More interesting and random news stories

I think it was Donna whom had told me that scientists could grow human ears on the backs of mice. Well, on this snowy Friday morning, I decided to look it up. Of course, she was right. Get a load of this:

Click on photo to read the article. And that was 5 years ago! So I got curious as to what else they were doing with mice nowadays.

Mice Growing Human Ovaries - yeah, just look at that photo. I'll blame my ovaries when I get fat. ;)

Mice with Human Brain Cells - don't worry, they didn't turn into Pinkey and the Brain.

Mice and hope for Muscular Dystrophy - very recent news

Genetically Engineered "Fearless" Mice snuggle with cats

 

And besides mice, here's some other interesting reading material:

Glow In the Dark Cloned Kitties! The pictures are pretty rad.

Grizzley-Polar Bear Hybrid - I think it's pretty cute!

Why Pregnant Women Don't Fall Over - but I'm clumsy so I'm sure I'd find a way

Trophy Hunting Male Polar Bears can be very bad - This is why I am anti-hunting for predator species in general... definitely anti-polar bear hunting

A Whale Takes an 800 Mile Trip up the Amazon River... and finally died. Bummer. But kudos to its pioneering spirit. ;)

Major Earthquake May Hit San Fran Next Year

Coffee May Protect Female Memory - at this rate you'd think I'd remember more? ;)

The Most Expensive Home Sale in America was, of course, here in Estes Park. Yuck.

A List of Happiest and Saddest States in this article. I don't know how much I believe it, because it says Michigan is happier than Colorado. But at least Michigan and Alaska are right next to eachother, so I know what I'm in for when I finally get there. ;)

And an Eel Powered X-mas Tree in Japan

And then here's something interesting - I doubt anybody remembers last year when Tim and I hiked those two fourteener mountains (Sneffles and Shavano) for Backpacker Magazine but they finally posted our routes that we mapped via GPS. Of course, Tim didn't give me any credit even though he had no idea how to use the damned thing! But really, it was all me. ;)  Here's Sneffles Route, and here's Shavano.

Finally got an X-mas tree... another living, 8 inch tall beauty from the grocery store... since I accidentally killed the one from last year. A little more snow today on the ground, but since I twisted me knee snowboarding last weekend, looks like I'm still grounded for another week or so. I did finally get my skis mounted and when I'm recovered, hopefully I'll be able to do some telemark skiing! Tim has a friend that works at the Alta Ski Resort in Utah, and it's skis only - no snowboards allowed! We might go out there in the end of January.

So I finally looked up what a certain IBM commercial has been touting - DNA ancestry tests. If I had an extra $100, I'd totally do it. You send in DNA via a cheek swab sample and the compare your DNA to see where your ancestors migrated from. It doesn't tell you who you ancestors were, so you won't see Grandpa Bob on there, but I think it's fascinating. Especially after how I head read an article that did the same test on some girl that may have been decended from "Amazon Women"... which were actually from Mongolian women or something. Complicated, so don't ask because I don't remember (guess I better step up the coffee intake). There's quite a few companies out there that do these DNA tests too. This one is themost expensive I've seen - $1000!! - and apparently scans for your probability of getting certain diseases. Just search for DNA ancestry test on yahoo and you'll find them. Most are $100-250.

Ok enough of this nonsense. It's time to hang stockings or something holiday-ish.

News, winter, etc

Lots of interesting stuff in the news lately. Mostly, not good. Colorado, like my sister Sue always told me, is full of psychos. Such as the dude that killed 4 people - 2 people at two different places - out of "religious revenge" or something of the like. Jeez. Then, there's the dude that died in an avalanche... on a day when there were warnings all over the freaking place about avalanches... and keep in mind this was "at least" his THIRD avalanche he had been caught in. Ok, maybe it sounds harsh but YOU SHOULD HAVE LEARNED THE FIRST 2 TIMES! Seriously. You can learn how to avoid avalanches, and how to HOPEFULLY survive them if you get caught. Most of the articles about this accident leave out the fact that this was his third avalanche he has been caught in. These things happen when you do dangerous stuff! Hey maybe someday something crappy will happen to me but maybe I'll figure out not to do it again if it happens 2 times. It does sounds like he was an extreme sports kindof guy though, and there's the theory that those people who are good at the extreme, die in the extreme... This is why I'm taking an avalanche course this winter!

Then there's global warming. Al Gore gets a share in the Nobel Peace Prize (told ya'll to watch "The Inconvenient Truth"!!!) but it doesn't stop the now blatantly obvious problem of the arctic melting - you know, all the stuff republicans told you wasn't happening. Also note that Colorado academia people are quoted in that.

Another, more local, bit of news - the ELK CULLING PROPOSAL of Rocky Mountain National Park. Jeez, it's about time. Nothing is killing those elk, including the hunters who seemed to have a darned time trying to find those beasts on public land. Of course, they're all over residential areas, and the golf course, and the field across from my house. Which drove Logan nuts of course. Something needs to be done! And I sure hope I get to be one of those "park employees" that gets to help out. And thank goodness they've found a way to donate the meat. Donating meat is a lot more expensive than you would think, given the requirements to test for Chronic Wasting Disease and then some requirement of USDA certified processing... Hey maybe if I'm lucky I can be considered the "needy" when I'm unemployed next year and get some elk meat! I didn't sit in on the meeting and the media screws up most everything they report on, so take that article for what you will.

From Winter '07-'08

I finally finished a very belated anniversary gift to Tim... a painting of two wolves running along the mountains under the aurora borealis. Here it is as best as I could photograph it...

Enough of the wind already! And Tim's 5 seconds of fame

Just hanging out at the coffee shop in Lyons while my truck is in the shop again. This time, it's a little more pricey than an oil change... all that new clean oil has been leaking all over Tim's driveway! A valve cover is leaking, so I'm looking at dropping all the money I made last week helping a tree climber remove 3 cottonwoods from downtown last week. Probably $300... Plus my catalytic converter is on it's way out... At least everything else is looking good, otherwise I'd probably throw the truck off a parking structure or roll a boulder over it like in those Toyota commercials. ;)  Hey, I'm now pushing 187k miles and really, my truck still kicks butt. Even though the cab smells like wet dog and has dog-nose smears all over the back windows!

Tim and I finally made it out for the first time this season to Summit county. He hadn't been skiing in 6 years, though it sounded like he was really freakin' good back when he lived in Maine. He was itchin' to try out his new AT skis and bindings, and of course he did awesome and blew me away on my snowboard. Though I did tear it up better than I thought I would. On our way out there at 7 am, it was raining all the way from Estes until the Eisenhower Tunnel. Once we got to the other side of the tunnel (which is at least a mile or two long), the snow flurries began, though blue sky peeked through. We went to Breckenridge and it was insanely busy, seeing as only 3 ski lifts were open. As the day went on, the flurries gave way to the snowstorm we had been hoping for! Even with a balaclava covering my face, it was bitter on my cheeks and nose as snow piled up on us just within the 5-10 minute rides up the ski lifts. The powder settled on the mountain and we went from having a good day, to having a great day! Ironically, as it snowed harder and visiblity was almost as poor as when my friends were out here last year during that huge storm, people opted to leave instead of staying to savor the fresh snow! Which was great for us, the lift lines went from a long wait, to walking right up and sitting right down. I did pretty well, though Tim was impressed by one particularly flashy spill I took. ;)  We were exhausted by 3:30 (mountain closes at 4:00) and slowly made our way on the icy roads to the brewery in Frisco, where we enjoyed a heaping plate of nachos.

 

"He's Mister White Christmas..." otherwise known as Frostybeard. Even strangers were wowed by his inpenetrable mat of facial hair. That's just from the ride up the ski lift, it was snowing so hard!

Fortunately, we didn't linger too long because the snow was still coming down. I think we left somewhere around 5:00 and it was already dark; the freeway wasn't too jammed at first... until we got closer to the tunnel. It took us 50 minutes or so just to get from Frisco to the tunnel. Trust me, I don't even think it should take 10-15 minutes. Just before we reached the tunnel, it just turned into a circus. The snow was coming down heavy, and it was a long uphill grade to just reach the tunnel. All of us in our Toyotas and Subarus were sitting pretty with our 4x4s. In that kind of weather, where pretty soon they would have probably closed I-70, you shouldn't even go out if you don't have the right vehicle. Especially when it's ALL UPHILL. So there were all these people with little cars that were doing ok, until traffic stopped. Going uphill. Guess what happened to so many people? They couldn't get going again! Their tires just spun on the ice, right in the middle of the lane. Left lane, right lane, middle lane. It was like playing a game of frogger trying to avoid these sitting ducks! Of course there were people stuck all over the place - not just little cars, but those arrogant 4x4 drivers. A lot of folks that were having problems were out of staters - Texas, California, etc. Then there were the jackasses that tailgated us. Ridiculous. And worst of all, which I sympathized with the most, were the truckers. It was mandatory tire chains for commercial vehicles, and these poor guys aren't out there in a snowstorm on I-70 because they were having a fun leisurely day on the slopes... they're just trying to do their job, and what happens? Even with chains on, they're spinning tires, going nowhere uphill. Huge semis, chains making sparks on the road... even saw a couple guys that broke their chains, one guy nearly jackknifing trying to get out of the middle of the freeway. I mean, you can always push a little car, but those guys weren't going anywhere!

