Finally, Some Major Hiking!

We went on a backpacking trip into the backcountry for three days and two nights when we had time off last week. Despite the mosquitoes (we were warned) and rain the second night, it was a great trip. Going up the North Inlet Trail for 8 miles, we turned onto the Lake Nanita Trail and camped at the last campsite, about 3 miles below the lake. Even though we got in early in the evening, I was tired and went to bed a little after 7 PM and conked out. The skeeters were making themselves noticeable. I got up briefly later but returned to bed and managed to stay in it for almost 13 hours total! But the next day I made up for my slothful ways and we hiked about 20 miles, reaching the top of Flattop Mountain where we had great views all around, and saw Longs Peak as close up as we had to date. We tarried up there a little bit, and was also drawn to Hallett Peak, which rose above Flattop. But we wanted to get to Lake Nanita so we didn’t attempt Hallett this time, will do it another time. To our surprise, Flattop didn’t have it’s own peak, it was actually just a large flat area below Hallett. After getting back to our campsite, we packed our stove and some dinner and hiked up to Lake Nanita where we enjoyed the splendid solitude of a high alpine lake, it is over 11,000 feet high. The lake is supposed to be a good fishing lake, but we didn’t have either equipment or a license. We also passed Lake Nonika on the way, another beautiful alpine lake but smaller. On the way back down after finishing dinner, we got caught in a thunder storm with a good soaking rain. Sometimes the lightning was too close for comfort but we were among trees and getting further down as we hiked. At least the rain kept the skeeters away.

We met a trail crew during our backpack made up of volunteers with the CDTA (Continental Divide Trail Alliance) and a NPS trail ranger. We saw them going up to Flattop and after we got back down. They told us that a black bear had gotten into their campsite the previous night while they were trying to eat and they had to try 5 times to scare it away before it would leave. The bear was able to grab some food, not good when bears eat people food. One of our fellow volunteers saw the trail crew a couple days later and was told that the bear had gone into a tent, really not good. We weren’t sure if that was the same night they told us about or another night. We were fortunate that the bear didn’t come into our campsite either night.

We had worked six straight days before this trip, so it was a welcome reprieve for us. Two of the days had been training, including First Aid and CPR/AED. We hope we don’t have to use our CPR training while here at the park, but if we do encounter someone needing it we hope we can help. If we ever radio a problem in to dispatch, we have to use the terms ‘cardiac arrest’ if their heart is not beating or ‘chest pains’ if they are conscious and complaining of that, but we’re not to call either a ‘heart attack’. But the # 1 cause of death in the back country is not from heart problems, but allergic attacks. They usually need an epi needle, which we were trained to administer, using a phony needle.

The hike that really knocked us for a loop was Baker Mountain which is in the Neversummer range. We did it yesterday, July 6 and are in recovery mode today. It is a little over 12,000 feet of elevation, and is in our back yard; we could start the hike right from our cabin. There is no trail up the peak, but we got directions from one of the rangers on going up through a cut. It was about 2000 feet up from where we started the last climb, but was little more than a mile, making it very steep. The top was a big boulder pile, so we scrambled hand over hand to reach it. But it was very mild when we summitted and we had great views. There were clouds over other peaks but not over Baker. Coming down didn’t take as long, and using the two pole method worked well. We got back to our cabin after 7:00, and with the best intentions of getting to a ranger program at 9:00, but we were unable to move much after dinner and called it a day.

A few other items of note:
- A hummingbird poked his beak into our neighbor Cliff’s ear the other day. We have green headed hummingbirds swarming around the ranch.
- The elk that were grazing in great numbers in the meadow near us have now moved up to higher ground. They will come back down in the fall.
- I just read a novel “Bob Flame, Rocky Mountain Ranger” written by Doerr Yeager, who was a ranger himself. It takes place in the 1930’s and provides a good look at a ranger’s life back then.
- A week ago we met a young couple who were music teachers when we were roving. They had a white Subaru Outback, with a silver cargo box on top, and a bike rack in back. It looked almost identical to our rig, with a New York license. We parked them next to each other and took pictures.
- We went to Fireworks display for the Fourth of July in Grand Lake. They attract thousands of people, so parking and driving in town is a big problem then. We parked our car at the Visitor Center in the park and hiked down two miles on park trails to get there and back.

