Rodeo/Portal 2011 Community Christmas Dinner

     The communities of Portal, AZ and Rodeo, NM got together on Saturday evening, December 17th for their Annual Holiday Dinner & Program. There was lots of turkey, ham, and side dishes to make for a scrumptious feast for all to enjoy. Not to forget the large selection of desserts which included tables and racks filled with plates of cookies, pies, and even Tiramisu!  

Tiramisu & Other Goodies. Yum!!

     The event catered to a nearly packed house at the Rodeo Community Center with locals from both Rodeo and Portal in attendance. There definitely was not a shortage of food at the event! So if anyone went home hungry it was their own fault!!

     Following the dinner there was a brief holiday program with the high point being Howard Topoff's "Upside Down Christmas Singer"s. They were pretty funny to watch on the projection screen.

     The program continued with Carolers singing Christmas and Hanukkah songs which all enjoyed. At the end everyone joined in to sing a few Christmas songs to round out the end of the program.

    The festivities ended when Santa Claus and Mrs. Clause as well, showed up to wish everyone there especially the children a Very Merry Christmas!!

Santa Claus

Santa and Mrs. Claus

From my town of Rodeo, New Mexico and neighboring Portal, Arizona.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Photographs by Roger McKasson

Roger McKasson Studio-Gallery

Rodeo, New Mexico

www.rogermckasson.com

November 10th Granite Gap Hike

Susan on Quartz Boulder

     It was a nice day to go hiking and the local group was divided up into two small groups. One had gone up by the Interstate to watch an old steam train go by the ghost town of Steins. The other group which I was with went directly to the Granite Gap area which is about 20 miles north of the town of Rodeo, NM. 

    The air was clear but cool but not cold and my group settled into their hike. Shortly into our hike we encountered the other group who found the Steins area too cold and windy for an enjoyable hike so came back to the Granite Gap area as well. We all posed for a large entire group picture then went off in our separate ways.

Entire Group minis Julie from Juno, Alaska

    My group that went on consisted of Myself, Linda, Greg, Marsha, Julie, and Susan. We hiked around the base of Granite Peak to the western end then began an assent up to the saddle area of the peak itself. 

North face of Granite Peak.

     As we climbed the western slope up towards the saddle we notice large boulder outcroppings towards the saddle on the south face of the saddle.  We worked our way up towards those boulders to see what they were as they were most intriguing to the eye as to just what they were made out of.

White boulders up in the saddle area.

     Once we reached the very large boulders we discovered that they were very large Milky Quartz outcroppings. Largest quartz boulders I have ever seen!!!  We all climbed up on them and checked them out. It was very cool to be on such large pieces of quartz. I have to wonder what energy they give off!! The following images are taken on them as I wandered around checking them out while the others did the same.

Greg on Quartz

Me on Quartz

Susan & Olive the dog on quartz

Susan on quartz. Nice view too!!!

     After exploring the boulders we hiked back down to the road and around the peak and back to our vehicles. Our hike was 7.6 miles and a climb of slightly over 1,200 feet in elevation according to Linda's GPS.

I personally think we hike farther than modern technology says we do!!! 

   All in all it was a good day of hiking for both groups but the group I was with did the most intensive hike I think with all the climbing and distance we covered. We all got energized too by the quartz crystals for sure!! 

Linda coming down from quartz boulders

Hikers coming down below quartz boulders

Granite Gap Area

     It was a good hike with lots of interesting formations and excellent panoramic views of the area. Nice group to hike with as well!! Look forward to exploring more of this area in  the future!!

PORTAL IRISH CONCERT AT PORTAL PEAK LODGE

Portal Peak Lodge where Irish Concert was held.

Irish Concert Stage at Portal Peal Lodge.

     On Saturday night October 15, 2011 there was the first Portal Irish Concert at the Portal Peak Lodge.

The music was nice as the viewing crowd enjoyed themselves. 

