Since I have posted last, many, many things have happened. Here is the abridged version to get you up to speed until my missing blog posts are recovered and can be published.
We went on a two night three day backpacking trip in the Uncompahgre Wilderness (formerly known as the Big Blue Wilderness). We hiked out via the Alpine Loop Trail, Failes Creek Trail, Falls Creek Trail, then eventually got back to base camp on the Big Blue Creek Trail. Notable events: running out of fuel and having to use only primitive homemade fires, elk herds, sheep herder with herd, losing the trail and bushwhacking via game trails up the side of a mountain to find our trail in a pass, out hiking a thunderstorm to get off the trail and back to real food asap. That night we ate in Lake City and camped by Lake San Cristobal on a pullout because the land was public and free and we are young and cheap! :)
Next we drove to Denver, no Grand Junction, to take care of town business. I got a new pack (Osprey Ariel 65)! We camped on BLM land by the airport in the desert. We ate tasty tasty asian food at
Zen Garden (Tom yum soup and panang curry...so good!). We found a shady laundromat to wash all of our clothes and it turned out to be not so shady after all. We fled civilization and drove towards Yellowstone. We only made it to Jackson, WY though and spent a few nights on National forest land up shadow mountain. Others had discovered this free camping spot, but we found a nice place to camp anyways. The first night there was a party in the next camp over. Had a nice fire because brown pine needles burn like a champ! I am the fire queen now. Notable meals: Thai me up (tom kha soup was divine, making plans to make my own), shades cafe (great breakfast with real fresh ingredients), showering at the local rec center, just like a YMCA), provisioning at the Albertsons and getting a million powdered sauce mixes and finally fresh veggies (the powders are an attempt to improve our backpacking food which is sadly lacking in taste and nutrition), good Mexican food at Piglets Cantina and then getting kicked out of our campsite by a stock party picnic, jerks, this land is public! We are outty. Saw plenty of buffalo and a grouse that visited our campsite repeatedly. Time to move on though...to Yellowstone. (oh and Robert got a slingshot...of course he won't try to kill small furry mammals...no...he is a sweet boy....ha).
Drove up to Yellowstone, past the magnificent Tetons, paid our 25$ entrance fee. Went to old faithful, but then got nervous about getting a campsite. All full! You can camp in the back country about a mile in, but you need a permit. Where do you get those? The backcountry office...it's closed. So we skipped waiting on faithful and drove out of the park to find somewhere to sleep. Found free and deserted camping up a mountain at Timber Camp, again on forest service land, lovely and free. Made killer enchiladas in the dutch. (black bean, artichoke, shrooms, cheese and hatch green chili sauce) yum...we ate all seven of the massive enchiladas.
More later...gotta get real food!
Recording the adventures of Robert and Jenn since 2010.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Wordpress App SNAFU
The app I use to add blog posts has stolen many of my local drafts of multiple posts that I have written, but not yet published. I am extremely frustrated as it seems others are having the same problem, but I cant find a fix! grr.
I am posting this from the website, not the app so we shall see if I can post like this until the app bug is resolved.
I am posting this from the website, not the app so we shall see if I can post like this until the app bug is resolved.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Day Twenty-Eight: Chipmonks!
We woke up, tent in full sun, cracked the tent doors and relished the cool breeze. Only now did we realize how beautiful our camp was. Wooded valley with a meandering (beaver infested) stream, grassy meadow for our camp. We unloaded the car and sat on the giant picnic table to make mochas and more gourmet bean tacos. Let me explain the mochas. Robert likes his coffee, I like the smell, but I can't handle much caffeine without giving myself a headache (I know, I'm such princess). So we make hot chocolate with a shot of mocha (an Italian term for the type of coffee Robert's maker makes), and call it mocha, chocolate coffee.
As we cooked breakfast we noticed a few things. One: the firewood gods had smiled on us again. There were neat, tall stacks of sorted firewood next to our fire pit. Two: the large population of chipmunks was totally unafraid of humans. Curse those people that feed the 'munks! We spent the morning throwing sticks at them and I would run at them making crazed barking noises, whatever works, right? I preferred the run and bark method to the sticks because the dumb varmints would run closer to investigate the sticks we threw, they were that accustomed to people!
The rest of the day was spent taking pictures of this giant horned beetle that flew into our tent, gathering water from the pond nearby. It was moving slowly, had no direct signs of beaver and their guardia problems, and was the closest acceptable source. We then showered in the hunting blind again, it was literally steaming inside the blind when I stepped out. Only the best for us! We went on a short bike ride to the trail head and up the road to the cabin. There were VOC signs pointing around the corner and a field of tents, so we went to investigate. We found a volunteer crew restoring a few more cabins, so they was be rented out and generate some much needed funds for the park. Interesting, and we thought we were all alone out here! (not exactly true, the road had been busy all morning with day fishermen, but few campers)
Oh. The gazebo. We set it up to ward off chipmunks and because it threatened to rain on us. However, we didn't immediately stake it down because we were eating chips and salsa and sour cream, a huge distraction. All of a sudden, whoosh and CRACK! The elbow joint of one pole snapped directly on its seam. It was quite a tragedy. It was our first serious equipment loss. (cracked mug, hole in the blow-up mattress, broken spigot of water container, and now, gazebo- tomorrow Robert will blow out his flip flop to add to our list, but I'm trying to pretend that I am not behind on my writing, so I won't tell you that yet. We had to Jerry-rig a pole by tying the gazebo and fly off to a tree. It was quite a fiasco. Then we guyed down almost every side of the thing so as to avoid further wind damage. What amateurs!
