At first those expectations were disappointed.\u00a0 Hwy 471 S of Edgemont was snow-packed and slippery.\u00a0 The day hadn’t warmed up a bit.\u00a0 SPHP cancelled two possible short peakbagging breaks in the Nebraska panhandle, deciding to stay on main Hwy 18 which was clear to Mule Creek Junction in Wyoming.\u00a0 No consideration was given to any other significant breaks the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
Lupe arrived at cousin Dusty’s house in Arvada before mid-afternoon (2:06 PM, 39\u00b0F)<\/em>.\u00a0 Dusty and Andrea were both home and answered the door.\u00a0 Lupe dashed right in all excited to see them!\u00a0 After the initial excitement, Loop sniffed around for a few minutes.\u00a0 Yes, it was all coming back to her now.\u00a0 The Carolina Dog did remember this place!<\/p>\n A lot of pent-up canine energy needed to be released.\u00a0 Dusty, Andrea, Lupe and SPHP set out on a favorite walk around the 100 acre field out in back of Dusty’s house.<\/p>\n Cousin Dusty loves to fetch sticks.\u00a0 The bigger the stick, the better.\u00a0 She ran ahead of Andrea and SPHP looking for sticks to drop in their path, hoping to entice them to throw them for her.\u00a0 Dusty would then zoom away after the stick, often catching it on the first bounce after a good throw.<\/p>\n Lupe never shows the slightest interest in chasing Dusty’s sticks.\u00a0 Instead, she loves to act as defense on the stick’s behalf.\u00a0 As soon as the stick gets tossed, she focuses entirely on barking and trying to herd Dusty.\u00a0 While Lupe ignores the stick, Dusty ignores Lupe.\u00a0 It’s a game they rarely tire of.<\/p>\n When the journey around the 100 acre field was over, Lupe was quick to reclaim the Cowboy room back at Dusty’s house.\u00a0 Even though they like to spend time in the wilderness, American Dingoes are big fans of luxury, too!<\/p>\n As sunset approached, Lupe, Dusty and SPHP took one more trip around the 100 acre field.\u00a0 There was more Dingo excitement when Joe came home after work.\u00a0 After dinner, Joe, Dusty, Lupe and SPHP went on a long evening walk on the bike path near Ralston Creek.\u00a0 Lupe went all the way past Jungle and Utah bridges.<\/p>\n The next day, Joe and Andrea had to work.\u00a0 Dusty and Lupe went on dawn patrol with SPHP around the 100 acre field to get the day off to a good start.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP then drove down to Matt, Cassie and Owen’s house in Parker, arriving late in the morning.<\/p>\n Babies Owen (6 months) and Felix (9 months) were up looking bright-eyed and happy, but the adults were about shot.\u00a0 The plane Steve, Xochitl and Felix had taken last evening had been hours late, arriving in Denver after midnight.\u00a0 Felix had then proceeded to cry and scream until 3:30 AM.\u00a0 A bleary-eyed Xochitl was up, and so was Matt.\u00a0 Matt was probably exhausted, too, but he is always so calm natured, it was hard to tell.\u00a0 Cassie and Steve were both asleep.<\/p>\n The afternoon was spent watching, feeding, and playing with Felix and Owen.\u00a0 Lupe also played with Matt and Cassie’s dog, Maya.\u00a0 She went on a neighborhood walk with Matt, Maya and SPHP.\u00a0 Cassie eventually appeared, long before Steve finally regained consciousness at 3:45 PM.\u00a0 By then, Felix was taking a nap.<\/p>\n Steve, Xochitl, Matt, Cassie and Owen all went out for sushi around dinnertime.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP stayed at the house with Felix.\u00a0 Felix is known for not sleeping much, so he was expected to wake up at any moment.\u00a0 Instead he was still snoozing when everyone returned from the restaurant at 9 PM.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP then headed back to the Cowboy room at Dusty’s house in Arvada.<\/p>\n Saturday morning was Lupe’s one chance on this short Dingo Vacation for an adventure in the Colorado front range foothills.\u00a0 Joe, Dusty, Lupe and SPHP headed for the lower E trailhead at White Ranch Park<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, which was only 10 minutes from Dusty’s house.<\/p>\n It was a chilly 14\u00b0F when Lupe and her pack set out on the Belcher Hill trail.\u00a0 The trees and fields were frosty, wisps of fog and low clouds hung in the air, but the sky overhead was blue.\u00a0 The trail lost a bit of elevation on the way N to a low spot, then started climbing gradually as it followed the dry Van Bibber creek drainage NW.<\/p>\n The Belcher Hill trail starts out on an easement across private property that leads to the rest of White Ranch Park.\u00a0 At first there were homes not far from the trail.\u00a0 It wasn’t long before Lupe had gained enough elevation to be looking down on several Colorado shacks.<\/p>\n As shacks go, they were really quite nice.\u00a0 No doubt one can be had for only a few million dollars.\u00a0 Lupe liked the looks of them, and asked SPHP’s opinion.\u00a0 SPHP liked them too, but sadly checked pocket change and came up rather short.<\/p>\n After 1.1 mile, Lupe reached a junction with the Whippletree trail.\u00a0 She stayed on the Belcher Hill trail, which turned SW here.\u00a0 By now it was clear that a huge expanse of cold air E of the foothills was capped with a layer of low clouds.\u00a0 The city of Denver and all its surrounding suburbs were hidden from view.\u00a0 Lupe could see the top of\u00a0 North Table Mountain<\/span><\/a> (6,570 ft.)<\/span><\/strong> off to the SE floating barely above the clouds.<\/p>\n Shortly after bypassing the Whippletree trail, the effects of a powerful inversion became evident.