Bears in My Driveway

A mama bear and two cubs sauntering up my driveway, probably in search of food. I was awakened by shuffling (a noise I had heard several morning before) and looked out my window to find two cubs walking on my porch. The mama took the other route and ended up at my neighbors house (you can see the mama by the green Subaru.) One cub is in this picture and the other one is behind the house on the right. Bears have been known to break into the cottages around me, prying open low screens and just walking into houses with open doors. Luckily all my windows are high up.

Hike to Lake Arrowhead

Erin and I hiked to Arrowhead and Inkspot lakes- a high elevation glacial basin lake cluster at a base of mount Ida. I knew it was going to be a tough one before we started: hungover, tired from a week of physically demanding work, 5 hours sleep and a 5:45 wake-up. It was a grueling and challenging 10 hour partially (what I would call) technical hike. But, as always is a hike for me, totally worth it.






Erin, myself, and an alpine flower being a 'gummi bear' (something that interjects itself into another's photo surreptitiously. A really fun game at parties.)


Can you find the Coyote in the picture above?

Inkspot Lake, I believe.
Lake Arrowhead.

July in Thunderstorm and Heat

July has been an amazing month here- the weather has become relatively predictable, with thunderstorms rolling in from the west around 5pm every afternoon, right when we finish work. Nights have been slightly humid, holding in some of the heat accrued during the day. I took some pictures of thunderstorm clouds from Hwy 36.






This atmosphere has been so special, especially on cool mornings in Boulder for the farmers market. It takes a slow perusal through the lanes of white tent covered booths to notice how the colors of fruits and vegetables become more vibrant after a fleeting thunderous downpour. Que dulce la lluvia. A banquet of vegetables, fresh bread and aged balsamic vinegar. I do wish it had come from my own garden. I miss California for its year-round growing season and fertile soil.

Limber Pine Project

One of my coworkers working on limber pines took me out to a rocky outcrop off of Fall River Road to help her place anti-beetle pheramone packets on those rare trees and record data. It was an amazing day- traversing rocks, boulders and ravines at high elevation and slope in search of these elusive trees... all in hope of saving them from the viscious beetles. Here is a picture of me in a small wildflower patch. I had to give up my fear of heights for this project- one wobbly knee could have destabilized a rock and sent me downhill a thousand or so feet (in a few areas only of course.) Maybe I am exaggerating, but the day had the potential to be dangerous at times. The picture shows the elevation and slope.


Erin is a great photographer, and friend. Here's one of sheep meadows (?) framed by a limber pine.

Backpacking the Continental Divide Trail to Haynach

I needed to get out of the city part of the park for a bit, recruit the sights and sounds of isolation to cleanse my inner sense of self marred by absurd doubts and fears at work and in relationships. I left the day before the 4th, expecting to carry on for several days and complete the west side section of the Continental Divide Trail, which eschews for the most part steep and rugged terrain. There is a section that ascends to Flattop Mountain, a 1000+ foot gain over 1.5 miles, and crosses the mountain at high elevation for 5 or so miles, then descends back to low elevation in less than a mile with switchbacks. I would have completed the whole trail if the weather did not promise lightning when I would be above treeline. So, I camped at the base of Flattop at a little llama packing site called Haynach.


It took me a long time to choose my campsite as there was a high risk of lightning storms that night and I wanted to take every precaution to not tent under dead trees or in an open area.... or on snow. It started raining heavily while I was deciding this and I ended up getting soaked. Being soaked in a cold and damp tent is a miserable thing, so I persevered for 2 hours to shake-dry my hair. Several brooks babbled nearby, obscuring the sound of thunder in the distance that perks my ears instinctively and makes my intestines coil. The solitude of this journey and the hours before sundown allowed me to reflect on how much we all rely on ourselves for our strength and self-love. Being alone, I gave myself permission to verbally thank everything I take for granted- my higher power, my parents, my brother, family, and myself.

In the early morning I did a bit of exploring and found this gorgeous view (above) right outside my camping area.
As I often backpack alone, it's hard to take pictures of myself, so I prefer to take pictures of my shadow. The following are the rest of the photos of the trip.

Saved the best for last... :)

June Hikes to Mills Lake and Eagle Mountain

Eagle Cliff, about 1 mile from my cabin.

1000 feet incline in about .5 mile to the top of Eagle Cliff Mountain. Was way worth it. I also got a burn-tan on those cloud white legs of mine. Behind me is headquarters and Estes Park.


Poppies are a poppin'... in people's yards. Hah.


Mills Lake:

In the sweet little crevasse of glacier gorge awaits Mills Lake.



Alberta Falls en route to Mills.

Elk Jam Awareness

Every day I encounter a phenomenon known as an Elk Jam. An Elk Jam is when excited tourists, who we pejoratively call 'elktards', stop in the middle of the road, get out of their cars.. or idle in them, and take pictures of the elk or other -what we parkies consider common- animals and jam up the roadway a few hundred feet or more. These myopic tourists fail to notice the brigade of cars trying to make their way around them. However, usually most people think that something amazing must have stopped the first car, so everyone else follows suit- sometimes running- out of their cars with their cameras to approach the wildlife. Supposedly people have been seen trying to put their grandkids on elk for a ride. Wildlife is wildlife, Rocky Mountain is not a petting zoo... tourists have been eviscerated by elk antlers before. The following picture is of elk crossing the road rather than a tourist caused elk jam.