Bits and bytes

We met two Indian guys in the gondola at Telluride. They told us they were musicians and that Allison Krauss had asked them to come up and hang out. The one guy did most of the talking, He also told us to watch out for a group he had just formed, Bad Medicine. Bob Dylan, who he said controls Capitol Records, was going to sign them to a contract. He also said he was breeding his friend with the good teeth with horses. Maybe they were kidding us, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt and check to see if their band ever emerges.

We watched a Friday evening wrangler show where one of the seasonal rangers performed as though he were one of the old wranglers who worked at the Holzwarth ranch. He spun some tall tales that had us laughing, led some singalongs and let the kids roast marshmallows, Kathy joined in with that. She made two of the most perfect golden marshmallows, I ate one.

When we were giving a tour at the Holzwarth ranch, a 93 year old woman named Velma came to visit. Her son Fred accompanied her. She had known Julia Holzworth in Denver and had met Mama. She had never been to the ranch before but was thrilled to be there and we were thrilled to have her. She reminisced with us about what she knew about the Holzwarths and we gave her a special tour of the Mama cabin. She hadn’t planned on coming back to the ranch but as her son was driving her through the park, she noticed the sign and asked her son to pull in. How serendipitous.

Fun Things:
Learned from our southern friends here at Rocky:
- Y’all is used when addressing one person and ALL Y’all is used when addressing more than one.
- WAD UP!! Means gather round.
Elk jams or moose jams are when cars and people are congested around a sighting, often with cars blocking the road, sometimes with doors hung open into the road. The park tries to clear these out when they get too bad.
Not only were two young women standing way too close to Adams Falls on a slippery wet rock, then they decided to lean way over like they were about to take the plunge. Yikes! That’s when I yelled at them.
After explaining how moose sightings happen sporadically in the park and you never know when you might see them, a young woman asked me if she would see a moose if she walked up the trail we were standing by. Maybe I didn’t do a good job explaining the subject. So then I told her and her guy that the moose don’t let the park in on their schedules, he got it and laughed, she remained way too serious.
OK, will pick on a guy now. His name probably wasn’t Billy Bob because he was driving a car from New York. He was seen waving a gun around, maybe before driving into the park, anyways they were looking for him. Not sure what the outcome was but they had a good description of his vehicle and determined it was a rental from New Jersey. I only hope they gave him what was coming to him. These yokels may think that now that guns are allowed into national parks (what a dumb law!) they can do whatever they want with their guns. But they can’t fire them, or wave them around, or threaten anyone with them.


Interesting facts about Rocky Mountain N.P.
About 1/3 of the park is above tree line, which occurs around 11,400 feet. Much of it is tundra, which is rare in the lower 48.

The source of the Colorado River is found here, about ten miles from where we live at Holzwarth ranch.

Trail Ridge Road, which crosses the park east-west, is the highest continuous paved road in the U.S. It gets above 12,000 feet.

Completed Training, Telluride and Black Canyon

We have just completed our training at RMNP, concluding with First Aid and CPR/AEd today. We start our work tomorrow, giving tours of the Holzwarth Historic Site. There is a lot to know about the place and the intriguing story of the Holzwarth family, wish us well. Their story is one of hardship, opportunity, dreams, conflict and perseverance. It should be a lot of fun to tell this story to the vistors who take the time to stop and learn the story.

Prior to this we had just traveled to Telluride for the annual Bluegrass Festival, hooking up with Katherine, Ben and Andy, Ben's friend who also had his son and parents there. It was a great weekend, wonderful weather and music, and they push the boundaries there with the music, much of it is newgrass and beyond. Performers like Sam Bush, Yonder Mountain, Bela Fleck, Mumford & Sons and Edward Sharpe were some of the ones who delighted us.

Since our coordinator Liz gave us some extra time off, we were also able to fit in a visit to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. This is an amazing canyon, about two thousand feet down on average, carved by the Gunnison River. To experience the canyon best, we hiked down to the bottom on the Gunnison trail, a trail that drops 1800 feet in one mile. I should describe it more of a climb than a hike. It was comparable to the Lava Falls trail that almost killed us at the Grand Canyon last year, but without the scree which made it that much better. It was wonderful down by the river, we were able to hang out there for a while, hoping to see some kayakers who sometimes get that far in, but didn't see any. We met a young student ranger on the way back up, who told us that sometimes people will haul their kayaks down that trail to the river, amazing. We were able to get to Sunset Point the night before just in time for a great sunset, which is shown in the picture.