Even though it took us over 3 hours to get home (after 9 pm), and it was a pain, it was also kindof exciting to finally get a snowstorm. By the time we were past Idaho springs, there wasn't even any snow on the ground! Amazing what the continental divide can do with those winter storms. We were 20 minutes from home going up the snow-free canyon on 36 when literally, snow just came down like a thick white curtain. Out of nowhere. It was so bizarre! And nearly a total white out. We crawled around the curves at 20-25 miles an hour at most. And then it just stopped after 15 minutes, with the stars bright and clear in the sky. Go figure. ;)

Sunday, just overall a disappointing day in football. Eagles, Lions... hmph. Yesterday, was possibly the worst winds yet this winter. I couldn't even take the dog for a walk, it was just horrible. It wasn't even that cold, it was just incessant, relentless gusts of rocks and dirt pounding into the house, my truck, my motorcycle... it absolutely shredded my motorcycle cover last week. It would be really great if a house opened up in the park with a garage so I could keep it indoors! (Tim's roomie is being a brat about me keeping it in their huge 2 car garage.) In fact, it was so windy that it was scaring the crap out of my dog, who clung to me in the most annoying way all day. He doesn't mind thunderstorms or anything like that, but that darned wind...!! It's actually supposed to get up to 65 degrees today down in Denver, but another windy day. So far it's not as bad as yesterday. Here's what the news has to say about it. If they were 93 mph at Berthoud Pass, it's very likely that it nearly reached that much in Estes. Looks like the entire country is having a hell of a time with weather!

Here's some more local news. Estes Park keeps building and building and expanding, and it's getting a little old. I mean, you can only grow so much when you're nestled in the mountains, but people are finally starting to say, enough is enough. The town wants to develop some land by the Stanley Hotel, where Stephen King wrote "The Shining" and where to movie is based upon (though the actual movie was shot in Oregon).

More importantly, Tim had to go on a Search and Rescue last week... actually, it was a body recovery. The high winds last week, in a very poor twist of fate, made a tree fall on a hiker at Wild Basin and killed him. It also hit his friend, but he lived and hiked out to get help. Here's an article about it. Brian the "biologist" who is quoted in the article, got the job that should have been mine. Not that he's not qualified... It just should have been mine, dammit! ;)  Of course the media tried to blame the dead tree on pine beetles, saying it was the first "indirect death associated with the beetles", but that was just media hype and it wasn't a beetle kill tree. And the "two other foresters" or whatever they said that cut up the tree? That was Tim and another trail worker. ;)  And here's a video that shows Tim carrying the litter out with the other rescuers. He's the guy on the closer side of the litter with the only red hardhat and his headlamp off in that still image of the video on that page with the article... and you can't miss the beard. ;)  They show him a couple times if you watch the whole thing.

And since the snow-bug has bit us, and it's a pain to drive out to Summit County, we are getting a hotel Friday night in Breckenridge so we can hit the slopes for two days this weekend. We got a great deal on a room so really, when you figure that it takes over half a tank of gas to get there and back, it's not really that much more money. At least I'd like to think so. :P

 

Thousands of miles in the past few weeks

That's right, I've been all the way to Michigan, then came back and down to New Mexico... Gosh it feels good to be NOT traveling for well at least a couple weeks. The weekly trips down to summit county to ski will probably start this week or next. I'm a little behind compared to last year; Ryan was in Breckenridge while I was in New Mexico and I haven't even hit the slopes ONCE yet!

Visiting Michigan was short and sweet. Got to see a lot of friends but mostly hung out with the family; watched all of my football teams lose (Michigan to Wisconsin; Lions to umm the Giants I think?) but did get to hit up a Red Wings vs Columbus hockey game on Friday night with Linda, and spent my last evening in town eating chinese food and watching Saw 3 with the family (and then a quick trip to the bowling alley to cheer for my friends league). I always miss everybody more after seeing them, but the weather was, well, typical midwest winter - one giant continuous cloud the color of cement, with occassional rain. Yuck! Felt so good to get back to the sunshine of the Rockies!

Once I got back, it was time to go hunting! My buddy Tate took me as my guide and let me borrow a gun. We were up at 5 am and out to a friend's privately leased hunting property that is surrounded by forest service land - usually a hot spot for tons of deer. Guess what? Nobody had seen anything - deer, elk, jeez I think one guy said he had even only seen one rabbit! But we went out and stalked around and probably hiked 4-5 miles that morning, up and down the beautiful mountains. To make a long story short, we didn't see anything except a bighorn sheep (which is actually pretty cool, they NEVER are sighted there)... and a jackass in a truck (you're not even supposed to DRIVE on that road, it's private) shooting what would literally have been MY buck! It was right where we were headed, and he just drove up and told us he wasn't going to shoot a buck, and then boom! Boom! Down goes a nice big one. I don't even think the jackass left his truck and just shot it from the road! Needless to say, we were wayyyyy ticked off. Our attempt ended at noon, with the intent to try again on Sunday.

Sunday morning, 5 am. Same drill, different location. Another "hot spot". Only 2 other people there, up near Storm Mountain (I think it's actually called like Jug Gulch or something). We hiked around til 10 am and once again, didn't see a darned thing. Just a squirrel and a few chickadees. Oh well, what's a girl to do? The seasons out here are way short (different from Michigan) so that was my only chance until I think maybe spring. Would love to get a gun... but lots of other stuff I need to worry about right now. In any case, it was nice hiking around. Here's the sunset the first morning:

From Bandelier NM ...

I was done early enough that Sunday that I decided to head down to Bandelier National Monument a day earlier than planned. Loaded up the dog and made the 8 hr drive, arrived on Tim's doorstep just after 8:15 pm. Finally got to see him after 2 weeks! He did have to work every day, including Thanksgiving, so I mostly took Logan for short hikes around the area for as much as his hips could take. One day, we did the Mitchell Trail to the Natural Arch (2.2 miles); another day, hiked around Water Canyon (2 miles perhaps?); then did Deer Trap Mesa (2 miles). That seems to be as much as he could take, given all the rock scrambling we did. He had fun, though he was sore! It was a pretty low key visit, and after work it was already dark by the time Tim got home, so we mostly just ate a good dinner and watched movies. Thanksgiving, we had been excited to get sushi in Santa Fe; of course, nobody bothered to even see if it was open. Of course not. Nothing was open! But Tim, myself, and 2 other people drove down there anyway and drove around until we found a nice place at the Hilton to eat duck chimichangas and jalapeno poppers. ;)  Not quite what we had hoped for, but there's always good sushi in Fort Collins.

From Bandelier NM ...

Just got back into town this past Saturday night. My friend Kim had also just returned from a month's med school rotation in Portland, so she and I went out and ended up singing Johnny Cash songs at karaoke and hit up the wine and cheese place before she moved from Estes back down to Denver for yet another rotation. Poor girl moves ever 1-3 months!

Then last night, oh those Philadephia eagles! They blew it against New England. The boys were screaming and jumping up and down and ready to throw things at the TV. Hey, they lost the game themselves with some very poorly timed interceptions. That was about all the excitement I could take yesterday. ;)

Well, have a little going away party at the Rock to attend. Looks like I have a side job to help a climber take down a huge cottonwood on Wednesday. Yay, cash!

So, looks like I'll hopefully just be hanging out in Estes, snowboarding and learning to telemark, doing side jobs, walking the dog, and working out for at least the next couple weeks. Pretty exciting huh? I think so!

Waiting for an oil change

I'm hanging out in what I believe is the only place with wireless internet in the town of Lyons, besides the pizza place. Yep, the pizza place is wired, but it's a little early for pizza so I'm drinking coffee instead. Every time I've come to the Barking Dog Cafe, there's always a gaggle (at least 7) of retired old people laughing it up over their coffees and breakfast burritos. I'm always the youngest one in here if it's before 8:30 am! They seem to have a good time. :)

Since I'm pretty much just goofing off on the computer, waiting for an oil change/differential fluid check etc on my truck, I'll throw in random interesting stuff.

An article about how the feds up in Montana and Wyoming in particular like to kill lots of animals - usually for the sake of ranchers. Ahhh, the never ending battle between wolves and cattle. This is part of the reason (here's a bunch more reasons why) why I still refuse to eat beef. I'd rather see the total elimination of all cows than the death of a wolf. Another reason to switch to bison! Seriously. Bison AND wolves were here LONG before cows and ranchers were. Actually, let me look up some stats to show you just why bison (or beefalo, the bison-cow hybrid) is the better choice. Let's quit this "killing wolves to reduce economic losses to ranchers"! (Yes, all those blue links are different websites)

While I was browsing, I got a kick out of this: "Great Old Broads for Wilderness." Good name. :)  They do take younger folk and men into their "wrinkled ranks," too.

I decided earlier this week that I really like walking the dog at night. Though, walking a black dog through a neighborhood with barely any lights on a black asphalt road could potentially be dangerous... But then again, I wouldn't be able to see the clear starry sky if there were lights! Fortunately, there's not a lot of traffic throug the park housing area, and we get well off the road when somebody comes by. There were quite a few shooting stars last night, and it was crisp and cold. Felt good!

I'm still assembling my telemark ski gear... Next up, bindings. Try to get those for under $120. Then, I need skins so I can go uphill. Those aren't cheap either. And I really should get a helmet for snowboarding. Thank god my unemployment check is FAT! Seriously, I can't find a job up here that pays more than unemployment! I'm much better off this winter than I was last year. I'd have to find a job for more than $11/hr for it to be finacially "worth" working. And with a few sidejobs every month, I'll be sitting pretty good! (Tim and I cut firewood for a buddy last weekend; hopefully will get to do that again... though, in a freak accident, a log bounced off the spare tire in the truck bed and shattered the back window of the work truck... just as Tim said, "Don't worry, it's plastic" when I told him to be careful of said window, ha ha! Fortunately, Wendy didn't care much, "it's a work truck" was her reply.)