We decided to push back our hike by a day so we could have more time to prepare and explore the area. We made a nice fire, salad and leftover beans for dinner. The beans are very much a the end of their life though. I'm done with them, another portion-size mishap. We sorted backpacking food into bk, lunch, and dinner sacks as we listened to Robert's iPod play Jack johnson and then Keller williams and phish on travel speakers. We discovered however, that a chipmunk had breached our perimeter and eaten into one of our rice dinners! Then it was war. Robert keeps randomly exclaiming, "I'm gonna get me a chipmunk!" He took it harder than me, I guess.
Fire-sitting then trip planning in the tent.
As we cooked breakfast we noticed a few things. One: the firewood gods had smiled on us again. There were neat, tall stacks of sorted firewood next to our fire pit. Two: the large population of chipmunks was totally unafraid of humans. Curse those people that feed the 'munks! We spent the morning throwing sticks at them and I would run at them making crazed barking noises, whatever works, right? I preferred the run and bark method to the sticks because the dumb varmints would run closer to investigate the sticks we threw, they were that accustomed to people!
The rest of the day was spent taking pictures of this giant horned beetle that flew into our tent, gathering water from the pond nearby. It was moving slowly, had no direct signs of beaver and their guardia problems, and was the closest acceptable source. We then showered in the hunting blind again, it was literally steaming inside the blind when I stepped out. Only the best for us! We went on a short bike ride to the trail head and up the road to the cabin. There were VOC signs pointing around the corner and a field of tents, so we went to investigate. We found a volunteer crew restoring a few more cabins, so they was be rented out and generate some much needed funds for the park. Interesting, and we thought we were all alone out here! (not exactly true, the road had been busy all morning with day fishermen, but few campers)
Oh. The gazebo. We set it up to ward off chipmunks and because it threatened to rain on us. However, we didn't immediately stake it down because we were eating chips and salsa and sour cream, a huge distraction. All of a sudden, whoosh and CRACK! The elbow joint of one pole snapped directly on its seam. It was quite a tragedy. It was our first serious equipment loss. (cracked mug, hole in the blow-up mattress, broken spigot of water container, and now, gazebo- tomorrow Robert will blow out his flip flop to add to our list, but I'm trying to pretend that I am not behind on my writing, so I won't tell you that yet. We had to Jerry-rig a pole by tying the gazebo and fly off to a tree. It was quite a fiasco. Then we guyed down almost every side of the thing so as to avoid further wind damage. What amateurs!
We decided to push back our hike by a day so we could have more time to prepare and explore the area. We made a nice fire, salad and leftover beans for dinner. The beans are very much a the end of their life though. I'm done with them, another portion-size mishap. We sorted backpacking food into bk, lunch, and dinner sacks as we listened to Robert's iPod play Jack johnson and then Keller williams and phish on travel speakers. We discovered however, that a chipmunk had breached our perimeter and eaten into one of our rice dinners! Then it was war. Robert keeps randomly exclaiming, "I'm gonna get me a chipmunk!" He took it harder than me, I guess.
Fire-sitting then trip planning in the tent.
Day Twenty-Seven: Stragglers' Move
We woke up to sounds of the others breaking down camp. When I got out of the tent, there weren't anymore tents in our group that were still up. They were in a hurry! We had planned to make eggs and pancakes together, but plans change and soon Robert and I were left alone on our beach sipping coffee. Robert made bacon (tainting my cast iron skillet for a second time!) and then we made gourmet bean tacos. They have many layers: tortilla, cheese, jalepenos, refried beans, avocado, fried egg and green salsa. Holy crap they were tasty. We sat around for quite some time, pondered out next campsite, next backpacking trip, how pretty it was in general and finally got around to packing up. I was on tent duty, Robert on kitchen duty.
I unstaked the tent and gently drug it into the shade and promptly took a nap. It was amazing. Robert joined and then we really slept like babies. (see why the post is titled stragglers?) Eventually, we got up and packed up. We stopped at the grocery on the way out of town for ice cream, pringles and a block of ice.
We drove to Lake City, snacking on the aforementioned vittles plus potato salad and grapes. It was another good drive. We stopped at the Wally in Montrose for backpacking provisions and a few things. It was a difficult trip to the store because I was sort of out of it. We were trying to plan four lunches, three dinners and I couldn't keep more than two things in my head at a time. Somehow we managed to get to a checkout line and back on the road. We drove past an enormous reservoir perhaps called Blue Mesa, but I'm not a 100% on that. It stretched for miles, we had to cross it three times! Finally, we made it to Lake City, Robert and I compared navigational notes, I realized we were going south, not north, and we turned around to find our turnoff about ten miles behind us. Ooops.
The drive to our camp was great, although it was dark at this point, so I'm sure it was less spectacular than it could have been, but I still enjoyed it. We had to take the dirt road eleven miles up the ridge line until we got to Big Blue Campground. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Dad? Ben? I swear we camped in the Big Blue Wilderness that summer we road tripped through Colorado. Any corroborators? This is technically the Uncompahgre Nation Wilderness, but the creek is Big Blue, as is the trail and the campground. In my head, everything looks familiar, the creek is a series of beaver ponds and moats, there is a little wood cabin where I remember a ranger staying right where the road turns, and there are A-Frame fences all over.
We didn't bother with dinner, just made a tent nest in the small tent and passed out, happy stragglers.
I unstaked the tent and gently drug it into the shade and promptly took a nap. It was amazing. Robert joined and then we really slept like babies. (see why the post is titled stragglers?) Eventually, we got up and packed up. We stopped at the grocery on the way out of town for ice cream, pringles and a block of ice.
We drove to Lake City, snacking on the aforementioned vittles plus potato salad and grapes. It was another good drive. We stopped at the Wally in Montrose for backpacking provisions and a few things. It was a difficult trip to the store because I was sort of out of it. We were trying to plan four lunches, three dinners and I couldn't keep more than two things in my head at a time. Somehow we managed to get to a checkout line and back on the road. We drove past an enormous reservoir perhaps called Blue Mesa, but I'm not a 100% on that. It stretched for miles, we had to cross it three times! Finally, we made it to Lake City, Robert and I compared navigational notes, I realized we were going south, not north, and we turned around to find our turnoff about ten miles behind us. Ooops.