I understand the excitement that goes along with seeing something new. I also understand the opposite- complacency. For example, I drove through the 25 mph entrance station at 45 on the 4th of July and was pulled over. The attractive young ranger treated me very well and gave me a warning ticket. =)

Perks of This Park

One of the greatest perks of the resource management division of Rocky Mtn. NP is that they have the time and money to put a lot of effort into training and developing the skills of their seasonal employees. The second week.5 of my summer was dedicated to training in a grand variety of subjects such as the history and goals of ROMO and NPS, plant identification, backcountry operations, and safety. The latter was our primary focus for several reasons; there have been many deaths as a result of unsafe practices here in the park, but also because our job is inherantly one of the most dangerous- we run bobcats, UTVs and large vehicles, use heavy tools, spray herbicides and pesticides, work on rocky and steep slopes, and conduct business in weather that can turn hazardous in minutes. Sweeet! I'll be posting some pictures of steep slope working once I get a hookup cord for my smaller camera.

The following pictures are from a two day training session on ROMO plant identification with the Biedelmans who wrote a great 'Plants of Rocky Mtn.' book, and who are quite famous in Colorado and California.
The Beidelman duo took us to Lumpy Ridge to practice keying out plants. This is half of the resource management seasonal troupe.

Keying out shooting stars under the bridge.

Mi Casita

My little house, mi casita, is super quirky and old-school. The wallpaper in the kitchen is 1950's "jam contest" themed and the bathroom is "US military eagle lapel" style. The linoleum was never fully cleaned so I have to beware of sprinkling water on the floor or I make mud. This, I do not mind as I drag in so much mud and dirt from my job already it would be antithetical to have a clean floor. I am so excited though, this week I got a brand new stove because the old one started leaking gas when I was trying to bake some banana walnut chocolate muffins (delightful!).

I also have a lot of friends living in my house. Sam is a small spider of an unknown species that tries to trap pests above the doorway. Sam has quite a number of buddies throughout my house, some of them make a mess partying in my shower. I also have a few large ants that like to peruse the bathroom floor. If you know me, you know how I feel about ants. However, these guys don't bother me as they don't come in swarms and are easy to pick up and throw outside.

Here are some pics of the place.

View from my front door with the bed, closet and bathroom door on the left and the kitchen on the right.
View of my bed, and front window.

View of my little kitchen! I love cooking in there- it's always a challenge.

I'm sure my mom is concerned about my diet, so here's a preview:

Spelt pasta with garlic sauce, sunchokes, mushrooms, fresh tomatoes and tempeh.
Wilted spinach salad with miso, walnuts and cranberries.
Salad with goddess dressing, crumbled blue cheese and nutritional yeast.
Apples with chocolate cashew hemp nut butter for dessert.

I have to eat well because I likely need a 3000 to 4000 calorie diet... stay tuned for more recipes such as chocolate zuchini bread and the awesome banana walnut chocolate.

Rocky Mountain National Park

So this is where I live now. I wake up every morning at 5:30 to dim light filtering through thin, and quite old, drapery. Birds warble outside my windows on the pines. The resident hummingbird rumbles past my door in pursuit of just about everything that infringes upon her nesting area. My double bed creaks as I rise excitedly to brew my Mate or Earl Grey tea, a daily ritual. No toaster oven or microwave, my 10 grain bread and eggs are grilled in the pan. I make french toast when the bread hardens, cut apples and dip them into sunflower seed butter. Slow and deliberate I am in my ambling around my cabin to get ready for work, or the farmers market on Saturday; the room is chilled by the breeze flooding through a small open window during the night. My morning rituals keep my thoughts on the ground and sate my need for home. When I step outside my cabin and enter the Moraine, I begin to fly.


Not a very good picture of my house. The tree crew clear cut around the housing area to remove hazard trees- trees killed by the pine beetle. Large log piles still remain, which provides great shelter to chipmunks!

My picnic area- I sit on the rocks instead of the broken wood table.

Moraine Park at sunrise- one of the first views I see when I leave my house.


Moraine Park is one of the favorite elk hangouts.

Took a hike to Bear Lake my first week at RMNP. It is probably the most accessible lake in the park and becomes a tourist hotspot in the summer, hence why I visited it on a cold and cloudy day.
The snow around Bear Lake was still quite thick in May.


Working the West Side: The cabin we stayed in had an ethereal view. We spend three days salvaging trees along a roadside that was slated for expansion. Salvaging involves digging up 3 to 4 foot tall trees, along with grasses and forbs, placing them in pots and waiting until after the road construction to replant them. My arms are filling out from digging, picking, and lifting 40+ lb. pots.


Last weekend I went on a two day backpacking trip to the West Side. We were in a rush to get to our campsite by dusk, so I didn't get a chance to take many pictures. Below is a picture taken of me in a frozen meadow at (I think) 11,000 ft. To get there was an uphill battle on well maintained trails, then through snow on a trail, then postholing offtrail. It was not easy, but worth every knee bruise, branch scratch, unexpected snow pocket fall and frozen toe.



The West side has the greatest percentage of beetle-kill in the park. Downed trees cluster over the rivers and it is very unsafe to walk in the backcountry on a windy day...Your heart sputters at every creak of a tree.

Pine Beetle Galleries

Mama and Fawn