\u00a0 The temperature started changing rapidly, sometimes quite noticeably within only a few feet.\u00a0 Overall it was getting a lot warmer out, but Lupe came to pockets of cold air, too.<\/p>\n The Belcher Hill trail steepened, and made a switchback shortly before coming to another junction, this time with the Longhorn Trail.<\/p>\n At an intersection 1.8 miles from the E trailhead where Lupe had started, Joe and Dusty led the way onto the Longhorn Trail.<\/p>\n After a short steep section, the Longhorn trail leveled out and became more of an up and down affair as it headed N.\u00a0 After 0.4 mile, a junction with the Shorthorn trail was reached.\u00a0 A longer loop could be made by taking the Shorthorn trail.\u00a0 It was such a nice warm day this high up due to the temperature inversion, longer was definitely the better choice.\u00a0 Everyone hit the Shorthorn trail.<\/p>\n The Shorthorn trail gained a bit more elevation, but only gradually with both up and down stretches along the way.\u00a0 At first it headed NW.\u00a0 This was a unique part of the hike, because the trail went through a shady forest of large pines.\u00a0 Later on the trail turned NE, and wound around a series of ravines on much more exposed sunny slopes.<\/p>\n A 1.1 mile trek on the Shorthorn trail led to a different point on the Longhorn trail.\u00a0 Shortly after reaching this junction, Joe discovered he had forgotten his walking stick about 0.33 mile back while shedding layers due to the near 60\u00b0F temperatures.\u00a0 Everyone doubled back to retrieve it.<\/p>\n The walking stick successfully retrieved, it was back to the second junction of the Shorthorn and Longhorn trails.\u00a0 A short hike up the Longhorn trail led to a tiny creek in a ravine.\u00a0 At a big rock beside the little stream, it was time for a break.\u00a0 Lupe and Dusty shared some Taste of the Wild.\u00a0 Joe and SPHP had apples.\u00a0 Dusty enjoyed polishing off the apple cores.<\/p>\n After the break, it was time to head back down to the trailhead.\u00a0 Joe and Dusty lead the way, using the Longhorn and Whippletree trails to complete a loop back to the Belcher Hill trail.\u00a0 By the time Lupe arrived back at the trailhead, the air had warmed up some down here, but it was still only 30\u00b0F compared to near 60\u00b0F higher up.<\/p>\n The White Ranch Park adventure was over, but more good things were about to happen!\u00a0 Joe, Andrea, Dusty, Lupe and SPHP were soon on the way back to Matt and Cassie’s house in Parker.\u00a0 It was time for more fun with babies!\u00a0 Owen was the only baby there at first.\u00a0 Steve and Xochitl had taken Felix with them to visit friends.\u00a0 Felix hadn’t woken up until 7 AM this morning, a recent personal record of 16 consecutive hours of sleep!<\/p>\n Knowing that SPHP was certain to sneak her some, Lupe was especially pleased at the news that Matt was going to smoke a huge chicken and ribs this afternoon!<\/p>\n Lupe had fun with Maya.\u00a0 Eventually Steve, Xochitl and Felix showed up.\u00a0 Mark did, too.\u00a0 SPHP built towers with Owen’s blocks.\u00a0 Felix had a good time knocking them down.<\/p>\n The big chicken and ribs took a long time to smoke.\u00a0 Steve, Dusty, Maya, Lupe and SPHP took a walk at dusk.\u00a0 Upon return, the smoked chicken and ribs were nearly ready.\u00a0 The feast was soon served.\u00a0 The smoked chicken and ribs were delicious!\u00a0 Everyone had a great time!\u00a0 A certain sly Dingo feasted on both chicken and ribs.<\/p>\n All too soon, it was time to head back to the Cowboy room in Arvada with Joe, Andrea and Dusty.\u00a0 The next morning, Lupe left Dusty’s house after one last spin around the 100 acre field with Joe, Dusty and SPHP.\u00a0 The trip to Arvada and Parker, Colorado had been a quick one, but a fun time!<\/p>\n By the time the sun set for the last time in 2017, Lupe was back in her Black Hills of South Dakota.\u00a0 The G6 said it was 5 below zero when Lupe finally got home.\u00a0 2018 was destined to get off to a frigid start.<\/p>\n Related Links:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n White Ranch Park trail map<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Want more Lupe adventures?\u00a0\u00a0Choose\u00a0from\u00a0Lupe’s Dingo Vacations Adventure Index<\/strong><\/span><\/a> or Master Adventure Index<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0Or subscribe free\u00a0to\u00a0new Lupe adventures<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Christmas had come and gone.\u00a0 The year was almost shot, but Lupe had a final chance for adventure in 2017.\u00a0 Xochitl, Steve and baby Felix were flying into the Denver area from Chicago for a couple of days.\u00a0 They would be staying at Matt, Cassie and baby Owen’s home in Parker.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP had … Continue reading A Quick Trip to Colorado – Visiting Babies Felix & Owen plus a fun White Ranch Park outing (12-28-17 thru 12-31-17)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[8,105,106,296,26,884,104,885,445],"class_list":["post-12392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dingo-vacations","tag-omniten","tag-american-dingo","tag-carolina-dog","tag-colorado","tag-dingo-vacations","tag-felix","tag-lupe","tag-owen","tag-white-ranch-park"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_8563.jpg?fit=1651%2C1238&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12392"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12407,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12392\/revisions\/12407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_8508.jpg\")
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