The drive to our camp was great, although it was dark at this point, so I'm sure it was less spectacular than it could have been, but I still enjoyed it. We had to take the dirt road eleven miles up the ridge line until we got to Big Blue Campground. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Dad? Ben? I swear we camped in the Big Blue Wilderness that summer we road tripped through Colorado. Any corroborators? This is technically the Uncompahgre Nation Wilderness, but the creek is Big Blue, as is the trail and the campground. In my head, everything looks familiar, the creek is a series of beaver ponds and moats, there is a little wood cabin where I remember a ranger staying right where the road turns, and there are A-Frame fences all over.
We didn't bother with dinner, just made a tent nest in the small tent and passed out, happy stragglers.
Day Twenty-Six: July 4th
This morning we had coffee and I stoked our ashes into a morning fire because I was cold. I am beginning to become a bit of a pyromaniac. My ability to start a fire makes me feel invincible. I can burn anything I want and there is plenty around here to burn. Of course many of the Fourth of July-ers brought old pallets and chainsaws to burn, but I don't need all that. I'm a two paper towel special. I hope to get that down to zero paper towels and one match, but I'm pretty happy with my skills for now.
We quickly broke camp so we would have time to cook our planned feast once we got to Silverton. The drive was really nice. We stopped off in Ouray (pronounced U-Ray) for lunch because traffic was backed up like crazy and we were again starving. We were right proud of ourselves when we pulled over, unhitched our bikes and cruised into town while all our four wheeled friends waited interminably.
At the end of town and an interminable hill (curse those cars and their motors!), we found a German Biergarten that had spaetzle for me to eat. Robert got a brat, I got krautspaetzle (minus the bacon), and we split fries and a salad. The fries were so terrible we only ate half the basket, but really, they were an abomination. The krautspaetzle was pretty good though so it wasn't a complete wash. Then a short trip back through town via bike. Candy and people littered the streets and there were potato sack races in the park. It seemed like a very wholesome, American town.
We continued our drive into Silverton with a ridiculous stretch of road. Speed limit signs read thing like curly-q road ahead, 5 miles per hour, or loopy road, don't even try to go faster than 10 miles per hour. Oh, and there were no guardrails. The entire way. None. Who makes a curvacious road at the top of sheer cliffs and doesn't install guardrails!? Robert took it like a champ, he knew what to expect because he had driven it before, and I enjoyed the vistas, even when they made me remind Robert that two hands are better than one. There was a reason he wanted to drive this part and I respected his decision.
We found Silverton easily enough and David on main street restocking at the liquor store. More bud light lime...gross. We followed him back to their camp, basically just outside of town in some public land near a river. It was free, resultantly crowded, but nice enough for one night. We pitched our tent nearby and then set up the monstrous gazebo. All were appropriately impressed with our set up and story: we live outside. It was crazy windy so it took us a while to set her up and stake her down adequately. Thanks go to Jason for letting us borrow his mallet for the stakes; we had been using a framing hammer!
Next we unhitched our bikes again to jaunt into town to get brown sugar, fishing spoons, cinnamon, 'maters, white sugar and a few other unpass-up able items like lotion! It is so dry in CO that Robert and I are seemingly flaking away into nothingness.
Back at camp our cooking began. Everyone seemed fairly der-wasted and surprised at our culinary plan, standard fare for July Fourth, just a bit ambitious for camping I suppose: burgers, potato salad and apple cobbler. Robert was in charge of the potatoes as I sat and chatted while I peeled apples, ten apples to be exact. The potato salad turned out to be a big hit and only left us with one tupperware of leftovers, five potatoes maybe is two too many, even for a crowd. Then came burgers, mine an Amy's Texas Style veggie burger, Robert's a 1/2 lb monster with onions, jalepeno, bacon, salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic, and soy sauce. It made all the other boys drool.
Then came the apple cobbler. We got an apple crisp mix for the top crusty bit and ten peeled granny smith apples for the innards, plus sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter, and a little flour. We put it on the coals from the day fire that had been going most of the day and then thirty five minutes later....mmm mmm good. Everyone who tried it loved it and lots of people tried it, but we still had leftovers. Of well. We have been talking about how we need a miniature Dutch over just for us so we don't make too much food, which is our usually m.o.
Then fireworks. We could see them pretty well from our beach front camp. So we lined our chairs up next to the crazy bonfire the boys started and enjoyed the show. It was very nice, there were even some giant ones that were so big they took up the whole sky. According to our volunteer fireman on hand, then were sixteen inch cone fireworks that are no longer in production in the us. I haven't fact checked though, but they were by far my favorite. One was a waterfall, one was a jellyfish, another was a weeping willow. Then maybe a few duplications. The smaller fireworks were regular, but nicer because of the mountainous back drop. When the fireworks ended, we looked over at the road going from Silverton to Durango and it was one continuous line of cars all the way around the mountainside. It reminded me of those old coca-cola commercials, where it's snowing and cars are driving through the night. Locals said that last year it took until two or three in the morning to get home.
We sat up for a little bit, but it was cold and everyone was tired from a long day. We could see some beautiful stars though: big and small dippers, scorpious, corona borealis, and the Milky Way. I really really need a star chart app for this silly pad of mine, but i keep forgetting when we have internet.
We quickly broke camp so we would have time to cook our planned feast once we got to Silverton. The drive was really nice. We stopped off in Ouray (pronounced U-Ray) for lunch because traffic was backed up like crazy and we were again starving. We were right proud of ourselves when we pulled over, unhitched our bikes and cruised into town while all our four wheeled friends waited interminably.
