone Pine Mesa, another interesting name that I believe people just like to say. I ran into him down at the post office shortly after this article came out. Our post office is in the valley and from the parking lot there you can see almost the entire circle of mountains around us. I asked him to please point out Gascon Peak and Lone Pine Mesa to me, and here's the funny part. He couldn't do it. He sort of gestured with his hand and gave me a vague response, and I realized that he really wasn't certain either.

Back to the topo maps and my endless quest for the proper names and locations. And this is what I believe I know. The infamous Gascon Peak is really Penasco Grande, and it is 11,866 feet high. Beside it is Spring Mountain, also over 11,000 and scarred by a fire from about 7 years ago that began in Maestas Canyon below. Behind Spring Mountain, and barely visible from our valley is Elk Mountain, a sister mountain to Spring Mountain. Just in front of Elk Mountain, and blocking the view, is Bluebell Ridge, which runs right up to the back end of Hermit's Peak. There is a bald spot on Bluebell Ridge that keeps a snow-pack in winter, and that bald spot is called Bluebell Park. And finally, in front of Bluebell Ridge, hovering around the lower valley is Lone Pine Mesa, a very nondescript part of the larger loop of mountains. Lone Pine Mesa is in fact covered with pines, spruces, and other forest evergreens, but maybe at one time in its life it had a single pine. Who gets to name these mountains and why are they named as they are?

Another thing that I managed to find out, definitively is, that our house sits at 7600 feet, probably the reason I struggle to breathe every other day. A flatlander, born and bred at an altitude of about 6 feet above sea level, finds it hard to breathe when she climbs a ladder, let alone walks, talks and lives at 7600 feet. I'm hoping that someday this will stop being a struggle for me. Because I do so love these mountains.

Onward ....

A Place in the Mountains

It's like a dream come true -- especially for my SO. We just spent two idyllic weeks in our new place. No internet, which is why there have been no new posts here. As much trouble, and as stressful as it was to get the place, it all seems worth it now.

I got up there the day before closing. The trip was fairly painless. The cat did well in the motel rooms, although he was freaked out the first night and stayed mainly under the bed. The second night was better, and by the time he stayed in his third motel room on our way home this week, he was an old hand at it. He's getting the hang of traveling with us, and taking him everywhere with us is less and less trouble. The dog, of course, is a breeze. She's traveled more than me, probably.

Anyway, the closing did not go as smoothly as hoped. There was a form HUD required, and then had to approve, which they did not do on the date of closing. The seller let us have possession of the house anyway, so we moved in on Friday. A lot of the things that were supposed to have been left in the house had been cleaned out by a home helper of the old woman who sold us the place -- two ladders, a leaf blower, a shelving unit, and a wheelbarrow being the main items. The lady's real estate agent caught the thief and her relatives taking the wooden deck furniture and managed to stop that from leaving, but the rest of it was gone for good. My SO was really angry about the ladders and leaf blower, but nothing could be done short of the seller filing criminal charges which she was unwilling to do. We were given compensation in the form of a check so we could replace the lost items, and we did so a few days later.

On Monday, while we were in town opening an account at a local bank, my cell rang. It was our real estate agent telling us that HUD required more escrow money before they would finally close the deal on the house. So, since we were at the bank, I got yet another cashier's check (we both hemorrhaged money while we were there) and we raced to the title company. Once that was done, and another paper signed, the house was finally ours. We could relax and enjoy it, which we did with a bottle of champagne and pot pies from the restaurant down the road. We were a little delirious with happiness.

Anyway, it's just gorgeous up there. I was able to get the satellite working for the TV but we only get the cable channels, so it really was a little like being separated from the world without news or weather. If we wanted a weather report we just walked out on the deck to see what the temperature was at the moment. Cold at night, and beautiful sunshine during the day. It got down in the 20s several times while we were there. We listened to the World Series on the radio. Felt like the old days doing that. You have to actually use your imagination to visualize the games.

We're at 7500 feet there, and I do have a bit of trouble with shortness of breath. I took the dog on daily walks and was proud that I could make it up the mountain. Of course, she dragged me, looking back, wondering why I was so slow. Sometimes I wanted to yell MUSH MUSH at her. She was so exuberant about our walks and I could almost feel the pounds melting off of me. By the end of two weeks, my jeans were loose. I took one pair off without unzipping, which pleased me. Wish there was a place around home as conducive to evening walks.

The morning we left, snow had dusted the mountains around us. There are two really high mountains that surround our valley: Elk Mountain at 11,627 and Hermit's Peak at 10,259. We can see Elk Mountain from the kitchen window. Through the trees it usually looks dark blue or purple. That morning it was ashy white. The air had the feel of impending snow, and since we've been back in Texas, we've learned that it has snowed throughout the valley now. I hate that we missed it. First snow, November 9th. Everybody we talked to told us it has been warmer than normal this year.

Last night we sat outside and both of us are already missing the new place. We love it here, too, of course, but it cannot compare in beautiful surroundings to our mountain house. What would be the perfect setup would be to have this house up there. Impossible, of course. It's like being in love with two men who are polar opposites.

Now, I just have to get ready for the holidays. My my, they sure did come around again quick.

Onward ....