We already feel like so much a part of the park and the people who work here, although we have barely scratched the surface of all that the park has to offer. we did get up to the high country one night last week with Katherine, this time getting some great views. But at 12,000 feet, I coluld tell the air was thin! A flat topped mountain stood out, and it turned out to be Long's Peak, looking very different from the west. We have booked two backcountry trips, one next week on the west side here and one at the end of August to Long's Peak, which should be the ideal time to be there. Some good advice from our backcountry office has us doing these trips in optimal ways, but we shall see how they go.

The First Week in Rocky Mountain N.P.

Rocky Mountain National Park – we made it! Coming down from the ‘back side, from the west, we saw the magnificent snow-covered Rockies plus some other mountain ranges to the west and the south, I guess they must all be the Rockies. After getting supplies in Granby, we contacted our volunteer coordinator Liz, who met us at the Kawuneeche Visitor Center and gave us a warm welcome and then took us up to the Holzwarth historic site where we settled in to our new home, the Tivoli cabin, a 4 room cabin with full bath, partial kitchen, and heated by either space heaters or wood stove. There is plenty of wood left for us, but so far we have been getting by with the space heaters. We learned that last year was much colder at this time, and we were rather glad that although our cabin is at almost 9000 feet of elevation, it has been free of snow and warm enough. The temperatures can dip down into the thirties at night in the summer.

Our first full day here was spent exploring our immediate surroundings. A service road goes through the historic site, hereby referred to as the ranch, so we took it up to where it met the Grand Ditch, which is a water supply for the Ft. Collins area. We were at over 10,000 feet when we met the ditch, and had stunning views of the Neversummer Mountains. Many of them reach heights greater than 12,000 feet. We were following ‘cat tracks’ up the road, and after following the ditch for a while we came upon the ‘cat’ itself, a front loader Deere so not a cat at all. It was used in clearing the ditch from snow. Apparently back in 2003, the Grand Ditch Co. failed to clear the snow properly and it caused major breach that almost wiped out the historic Holzwarth site. Yikes! They were able to save it with some quick diversion work. I also had 3 bars on my cell phone up there, but get only 2 around the ‘ranch’, and reception here is spotty. But you can’t expect all the luxuries you want in paradise.

We are taking training with about 25 other new volunteers and interns. There are a little over one hundred volunteers who will work in the west side of RMNP, also known as the Colorado River District of the park. Over the next two weeks we will be joined by many other returning volunteers who will participate in more training with us, including First Aid and CPR/AED, which we had taken before but need to get refreshed on. Our first day was a general tour of the west side and Grand Lake, the community that serves as the gateway to this side of the park. Estes Park serves as the gateway to the east side of the park, or referred to as the ‘other side’ by the west siders.

We didn’t complete the tour however, as before we could get up to the ‘real high country’ and the Alpine Visitor Center, we learned that our access to the ranch (and our home) was being threatened by the surging Colorado River. So we were ushered down to the Resource Protection unit (also Law Enforcement), and had a discussion with Head Ranger Mark, who informed us that the bridge leading into the ranch could be wiped out if debris got caught at the bridge, and he thought it was safest if we evacuated and stayed somewhere else until it was clear whether the bridge had survived or not! This was happening on our second day in the park! We were told that this is very unusual, the Colorado had never threatened this newer bridge, although previous bridges had been lost, including a few of the Holzwarth’s bridges. But there was another way out in case the bridge got wiped out, a couple miles to the south another bridge crosses the river which was built higher and would not likely be wiped out by the raging waters of the river, and if we could access that, we had an escape route. Kathy and I told Mark that we could hike out at through this bridge if need be, and I suggested that by leaving our car on the other side of the river, we could at least have use of the car in case the bridge went. So instead of evacuating, we have stayed the last week in our cabin, leaving our car on the other side of the river.

The bridge has held, thankfully. We have now spent the last week keeping our car on the other side of the river and walking in to our cabin.