At the end of town and an interminable hill (curse those cars and their motors!), we found a German Biergarten that had spaetzle for me to eat. Robert got a brat, I got krautspaetzle (minus the bacon), and we split fries and a salad. The fries were so terrible we only ate half the basket, but really, they were an abomination. The krautspaetzle was pretty good though so it wasn't a complete wash. Then a short trip back through town via bike. Candy and people littered the streets and there were potato sack races in the park. It seemed like a very wholesome, American town.
We continued our drive into Silverton with a ridiculous stretch of road. Speed limit signs read thing like curly-q road ahead, 5 miles per hour, or loopy road, don't even try to go faster than 10 miles per hour. Oh, and there were no guardrails. The entire way. None. Who makes a curvacious road at the top of sheer cliffs and doesn't install guardrails!? Robert took it like a champ, he knew what to expect because he had driven it before, and I enjoyed the vistas, even when they made me remind Robert that two hands are better than one. There was a reason he wanted to drive this part and I respected his decision.
We found Silverton easily enough and David on main street restocking at the liquor store. More bud light lime...gross. We followed him back to their camp, basically just outside of town in some public land near a river. It was free, resultantly crowded, but nice enough for one night. We pitched our tent nearby and then set up the monstrous gazebo. All were appropriately impressed with our set up and story: we live outside. It was crazy windy so it took us a while to set her up and stake her down adequately. Thanks go to Jason for letting us borrow his mallet for the stakes; we had been using a framing hammer!
Next we unhitched our bikes again to jaunt into town to get brown sugar, fishing spoons, cinnamon, 'maters, white sugar and a few other unpass-up able items like lotion! It is so dry in CO that Robert and I are seemingly flaking away into nothingness.
Back at camp our cooking began. Everyone seemed fairly der-wasted and surprised at our culinary plan, standard fare for July Fourth, just a bit ambitious for camping I suppose: burgers, potato salad and apple cobbler. Robert was in charge of the potatoes as I sat and chatted while I peeled apples, ten apples to be exact. The potato salad turned out to be a big hit and only left us with one tupperware of leftovers, five potatoes maybe is two too many, even for a crowd. Then came burgers, mine an Amy's Texas Style veggie burger, Robert's a 1/2 lb monster with onions, jalepeno, bacon, salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic, and soy sauce. It made all the other boys drool.
Then came the apple cobbler. We got an apple crisp mix for the top crusty bit and ten peeled granny smith apples for the innards, plus sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter, and a little flour. We put it on the coals from the day fire that had been going most of the day and then thirty five minutes later....mmm mmm good. Everyone who tried it loved it and lots of people tried it, but we still had leftovers. Of well. We have been talking about how we need a miniature Dutch over just for us so we don't make too much food, which is our usually m.o.
Then fireworks. We could see them pretty well from our beach front camp. So we lined our chairs up next to the crazy bonfire the boys started and enjoyed the show. It was very nice, there were even some giant ones that were so big they took up the whole sky. According to our volunteer fireman on hand, then were sixteen inch cone fireworks that are no longer in production in the us. I haven't fact checked though, but they were by far my favorite. One was a waterfall, one was a jellyfish, another was a weeping willow. Then maybe a few duplications. The smaller fireworks were regular, but nicer because of the mountainous back drop. When the fireworks ended, we looked over at the road going from Silverton to Durango and it was one continuous line of cars all the way around the mountainside. It reminded me of those old coca-cola commercials, where it's snowing and cars are driving through the night. Locals said that last year it took until two or three in the morning to get home.
We sat up for a little bit, but it was cold and everyone was tired from a long day. We could see some beautiful stars though: big and small dippers, scorpious, corona borealis, and the Milky Way. I really really need a star chart app for this silly pad of mine, but i keep forgetting when we have internet.
Day Twenty-Five: A Walkabout
Today was a lazy day. Robert fished and fished and caught lots of fishes. I went to the bathroom and never came back. (I decided to go for a walk that turned into a stroll that turned into a walkabout.) I went down a nearby trail, found the old mining town you drive past on your way up the mountain. Then I took the other public road the long way home. I took a few close pictures of a marmot (aka a whistling pig) because I whistled at it and it froze as I approached. For those that can't google, marmots are similar to over grown squirrels, about the size of a raccoon. They also stand at attention like ground hogs. I found two more Alta lakes, though arguably they were on private land because they weren't stocked with fish like public lakes and there were some ambiguous signs like, Private Land, No Trespassing, Keep Out, but I only found those as I was leaving the private land. Oops. I was gone for some time and I suppose I scared Robert because I didn't tell him that I was going anywhere expect the bathroom. Double oops. (but i had a lot of fun)
Then it proceeded to rain buckets on us. We sat in our gazebo, made a rain catcher and I think played more dominoes. This time I lost so as not to embarrass my man friend, whose domino skills are world renowned.
Early to bed because we were breaking camp to meet up with Brother David and company in Silverton for the Fourth.
We stayed one less day than the maximum allowed at Alta Lakes. We need to plan better...I want to overstay the limit at some point, at some campground, just for the fun of it.
Then it proceeded to rain buckets on us. We sat in our gazebo, made a rain catcher and I think played more dominoes. This time I lost so as not to embarrass my man friend, whose domino skills are world renowned.
Early to bed because we were breaking camp to meet up with Brother David and company in Silverton for the Fourth.
We stayed one less day than the maximum allowed at Alta Lakes. We need to plan better...I want to overstay the limit at some point, at some campground, just for the fun of it.
Day Twenty-Four: Business in Telluride
We awoke to the sound of cars and people. Lots of cars and lots of people. It was July 4th weekend and apparently other people knew about our free lakeside hideaway. We were worried that we would have tent neighbor up in our junk, but thankfully no one mounted our hill. (We parked the car on the road spur, next to the gazebo, then had our tent way on the other side of the hill, so the bears wouldn't eat us in the night, but it worked great as a people deterrent too!)