Well, truck is ready and I need to go down to Boulder and run some errands. Tomorrow, Logan goes to the kennel, and I leave at 9:30 PM for the airport for a 12:30 am departure... arrive in Detroit (with the time change and 2 hr 45 minute flight) at freakin' 5:40 am!! Thank god my mom is picking me up so I can pass out. Did I already mention that I am going to the Red Wings game with my sister Friday night? Watching the U of M game on a 62" plasma HD tv with all my college friends on Saturday? Gonna be a great freakin' time!!

Quick visit to the 313; then off to New Mexico

Well, that entry just accidentally got deleted. I freaking hate using AOL. Whenever it disconnects, I lose my work!!

Halloween, I dressed up as my boyfriend. Forserious. Kim and I went to the costume shop in Boulder and I found this really sexy camper girl costume, complete with naughty badges and a really short skirt; but I also found this caveman wig and beard that looked so much like Tim! I put it on and we both couldn't stop laughing. As ridiculous as it is, I bought both costumes. Tim had absolutely no idea, even though I gave him hints like when he asked, "Is your costume sexy?" -"Well, I think it's sexy but it's not for everybody!" and "Are you a celebrity?" -"I'm known by a lot of people, and I sure think of myself as a celebrity!"

He saw it, and loved it. We went to the bar together, where with both sat down and I immediately began acting like Tim. Giving the bartender attitude, telling people what to do, generally being a cocky jackass... I told Tim that it was great being a jerk to my friends and getting away with it! He replied, "It's good to be me, isn't it?"

Everybody there was rolling with laughter. I had him down to a T! I dressed up exactly as he does - fire boots, nomex fire pants (green), trails sweatshirt (green), hat, and huge BEARD! I even put on my hockey pads to make it look like I had broad shoulders like he does.

Alas, it was fun but it was very HOT wearing all that hair and those hockey pads, and I wanted to LOOK hot! So I ran home halfway through the party at the Rock and had a sex change. People were quite shocked to see me go from being a hilarious costume as a man, to a way sexy costume as a babe! Halloween is the best!

Logan was, of course, a K-9 cop. He didn't mind the gun or handcuffs, but he hated that hat. That's ok, I think those hats looks stupid too. ;)

I am going back to Michigan this Friday for a few days; Tim leaves for Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico tomorrow. When I get back, I am going hunting with Tate around here, then heading down to meet him. Looks like we are eating sushi in Santa Fe for Thanksgiving! Bummer to miss the shoot-out with our friends and their guns up here like last year, but it should be a good time!

Oh, and let me gloat. GO BLUE! GO LIONS! GO REDWINGS!

Now, I have to go watch football. GO EAGLES!

Yeah, my last entry was much better written. Which is why of course it had to get deleted. !!!

 

From Halloween and...

Log Dog's Limp

So, my dog has hip dysplasia. Talk about a bummer. Not doing surgery yet, but it will probably come down to that sooner or later. Hip replacement..!!! I'm just not even going to think about it. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Here's some photos from us blowing up a boulder.

From Work, 2007

That is all for now.
PS: Vote for Logan!

Done for the season!

Woooo!

My last day of work was yesterday. Don't even ask what I'm going to do for a job. I've got a few options, but really I'm more excited for the fact that A-Basin opened 2 days ago!! Time to wax the board! And even more fun, I bought myself some telemark skiis! Something new to learn. I've been looking into skijorning too... that's cross country skiing while being pulled by your dog. It sounds like fun... but Log dog is limping again. This time, gotta check for hip dysplasia. He had been doing so great though! I hope he just pulled a muscle being chased by a Scotty at the dog park. What a headache!

Here's some more photos. This is the trip Tim and I took two weekends ago, to Aspen, Crested Butte, and Mt. Massive.

From Pearl Pass; M...

Never a dull moment!

Another busy month!

It's been over 3 weeks since I last updated; and boy, what a busy month it has been! Let me briefly highlight; hopefully I can get a chance to write more about each of my trips before the weekend, but we'll see.

One weekend, Logan and I went up to Long Draw Reservior/Corral Creek, in the northern part of Rocky Mt NP. It takes I think 3 hours or so to get there from Estes... Tim was building a bridge with his crew, so I wanted to check out his project and do some hiking, where the aspen had changed and the nights were cold... So we did a couple hikes up there.

Last weekend, Tim and I decided to spend the weekend camping together when he's NOT working so we could hike together. We planned on hiking the 9 miles to Conundrum Hot Springs outside of Aspen... but the 25 cars at the trailhead convinced us otherwise (did I mention, it was on a Thursday night, and there are only 18 campsites??). We didn't want to be around people, so we took the 4x4 road up to Pearl Pass, that goes between Aspen and Crested Butte. Ironically, we didn't end up doing any hiking AT ALL. Instead, we saw massive aspen of gold, orange and red; got hit by a snowstorm just as we reached the peak of Pearl Pass; "car camped" and only saw 2 other people near Twin Lakes; drove to Mt. Massive and did more off roading there; explored the old Champion Mill and Mine; had an absolutely amazing weekend. Oh, and we were thunder snowed upon at Mt. Massive. Yep - thunder, lighting... and SNOW. Freakin' LOVE IT.

Tim's back up north working on the bridge; next week, off to Bandelier NP in New Mexico for a week; I'm done working next Thursday. Already bought my expensive 5 mountain pass and ready for SNOW! Working on getting a job for the winter too. Still haven't heard from grad school.

Oh, and Tim and I looked into buying a cabin outside of Estes together. WHAT?! That's right. However, it was sold; we are still looking, but it's a pretty low chance to find another little log cabin in our price range anywhere within 2 counties of Rocky Mt. ;)

Now for the best part: LOTS OF PICTURES!!

From Scottish Iris...

Scottish Irish Highlands Festival

From Poudre River,...

Long Draw Reservior; Corral Creek; Big South Trail; Neota Creek Trail; RMNP

Another fire call-out soon!

Now that I've been back to work for, oh, not even 2 weeks... My boss surprised the crap out of me and caught me at the end of work on Tuesday and said, "They're looking to put another fire crew together, wanna go?"

What?! Heck yeah! I didn't think he'd let me go out more than once; but it's the end of the season, and a lot of people have gone back to school or their seasons have ended, so they are looking to get our Northern Colorado Type 2 #2 crew back together. As of right now, there's no resource order or anything, but they want to be ready when other crews time out and need us to replace them. Most of the crews from the area are in the Grand Canyon right now; don't know if we'd end up out there, or Southern Cali, or where... I'm psyched!!

Christie's Photos

Tim gets back from the Poudre Cabin tonight, if he is back when we get the call-out then him and I just might be on the same fire crew! But, he goes back into the backcountry on Monday for eight days, so it's pretty unlikely. I wouldn't be surprised if we got called out Mon or Tues.

The leaves started changed on the aspen already, as of Monday or so. The wind has been crisp lately, despite the warm sun, and snow is already sitting on top of Long's Peak. So much for finally climbing that peak this season! A bunch of folks did a search and rescue yesterday for a guy that was up on Mt Lady Washington for two days.

Here's a photo of the bathroom I've been working on all summer; it was finished and opened on Aug. 24th. Looks nice, don't it? Thank god I'm done with it!

Work, lately, has been a bunch of different projects. One day, I dug two 5 1/2 foot deep hole to find some old water lines that we will be replacing. Then, we started demolishion on another bathrom (#408), so we took apart everything inside and recycled/reused a bunch of stuff; unfortunately I was busy on another project when they bulldozed the thing down. I think it only took 2 days to gut it, then 2 days to raize it. Instead, I was out at Hidden valley, trying to finish up the trail work I had been doing with volunteersall summer. I finished lining my section of trail with logs, and it looked pretty good; Mike finished the log checks, and Tate and I spent 1 1/2 days digging rocks out of a ditch. My back didn't like that much! Then yesterday I was thrilled that my boss let me go nuts and do some tree work; we are contracting out replacing the water tanks, so I needed to clear limbs for big trucks to get back to it. I spent the morning blissfully by myself. In the afternoon, Steve-O showed me how to split boulders using a gas drill and feathers and plugs. Just drill a few holes into a rock (stupid drill had old gas in it, so it took a while to clean it out...), then put these two pieces of metal on top and bottom of the hole, then start pounding a wedge between the feathers, all in a line... wait... and then crackle and pop! Just split granite in half by hand. The hardest part was keeping the drill going! And my forearms were killing me. But it was a good day. All the term employees are ticked off because they are getting laid off for 2 months; usually it's only for 2-4 weeks. That's just the way it goes sometimes, I suppose.

Today is my day off, after this going to jog with the Log, though it looks like it wants to rain. Notre Dame (Tim's team) and Michigan (how embarassing) play tomorrow, and they are both 0-2..... so Tim and I have a lot of trash talking to do tomorrow! Monday, he is driving out of the backcountry to Ft Collins, and I am meeting him down there, for Monday night football - Eagles. Oh, and did I mention how sweet it is that the Lions won last week?! Sadly, Tim will be in the backcountry for the Eagles-Lions game... I was so looking forward to it!

And, I don't know if we'll be able to make it back to MI and PA like we had wanted. Looks like his furlough won't happen til after the new year. Bummer. We'll see if I get into grad school at Colorado State. My friend Ryan is coming out to ski over Thanksgiving, then all my college buddies are coming out Dec 27-Jan 2, then my friend Matt will be out in January! Looking forward to this winter!

Here are Jason's photos from Brian's wedding.

Now, time to do something productive!

