Thursday, July 22, 2010
4 Pass Loop
Hey, there, dear Readers! I'm not sure if there are any of you out there anymore, but I shall faithfully write anyway.
So last Saturday to Monday, Jade and I hiked the 4 Pass Loop, 28 (I think) miles around the Maroon Bells. I won't describe the technicalities of the hike itself, because this PDF does it pretty well:
The whole hike was absolutely gorgeous, and we both had a blast.
The first day we hiked about 11 miles, over two passes, and down to a valley/canyon that Jade and I re-named "Forever Basin", just because the real name sounds kind of like that and is harder to pronounce and remember, and we thought that Forever Basin sounded nicer. The alpine meadows that we hiked though were FULL of tons of beautiful wildflowers, more than I even knew! It was amazing! The first night we camped by a waterfall and an area where an avalanche had crossed the river, and was still in the process of melting. I would post a picture of it, but I'm having trouble doing that, right now. The snow basically formed two curved awnings over the river, and were melting, drop by drop, into the water, like it was raining. It was very cool. We were exhausted from getting up at 5:30 and hiking so long, so we only stayed awake long enough to watch the first stars come out, and then we went to sleep.
The next morning we hiked down a beautiful waterfall -- it must have been 100 feet tall! and we had to wade across the river several times, in our sandals. The water was so cold that it hurt our feet, but there were so many trees fallen over the trail, that it was impassable, and so we walked along the other side of the river. Actually, one of the US Forest Service employees that is living in the Bunkhouse with me this summer is soon going to clean up that area! Jade and I were wondering who was going to have to go camp in this beautiful area and clean it up for their job (not such a bad gig!). When we finally found the trail again and put our hiking boots back on, we hiked up and over Trail Rider Pass. It was a VERY challenging climb. From the top we could see Snowmass Lake, a very large, very deep and very blue alpine lake. We hiked down to it, and found a great campsite. I wanted to go swimming, but it got cloudy towards sunset. The moon was so bright that the stargazing that night was not very good, but I was much warmer than the previous night.
In the morning I finally got the chance to go swimming and sit in a spot of morning sun to warm up after. We practically had the lake to ourselves! Afterward, though, I had a hard time warming up, and so I sat outside in my sleeping bag and drank some coffee that Jade made for us. That didn't actually help all that much, but once we started hiking, I sure warmed up and dried off fast!
That afternoon we hiked up and over Buckskin Pass, and right about that time, a thunderstorm hit us. The view of the storm and the lightning right over the Bells was spectacular! We also met a man who must have been 70 years old, who was hiking the same loop we were leaving (and he only had one tooth!).
When we started nearing Crater Lake, where we head back to civilization, we were both sad to be leaving, but we were very tired, and out feet hurt. The 2 mile hike from Crater to Maroon Lake seemed to take forever! Once we got home, we went out to pizza for an early dinner, and Jade headed out to Denver. I went to bed early, and since then, it sure has been hard to get back into the swing of things!
The last two days I have been working at -- you guessed it -- the Maroon Bells! That has been interesting, and it has been really great to tell visitors about my trip! The hike from Crater to Maroon Lake and back, which I have had to do several times in the last two days, is MUCH easier without a 35 pound bag on my back!
This was only a very quick over-view of the trip. I had such a great time, if you want to hear more, I would be happy to tell you about it all in detail! There are so many other things that I could write about - like my week up at Toklat, but I think this is all for now!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Busy Week!
Man! Another busy week! I just thought I'd update my blog for all you faithful followers, so that you don't worry about my well-being.
Yesterday Kendall and I biked from Aspen to Rock Bottom Ranch, which is also owned by ACES. I got to milk a goat! It seems like a really cool place - they make their own soap, and they spin yearn there, and can things, and all other crazy things! Then Kendall and I accidentally rode all the way to Carbondale - total a 30 mile trip! It was REALLY nice to get out of Aspen, though! We took the bus back, thank goodness, because it would be 30 miles of gradual uphill back. There was a rainbow in the evening, too! A FULL one. I love rainbows.
There was a cook-out for Lindsey Fortier and her husband for them moving that night, and I had my second hamburger in roughly 10 year (my first was a few weeks ago)! I keep on telling all my co-workers about all the "firsts" I have here - first hamburger, first cup of coffee, and all those kinds of things, and they say that I am moving at a kind of dangerous pace - ha ha ha!
Well, I have to go buy some thread to mend something for a friend, so that's all I'll write for now. Next week I will be living at Toklat, so I will have no cell of internet service (unless I come back to Aspen for a bit). So I will be a little out of touch for a week. I hope you all are having great summers, too!