We slowly made coffee and showered again. This time I got the water, so I had to made two trips because I am a weakling, apparently, and I don't fill the bucket adequately, but I got zero floaters, so the water was just green, not green and dirty like Some people's water. We busted out Robert's hunting blind as a shower stall and it was amazing. We set it out in the sun and it got downright toasty inside. I especially enjoyed emerging from the blind and sitting next to our campfire in my towel to dry. I imagined our neighbors thought I was crazy, but I didn't mind.
We closed up camp and headed to town for more Internet, Robert needed to talk to the airlines about a ticket he bought and it was getting too crowded at our secluded lakeside resort. Telluride was similarly busy- we had to wait in line for the gondola and we didn't get a car to ourselves! It was terrible. :) We were half-starved when we got to town because neither of us wanted oatmeal for breakfast, so we only had coffee. (Robert has this single cup camping percolator that works like a champ. He takes the strong first cup with one sugar and a dash of cream. I run water through the grounds again for a weaker cup and add two and a half sugars and equal part cream. It's a perfect system.)
We headed for pizza. Tried the Butcher and the Baker, but it looked like a deli, not a pizzeria. Then we back-tracked to the Brown Dog Pizza Joint, which was hopping, so we knew they had good pizza. (In actuality, they had seven tvs playing the live world cup match between Spain and Paraguay, but the pizza was still good.) Rob had more pbr and I had a ska pinstripe for double the price, yummy! Then our pizza came. Robert wanted a large and large is what we got, with fresh mushrooms and bananna peppers, the best kind of pizza. Then we proceeded to eat the entire pizza. I enjoyed watching the soccer because the whole bar was into it and we caught just the end of the match. (and I don't know the rules so it makes everything a surprise, they got a goal, wow, now they are kicking it like this, wow, now they don't get a point even though they got a goal, wow!)
Next we headed off to take care of some business, Robert called the airline while I went bookstore grazing. Then we visited the Steaming Bean again for more coffee, internet and electricity. I think it got it's name because it is downright steamy inside. I had to keep walking outside because the beer then coffee then hot was making me sick. Robert's online errand turned into a major debacle because he didn't have an email he needed, then continental lost his flight information, then he couldn't find the charge on his credit card, then delta found his flight information and all was right in the world. :)
We went to Mountain Village to get groceries. They had a surprising selection and terrible prices. Notable on our shopping list were: ten apples (apple cobbler in the Dutch oven), sour cream, chips and salsa (it has become an addiction/cheap treat on store days), and twelve tasty left hand beers.
Home again home again to find more people invading our lake and stealing all of Robert's fishes. We fished a bit more and only had pbj for dinner since we were both stuffed still. Actually, it was peanut butter, banana and honey, tastified.
We were awakened about an hour after we fell asleep by a racket outside our tent. It seemed someone was trying to mount our hill because the voices were so loud. I was sent to investigate. Not on our hill, down by the lake. (I didn't have my eyes in, it was all I could gather. Why you would send blindy to do reconnaissance, Im not sure.)
In the morning we discovered the arrival of two rvs full of chitlins and drunk parents blaring rap music, right on the edge of the lake. Why their rvs didn't sink into the mud, I don't know. I was hopeful though.
We slowly made coffee and showered again. This time I got the water, so I had to made two trips because I am a weakling, apparently, and I don't fill the bucket adequately, but I got zero floaters, so the water was just green, not green and dirty like Some people's water. We busted out Robert's hunting blind as a shower stall and it was amazing. We set it out in the sun and it got downright toasty inside. I especially enjoyed emerging from the blind and sitting next to our campfire in my towel to dry. I imagined our neighbors thought I was crazy, but I didn't mind.
We closed up camp and headed to town for more Internet, Robert needed to talk to the airlines about a ticket he bought and it was getting too crowded at our secluded lakeside resort. Telluride was similarly busy- we had to wait in line for the gondola and we didn't get a car to ourselves! It was terrible. :) We were half-starved when we got to town because neither of us wanted oatmeal for breakfast, so we only had coffee. (Robert has this single cup camping percolator that works like a champ. He takes the strong first cup with one sugar and a dash of cream. I run water through the grounds again for a weaker cup and add two and a half sugars and equal part cream. It's a perfect system.)
We headed for pizza. Tried the Butcher and the Baker, but it looked like a deli, not a pizzeria. Then we back-tracked to the Brown Dog Pizza Joint, which was hopping, so we knew they had good pizza. (In actuality, they had seven tvs playing the live world cup match between Spain and Paraguay, but the pizza was still good.) Rob had more pbr and I had a ska pinstripe for double the price, yummy! Then our pizza came. Robert wanted a large and large is what we got, with fresh mushrooms and bananna peppers, the best kind of pizza. Then we proceeded to eat the entire pizza. I enjoyed watching the soccer because the whole bar was into it and we caught just the end of the match. (and I don't know the rules so it makes everything a surprise, they got a goal, wow, now they are kicking it like this, wow, now they don't get a point even though they got a goal, wow!)
Next we headed off to take care of some business, Robert called the airline while I went bookstore grazing. Then we visited the Steaming Bean again for more coffee, internet and electricity. I think it got it's name because it is downright steamy inside. I had to keep walking outside because the beer then coffee then hot was making me sick. Robert's online errand turned into a major debacle because he didn't have an email he needed, then continental lost his flight information, then he couldn't find the charge on his credit card, then delta found his flight information and all was right in the world. :)
We went to Mountain Village to get groceries. They had a surprising selection and terrible prices. Notable on our shopping list were: ten apples (apple cobbler in the Dutch oven), sour cream, chips and salsa (it has become an addiction/cheap treat on store days), and twelve tasty left hand beers.
Home again home again to find more people invading our lake and stealing all of Robert's fishes. We fished a bit more and only had pbj for dinner since we were both stuffed still. Actually, it was peanut butter, banana and honey, tastified.