Scottish Irish Highland Festival weekend!

The internet crashed right in the middle of that last journal entry. Will continue when I get a chance. This weekend is the Scottish Irish Highlands Festival here in Estes... it's only taken 3 summers for me to finally make it! Log dog and I forgot about the parade and went into town for a jog and breakfast, only to get diverted. I didn't plan on going to the parade, but we ended up walking downtown with a breakfast english muffin, strawberry smoothie... and my 110 lb big black german shepherd at my side. One dude in a kilt even asked if he could take a photo of my beautiful dog. ;)  We made it into town, but ran into Sov (Tim's friend/coworker/Kim's boyfriend) and ended up talking to him through the entire thing. So... I heard the parade, but didn't see it. Just saw all the Irish Wolfhounds, Scotties, Westies, and tons of men in kilts. :)  I then tried to take Logan for a jog at the lake, which went pretty well... until we passed another dog. Then, I had lots of people giggling at me as I urged him "Keep on running! Keep on running!"  I'm sure I would have laughed at me, too. :)

Tim and I are going to the main festivities in about half an hour - Scotch tasting, lots and LOTS of music, herding dog competition, highlands competitions (jousting, and who knows what else men in kilts are capable of) and GUINNESS! Last year I missed it, was out on a fire, 2003 I think I was back in Michigan or maybe somebody was visiting me??

So here's some more photos. Gotta jet!

 

Tom's Seattle photos

 

From Seattle/Brian...

Some of my wedding/Olympic NP photos... more to come...

 

More fire photos from the safety officer HERE.
And here's Hawk's photos:

Back from Seattle... still haven't had time to sit down

Phew! I didn't think I'd ever stay in Colorado for longer than 2 days, at the rate I've been moving lately!

After I got back from that fire late on a Monday evening, I had Tuesday and Wednesday last week to get my whole LIFE back in order and try to get ready to leave for Seattle at 4:30 am on Thursday. Cheap flights = insanely early drive to the airport sometimes! Of course, the timing belt on my truck decided to finally take a poop in my driveway on Wednesday morning, and Tim was still in the backcountry... so I wound up driving to Fort Collins and running errands/going to chiropracter/going to the SPA/getting cheese and wine with the girls on my motorcycle. Tim got back Wednesday night for our first little reunion in almost a month, and then we were awake at 4 am, packing our tents and sleeping bags in with our wedding outfits. Flew out at 8 am, and was soon at the rental car counter in Seattle by 9:30 am local time. I had reserved a "midsize" car. The receptionist asks, "Is a Chevy HHR ok? It's like a PT cruiser." I say ok. We head to our assigned spot... Q3... what the heck... no way... HA HA HA HA! If you don't know what an HHR is, you have to look at my photos. It was like a modern hip version of a gangster getaway car or something, with black tinted windows... But it was roomy and ok by us!

Just drove to Seattle without any real map/destination/idea of what we were doing, found a place for lunch and internet, and figured out where to take the ferry across Puget Sound, where we would then drive to Port Angeles and then... come up with another plan as to where we would camp in Olympic National Park. It was midday on Thursday before labor day, but there wasn't really a wait for the ferry and it was a beautiful sunny day for the 30 minute ride. Once on Bainbridge Island, we drove to Port Angeles (passing through the "lavender capital of the country") and found the ranger station. We appeased the ranger by admitting we, too, were Parkies and we wanted to camp on the ocean, far from tourists. He was quite nice and we decided to spend our first night on Third Beach, a 1.4 mile hike to the Pacific Ocean. Our second night, we would continue south along the beach another 5 miles and stay at Toleak - which we would have to time our hike according to the high and low tides. Some headland areas are impassable during high tide, where you would get trapped at the bottom of the cliff. We also rented our huge bear-proof food cylinder that we had to hike around with - it wasn't so much for bears, as for mischievous raccoons. With everything all set, we made haste to find...SUSHI! It was the only sushi place in Port Angeles, and from the outside it didn't look all that great. But on the inside, it was a nice place with good prices and good fish. We had been looking forward to eating sushi in Washington almost as much as we were excited for the wedding and camping on the ocean. ;)

Our campsite at Third Beach

After our big dinner, we made the long drive to the trailhead for Third Beach; by the time we reached it, the sun had set. We pulled out our headlamps and got our backpacks squared away and hiked in the humid, oppressive darkness through the temperate rainforest, completely oblivious to what it looked like during the day... but we were certain that it was thick, with HUGE trees, and so incredibly dark, considering we were just past the full moon. It was a quick hike and mostly flat, but we didn't even hear the ocean until we were just upon it. The trail pops out at a small stream that feeds into the ocean, and soon we were looking at sea stack rocks under the moonlit sky, the ocean rumbling loudly as it washed in and out. We did a quick exploration and only found one tent along our whole section of beach, despite it was Labor Day weekend; we found a nice little area next to a boulder and surrounded by big driftwood logs to set up the tent. We stayed up late and sat on the rock, drinking a bottle of wine and just enjoying the sound of the ocean. It was exactly what I had hoped for. :)

I slept pretty well, except the sound of the ocean was so loud that in the middle of the night, when high tide came in and was merely 20 feet or so from the tent, I had a half-awake dream that the tide was going to wash up into the tent because it was so close! But of course things were fine. Maybe should've taken it easy on the wine that night. ;)

The next morning, we both woke up early; Tim took photos of pelicans and sea birds, I sat on the rock and watched the sun rise (though I couldn't see the sun, the clouds were still beatiful and the ocean was misty and cool). Soon however, we retreated to the tent where the incessant pitter patter of raindrops made us reconsiderour plans. It didn't seem like it would let up any time soon, and we really didn't feel like packing up our wet tent, hiking in the rain (timed to the tides, don't forget!) and setting back up in the rain, and then doing our day hiking all wet... So we decided to stay at Third Beach another night and hit the road to do some sight seeing. We hiked out and went to the Hoh Rainforest Visitor Center and hiked around the denser areas of temperate rainforest - the Hall of Moss and Spruce Trails were excellent short hikes, showing off the biggest Douglas-fir and Sitka Spruce, and maples draped in vines and moss... BIG trees indeed! Everything had something else growing on it, just so many shades of green in one place! We also walked along the Hoh River, which was a cold, glacial-fed, eerie blue-green river that came down from the mountains. I think I remember reading that the Park has over 70 active glaciers, which is more than Rocky has. I would love to go back and hike more interior next time, to see all these glaciers, tarns, and mountains!

Hall of Mosses

Big freaking tree!
The photo-stitched big tree

We also wanted to see the furthest Northwest Point in the lower 48, so we drove up to the indian reservation and boarded the shuttle van. It was a quick hike along some boardwalks to a spectacular ocean view, with cliffs, caves and islands; bright orange starfish and even a big group of seals on an island! Tim went nuts with his camera, as did I. It had rained all day until we got up there, so we had blue sky but unfortunately couldn't stay for the sunset because the shuttle was leaving. It was a great day!

Lighthouse at the NW point

Seals!

We decided to finally eat some of the food we brought for backpacking, so we set up Tim's little single burner stove in a parking lot... and the stupid sig bottle lit on fire! Guess it was leaking white gas. We did put it out, but Tim was upset his stove was broken. We ended up eating mexican in Two Forks, which was a bummer we ended up wasting some food we bought but oh well, these things happen! Once again, we found ourselves hiking to Third Beach in the dark. We never did get to see the sunset! The moon was bright and we could see a couple tents further down the beach, but considering it was Friday of Labor Day weekend, we still had plenty of seclusion. Another nice night falling asleep to the sound of the ocean.

The next morning, we both were feeling lazy and reluctantly decided we didn't feel like hiking further down the beach like we had planned. Packed up camp and headed out of Olympic, feeling fulfilled with what we had seen and done. Of course, I forgot to drop off the bear canister so I had to UPS it back to them, an hour outside of town. Grrrr. We went back aboard the ferry at Bainbridge and 30 minutes later, we were looking for sushi in Seattle. We ended up eating at a place at University and Western, the food was great but the service... Never eat at a place that says "Now Hiring Servers" and only has 2 people working - one making sushi, the other doing everything else! We walked by the Pike Market but that's really not Tim's or my kind of thing, so we didn't stop and gaggle at stuff we didn't need to buy.

Afterwards, we drove up to Lynnwood and found a hotel, took a nap (since we had been on the go non-stop) and got ready for Tim to meet my friends for the first time. Yay! We went to Egg Cetera's Blue Cafe (a bar) in Wellington, and I was soooo happy to see everybody! The regular crowd - Kevin, Beth, Jeff, Brian and Melissa of course, and all those other folks. Since the bride and groom were getting married the next day, we didn't stay out very late, but it was still good to see them. Then back to the hotel, where we could sleep until the 4 pm wedding, about 30 minutes away in Snohomish.

Wedding day sunday! Tim looked really handsome and I love the fact that he doesn't own a suit. ;)  We drove out to Craven Farm and it was beautiful, corn fields and beautiful gardens, with a view of the Cascades in the background. I think there were only 120 people or so at the wedding, but I got to see Hot Donna, Brian's parents and jeeez so many people I haven't seen in forever! The ceremony was short and nice - not preachy - and even a little bit humorous. :)  After the ceremony, there was a cocktail hour (of course, Jeff, myself, and Tim headed straight for it!) and got to introduce Tim to so many people. We sat at a table with Donna, Jason, Chris, Ted, Steve T and his wife Anne, and we had so much fun being goofy. The food was "family style", gourmet Asian food - breaded "claw", some fish head soup or something??, I wish I would have saved the menu it was so delicious. Tim impressed everybody with his ability to eat EVERYTHING. ;)

And what else can I say? Danced a little, talked a lot, Tim and my friends all got along great, Tim and I had a blast! Alas, everything was over by 11:30; early by my standards, but we had to leave for the airport by 4:30 am again so it was better off that way. So sad to leave everybody, but they are coming out to CO to ski after X-mas so it won't be too long!

