4.29.2010
4.28.2010
My Only Friend, The End
So. Our apartment is brand-spanking clean (or possibly sterile), clothes are packed, food and dishes are scattered about the kitchen for last-minute tending to, and I'm trying to read as much of my book as possibly before the car sickness sets in for the next seven weeks.
The plan is to leave at some ungodly hour of the morning (though still after the sun has risen, thank the lord) and drive in the general direction of Telluride, CO, i.e. southwestish. A new, possibly joint blogging venture should commence in the not to distant future and I will keep this updated as to how that can be found.
It's been real, Colorado.
The plan is to leave at some ungodly hour of the morning (though still after the sun has risen, thank the lord) and drive in the general direction of Telluride, CO, i.e. southwestish. A new, possibly joint blogging venture should commence in the not to distant future and I will keep this updated as to how that can be found.
It's been real, Colorado.
4.26.2010
On the Road to Nowhere
When I woke up this morning I had in my head the idea to go on a grand adventure. Where to? Why, into the wild, of course! Several topographic maps and a cup of coffee later I was out the door with naught but hiking boots, a pair of jeans, my camera, and a couple of layers for warmth (the thermometer did read 40).
By my not-so-expert reading of the topographic maps, I could essentially walk straight up the road, and keep going, and keep going, and I would somehow or another reach the top of the continental divide. Quite the ambitious plan for it already being 10:30 am, but what the hey, not much else to do. To avoid being stuck in the woods forever with nothing but a Sigg full of water and some dried fruit (and a headlamp, just in case), I gave myself the turn-around time of 1 pm. If I couldn't reach the divide by 1, I'd turn around. At least I'll have had a nice long walk.
Two hours later, after much trudging through the fresh snow of the last three days on Forest Service roads (thank god for Smartwool), I reached the Vasquez Peak trail head and the entrance to the Vasquez Peak Wilderness Area. Further exploration would have eventually led me to my goal, but it was almost one and I was hungry. I turned around, leaving the peak to be conquered another time. Possibly with snowshoes. And definitely with food.
Sometimes, I guess, you don't know what your destination is until you get there.
Total elevation gain: Almost 2000 ft.
Total time: 4 hours
Total distance: I have no idea, I was walking through snowy woods.
By my not-so-expert reading of the topographic maps, I could essentially walk straight up the road, and keep going, and keep going, and I would somehow or another reach the top of the continental divide. Quite the ambitious plan for it already being 10:30 am, but what the hey, not much else to do. To avoid being stuck in the woods forever with nothing but a Sigg full of water and some dried fruit (and a headlamp, just in case), I gave myself the turn-around time of 1 pm. If I couldn't reach the divide by 1, I'd turn around. At least I'll have had a nice long walk.
Two hours later, after much trudging through the fresh snow of the last three days on Forest Service roads (thank god for Smartwool), I reached the Vasquez Peak trail head and the entrance to the Vasquez Peak Wilderness Area. Further exploration would have eventually led me to my goal, but it was almost one and I was hungry. I turned around, leaving the peak to be conquered another time. Possibly with snowshoes. And definitely with food.
Sometimes, I guess, you don't know what your destination is until you get there.
Total elevation gain: Almost 2000 ft.
Total time: 4 hours
Total distance: I have no idea, I was walking through snowy woods.
4.25.2010
A Misguided Rainstorm
"And in Winter Park today, 34 degrees and sunny."
Then what's all this white stuff coming down from the sky? Did the sun turn into particles and is collapsing to Earth? Is it opposite day? Is this about relativity, like it's sunny here compared to, say, a hurricane? Because that's certainly true. Thirty four is no lie - these sun particle flakes are fat and wet and cushy and the roads are clean, if wet. But I've yet to see the clear blue sky and ball of flaming gas and mountains on the not-so-distant horizon.
These poor rainclouds, they think they're going to be spitting rain every once in a while and then moving on but "oh no, we can't have that," says the Continental Divide. "Your rain will turn to snow and we will trap you here for days and days on end." It's very Winnie the Pooh and he's just a little black raincloud.
Then what's all this white stuff coming down from the sky? Did the sun turn into particles and is collapsing to Earth? Is it opposite day? Is this about relativity, like it's sunny here compared to, say, a hurricane? Because that's certainly true. Thirty four is no lie - these sun particle flakes are fat and wet and cushy and the roads are clean, if wet. But I've yet to see the clear blue sky and ball of flaming gas and mountains on the not-so-distant horizon.
These poor rainclouds, they think they're going to be spitting rain every once in a while and then moving on but "oh no, we can't have that," says the Continental Divide. "Your rain will turn to snow and we will trap you here for days and days on end." It's very Winnie the Pooh and he's just a little black raincloud.
4.23.2010
Onions Have Layers
So far today I have:
Gotten a car stuck in the snow, and almost gotten stuck a multitude of other times.
Almost spun off the road.
Thrown a cord of wood off a third story porch into a foot and a half of snow, and it was buried again half an hour later.
Baked a dinner-plate sized chocolate chip cookie. And a couple dozen normal-sized cookies.
Learned that Indians still lived in the Fraser Valley until the 1880s. Also, lots of different Indian tribes used to fight over this land. I love non-PC pamphlets from the 70s.
Read a book written for ten year olds about Rockett and her friends ... replete with flashbacks from middle school when we played Rockett's New School every day.
Hibernated. Ah, how I love snow days.
Gotten a car stuck in the snow, and almost gotten stuck a multitude of other times.
Almost spun off the road.
Thrown a cord of wood off a third story porch into a foot and a half of snow, and it was buried again half an hour later.
Baked a dinner-plate sized chocolate chip cookie. And a couple dozen normal-sized cookies.
Learned that Indians still lived in the Fraser Valley until the 1880s. Also, lots of different Indian tribes used to fight over this land. I love non-PC pamphlets from the 70s.
Read a book written for ten year olds about Rockett and her friends ... replete with flashbacks from middle school when we played Rockett's New School every day.
Hibernated. Ah, how I love snow days.
4.22.2010
Climb to Safety in Case of Floods
This is the bizarre, fickle nature of mountain weather: one minute it is clear, sunny, and warm, half an hour later it is cloudy, and an hour later it is pouring rain. As soon as you reach an altitude of 8000 ft., this summer rainstorm has become a blizzard whose clouds shroud the mountains around you. Yesterday I sat outside in a bathing suit and today there were at least three inches of snow accumulated. It's not winter but it's certainly not summer. I guess spring is just the catch-all for everything in between.
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