We were awakened about an hour after we fell asleep by a racket outside our tent. It seemed someone was trying to mount our hill because the voices were so loud. I was sent to investigate. Not on our hill, down by the lake. (I didn't have my eyes in, it was all I could gather. Why you would send blindy to do reconnaissance, Im not sure.)
In the morning we discovered the arrival of two rvs full of chitlins and drunk parents blaring rap music, right on the edge of the lake. Why their rvs didn't sink into the mud, I don't know. I was hopeful though.
Day Twenty-Three: Hammock + Sleeping Bag = Best Idea Ever
I remember three things about this day. One, I took another epic nap in my lakeside hammock, snug inside my sleeping bag, using the guidebook as a pillow. Two, Robert caught his first fish (of many). Three, I beat Robert in dominoes, badly. I think we made borracho beans for dinner, minus the borracho unfortunately, but I'm not a 100% on that one.
Day Twenty-Two: Happy Birthday, Robert!
I am writing this many days after the fact, so the details are a little fuzzy.
On this day, Robert's day of birth, we went in to Telluride for Internet and Thai food. Telluride is a little ski town about eight miles from Alta Lakes, where we were happily camping for free because it is on national forest land. Before going to town, Robert wanted to shower. I was not keen on the idea, but Robert gathered water from the lake and boiled some of it for warmth. We set off down a little hill and I took the fastest, coldest shower ever. The wind made it brutal and of course the sun remained behind a few clouds for the duration of our shower just to spite us.
Regardless of our momentary discomfort, we went to town clean. Telluride is difficult to describe, but I will try. We drove to a place called Mountain Village, which is not quite Telluride, although Telluride's official name is the Mountain Village of Telluride. There we parked the car and got on a free public transport gondola. The gondola first took us to the other end of Mountain Village, thick with ski resort lodging. Then we got on another gondola that took us to the top of the mountain, where you get off to go skiing or mountain biking, but we stayed on and travelled down the back side of the mountain into Telluride proper. We brought our bikes, which proved a little interesting since the gondolas don't stop. There are frequently bikes on the gondola though so there were bike racks for us to use. I, however, proved to be fairly inept at getting my bike onto the moving rack. Ungracefully, I boarded the gondola just before it left the platform. I was a little timid on the gondolas at first, but quickly realized that I most likely wasn't going to plunge to my death and enjoyed the views.
We were fairly lost as we disembarked because we had no idea what we wanted to do in Telluride. Robert talked to the conveniently located information booth man while I used the conveniently located public restrooms; the city planners must have been smart people! We decided to tool around town for a bit to get oriented and then found the Steaming Bean Coffee Emporium, with free wi-fi. We read and played online for a bit, got dampish in an afternoon sun shower, then went to the Last Dollar Saloon to drink damn near free PBRs (pabst blue ribbon, for the uninitiated).
After getting a little smiley off cheap beer, we headed out to look for the free concert in Mountain Village that the nice man in the gondola told us about. Amusingly, he was openly discussing purchasing and transporting large quantities of drugs over the phone, but the concert sounded nice. We rode the gondolas back to Mountain Village and stopped in at the Poachers Pub to inquire. Three days early, we were. The concert series kicked off on Saturday, July 3rd. We opted for another round and some spinach artichoke dip, served with terrible red white and blue colored chips.
Now we stashed our less than helpful bikes (everything is within walking distance), got back on the gondola and went back to Telluride for dinner. Robert was hankering for green curry and we knew of one Thai place in Telluride called Siam, Sami to Robert. We got a small table in the corner, next to a window, but still blisteringly hot. The menu was huge so it took us a while, the man tried to be helpful by reading all the words to us, but the reading wasn't the problem, it was just a huge menu. Eventually we ran him off and decided on: psycho rolls (spring rolls with a spicy dipping sauce), green curry with vegetables, drunken noodles with tofu and the house unfiltered sake. The psycho rolls were good, but less than psycho in their spiciness. We enjoyed the curry and noodles, but we can make curry just as good as theirs and they didn't put the correct vegetables in it. They used baby corn and no eggplant nor potatoes. Oh well. I really liked the drunken noodles though, sort of pad Thai like, but with large flat noodles. The sake was tasty, but I was so full it was difficult to finish. Before we left, we made friends with our table neighbors, who thought we were looking through our southeast Asia guidebook for menu suggestions. They raved about the Tom kha soup as being the best they had ever had, even in Thailand, which segued into talk about our upcoming trip. They suggested we bring very few shirts and just buy more when they fall apart since they are so cheap in Thailand. The woman amusingly asked Robert, "how big are you?" I would have been offended, but quickly her husband helped her explain that in Thailand he always sent the shop keepers scurrying for the largest size they had and he wasn't even large by American standards. The woman decided Robert would find adequately sized cheap clothing too. Whew.
We made our way home slowly, enjoying the cool mountain air and the crazy expensive small, slightly run-down houses of Telluride. We had our gondola to ourselves, which is the best because it cuts off all outside noise and you feel like you are in this little private world high above the treetops and ant people. It was especially nice in the dark, slipping through the blackness like pirates.
A very low key birthday, but very enjoyable, I was told.
On this day, Robert's day of birth, we went in to Telluride for Internet and Thai food. Telluride is a little ski town about eight miles from Alta Lakes, where we were happily camping for free because it is on national forest land. Before going to town, Robert wanted to shower. I was not keen on the idea, but Robert gathered water from the lake and boiled some of it for warmth. We set off down a little hill and I took the fastest, coldest shower ever. The wind made it brutal and of course the sun remained behind a few clouds for the duration of our shower just to spite us.
