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