     The setting for the event was outdoors and the environment and temperatures were perfect for the event!!

This was part of a week long event of instruction and workshops and was kicked off nicely with the nights concert event. Portal Peak Lodge put on a nice event with a buffet and refreshments outdoors as well for purchase. I had a killer chocolate cake!!

     After the concert there were two sessions of Irish Dance Lessons. Fortunately I was in the first secession so no pictures of me having fun making a fool of myself with others. Those dance steps and not easy to do!! 

When the second group took the dance floor there steps were even more complicated so glad I was not part of that group!!

Concert Viewers.

Dancing!

Dancing in the dark!!

More Dancing.

     One thing that was interesting when I downloaded my pictures was that a few also included interesting Orbs seeming to also partake in the dance. I guess the spirits of Portal also enjoyed the Irish Concert. What was interesting was all pictures of the dancing was taken from the same location and the camera settings were all the same so it is unknown why some pictures of the dancing were filled with various sizes of Orbs and yet other pictures have very few or none at all. Orbs are an interesting paranormal phenomena! First time I have ever experienced capturing them in pictures. Thought I post a few here.

Orbs enjoying the dance!! 

I haven't a clue what is going on here!! 

     The Irish Concert was a big hit and look forward to the next one next year!! - Roger

All pictures by Roger McKasson.

October 13 Hike

Greg, Morgan, Pat, Roger and Madison the dog!

     There were two hiking groups on this date. One went up top on a long 15 mile hike and the group I was on did some of the lower trails for around a 5+ mile hike. We all started and ended our hikes at Linda and Paul's home and the weather for the day turned out to be near perfect.  When we started our hike the temperature was 39F degrees but when we finished it was 89F degrees. A 50F degree change in temperature from start to finish!!  

     The hike was nice but not as pretty as in the past as the wildflowers are mostly spent now and the grasses are drying up as well. Fall is definitely making itself known in the area with the cooler night time temperatures bringing an end to the growth of the flowers and grasses for the rest of the year. The hikers for both hikes still enjoyed themselves as nothing beats just being outside in the fresh mountain air on a Fall day!! All in all it was a nice day to be out with friends enjoying a bit of exercise and socializing!! 

Break by falls.

Hiking up the trail out of Ashe Springs.

     It was nice to see that the campgrounds are now opening back up again. Not all are open yet but won't be long until they are. Hopefully with the forest and campgrounds opening up again tourists will start to come back to the Portal, AZ/Rodeo, NM area again and start the economic comeback! - Roger

All pictures by  Roger McKasson

Rustler Park and Crest Trail Hike and Birthday Party!

The Hike: 

Photo by Paul Hirt

     On Thursday, September 29, 2011 the Portal/Rodeo Hiking Group met to hike the Crest Trail  from the now open Rustler Park area of the Chiricahua Mountains of the Coronado National Forest.  The Forest Service within the last week had reopened the entire forest for hiking. Campgrounds still remain closed for now while restoration continues to make repairs to damaged facilities following this years Horseshoe 2 Wildfire. 

     This was the first time since the fire that the public has been allowed to hike all the trails in the forest. The Crest Trail and other upper elevation trails had been closed until the opening this last week. It was nice to be able to finally venture out along the crest of the mountains and see the burned areas that like the lower elevations are now carpeted with lush natural vegetation. Nice too, to be able to see the valleys on both the east and west sides of the mountain range. Something I  personally have not seen here before. 

     Where it was once scorched earth is now a profusion of grasses, ferns, and colorful wildflowers. As for the trees though it's a different story.  Most of the trees along the mountain crest trail area had been killed off and burned. Surprisingly though, there still are scorched but living trees that like down in lower elevations are putting out new growth at a rapid rate. It's like the forest missed out on the spring growing season so is now making up for lost time before fall sets in. 

The hike begins.

Linda scans the western slopes from Crest Trail.