Yesterday Kendall and I biked from Aspen to Rock Bottom Ranch, which is also owned by ACES. I got to milk a goat! It seems like a really cool place - they make their own soap, and they spin yearn there, and can things, and all other crazy things! Then Kendall and I accidentally rode all the way to Carbondale - total a 30 mile trip! It was REALLY nice to get out of Aspen, though! We took the bus back, thank goodness, because it would be 30 miles of gradual uphill back. There was a rainbow in the evening, too! A FULL one. I love rainbows.
There was a cook-out for Lindsey Fortier and her husband for them moving that night, and I had my second hamburger in roughly 10 year (my first was a few weeks ago)! I keep on telling all my co-workers about all the "firsts" I have here - first hamburger, first cup of coffee, and all those kinds of things, and they say that I am moving at a kind of dangerous pace - ha ha ha!
Well, I have to go buy some thread to mend something for a friend, so that's all I'll write for now. Next week I will be living at Toklat, so I will have no cell of internet service (unless I come back to Aspen for a bit). So I will be a little out of touch for a week. I hope you all are having great summers, too!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Work
Sorry I haven't written in so long! Once work started for real, I've been so busy! The tours are going pretty well, although I still feel like I have a lot to learn, overall. I mostly have the nature stuff down, and what I need to work on is dealing with people... Things have been pretty slow during the day, but I hear that after the 4th of July (I can't believe its already July!), things really pick up. It has started thunderstorming in the afternoon almost every day now, and I really like it! It cools off, rains and thunders for about 30 minutes, and then clears up and gets sunny again.
The site where I have been scheduled for a lot is on Snowmass Mountain. I begin the day with a 2-hour wildflower walk at 10am, and then ride the gondola up to Elk Camp Meadows, and lead a tour in a pin forest, called Rabbit Run Trail, at 1pm. Then I sit at the desk outside for a while to answer any questions (and there never are any), and then I ride back down, and catch the bus back to Aspen. I have been giving more of these tours recently -- I gave a one-on-one tour to a woman who is originally from New Zealand the other day. She was really cool, and since she's been living here for several years, she gave me some tips of trails to hike. I was thinking of doing some hiking later today, but I am exhausted from the 4th of July weekend, so I think I need to take a break today.
Let's see, what else have I been up to? The last few days that I had off, I went camping, and then hikied up to American lake and went swimming at around 10,000 feet! It was very cold and refreshing. The lake was so clear that you could see the bottom everywhere, and all the trout swimming around.
The 4th of July Parade was so amazing! It was VERY long, very hot, and it also had many commercial floats and political signs, which I didn't really appreciate. I got my face painted, and collected candy, and enjoyed being squirted with water from passing floats. Then we went to a free picnic from the Aspen Art Museum. We were planning on going swimming later, but got tierd so watched a movie and napped until dinner time.
I tried to put some pictures in this post, but it didn't work. I'll try to put them up separately.
Overall, I am loving Aspen. It seems to me that everything in Colorado is beautiful, from biking to work in the morning in a sun-shower, to getting stuck on top of Ajax (Aspen Mountain) and watching lightning hit the top of the Elk Mountains. Today I am planning on working some on my tours, then I need to bike to the store and buy some groceries. I would like to run and take a nap at some time, also. I hope everyone reading is having a great summer, too! :)
The site where I have been scheduled for a lot is on Snowmass Mountain. I begin the day with a 2-hour wildflower walk at 10am, and then ride the gondola up to Elk Camp Meadows, and lead a tour in a pin forest, called Rabbit Run Trail, at 1pm. Then I sit at the desk outside for a while to answer any questions (and there never are any), and then I ride back down, and catch the bus back to Aspen. I have been giving more of these tours recently -- I gave a one-on-one tour to a woman who is originally from New Zealand the other day. She was really cool, and since she's been living here for several years, she gave me some tips of trails to hike. I was thinking of doing some hiking later today, but I am exhausted from the 4th of July weekend, so I think I need to take a break today.
Let's see, what else have I been up to? The last few days that I had off, I went camping, and then hikied up to American lake and went swimming at around 10,000 feet! It was very cold and refreshing. The lake was so clear that you could see the bottom everywhere, and all the trout swimming around.
The 4th of July Parade was so amazing! It was VERY long, very hot, and it also had many commercial floats and political signs, which I didn't really appreciate. I got my face painted, and collected candy, and enjoyed being squirted with water from passing floats. Then we went to a free picnic from the Aspen Art Museum. We were planning on going swimming later, but got tierd so watched a movie and napped until dinner time.
I tried to put some pictures in this post, but it didn't work. I'll try to put them up separately.
Overall, I am loving Aspen. It seems to me that everything in Colorado is beautiful, from biking to work in the morning in a sun-shower, to getting stuck on top of Ajax (Aspen Mountain) and watching lightning hit the top of the Elk Mountains. Today I am planning on working some on my tours, then I need to bike to the store and buy some groceries. I would like to run and take a nap at some time, also. I hope everyone reading is having a great summer, too! :)
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