Finally, Moved in to Our Cabin!

I dedicate this entry to my Aunt Ruby who just died at the age of 92 on July 24. She was a wonderful and engaging woman who was a teacher and active person for much of her life. She was married to my Uncle Sam who survives her and leaves two sons and five grandchildren. Her Memorial Service was on July 30, attended by all her immediate family, as well as my brother Barry and another aunt and cousin. I wanted to be there but had great difficulty trying to get a flight that would minimize the time I would be away from my responsibilities at Rocky. I was glad my brother got to attend, and he served as representative for our branch of the family. I plan to get down to Las Vegas to see my uncle, probably in September.

We finally moved into our cabin at Holzwarth on July 24 after the river went down. It was great to get moved in, but we discovered a mouse problem a few days after, that’s not so nice. We are in the midst of an eradication program. Our friends Lee and Sally offered to work for us one day so we could deal with our move; that was nice. We had them over for dinner that night to celebrate. The water went down in the Colorado River mainly because water is now being diverted from the ditch. It seemed to only take the water a few days to subside. We are also able to give the full tours of the Holzwarth Site now; that is a big improvement. Things are generally improving on the west side of the park now, more trails are accessible and the weather has been nicer, with a few exceptions.

We did a climb with Lee and Sally up to Baker Pass, which is just outside of the park on the back side of the Neversummer Mountains. We got up there under threatening skies, but felt comfortable enough to lounge at the pass eating our lunch. Five rescuers showed up from the west wondering if we were part of the group that had an injured person. We explained that we weren’t and then looked through binoculars with them to see if we could see the party in question. They were soon spotted up fairly high on the side of Cumulus Mountain. The rescuers were able to connect with a leader of the group by satellite phone. It turns out they were a Cheley Camp group and a fifteen year old boy had decided to go sliding down a snow field early that morning and broke his ankle and wrist. It was now 1:00 PM, several hours after the accident. An injured person in the mountain has to expect a long wait for rescue. A helicopter was also dispatched and we saw it later. We weren’t sure if the copter was able to airlift the boy out or if the rescuers were going to carry him out, a difficult task in the mountains. I felt like helping the group in some way and offered an apple and candy bar, one of the rescuers gratefully took them.

We also met Becca, the daughter of our friends Larry and Susan, in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Becca is a veterinary student at CSU and she brought her three-legged dog Gracie. Lee and Sally also came along and they had a good connection with Becca; talking about horses which they all had lots of personal experience with. Gracie did fine on the hike with us. We planned to climb Audubon Peak, and thought we found the trail. After reaching a beautiful alpine lake after three miles, we discovered we weren’t on the trail to Audubon. We weren’t able to bag the peak that day as bad weather moved in early in the afternoon. It was still a beautiful hike and nice to visit with Becca, but it took five people and a dog to choose the wrong trail.

News & Notes:
1.Someone stole the ATV which was parked at the Holzwarth site while the site was closed. One of the volunteers spotted it along the edge of a field about a mile away. The thief had scraped off the park insignias on the ATV and apparently intended to drive it to a parking area and haul it out. A gate prevented them from accessing the parking area and they abandoned their effort. There was some damage to the ATV, but the park Ranger was relieved to get it back.
2.A rescue in the park involved several of the staff. A fifteen year old boy was very ill, maybe from dehydration and altitude. The rescue crew that went up there didn’t get back until 1:30 AM, but they didn’t have to carry him out as a ranger was able to bring him out the 6.5 miles on horseback. One of our young interns, Kyle had already hiked 17 miles that day when he got the call to help. He ended up putting in 30 miles! We saw him the next day and he was tired but smiling.
3.We had a campfire at Holzwarth Saturday July 30 and were engrossed by a special guest, Hal, who had worked as a ranch hand with Johnnie Holzwarth. Hal had started working for Johnnie when he was 16. He worked for him for 10 years and was the last hired hand left when the ranch closed in 1972. Hal was a well spoken person and it was a delight to hear him talk about his work experience on the ranch.
4.A Perish – that’s an Aussie term for someone who goes on a walkabout and doesn’t return. Lee’s mother was Aussie and we now talk with him in fun about going on a “perish” instead of a hike.