Regardless of our momentary discomfort, we went to town clean. Telluride is difficult to describe, but I will try. We drove to a place called Mountain Village, which is not quite Telluride, although Telluride's official name is the Mountain Village of Telluride. There we parked the car and got on a free public transport gondola. The gondola first took us to the other end of Mountain Village, thick with ski resort lodging. Then we got on another gondola that took us to the top of the mountain, where you get off to go skiing or mountain biking, but we stayed on and travelled down the back side of the mountain into Telluride proper. We brought our bikes, which proved a little interesting since the gondolas don't stop. There are frequently bikes on the gondola though so there were bike racks for us to use. I, however, proved to be fairly inept at getting my bike onto the moving rack. Ungracefully, I boarded the gondola just before it left the platform. I was a little timid on the gondolas at first, but quickly realized that I most likely wasn't going to plunge to my death and enjoyed the views.
We were fairly lost as we disembarked because we had no idea what we wanted to do in Telluride. Robert talked to the conveniently located information booth man while I used the conveniently located public restrooms; the city planners must have been smart people! We decided to tool around town for a bit to get oriented and then found the Steaming Bean Coffee Emporium, with free wi-fi. We read and played online for a bit, got dampish in an afternoon sun shower, then went to the Last Dollar Saloon to drink damn near free PBRs (pabst blue ribbon, for the uninitiated).
After getting a little smiley off cheap beer, we headed out to look for the free concert in Mountain Village that the nice man in the gondola told us about. Amusingly, he was openly discussing purchasing and transporting large quantities of drugs over the phone, but the concert sounded nice. We rode the gondolas back to Mountain Village and stopped in at the Poachers Pub to inquire. Three days early, we were. The concert series kicked off on Saturday, July 3rd. We opted for another round and some spinach artichoke dip, served with terrible red white and blue colored chips.
Now we stashed our less than helpful bikes (everything is within walking distance), got back on the gondola and went back to Telluride for dinner. Robert was hankering for green curry and we knew of one Thai place in Telluride called Siam, Sami to Robert. We got a small table in the corner, next to a window, but still blisteringly hot. The menu was huge so it took us a while, the man tried to be helpful by reading all the words to us, but the reading wasn't the problem, it was just a huge menu. Eventually we ran him off and decided on: psycho rolls (spring rolls with a spicy dipping sauce), green curry with vegetables, drunken noodles with tofu and the house unfiltered sake. The psycho rolls were good, but less than psycho in their spiciness. We enjoyed the curry and noodles, but we can make curry just as good as theirs and they didn't put the correct vegetables in it. They used baby corn and no eggplant nor potatoes. Oh well. I really liked the drunken noodles though, sort of pad Thai like, but with large flat noodles. The sake was tasty, but I was so full it was difficult to finish. Before we left, we made friends with our table neighbors, who thought we were looking through our southeast Asia guidebook for menu suggestions. They raved about the Tom kha soup as being the best they had ever had, even in Thailand, which segued into talk about our upcoming trip. They suggested we bring very few shirts and just buy more when they fall apart since they are so cheap in Thailand. The woman amusingly asked Robert, "how big are you?" I would have been offended, but quickly her husband helped her explain that in Thailand he always sent the shop keepers scurrying for the largest size they had and he wasn't even large by American standards. The woman decided Robert would find adequately sized cheap clothing too. Whew.
We made our way home slowly, enjoying the cool mountain air and the crazy expensive small, slightly run-down houses of Telluride. We had our gondola to ourselves, which is the best because it cuts off all outside noise and you feel like you are in this little private world high above the treetops and ant people. It was especially nice in the dark, slipping through the blackness like pirates.
A very low key birthday, but very enjoyable, I was told.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Day Twenty-one: Hammock at Alta Lakes
The air mattress patch did not work. The ground was frigid and hard. It was not a happy night in the tent.
Breakfast was granola cereal, then Robert went off to catch a fish, I think i found a three inch tape worm? in the lake and then set up my hammock. I curled up in it with a couple books, some water and a blanket and promptly went to sleep for about three hours. I awoke confused, but well slept finally. Then it started raining, apparently a daily afternoon occurrence. Robert grilled eggplant while I chopped a salad. It was tasty. Then we took another nap in the tent (we got caught there when it continued raining unexpectedly, so we made the most of it).
Our only notable occurrence of the day was our short walk around the lake. We finally bothered exploring and we were rewarded with a deer sighting and a rabbit sighting. The rabbit even stuck around to have his picture taken.
Then, dinner. Robert wanted to make something to break-in the Dutch oven he inherited, so we attempted chicken and dumplings (minus the chicken). He manned the fire, I chopped the veggies, we spiced it together and collaborated on the dumplings. In my opinion, it was the best thing we have eaten so far. We started with butter, garlic and onions, then added six cups of veggie broth. We added cream of mushroom soup to the broth to thicken it. We put in carrots and potatoes first. Then added kale, zuke and fresh mushrooms. Then we spiced the hell out of it (cumin, salt, soy sauce, and of course loads of black pepper). The dumplings were made with two cups bisquick and two-thirds cup milk and lots of spices themselves. We put coals on top of the lid to help cook and brown the dumplings. (can you tell that we want to be able to replicate the dish?) the only thing that we need to fix is that it was more gummy than soupy. It was tasty as hell, but more water needs to be added before the dumplings since the dumplings suck up a fair bit of water. You are jealous that you missed out.
Robert attempted a second patch job on the air mattress, but we put the thermorests underneath incase the patch job failed again. We were warm and only slowly lost air overnight, the mattress lasting until about two? I don't know, it was only okay because of the thermorests. At least we weren't as cold. I now officially hate air mattresses. Jerks!
Breakfast was granola cereal, then Robert went off to catch a fish, I think i found a three inch tape worm? in the lake and then set up my hammock. I curled up in it with a couple books, some water and a blanket and promptly went to sleep for about three hours. I awoke confused, but well slept finally. Then it started raining, apparently a daily afternoon occurrence. Robert grilled eggplant while I chopped a salad. It was tasty. Then we took another nap in the tent (we got caught there when it continued raining unexpectedly, so we made the most of it).