So we flew home on a 6 am flight, and were back in bed taking an all-day nap by noon on Labor Day. Finally, some rest!

First day off in 22 days!

Phew!

Let me just say, it was an incredible roll with Northern Colorado. I'm exhausted and psyched to have 2 paid days off, but super busy trying to do a bunch of stuff before we leave for Seattle. I ended up working on both the Tin Cup fire (considered out now) and the Rombo fire (I don't even think it is considered contained at all) right outside Darby and Sula, Montana. The Rombo fire started at 3,500 when we found out we were moving; 4,700 acres when we started; and almost 22,000 when we left and it blew up, heading straight for the town of Connor.

My digital camera is officially dead, so the only photos I have until everybody posts theirs is from my cell phone.

Lots to do! Will update more when I get a chance.

From Tin Cup and R...

From Spring 2007 -...

FIRE FIRE FIRE!

WOOO!!

I'm on deck to  head out with the Northern Colorado Type 2 (#2) handcrew any day/hour/minute!! Hopefully MONTANA but shit is burning in Idaho, Oregon, MICHIGAN even (15,000 acres, 61 miles west of Sault Ste. Marie..... YEAHHH FIRE FIRE FIRE!

Ok gotta jet, just thought I'd share. Oh, here's a link to see if/where I end up going:

http://coftc.chicodev.com/location-report.php

From there, the first category is Fort Collins Dispatch Center Resources; I'll be with Northern Colorado #2. Daily it will be updated if we are sent out, and where we are.

More miles, higher elevations

I added up my hiking miles (dog walks and other little ones don't count) and I was ashamed, not even 100 miles this year. WEAK! So I did Chapin, Chiquita and Ypsilon peaks last Friday. Too late to do an official trail log, but I know I did more than the 7.6 miles that newspaper article says, since I took a drastically different way back to the trailhead. Though, it does have an excellent map! Oh, this hike was wear the park ranger Jeff Christensen died in 2005, fell off of Chiquita and was found at the bottom. There's a very interesting report of the incident here. Very sobering to look over the steep sides of one of the coolest mountains in the park (Ypsilon), in thick fog with blowing wind, and realize that yeah, those things do happen.

From Chapin, Chiqu...

Here's photos of the parkie softball team, the Cougars. Good photos of Tim and his huge beard.

Tim is camping out with his crew on Longs Peak for the week, back for the weekends, for the next month. Maybe I'll try to do Longs some Friday and surprise him. We've been having so much fun lately, even did a pub crawl with a bunch of people on Saturday from 2 pm - midnight (10 bars!)... yeah, I'm still sick so I didn't get too crazy, but it was still a blast! Things are good. :)

Definitely bedtime. Have a lot of good books to read right now! Oh,I took Logan for his first real jog ever, since his shoulder is holding strong. He did pretty well... probably better than I did, haha! Hopefully get some new photos of him soon! Oh, and lots and lots of rain and thunderstorms - monsoon season! But it still won't scare the tourists away. Damn.

Maybe I'll finish this story sooner or later

Ok, I last left you guys on July 4th, coming down the drainage towards Dunraven Lake. So to give more narrative to go with the photos, the picture of Tim in front of that peak about 2 entries back is No Name #3.  This photo is one of the many lakes on our way down; see all that snow on the left heading back into the distance?? Yeah, that was fun.

And this is looking down on even more lakes, almost down to Husted and Lost.

From Lost Lake and...

As I mentioned, the snowfields were the best route down and much easier than the jumble of rock and talus. We were all exhausted but happy the weather actually looked pretty good straight ahead (to the east), and satisfied at our awesome hike. At one point, Jack, Tim and I stayed south of the stream; everybody else crossed over to the north side. I wasn't really sure which was best, or if it mattered since we were off trail, but lo and behold, us three had chosen wisely. While we were hopping amongst the alpine plants and wading through clusters of dwarf birch, looking back over our shoulders at the numerous high, long, delicate waterfalls cascading from upper lakes to the lower ones... the other folks followed the north side of one small lake and apparently couldn't see the cliff that would soon abruptly bring them to a halt. We sat on the south shore, laughing and Tim took plenty of funny photos. Each person tried to confront the inconvenience in their own way. Angie took of her shoes, hiked up her skirt, and, after clambering through a narrow slot between the main cliff and a huge boulder, waded the lake. This soon proved too deep, so Jack (who had since left us on the south side and went to the other side of the rock where they were stuck) gave her his waders and she made it across, pack on her head. Other people choseto rock climb - nothing I would do confortably, it was pretty tricky, slick, and sketchy! - up and over. Others chose to backtrack and take the less technical but longer route up and over. Any way you look at it, it took quite a bit of time. Tim and I just sat and laughed. :)

We stayed on our respective sides for the remainder of our trek, with Tim leading me through some dense trees, over some small but tricky stream crossings, and ultimately back to our starting point at Lost Lake, where we found the trail. Easy going home stretch! At this point, the clouds that had been patiently looming in this distance gave up waiting and the sky went dark. Our timing was perfect! It just barely started raining by the time we got back to Tarp Mahal at about 8 pm. So, we were gone for 11 hours. Not really that many miles behind us - 5? 6? maybe more? - but it was TOUGH and we were exhausted. That evening, I think we just did our own thing for dinner and sat down to drink some boxed wine as the storm opened up. Lightening and thunder, with the sound amplified and echoing from the canyons and mountains surrounding us... YEAHHH!! So, I went out there to try and take a photo. Guess what? It worked!

It was a pretty good show, but we were all beat and went to bed pretty early. They had to work in the morning; I didn't really have to do anything! That night, I couldn't have slept any better. I always tend to sleep better in tents than I do at home, go figure. In the morning, I kissed Timmy goodbye as he went off to work, and I rolled over and slept until 9:30. I didn't see any reason to go on any killer hikes for the 3rd day in a row, so I spent my day sleeping - with the pitter patter of rain on a tent, it is one of my FAVORITE camp things to do - reading, and pretending to fly fish. Pretending?? Yeah, I had absolutely no idea of what fly to use, or how to even cast it! That endeavor was short lived, as the weather was feeling frisky again. It was foreboding anyway when I noticed clouds forming by 9:30 am, so by the afternoon, another storm came upon us for a little while. I spent the rest of my afternoon reading "One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey" by Same Keith, a true story about a man named Richard Proenneke that leaves the lower 48 and goes to the wilderness of Alaska, alone, and builds a beautiful little log cabin. It's sortof a record of his journals for a year, going through everything from finding a cabin site to completing it. I kept eying the book at Tim's but never sat down to read it (instead, opting for my kinky vampire books.) No better time that a stormy afternoon in the wilderness! :)

Doug came back from work to cook dinner for everybody so I gave him a hand, which was the heartiest breakfast ever - scrambled eggs with EVERYTHING in them, tons of bacon and hashbrowns. We ate like starved animals and played a little frisbee. And I have never heard so many people be so polite and apologize to other people, yet curse their own names non-stop??  It seems like when you have poor aim with a frisbee, you can't help but be nice to the intended receiver as they run around trying to retreiver errant disks. By this time, it was probably around 7:30 or so. Guess what? Stormy Peaks proved its namesake and thunder, lightening and rain were upon us again. I think it may have even hailed, I can't remember. It was great. I can't get enough wicked thunderstorms! And finally, when the storm passed, a FULL rainbow with a faint double extended over our happy little camp.

It was, once again, a pretty early night. I don't think I have consistently gone to bed before 9 pm in years!

The next day, I planned a fairly ambitious solo cross-country hike up the Stormy Peaks trail, which is the trail that heads from #1 to #2 on that map. Just past the #2, I planned on heading off trail to the west and going to the top of Sugarloaf Mt, which was the peak that we skirted around on our hike on the 4th. Then, I would head due Northwest just below Skull Point (not labeled) and ultimately wanted to hit that forked river in the green on the map, the South Fork of the Cache La Poudre River. There are some lakes that looked neat on the map; seemedlike a worthy goal. Then I would follow the Poudre drainage due North East, until I reconnected with the Storm Peaks Trail (near the S in Stormy). Hope that all makes sense. I got up pretty much with the trail crew as they hiked off to work. I was not far behind them, once I packed all my essentials for solo alpine backcountry hiking. The clouds were already thick but didn't seem ominous. I went from our campsite to the fork that leads up to the Stormy Peak Trail, which was a steep, wooded hike up through lots of switchbacks... and Tim's crew working. :)  I got to check out the hard work they were doing, fixing erosion and moving absolutely monstrous rocks with griphoists and comealongs. They have their work cut out for them! Didn't stay long to admire my McDreamy's skills, and it wasn't long before I was panting and going up, up, up! Looking at the map, this was actually one of the steepest parts of my whole off-trail trip. Not very far up, the forest opened up and I found myself in an alpine bowl, with a small creek running down from Stormy Peaks Pass (the high point in the trail, and the saddle between Sugarloaf on the West, and Stormy Peaks on the East). There was still a bit of snow and the trail was pretty wet. I went slow, because I had already busted my butt on two other hikes, and it wasn't toooo bad getting up to the Pass. This was where I left the trail and headed west. The hiking up to Sugarloaf wasn't really that hard, just constant rocks to hop and scramble; but pretty consistent, and the slope wasn't killer. I made it up to Sugarloaf, where there was a sheer rock drop-off and a steep snow field leading down to a little lake. The view was awesome, and I could see all the way north to Pingree Park, the Koenig Ranch, and everything Tim and I had taken our motorcycles alongside on our first trip of the year. Clouds kept buildling almost directly above me, and I started thinking I wouldn't be completing the loop I hoped for. I did continue down the rocky sides, near Skull Point, going down to check out that drainage of the Poudre and maybe at least reach the little lakes. It was intensely sunny and, despite a cool breeze, the sun was baking hot! At one point, I took at step... and the "rock" below my foot exploded into a peeping mess of fluffy yellow feathers in every direction! It was a nest of ptarmigans, and they didn't make a noise or move until I literally nearly stepped on them! Scared the crap out of me, of course. I tried to geta photo, but they scattered and mom cackled and hid from me. I got low enough to realize that, by myself, and with the clouds looking iffy... the drainage looked sketchy, with thick trees - both that dwarf birch, which is tough to get through, and dense spruce - and sketchy looking rocks, and not knowing how wet the bottom was - I didn't think it was a good idea to chance it. It could have taken me quite a long time to just get to the bottom, yet alone follow the river to a bunch of lakes that I didn't know if I could get around, just to reach the trail again, and then have to go BACK up in elevation. So, I saw one of my little lakes from a distance, and then got even more bummed when my fluffy clouds directly overhead got angry looking. BAD place to be, up above treeline. And I didn't know it at the time, but the weird looking rocks with chunks taken out of them... they were BLOWN APART from lightening. Neat, yet uncomforting, thought.