Friday June 11 had been a long day, we had gotten up especially early (for us) and went on a tour of the east side under cloudy skies, taking Trail Ridge Road. Normally there would be fantastic views, the road goes up to over 12,000 feet in elevation. But the only good view we got was on the way back at the Many Parks Overlook, which was down further on the east side. We did enjoy our time at the backcountry office there, hearing Ranger Barry give us a motivational speech about the renewing qualities of our national parks. He reminded us of the dual mission on the parks, how we have to protect our parks and provide for the interests of the visitors, which can be a fine balance sometime. Thankfully Trail Ridge Road was still open for our trip back to the west side, but it closed the next day due to snow.

Considering how worse it could be if the bridge went out, it hasn’t been too bad except for Friday night when we got back from doing our laundry and shopping at 9:00 PM, expecting to walk the half mile into our cabin under the fading twilight. As we were preparing to head in, flash! Boom! Lightning struck, and nearby, this is not good. So we waited the better part of an hour for the storm to abate. It seems that whenever we thought it was clearing up, lightning struck again. We finally walked in under pitch black skies and no light, until after crossing the bridge when I remembered I had a small light on my keychain which helped for the rest of the way in. Lessons learned: the weather is unpredictable in the mountains so be ready for anything and always make sure you have a good light. As of Monday, June 14 the access to the ranch is open again, yippee! No more waiting for storms to abate just to get to our car!

I had to take a trip in to the Denver airport on Saturday to pick up my daughter Katherine and son Ben. It takes about two and a half hours from the west side to get there, and requires going through Berthoud Pass on US 40, which can be dicey in bad weather. There was mixed precipitation on my trip into Denver, and the many twists and curves made it slow going. But I got to the airport in plenty of time, we delivered Ben to Boulder where he met up with some of his buddies and stayed with some of them for dinner. Then I had another disagreement with my gps as it told me it would only takes two hours to get back to Grand Lake, and not until we were heading out of Boulder did I realize that she expected us to go up to Estes Park and through the park on Trail Ridge Road, which was closed. So it ended taking more like three hours to get back, again going through Berthoud Pass. This time it wasn’t precipitating, but it was foggy, and only because I could follow the lights of a vehicle ahead of me did I feel safe enough driving it. So traveling to the Denver area is always going to involve potentially treacherous driving, any time of year and I’m trying to get my head around the fact that road closings will be a way of life out here.

We have just scratched the surface on the hiking available here. We have also gone up the Colorado River Trail a few times, once with one of our rangers who showed us some historic sites of old miner cabins and an old mine. We also went to the lookout on Shadow Mountain with a group of fellow volunteers and had great views of the surrounding scenery with the lakes, the town of Grand Lake and surrounding mountains. We have talked with a few of the backcountry rangers and are planning on doing some backpacking soon, stay tuned!

Grand Teton

Poor Jackson, Wyoming. They have been getting lots of rain all spring, and so has the Grand Tetons, which are near by. But the guy in the outdoor store said they really need the rain because they didn’t get the moisture in the snow this past winter. So let it rain, and we decided not to camp, as we had in Yellowstone, staying at the Jackson Lake Lodge the first night and The Hostel in Tepee Village the second night. We were able to pull off one amazing hike, despite the dire weather forecast. We stopped in the ranger station at Jenny Lake and told the ranger we wanted a hike that would get us up close to the peaks in the Tetons. He suggested two hikes, Cascade Canyon and Death Canyon, we didn’t like the sound of the latter so we went with Cascade Canyon.

We walked around Jenny Lake and then started up the canyon on the other side. There were several other hikers because a boat ride could get one across the lake. There was a short but steep hike up to Inspiration Point which gave a sweeping view of Jenny Lake and mountains to the east. We eventually got up to just below the Grand Teton itself, walking on a soft snow pack as we got up higher. A cute ranger coming down the trail warned us to watch for pools of water below the snow pack as we got up higher near the junction. We reached the junction with no mishaps, then thanks to a suggestion from some other hikers we went a little further on the right fork and got another wonderful view of the Grand Teton from a bridge. We got back down just in time for the last boat shuttle across the lake at 6:00, saving us only 2 miles of hiking but after hiking on so much soft snow my legs (but not Kathy’s) were ready for a rest. It started raining soon after we got to the car, phew dodged the bad weather that day.