Crest Trail 

     The new growth along the crest of the mountains was most evident with the new Aspen growth. Most are nearly half the height of what the older trees were before the fire. Those trees though were not as tall as they could be as they too were regrowth from another fire about 15 years ago.

Scottie by new growth Aspens.

     At approximately the 2/3s point of the hike the group divided into two smaller groups. One went up to Fly Peak and the other ventured farther out to Anita Park. I started out hiking with the Anita Park group which would be about 2.5 miles each way farther than the Fly Peak Trail. About a mile into the hike I noticed that I had somehow cut my right forearm?? Attempts to stop the bleeding while hiking were causing me to fall further and further behind the group, so I called to them that I needed to sit still for a few minutes so the wound would clot and not to wait as I would just go back to the intersection of trails. Bummed out from not making the long hike I returned and met up with Scottie and the two of us hiked back out of the Wilderness Area and back down to the parking lot at Rustler Park. The hike back had beautiful scenery and vistas along the trail back to where we parked.

Wilderness Area sign as we left the wilderness for the parking lot.

     Heading back to Rustler Park we passed scorched forest that had a carpet of green under it. There is sort of a surreal beauty to many of the burned areas where the forest is recovering from the fire. Charcoal black snags rising from a sea of lush green new vegetation. A surrealistic beauty from destruction!

Surreal Picture.

Western view from above Rustler Park.

The Party:

     Following the hike we all met back at Peg's house for a Potluck Birthday Party for Peter, one of our regular group hikers. His birthday he told me was actually September 3rd but this was the first time we all could meet following a hike. A party is a party though no matter when it's thrown!!  There were many others as well who were not on the days hike  for the party. Like I said a party is a party!!

Peg's House.

And the Party begins!!

Peg

     As with all birthday parties there is a cake. In Peter's case seeing as he was now 40 he needed two cakes with 20 candles on each.!! 

Pat with cake # 1.

And there Peter Blows!!

Time now for Morgan and Pat to cut the cakes!!

     That brings to an end the days events for my blog. Check out Bruce's Blog for pictures of the Gypsy Carpenters who were hikers and now performed into the late hours of the party!! The end of a long and fun day of hiking and partying!! - Roger

All pictures unless otherwise stated are by Roger McKasson.

Chiricahua Gallery Community Artists Show

     Rodeo New Mexico's local Chiricahua Gallery held the Opening of their Community Artists Show on Saturday, September 17th. This show included works of not only their own member gro artists but also works of other non-member artists from around the area. The show will be running from September17th through October 2nd, 2011.  Many non-member local artists contributed pieces of their work which were listed as either being for sale on not for sale.

     The show was well attended, especially in this downturn economy that has been made worse in the local area by the recent forest fire in the Chiricahua Mountains. Still, turnout was good, and all seemed to enjoy the variety of works presented for sale or just viewing. It is hoped this show will bring in more tourist and visitors to the area as well as customers for the gallery!! Hopefully too, there will be an increase in the local economy for all local businesses in the area of Rodeo, NM and Portal, AZ!!

     I should also mention the delicious food prepared for the event by local caterer and gallery officer Jackie Lewis. It was enjoyed by all!!  If you look around the images of the gallery you can see the variety of work that is present at this show. It also shows off the local talent we have in the area of both profession and non-professional artists and crafts persons. 

     I have just recently joined the gallery as a sitting member and had the first display of my work in this gallery at this show.  In the past I have supported the Chiricahua Gallery and even done joint Openings with them and was finally talked into actually joining them to display some of my works as well as at my own gallery. I probably should have done this a long time ago!!

     It was nice and a bit strange after so many years to see a section of the Chiricahua Gallery presenting a grouping of my artwork. I think my membership will be a plus for both of us now. 

     I encourage everyone who can to come and visit this show and maybe even find something to purchase and take home with you! It was nice to be back to writing about art in my art blog again instead of about hiking!! - Roger 

All Photographs by Roger McKasson.