I trudged back up the way I came, which sucked, because it was actually not a very good view, it was very rocky and pretty steep (didn't pay much attention on the way down!) and I just wanted to get down! But I had to go back UP to get down, because of that sheer rock cliff! It seemed like it took forever, but it really wasn't that bad. Soon I was skirting below Sugarloaf, aiming for where the Stormy Peaks Trail came up from the valley and met at my elevation at the Pass. An entire day of trekking the alpine without another soul around, and as soon as I reach the trail, I see two people. :)  Oh, and yes mom, I carried a park radio in case I died. Though, it wouldn't be helpful then would it? ;)  Tim and I did have a plan of me checking in by a certain point, so we took precautions.

Fueled by a caramel-filled Hersey bar and being chased by dark clouds, I sped down that nice bowl in no time and was soon in the trees again. Only when I turned around did I see just how nasty those clouds were. And they were exactly where I had been not even 1/2 hr earlier. Phew! Good timing again. Yet, the entire rest of the sky was beautiful blue. Stormy Peaks, I'm tellin' ya!

And this whole adventure really didn't last that long. I passed Tim and his crew again some time around 3 or 4, sat down and recalled my relatively timid adventure. Bummer I didn't reach my lakes, but it gave Tim and me ideas for other sweet overnight hikes. I was soon back in camp, threw down my heavy pack, and was soon helping Tim cook some elk meat and "slop". Ok, I really didn't do much, he had everything under control. :)  But, I did go and filter water... with a huge delux size water filter, which was a little unruley but very efficient to pump lots of water. Then, I had to carry the water. It was heavy. Like, 45 lbs, and awkward. Silly girl! :)

I'm sure we played more frisbee, apologizing and swearing in the same sentence, and had an early night again. It never did storm on us that night; the storm stayed back over at Stormy Peaks Pass and went around us. That was how most of the storms were - the drainage was such that it would come straight for us, then get diverted just north or just south. We never got very wet, but always got a great show!

The next day, Saturday, I thought about hiking up to Mount Dunraven and, if I was really ambitious, going up to Hague, or Mummy. But that thought only lasted about 5 seconds. I took the day to relax, finish reading that Alaska book, sit in the sun on the big rock in the meadow, nap, eat... and pretend to fish again. I actually was going to give it a try though, and find a good spot to at least TRY to catch something. I picked a small fly that I had no idea was actually a wet fly (a midge, I was told later) and hiked into this wet willow and birch meadow to a spot along the North Fork, a small fast moving stream with little pockets behind rocks here and there. I took my little fly and really didn't do anything exciting - pulled out some line and just bounced it in and out of the water over a fish's head. I couldn't even try to cast, the vegetation was so thick. And I'll be damned! Got a hit right off the bat. The hard part is HOOKING the stupid things, especially with barbless hooks! I hooked the same stupid fish a few times, even brought him out of the water, only to have him wiggle off... and then, a miracle! I caught a small little 6-7 inch brook trout! He was so small and cute. But how the heck did I catch a fish?! Well, whatever I did, worked. I moved upstream to another little pocket. There was a big one that was lurking and bit at it a few times, but he didn't win the door prize. I probably HOOKED at least 6 fish that jumped off the hook before I landed them. But all in all, I landed 3 brookies. The biggest one was probably 9-10 inches. And they were so cute. :)  So, I took a kissy photo with one. I was soooooo excited! I went back to base camp all happy like a little kid.

Everybody got back and it wassprinkling. Angela made some excellent brats as Tarp Mahal sprung MANY leaks and we all tried to find dry spots underneath. It rained for quite a while, and the boxed wine was gone quickly. Jack was happy for me, but bummed that I caught fish - not knowing what I was even doing - when he considers himself a fisherman and hadn't caught anything. He was trying for lakes though, which is tougher up here anyway.

My last night up there was rained upon but I didn't mind. It had been an excellent trip, I couldn't have asked for anything more... except more time! Soon Tim and I were curled up for the last time in the tent, rain softly falling.

In the morning, they went to work and I slept in a little. Gathered all my stuff and took my time leaving. Didn't want to! But eventually I was ready to go, and made one last stop up at the work site to see Tim and the crew. It was Sunday; they would be out Tuesday. The hike out went a lot faster than my hike in, and besides the biting flies, pretty uneventful. I never did see moose this time, though Tim did one morning. I had just missed them. I think I was back at the trailhead by 1, making it about a 3 hour or less hike out.

With all that said, I still can't describe what a great feeling it was to be up there, both with Tim and by myself, going on difficult hikes or lounging around sleeping and reading books about Alaska. And no 4th of July tourists or traffic!!

So, there. There's the story.

Lots more has happened since then, but let me sum it up. A few motorcycle rides, lots of watching the Cougars (Tim's softball team) get killed by the other teams, walking Logan, and getting sick. Yeah, I've been really sick for the past 2 weeks. Not to get too descriptive, but maybe hiatal hernia?? Stomach just freaking HURT, but I am finally feeling good enough to eat! While I got ill, Logan's shoulder miraculously got better! No more limping! I am psyched. Still taking it easy, in case he's faking it. :)  But I think him and I may start jogging once I'm feeling 100%!

And also awesome, was that my Aunt Julie, Uncle Tom, and cousins Jenna and Katie, and Jenna's fiance Brian came out to visit for a day! They met Tim (Timmmmay!) and I took them through the park, up Old Trail Ridge Road. Got to see a bighorn and they absolutely loved the marmots... played in the snow (Jenna fell on her butt!) and had pretty packed day, for only a few hours! Hopefully they will come back some day! :)

Uhhh, Tim and I went to see Leftover Salmon at Red Rocks with Kim and Kevin last weekend. Awesome venue! I mean, natural rock amphitheater! Can't get much better. I can't even remember what else I've been up to except being sick. Besides that, it's been great! I got plane tickets for Tim and me for Brian's wedding in Seattle, which I am so psyched for. We are flying in early and going to hike to the ocean in Olympic National Park, camp out for a night, and then do all the wedding stuff. Yay! I'm even more excited that he suggested, if we both can swing it this winter with work and money and stuff, that we take a roadtrip with Log Dog and drive back to Michigan, stay with my folks for a little bit, then drive to Pennsylvania and meet HIS parents for the first time! And, my shepherd can play with his sister's shepherd, Thor! I really hope it happens. It would be great to see my family and meet his! Oh, and he is TRYING to go to Alaska in October and I am going to try to swing that too, but we'll see. He really needs to get working on his cabin, and I just learned how to do trim at work this week, so maybe I'd be useful. :)

Ok bedtime. Hope this is good enough for now. :P

Lost Lake continued

I last left off where I finally curled up, warm and happy, in a sleeping bag next to my sweetie at the Lost Meadows campsite, around 11 pm. The next day was the 4th of July, and the crew took the day off so we could go on an epic backcountry alpine trek. Probably by 9 or 10 am (relatively late when it comes to most alpine hiking), we started up the trail towards Lost Lake. Here's a map of the Lost Lake/Stormy Peaks area. We were camped about a mile east of Lost Lake.

After Lost Lake, it was all off trail from there. Lost Lake was beautiful, and only a hint of things to come! We continued up to Husted Lake, where Coby took the plunge into the frigid water from a tall rock outcropping. The rest of us opted for the dry route. At some point between Husted and Louise, Coby, Tim and I opted to start up the slope to the north along Sugarloaf, continuing to Icefield Pass (not on map), which was the saddle above Louise. Angela, Doug, and Cameron stayed low and went for a more direct approach, going pretty much straight up to the saddle from the base of Louise. Jack decided to stay behind and fish the day away. :) This was the hardest part of the hike for me personally, because it was just steep scree slopes, clambering up a nice chute that took us on the south slope of Sugarloaf. This is a view looking from the North to the South... we didn't summit Sugarloaf, and it was not this snowy since it is July, and the saddle I am speaking of is the low point between Sugarloaf and Rowe Mountain.

