Special Assignment

La Poudre Pass Patrol Cabin
We got to use this cabin for two nights earlier this week. It was nice not having to carry our gear, we mainly took just food and clothes. The cabin is right on the northern park border, near the Long Draw Reservoir and the Roosevelt National Forest. The cabin is rustic, has no electricity and is heated by a wood stove. We got water out of the Grand Ditch that runs into the res. I made the mistake of hauling a 22 liter bucket of water up the slope of the ditch and youch! Strained my neck. That was a bad idea. The gonzo rangers that stay up there (both male and female) can probably haul that bucket no problem. My neck feels better now. I taught Kathy how to split wood, and she did a good job and no one got hurt.

We had to cajole Ranger Mark to get use of the cabin, and he gave us a 'special assignment' as part of the deal. It was just to be in our volunteer uniform and have a presence up there. We were to turn back anyone attempting to come in on bikes or with dogs. None did. By the cabin, we only saw four hikers the first night and two ditch guys the next night. It was a real quiet place. One of the hikers was a man hiking barefoot. A tenderfoot like me cringes just to think about that. Kathy took his picture. Kathy saw a moose the second day and we both saw what we thought was a coyote the last morning as we were hiking back from the USFS campground. Looking at the picture later that Kathy took revealed it was a red fox.

Thunder Pass and Snow Lake
What a great place Thunder Pass was! We hiked up there on our second day of our LaPoudre cabin trip. It is also on the northern border with USFS land, and we then hiked into it to get to Michigan Lakes and beyond to Snow Lake, a pristine alpine lake. We saw a bald eagle circling above the lake, our first bald eagle sighting in RMNP. We ran into our friend Mark who knew we were staying at the patrol cabin and suspected that we might be up there. He heard my booming voice and saw both of us from a nearby ridge and rushed down to greet us. Hmm, didn’t realize my voice carried so far.

Summit County Bike Path
After my terrible experience biking last week, we drove down to Frisco and took the bike path from there to Breckenridge. Then back to Frisco and beyond to Copper Mountain and back. It was nice not having to deal with trucks or vehicles. We managed to bike for over four hours between rainfalls. We hooked up with our friend Shirley at her place in nearby Dillon. She used to live in Binghamton and has been in Colorado for most of the last 14 years. We hope to go back and use her place as a base to do a 14er, yet to be determined which one.

Bowen Gulch
There are spruce and fir trees in this national forest area that are over 400 years old. We went up to it one evening to check them out, they were magnificent. Back in the 90’s, they were planning to log the trees and protestors organized to prevent the logging. They succeeded and now the forest service protects the trees. It reminds me of the events that led to protection of the old growth in the IBM Glen in Johnson City, NY. There is growing awareness that old growth forests are rare and unique and can’t be replaced easily, so they need to be spared from the loggers’ saws.

National Forest
We like to go to national forest land as it has a lot to offer. Most national parks border USFS land and USFS land offers an ‘escape’ from the busy parks. It got me to thinking about the similarities and differences between the Forest Service and Park Service jurisdictions, from the perspective of a user like me.

Differences:
1. USFS – timber, NPS – trees
2. USFS – game, NPS – wildlife
3. USFS – widespread (dispersed) camping, fires allowed, NPS – designated camping, fires often not allowed
4. USFS – motorized ORVs often allowed, NPS –usually not allowed (exception – snowmobiles in some parks)
5. USFS- hunting. NPS – no hunting
6. USFS – low visitation, NPS – higher visitation
7. USFS – free with some exceptions, NPS – entrance fees
8. USFS – regulations, NPS – more regulations

Both have Similarities:
1. can include wilderness
2. accept Inter-Agency pass
3. use volunteers
4. offer boundless recreation
5. fire management practices, will often team up


News and Notes:
1. The president declared a free weekend in the national parks and other federal lands this weekend. We thought it would increase traffic into the park by great numbers but it may have only increased a little bit.
2. It was also the last summer weekend for a lot of Colorado school children as many of them go back to school tomorrow. Some of the kid oriented programs in the park have ended for the season because attendance will be down.
3. Sunday afternoons on I-70 heading from Vail to Denver can be heavily congested with vehicles. Everybody is heading back home after a week or weekend in the mountains. I’d hate to be there, but I smile a little bit when I think about the Dutch couple who wanted their son to get his Jr. Ranger back last Sunday afternoon but didn’t have time go to a ranger program or even see the 24 minute park film because “They had to get to Denver.” I forgot to tell them about the traffic they would be facing, so much for getting back to Denver in time.
4. Three rescue operations were conducted on August 10 in RMNP. One of the rescued visitors had to be airlifted out by helicopter (injured on Long’s Peak) and one was brought out ten miles by horse.
5. Last week another person was airlifted out who had been on Long’s Peak overnight. He was unable to recall what happened to him but they were able to determine that he had been struck by lightning.