On approach to tank up...

and exercising its amazingly long tongue in anticipation, or maybe it’s just salivating, knowing that a sugary reservoir awaits.

Either a female or an immature male Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri).

The Doorknob was a sounding rocket...

used in the Pacific in 1958 during Project Hardtack to monitor the radiation in the upper atmosphere during the nuclear tests. Here’s my scale model lifting off from the Ken’s Lake Missile Test Range early this morning.

The snazzy Doorknob roaring off the launch rail under thrust from a “F” engine, achieving an 893 foot apogee during its minute-long flight.

Pace Hill after the fire...

last week, where some are speculating that “the fire was started by a diesel pickup with a heavy trailer powering up the grade spewing hot carbon from the tailpipe onto the dry grass along the road” to quote our local scribe.

Why did the snake...

cross the trail? Why to get to the other side, of course. But this one wasn’t moving at all in the cool of the early morning, found fully stretched across the trail, basking in the warmth of the Sun. I brake for reptiles.

Bullsnake (Pituophis catenifer sayi).

There's a cool temperature window...

in the early morning when one can still get out and ride on even the hottest days. It was quite the nice 17 mile (27 km) ride this morning, especially with the additional cloud cover, and I call this spot on the singletrack Ephedra Gardens because of all the Mormon tea.

Peak flow on the Colorado River...

for this runoff season will certainly occur this week, and here it is running at 20,700 cubic feet per second (cfs) around noon near Moab, Utah. While this sounds impressive, it is less than half the peak discharge of the previous water year. Median peak flow is 20,100 cfs based on 105 years of record at the Cisco gage so this is a normal year.

A calm Memorial Day morning...

at the Round Mountain Proving Ground saw five model rockets soaring skyward. Here are just a couple.

Moab Man hitching a ride on the MOAB to low Earth orbit, blasting off on a “F” engine.

Once again the Frangible Arcas is the high flyer of the day, achieving a 1,341 foot apogee on a “E” engine.

The Kokopelli mountain bike trail...

runs 140 miles between Fruita, Colorado and Moab, Utah. My neighbor and I rode our eMTBs on the segment that mostly hugs the Colorado River between Dewey Bridge and Cisco Landing today, 20 miles out-and-back. It was moderately technical in spots with steep climbs on loose and bouldery slopes, but overall it’s a magnificent ride on a beautiful day.

View upstream with the trail traversing through the ledgy Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic).

View downstream of the Colorado River, running at about 15,000 cubic feet per second at the nearby Cisco gage.

There are occasional route markers beckoning one to follow the humpbacked frisky flute player.

Carry water!

A well hidden historical artifact...

exists out in the open for all to see about one mile below Dewey Bridge on the opposite side of the Colorado River. Countless motorists on Utah 128 pass by a sturdy wooden ladder tucked against the escarpment, built circa 1940 in order to survey the site of a proposed dam in the canyon. Here’s an excellent article on the relict by our local writer.

The view across the Colorado River where the ladder is somewhat difficult to see against the sandstone cliffs, especially if watching the road and travelling at high speed.

Flying straight and true...

under relatively calm conditions this morning, I launched and recovered three model rockets with the Warp Core rocketry club in Grand Junction, Colorado at their launch site on the state line. Members lofted about 20 rockets until increasing winds shut down operations around noon.

First off the pads today, Zephyr Jr. zooms to a 554 foot apogee on a “D” engine, landing only about 50 feet away under calm conditions.

Finally painted and decaled, the MOAB roars to 575 feet on a “F” engine.

Aiming higher, my Frangible Arcas soars to 1,335 feet and lands a considerable distance down range under increasing winds.