Seeing as how I was with a bunch of professional hikers (they don't call them trail crew for nothing!), I was painfully aware of just how much faster and stronger they were! But I kept on truckin', and Tim was kind enough to lag back with me. Eventually we all met up at Icefield pass and ate while we saw the clouds gathering around us. It looked sketchy; Tim was "certain" (yeah, you can never be certain of anything in the mountains!) that it wouldn't hit us; the rest of us were nervous. And I was freaking BEAT. My legs felt like lead weights. The distance hadn't been that much, but the elevation gain and scrambling... I told Tim I didn't think I could continue. He wanted to reach Rowe Peak and then come back down the south of it, down the other drainage with a chain of lakes that feed into Dunraven Lake, and then back to Lost Lake. It would be a great loop, if I could only get my legs to agree... But Tim was very encouraging and we started the ascent to Rowe, which comes in at an elevation of 13, 404 ft. Fortunately, it was not nearly as steep as our previous scrambling and I kept up pretty well with the rest of them. We skirted around Rowe Mountain and the 3 No Name peaks and finally were on top of Rowe Peak! The view was absolutely incredible, with a razor-edge saddle between Rowe and Hague (these aren't in the map above); glaciers and high alpine lakes; views all the way to Mummy Pass, Long Draw Reservior and beyond. So rewarding! Of course, the batteries in my camera died at this point. Have to get Tim's photos at some point. The weather was still looking suspicious, so we didn't linger long. Angela took a nice group photo and we hastened our way down. This was the fun part. :)

There were still plenty of snowfields to serve as a fast track down, as opposed to the constant rock scrambling and scree fields. Tim was the first to give it a whirl and whipped out a garbage bag and was soon speeding down the snow on his butt. Hey! Not bad! I rode my backpack for the first one, but then said forget it and opted to just slide down in my hiking pants... not waterproof, but I'd dry quickly! Coby put on the Parkie rain pants and probably got the best speed downhill. We continued this, alternating between rocks and snow, down down into the drainage. It was a little tricky, since there were streams hidden underneath the snow, and you had to be sure to steer clear, lest you punch thru and fall into the water or into a crevasse. Also, where the snow met the rocks on the side was deceptive, and a few of us would punch through to the rocks. Well, guess what happened? I was sliding down behind Tim and got stopped near some rocks. I stood up... and my left leg punched down to mid-thigh, and my righ leg punched in next to it. I tried to pull my left leg out; wouldn't even BUDGE. What?! I wasn't trapped between rocks (thank god) but apparently my right leg compacted the snow against my left leg hard enough that it didn't seem I was going anywhere! Coby came down to help, as I tried to dig my leg out... My fingers were quickly frozen and I still wasn't moving... After much wiggling, a few "Unbelieveables!" and "How epic!" and my plight, and a lot of digging, I broke free of my frozen vice; much wetter and colder than the 10 minutes previous. Ugh!But then I was ready to join everybody else hopping along the rocks down along the chain of lakes.

.......TO BE CONTINUED......... coffee shop closing!!

This past Saturday, I woke up bright and early at 4 am to make the 3 hour drive to Kite Lake - and the 14er peaks of Lincoln, Democrat and Bross - near Alma, CO, where I was attending the Trail Design Assistant training with CFI. I drove the 3 hours home to hit up a going-away party for Sheldon on his property, which ended up a drunken camping trip for most of us.

 

Brookie love, and bushwacking adventure

Sadly, my router that my neighbor is borrowing so we can all get wireless internet is broken... So I haven't had internet access in a couple weeks now! And town is so busy, with tourist season in full swing, that it's nearly impossible to GET into town, yet alone find a parking spot and then a seat at the coffee shop. Hopefully she gets a new router soon and I'll be back in business.

I've had a great couple weeks up here in the mountains, with our near-daily thunderstorms, sunshine, wildflowers... My one year anniversary with Tim was on June 28th. One year already! Seems like just yesterday when we took the pack test and our romance blossomed while sitting at the high school track, sweaty and exhausted, talking about motorcycles and his property in Alaska and all that good stuff. We celebrated by doing absolutely NOTHING on that Saturday but watch Deadwood and Northern Exposure, then spend way too much money on way too good sushi in Fort Collins; that Sunday we went on a long motorcycle ride over Trail Ridge Road and ate middle eastern food in Golden; then Tuesday it was time for him to hike back into the North Fork for 8 days again. I had Wednesday the 4th of July off, took off Thursday, and had that Friday off, so it worked out perfect. After work Tuesday, at the exact time I was supposed to hit the trail head and hike the ~9ish miles to their campsite near Lost Lake, a nasty rumbling thunderstorm rolled in. I packed Logan and his "sleepover kit" and dropped him off with Nemo (and Tara and Jess; but people are far less interesting than other dogs), waited out the storm, and left the Dunraven trailhead at 6:30 pm. I figured it would take 3-4 hours to hike, considering the distance, elevation gain, and heavy pack, so I knew I would eventually be hiking in the dark. Yes, I was alone. No, it wasn't scary or weird. :)  I shouldered my pack, strapped on the flyfishing rod, and quickly realized that I haven't carried anything that heavy, for that distance, in a long time! I would guess it was around 50 lbs, since I had just taken the fire pack test (3 miles in 45 mins with 45 lbs on your back) and remembered how that felt on my back. It had just finished storming, so the humidity was up and I was pouring sweat within probably 15 minutes. It was a good night for the hike, which I last had the pleasure of hiking when Tim and I snowshoed into the North Fork cabin in February. Repeating this trip now, when the trail was not obscured by feet of powder, amazed me that we even managed to mostly stay on the trail, and find it once we had lost it! I didn't see any moose this time around, though the trail crew had seen lots of moms and babies up there throughout their stay.

The sun started setting around 8:30-9, and I still had quite a bit of distance to cover. Soon, it was dark. Not really a big deal, except for when I caught my toe on a rock or hit a branch with the flyfishing rod. Then, I reached "the hill." I was warned about this beast of a finale before I reached the camp; I was actually grateful that I could NOT see this hill, because it was long and killer! Tripping uphill with too much weight for my too-little exercise routine (my achilles had still been injured), I was dragging by the time the incline levelled out. I knew after the hill, I went through the forest to a meadow; it was very dark in the woods, and ever turn I would SWEAR it looked like the meadow was RIGHT THERE. No, it MUST be right THERE. Then, I started to convince myself that I would NEVER get out of the woods!

Just as I'm wondering how much lactic acid must be in my legs for them to feel like they were made of lead, I see a small clearing and a bright beacon of light in the night. I get closer, not sure if it is Tim's trail crew or the SCA volunteer crew; and I finally could make out Tim huddled up in the kitchen tent. He was so happy to see me, and was so tired; but he waited up. It was 10:30 pm. I ate some of their leftover pasta and crawled into the tent... and didn't sleep well, my legs were so exhausted but were also restless. Bummer! But so happy to be curled in my sleeping bag. I'm definitely not as hardcore as those trails guys, since it took me 4 hours to hike a trail that takes them only 2-3 hours. And I'm not slow!!

Shoot, I gotta jet. Making tacos with Tim before we see Harry Potter! Here's some photos, and I'll finish the trail log when I can!

 

From Lost Lake and...

Snow, sun, SAR and stuff

What's this mountain vixen been up to lately?? Well, where to begin...

After I wrote that last journal, on Memorial Day Tim and I decided to try a really long motorcycle ride. Bundled up and ready for everything from heat and sun to cold and snow, we rode into the Park, west up and over Trail Ridge Road. It was sunny and warm in Estes, but the weather changes quickly with elevation, and soon it got much colder. As we approached Rock cut, we could see snow falling in Forest Canyon and the Never Summer Range, which we were heading directly into. A little bit of rain turned into a little bit of snow, turned into a lot bit of snow, which coated my windshield and some was actually sticking on the tundra. It was definitely a first for me - riding my motorcycle in a snow storm! We reached the Alpine Visitor Center and had to decide if we wanted to take our chances and keep going, or turn around. Hell, why not keep going? It was now or never, so we started our decent from the top of the road. By the time we reached the Continental Divide at Milner pass on the west side, the sky was blue and the weather much warmer, as the storm just sat up in the high elevations. We stopped and snapped photos of moose like silly tourists and ate lunch in Grand Lake. From here, we had to decide if we wanted to go north to Walden or south to I-70 tocomplete our loop; we could see clouds in the distance and knew we were likely to get wet again. Since I had never gone north, we went from Grand Lake to whatever that highway that goes west to Hot Sulphur Springs, and made the turn north towards Walden. Straightaways, warm sunny weather and thunderheads in the mountains to our East, we let loose and went faster than my mommy would probably approve of, and it was a great mellow ride with hardly any traffic. From Walden, we turned east on CO-14 or whatever it is, over Cameron Pass along to Poudre River, skirting the north of Rocky Mt National Park. The road was so much fun, with lots of curves and turns alongside the river and the mountains. This goes all the way to Masonville, where you can continue east to Fort Collins, or go south to Loveland and hit 34 and head west back up to Estes Park, which was the loop we completed. In Loveland, I needed to fuel up desperately - I figured I had about 150 miles to my tank, and I was at 156 or so. Tim suggested we get ice cream first, so we passed the gas station and went just down the road to the ice cream shop. We leave that place and head back to the gas station, when my motorcycle starts... running.... out....... of.......... gas. I KNEW we should have stopped there first! 158 miles. Cute, very cute. Fortunately, the gas station was 1/4 mile away on a relatively flat road, so I pushed my 550 lbs of dead bike in the 75 degree heat, wearing my leather and all that crap, sweat dripping off my face... It was tough, let me tell you! Tim offered to push but I'm stubborn. :)  Finally fueled up and went up the canyon home. Total distance: probably 270 miles or so, overall a 6-7 hour trip. Needless to say, the vibration took its toll on me and I had some weird stuff going on that night - fingers tingling, seeing fuzzy... Yeah, probably should take more rest stops next time. It was a freaking BLAST!!