We drove down the park road to Tepee Village, seeing a lone moose on the way and checked into the hostel. The only reasonably priced restaurant in town according to our host was the Mangy Moose which gave us an excellent meal, especially the artichoke dip, which we took for leftovers. The next morning we went up to the Laurence Rockefeller Preserve and walked a trail in the rain. Along the way we met a nice guy from NY who had been doing almost the same trip we had, but spending more time at each place and camping, He was getting tired of the gray skies and rain and was heading to sunnier skies. I give him credit though for toughing it out as long as he did. We also saw a mother moose with a calf, not far off the trail. A ranger told Kathy later that the mother positioned her and the baby so their backs were to the creek and they wouldn’t be surprised from behind, but she could keep on eye on us hikers on the trail. These animals are smart.

We spent the rest of the rainy day in the city of Jackson, also called Jackson Hole. The hole means a valley, as it is surrounded by mountains on both sides. We spent a good bit of time in the Teton Outdoor store and each bought a new lightweight Big Agnes sleeping pad to replace our heavier Thermarests, and Kathy bought a new backpack, I hope she likes it, it’s the third one she’s bought in the last three years! I’m using one of her old packs.

I had a disagreement with our auto GPS (named Octavia) on which way to go to Granby, Co, where we would prepare for our arrival at Rocky Mountain National Park (hereafter referred to as RMNP). Octavia had us traveling back up north for 30 miles before heading east, which seemed wrong but I let her have her way. It was a nice drive through the Absaroca Mountains though and we spent our last night in a cheap motel in Wyoming before reaching Colorado on schedule, Saturday June 5.

Yellowstone

Yellowstone was everything we could have hoped for as a wildlife park. We saw some amazing things, including 2 wolves trying to dig out a coyote den with two adult coyotes yipping in distress nearby and a mama grizzly leading two cubs, passing right in front of us on the road. We tracked them for a while as they lumbered up over a ridge and down the other side where we encountered them again, this time from a distance. Both sightings attracted a large crowd of bystanders. I was impressed with the number of people who had scopes. These are serious nature lovers. One man let us look through his scope to see the wolves and the coyotes, as they were a good distance away but we got great views of them through his scope. We never did find out what the outcome was of the wolf-coyote encounter, but the wolves are doing a good job in keeping the coyote population down in the park, which in turn helps the smaller animals. We also saw numerous bison, some fairly close up, some elk, all from a distance, a black bear from a distance, an osprey, some golden tailed marmots, snow shoe hare, mule dear, numerous geese and some coots (look like ducks) and some pelicans. To see wildlife you either have to put yourself in a good spot and sit and wait, or drive around and notice where there is a collection of people and scopes. We did the latter due to time constraints.

Yellowstone, or as I like to call it, Many-ColoredStone, is mainly known for its geothermal activity, it has more than the rest of the world combined – I DIDN’T KNOW THAT! Numerous geysers, hot springs, steam vents can be easily seen. There are three caldera, which are volcanic cones in the park, and an enormous lava pool underneath the ground. The last time a major eruption occurred here was 640,000 years ago. One would think it is overdue for another eruption, but according to the geologists studying the situation, more has to happen underground before an eruption is imminent, sorry that’s the best I can offer on that right now. But it could take a relatively short time (years?) or maybe 50,000 years or more. When it does happen, everyone’s lives will be changed, because it will produce an amazing amount of ash that will spread through much of the continent. That’s the way it happened the last time anyways. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen anytime in our lifetimes. The planet is definitely facing a lot of challenges.

We were surprised to see so much snow here this time of year. We had expected to still see it in higher elevations, but although there is a deep snow pack in the passes, snow can be seen at lower elevations too. We learned that the snow came late this year, much of it in March. So it’s hanging around longer as a result. The weather could have been a little better, there has been a fair amount of rain both nights we have been here so far, but the days have been ok, with just a few sprinkles. We splurged and stayed in a cabin near Yellowstone Lake, it would have been rough camping with the rain and nighttime cold. We did a little hiking, a trail near Yellowstone Lake which was very picturesque and a trail that went by the Upper and Lower Falls in the Yellowstone Grand Canyon which was spectacular. As you would expect, you only have to go a little ways down a trail and you can get away from the crowds at the viewpoints and turnoffs. The elevation is fairly high, between about 7000 and 9000 feet, so we are acclimatizing and not ready to do major activity.

