Lost and Found

JABENA! Thanks for leaving a comment! I am so very sorry I haven't talked to you since I left. That Scott guy... I've heard his name but I'm not really sure why. He might be a celebrity, but I'm really not in the loop with most celebrities anyway so I would have no idea! :)

With that important, overdue comment out of the way (Miss you Jabena, Tara and Mom!), on to the latest and greatest in Mountain-Woman Lisa's life.

No, no luck with housing. I'm considering sharing a house now; much more affordable, and will let me have a pupper. I really REALLY don't want to share, but I'm not home much anyway and there are some unique living opportunities out here - lots of huge mountain homes that people can't afford without a housemate, often with private bed, bath, and sometimes living space - but we'll see. I am in the process of applying for a Ranger/Naturalist job with the City of Boulder. The pay would be fantastic, and somehow along the meandering, random career path I've stumbled along, I've aquired many of the qualifications that they want. I always knew there was some logic behind my ADHD ways! ;)

As Jabena had said, they did in fact find that guy that was lost last week. Around noon a helicopter saw him but couldn't land, so they dropped a radio and supplies down to him until ground support could reach him. It's great being able to listen to the radio between the rangers and dispatch; some interesting, funny, or scary things happen every day. Today, there was a Jeep - no, somebody heard it was a van - carrying some guy that needed an ambulance - no, somebody heard they didn't want assistance - because a guy was hurt... somebody asked if they needed help and they said "WE GOTTA GO!" Was his leg broken? Or was this somebody else? You'll get visitors telling volunteers second hand information, who pass it on to ROMO (dispatch); in turn, ROMO tells the rangers, then the rangers have to try and relay back to the reporting party...

Another transmission I overheard were some people were "lost" on Flattop Mountain but used their cell phone to call the Park and try to get directions down. They called back after getting directions and said they couldn't go "up OR down". Huh. They got up there some how, right??

In other words, the radio can be very busy sometimes.

I was excited to see a report of a wolf sighting in the park. Chances are, it is only a very large coyote... they are huge out here, and most people just see WOLF. BUT... between you and I, a little reliable bird told me she saw three, and she used to live in Alaska. Methinks the wolves have come home...

No new hikes to add to my trail log; instead, I took Joe on his first driving tour west of Evergreen. I showed him Vail and how touristy and pretentious and obnoxious it is, then went down to Frisco where it was a little quieter. It was a nice way to escape the horrible heat down in Denver, and I am sooo glad I live up in the mountains! The weather is more unpredictable and it is colder, but it's worth it. My little Toyota is considently getting 22-23 mpg, and I'm happy with that. Still have to sell the Focus though!

I also got a chance to climb my first tree since... well, it's been a while. Joe let me borrow some of his gear and we went out to the hills near Evergreen and found a nice tall Ponderosa Pine on top of a little mountain to climb. We didn't go very high up, but we didn't need to since we were above everything anyway. It felt good to get up there again! Hopefully I will have some climbing gear on the way soon. I think him and I are going to Fort Collins this weekend for the ISA Tree Climbing Competition. That will be me some day! Yeah, right!!

My family is coming out to visit in just a few weeks! Yikes, I have to get their itinerary together! Flyfishing, camping, golf and whatever I can find for my Mom to do - poor thing pulled her calf and can't walk! Mom, you be careful! You can rent these little scooters and drive around town! Yeah, I know she's probably not digging that idea too much either, ha ha!

The elk have finally gone from looking starved, ragged, and pathetic to sleek and lean, like a horse. Some of the bulls have already developed impressive racks, and the muley deer are a little behind the elk in growing out their racks. Must be summer!

That's all for now. The photos this week are from the hike to Emerald Lake with Joe a couple weekends ago. Miss ya'll!