We actually got a blast of insane weather two Wednesdays ago, with 90 mph winds, 20 degrees at night, and it was pretty miserable. Just before that, we had some snow one evening, which continued on through the night... to wake up with snow sticking on the ground! It's freaking JUNE! Even though I know that this is what it's like in the mountains, it still amazes me.

Work has been all sorts of stuff, safety meetings and trainings and jumping around in projects... One day I helped stain wood, the next day I played with cement for some manholes and made our "technicolor dream-mud" with some liquid dye to match the latest craze to have more "earthy colored" concrete. Fun fun! We got a good laugh out of it.The Park Service is putting into effect a rule that anybody that wants to run a chainsaw for ANY reason - even cutting logs for tent pads - needs to have a chainsaw class. Which is funny because I used a saw every day last year and didn't need one at all. So a friend on trails held this class and I unofficially got to help instruct people on bucking. Our trip to the west side to fall a few trees and get our B-Faller certification fell through when the road was closed, so I'm trying to get that going so we can get it done and harvest a bunch of big logs for the trusses on our next comfort station we will build in the campground.

All last weekend was the Sustainable Trails and Design workshop through Colorado Outdoor Training Initiative (COTI) that was held here at the Park; I was signed up as a volunteer so I can have more background for being a design assistant for CFI this summer. Ends up Tim and the other trail dogs here at the park could also attend and get paid overtime for it. Darn! Oh well, I really enjoyed it and learned a lot, while being able to spend all weekend outside with people my own age (my workgroup with special projects is mostly old dudes haha) and a lot of good ideas thrown around. Hugh, the main leader, wrote this great little Trail Design Sketchbook, and his own enthusiasm, passion and knowledge rubbed off on everybody in the class. Danny, the trails supervisor here, also helped teach. There were about 24 people total, including volunteers from other organizations, Rocky trail dogs, and landscape architects. We went out to Lily Lake, where we learned some principles and then applied them to a real project the park is considering - creating a sustainable access trail to the "Jurassic Park" climbing area on Lily Mountain, and restoring the eroded social trail that currently exists. We had 3 teams, with different trail grade objectives - 0-10% grade (which is pretty impossible), 10-15%, and 15-no limit %. I was in the middle group, coincidentally with Tim, which I enjoyed because he's really good at trails. Myself and my friend Dave with the Nature Association had the least experience, while our leader, Greg, was actually the guy in charge of CFI's design program and I will be doing trail work with him next weekend on Gray's and Torrey's peaks. The existing route is very steep and hazardous, with a lot of sediment eroding into Lily Lake. We scouted out the area and proceeded to plan our trail, planting our little orange flags, examining the site conditions and sustainablility criteria, measuring the grade of the cross slope and the trail profile, and just had a really dynamic team with lots of ideas. We ended up with a design with 2 switchbacks, some rock steps and 1-tier rock walls, and an overall grade of 22% (close enough!). All 3 teams presented, and I think ours was the best, of course. ;)  We tried to keep in mind that this is a really low priority/low funded projects, with probably volunteers to complete in 1 day. It would be nice to see one of our ideas get utlilized, but doubt it. They'll probably just end up doind some minor work on the existing old trail. Oh well! I can think of worse things than hiking up and down Lily mountain in gorgeous weather for 8 1/2 hrs each day with my friends!

This past week was a few days of Search and Rescue (SAR) training, which I am glad I was finally able to attend. The first day was just basic procedures and stuff like that, with some field time checking out the litters and the ropes and rigging systems used to anchor, raise and lower a litter. The second day was the fun one; a lot of my friends also participated, so we all got to strap on harnesses and helment and rappell of a little cliff in Wild Basin. Learned our knots and how to set up anchors, how to belay and rappell, and then finally... over theedge with ya! Even though I've climbed trees, and climbed on ropes indoors, nothing is like walking out to a blind rock edge and just trusting your harness and rope and leaning back, keeping your balance... until you can finally see what's over that ledge and down to the ground below! My friend Dave was in the advanced group and they practiced more rigging with a litter and stuff; the third day, which I did not attend (I messed my achilles up running last week, and it's been pretty bad... which is not cool, because I was supposed to take my fire pack test on Wednesday and couldn't... hopefully can do it on Monday!), they went to some steep snow field and practiced snow and avalanche safety, and actually set up some "high angle" rescue situations with anchors and a litter. It was pretty appropriate that the first day of our training was interrupted by a search and rescue. Anyway, not that I want bad fortune upon anybody, but I am glad I can now get more involved and be better prepared than that one on Long's Peak last year!

At work, I had started learning how to tile walls, then got yanked off that to help out with other crap, then finished our 1-tier rock wall along our handicap accessible trail, started filling in to grade around the building and working on some landscaping/rehab, of course got yanked from that to help with grout on the wall tiles all day yesterday. Between the smell of the epoxy, the vinegar, and a hot day with poor ventilation in that bathroom... It was good stuff to learn and I did enjoy it, and it looks pretty nice with off-white tiles and slate gray grout. Sounds like it might still take another month before we are done with this thing. I do enjoy learning this stuff and doing the actual work, but a few of us have noticed that, as corny as this sounds, there is no synergy or cohesion with our crew, and just constant frustration. Between being yanked from jobs before they are complete, to just basic personality conflicts and very weird quirks, and then just some lazy people that don't know what they are doing or don't want to work... It's not bad, it's just unlike any other crew I've ever been on. I'm hoping the next bathroom we work on goes a lot smoother and reduces the stress level of everybody. Hopefully next week, after finishing the grout, I can help on the stone veneer on the outside of the building. It looks really nice and I'm into things that take a little artistic/creative touch. I wish I had a nice place to do some of these home improvement type things on! Maybe some day, when I build my cabin... ;)

It's nice to finally have a day off to relax and do absolutely nothing, considering I've only had 1 real day off since 2 Mondays ago. The Rock Inn (sorry if I'm repeating myself) saw their vendor had Leopold Brothers liquor and remember me raving about it, so they tried some of their liquor. The gin was gone in 3 days. This time they stocked up, so I helped get rid of it last night. My friend Erich actually moved out to Denver from Ann Arbor to market for them, so it looks like he's doing a great job! There was a good band last night, and tonight my friends are throwing an outdoor "cocktail" party. Which means lots of thrift store goofy outfits, especially since the trails guys will be there! Speaking of which, Tim and a bunch of other parkies from trails and other depts have a softball team, so I am glad I get to be a softball cheering squad again, like I was for my Novi cityworkers team! I've seen them get annhihilated 24-2 and mercied, and last week saw them kill the other team. We probably had at least 10 girls there cheering, between the trails chicks and girlfriends and other parkies. Their outfit, which I'm sure some day they'll get in trouble for, is a park service shirt with the sleeves torn off (can't display the shield outside of work!) and they call themselves the "Cougers". If you have any imagination, you can figure out why rough rugged young men would come up with that. Anyway, we scream and cheer so freaking loud that the girls that were cheering for the opposing team got ticked off and complained. No foul there though, so they have to SUCK IT UP! Some of the guys bought some of those tight tiny little softball shorts and wear knee socks, which is absolutely hilarious. I'll have to bring my camera to the next game on Monday.

Logan is a goofball. I'm sure he gets it from me. Silly little things, like the fact that I yawn pretty loud... and he is SO LOUD when he yawns, especially when he wakes up in the morning, that I would almost be annoyed with it if it wasn't so darned funny! He still limps occassionally, but I'm putting off surgery in hopes the cartilage gets ground down and reabsorbed naturally. He's a good boy except he chews up everything if I leave him out when I am gone, so still gotta crate him during the day. He needs a playmate...!!

Oh and I totally forgot to update about that photo contest. A couple weeks ago, I saw the insert in the paper with the results. So I look at it and see the front, open it up and just browse the 1st-3rd place and honorable mention winners for each category scattered around... turn it over on the back... see some stupid photo of a llama (miscellaneous category, it was pretty stupid)... and then I'm like, wait that photo looks familiar... Oh my gosh!! That's my photo!! Yes, I won honorable mention in the Scenic category! It was the photo of Gem Lake, with the clouds and rocks reflected in that perfectly calm water. I laughed and told everybody it was my "sell out" photo, because I'm sure "everybody and their mom" has a photo like that of Gem Lake. I didn't win any money or anything, but it's on display for the next year. I mailed the paper home to my mom and dad and told them they could put it on their fridges. :)  Thanks for your advice and encouragement everybody! Now my friends at the Rock Inn are telling me I should frame and hang some photos in their restaurant and sell them. I'll let you know when that happens!

Tim's been busy and stressed out and working insane hours in preperation for his backcountry project for the next month. He hikes in with his crew and SCA volunteers on Tuesday, and then stays in 8 days, comes out for 6. As of right now, I am supposed to hike up there for the 4th of July and camp out with them. I think we might watch Brother Bear 2 tonight before I go to the cocktail party. Tomorrow, we are cutting a bunch of lodgepole that have beetles in them for Bruce and Kerry. Woo hoo chainsaw kitten gets to play! ;)

Anyway enough blabbering again. Here's a couple photos.

Sunset yesterday night; it's a cell phone photo but it was absolutely GORGEOUS

From Photo Contest