I like the fact that Yellowstone was the nation’s first national park, that happened way back in 1872. Due to the efforts of three notable men, Dr. Ferdinand Hayden, Director of the U.S. Geological and Geographic Services, Thomas Moran, notable artist and photographer William Henry Jackson whose visual accounts of the Yellowstone regions confirmed the incredible truths of what the area had to offer and convinced Congress to set aside this land so that it could be preserved and revered by all, starting a national movement in protecting our natural treasures. We have wanted to get here for some time, to see where the national park movement all started. We are hear and we know why, the scenery is captivating and stunning, in good weather or bad, what a joy to be in the nation’s premier natural setting and to see what started the national park movement.

A visit to Yellowstone is not complete without seeing Old Faithful, or as Kathy likes to call it Old Fairly Faithful. It doesn’t erupt on as strict a schedule as it used to. We saw it with a mob of other people, including a couple we just met there who had ties to Binghamton. It was a little over ten minutes late, and this eruption only lasted a little over a minute. We did some hiking up to Observation Point afterward and then caught the next eruption about 90 minutes later, this one lasted a little longer.

Yellowstone had a major fire back in 1988, we went to the Grant Village Visitor Center which had a movie and information on the fire. The 1988 fire burned about one million acres, about 40% of the park. There was much controversy then about the way the park service managed the fire. Since the park was closed for a long time and many trees and other flora were burned, people were understandably upset over the perceived damage to the park. But as it turns out, little wildlife was lost, and the lodgepole pine trees needed the fire to sprout new trees. Since then, there has been much regrowth and overall benefit to the ecosystem in the park. We saw more areas that were burned out, as there have been several smaller fires since. The park service and forest service recognize that forest fires are a natural occurrence, most actually start by lightning strikes, and now have adopted a policy that allows fires when they can be beneficial. Initially, the area affected by a fire does look ugly, but as we saw from the areas hit by the 1988 fire, they have rebounded and more diversity in wildlife is now evident.

Heading West, a stop in the Badlands

We are heading back west! As I write this, we are in Spearfish, SD, having just visited Badlands National Park and went through the Black Hills. We will get to Rocky Mountain Nat. Park on June 5 and spend 3 months there volunteering. We are eager to get there but in the meantime we want to explore some areas we haven't been to, including what we have seen so far and Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, where we head tomorrow. The weather hasn't been ideal lately, for the first part of our trip it was too hot and yesterday it was too windy, but we will take what we get. Camping at Badlands last night was invigorating as the wind howled most of the night, picking up force in the morning. Making coffee this morning with my JetBoil was challenging. We enjoyed the vistas we had at the Badlands, they reminded us some of Bryce and some of Canyonlands. All three parks have oddly shaped rock formations, in abundance. All are formed by erosion and all spectacular. We hiked for a couple hours in the heat yesterday, and today mainly drove the loop trail in Badlands, taking a side trip to Prairie Dog Town, where we saw some prairie dogs and heard the warning cry of the sentinel dog as we approached. We also saw some bighorn sheep and some bison, marvelous creatures. Our drive through the Black Hills was interesting, but we were on a different road coming out of Rapid City than we thought. Nevertheless we found our way to Deadwood, which is an old western town and interesting, but notable for it's embrace of gambling. After walking around the town, we decided not to stay there and sauntered up the road to Spearfish. We took a side trip up Spearfish Canyon and took a short hike in there to Spearfish Falls, when it started raining. That's why we're not camping tonight. Other highlights of the trip so far: buying a 5 cent coffee at Wall Drug, staying with our friend Tracy in Portage, Mi and with my brother in Stoughton, Wi, surviving a renegade trucker who passed us on the shoulder (couldn't get to the passing lane I guess), and reuniting with some old friends at the Finger Lakes Trails Weekend in Alfred, NY, first time for either of us being in that quaint college town. We would have liked to go up to the UP of Michigan and Wind Caves National Monument and Custer State Park, to name a few, but realized that we can't go to every place we want, so we keep heading west for now.

I must add that the state tree of South Dakota surely is the Billboard Tree. They are ubiquitous.