Nature photograph

Away from the Grind

Break “away from the grind”, on the trail, into the wild. Our site contains info and photos to invite you to wander into some of the wonders of the American West.

The information in this piece may be out of date. I have moved away from Cheyenne and am no longer maintaining this site. You may leave a comment if you wish. Useful comments will continue to be posted.

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Recent Posts

The Formerly Secret Open Space:  Area 242

Our area trails have been busy.  So busy that people have had some difficulty practicing social distancing on the trail.  Is it OK to get within the six foot zone if both parties hold their breath?  “Excuse me, I’m about to come past on the left.  Hold your breath please on the count of three.  […]

Poudre River Corridor South trails

The March blizzard left me with a near lethal level of cabin fever. Imprisoned in cold and brown and bleak the pressure was building to bursting. I had to grasp those prison bars, bend them apart with my bare hands and plunge a big booted foot through, escaping to find some glimmer of spring. The fecund […]

Red Mountain Open Space: The Nearby Wonderland

The rock bends, one hundred feet of strata curving down to enter the ground. Rust red bands, others grey as old bone, one nearly white, another the deep maroon of dried blood. Mild Sand Creek flows at our feet. How many times has it swelled, exploded, roaring like a freight train to carve this canyon, […]

Guadalupe Mountains National Park: Finding Spring

Spring rarely visits Cheyenne, Wyoming during spring break. So if we’re to truly have a spring break we have to go find it. Where can we find new leaves unfurling, smell the fragrance of wildflowers and walk in a t-shirt, even sweat in the heat of the sun? Here’s a good place, within one long […]

I Love Big Bend National Park. It Nearly Killed Me.

The Chisos Mountains are like blocks dropped from the sky, crowding the horizon with towering edges that jangle the sense of right and wrong. This is southwest Texas, Big Bend National Park, where the Rio Grande, our border with Mexico, takes a turn to the north making the big bend. The Chisos, rising nearly 8,000 […]

Sheep Mountain Trail, Centennial, WY

Highlights: This is the mountain that everyone sees but few explore, the eastern most spur of the Medicine Bow Range. From the road the mountain simply looks like a narrow ridge. But don’t judge a book by its cover. The mountain top is a big surprise, a long basin with flowing streams, abundant wetlands and […]