Our only notable occurrence of the day was our short walk around the lake. We finally bothered exploring and we were rewarded with a deer sighting and a rabbit sighting. The rabbit even stuck around to have his picture taken.
Then, dinner. Robert wanted to make something to break-in the Dutch oven he inherited, so we attempted chicken and dumplings (minus the chicken). He manned the fire, I chopped the veggies, we spiced it together and collaborated on the dumplings. In my opinion, it was the best thing we have eaten so far. We started with butter, garlic and onions, then added six cups of veggie broth. We added cream of mushroom soup to the broth to thicken it. We put in carrots and potatoes first. Then added kale, zuke and fresh mushrooms. Then we spiced the hell out of it (cumin, salt, soy sauce, and of course loads of black pepper). The dumplings were made with two cups bisquick and two-thirds cup milk and lots of spices themselves. We put coals on top of the lid to help cook and brown the dumplings. (can you tell that we want to be able to replicate the dish?) the only thing that we need to fix is that it was more gummy than soupy. It was tasty as hell, but more water needs to be added before the dumplings since the dumplings suck up a fair bit of water. You are jealous that you missed out.
Robert attempted a second patch job on the air mattress, but we put the thermorests underneath incase the patch job failed again. We were warm and only slowly lost air overnight, the mattress lasting until about two? I don't know, it was only okay because of the thermorests. At least we weren't as cold. I now officially hate air mattresses. Jerks!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Day Twenty: Goodbye Durango
Today we had the house to ourselves since the employed people had to go to work. We meandered our way through packing up and preparing for another stint of camping. We are heading to Alta Lakes or Gold Kings Basin (a game time decision since they are close, both near Telluride, CO). We plan to spend the week camping there for free on National Forest Land, acclimating to the altitude, fishing and chillaxing. At the end of the week we will meet David and friends in Silverton, CO for July 4th camping.
Later...
We decided to camp at Alta Lakes because we couldn't find a good place to set up camp at Gold Kings Basin, despite it being more spectacular and more private. We got camp set up on less than level ground, the sun shelter a good piece away from our tent so as not to attract bears. I was struggling with the fire and fairly willing to give up and go to sleep, but Robert (being the Eagle Scout that he is) prevailed and gave us heat. We got our new Coleman stove up and working, but opted only to reheat tikka masala to make it quick (it was dark and cold even with the fire). The cold raspberry wheat ale from the growler didn't help the cold, but it was tasty.
This is going in my blog moment: Robert found the second lost lens cap, you know the one I felt terrible for losing, in his pocket!
Going to try out our patch job on the air mattress, think good thoughts for us.
Later...
We decided to camp at Alta Lakes because we couldn't find a good place to set up camp at Gold Kings Basin, despite it being more spectacular and more private. We got camp set up on less than level ground, the sun shelter a good piece away from our tent so as not to attract bears. I was struggling with the fire and fairly willing to give up and go to sleep, but Robert (being the Eagle Scout that he is) prevailed and gave us heat. We got our new Coleman stove up and working, but opted only to reheat tikka masala to make it quick (it was dark and cold even with the fire). The cold raspberry wheat ale from the growler didn't help the cold, but it was tasty.
This is going in my blog moment: Robert found the second lost lens cap, you know the one I felt terrible for losing, in his pocket!
Going to try out our patch job on the air mattress, think good thoughts for us.
Day Nineteen: A Lazy Sunday
It was a late morning seeing as I felt like someone had blown off the back of my skull with birdshot when I awoke. We sat around for most of the day, soaking up the Internet and the couch. Then we made an excursion to WallyWorld for groceries. We decided to make Tikka Masala for dinner topped off with mint chutney and naan. It turned out wonderfully. The chutney was a little too spicy, but still tasty. Then it was early to bed since David and Christina had work early in the morning.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Day Eighteen: Engineer Mountain
Today we are hiking Engineer Mountain. It tops out at about 12,900 ft. I'm scared, but we will make it. There has been much discussion about how difficult the hike is, scaling boulders near the top to get to the summit, and Robert and I are sure to be affected by the altitude. Hopefully I will be able to report back later...if we make it back down.
Later...
The first part of the hike was nice. It was long switchbacks through diverse vegetation, lots of cool flowers including Columbines, which we enjoyed taking pictures of. There were also this strange plants that looked like dry land kelp to me, broad leaves all the way up a thick stalk. The hike was still difficult though and we stopped frequently to rest and catch our breath.
The second part of the trail proved much more difficult seeing as it basically went straight up the mountain. You can see the summit and little people walking around, which was cool but daunting. We tied Cooper to a tree because the summit trail is too difficult for him. The trail began through a snowy patch that most descenders decided to butt-sled down. It was understandably difficult to pass through and left my hands nearly frozen. The next part was again steep and slippery with lots of loose rock. Quickly I became the last in our group and then decided that it was too steep and too slippery for my liking so I crab crawled back down the mountain. I went back to hang out with Cooper while the others finished the climb. Curse my fear of heights and death. The others enjoyed the hike up, admitting that it got even hairier later as you had to boulder over a few places next to sheer drops.
We hiked back out, cleaned up and went out for happy hour drinks and food. First we went to The Office for red wine, then to Carvers for raspberry wheat ale, then the Irish Embassy for a car bomb, then Purple Haze for music and some light dancing. It was a long night. (but we had a blast!)
Later...
The first part of the hike was nice. It was long switchbacks through diverse vegetation, lots of cool flowers including Columbines, which we enjoyed taking pictures of. There were also this strange plants that looked like dry land kelp to me, broad leaves all the way up a thick stalk. The hike was still difficult though and we stopped frequently to rest and catch our breath.
The second part of the trail proved much more difficult seeing as it basically went straight up the mountain. You can see the summit and little people walking around, which was cool but daunting. We tied Cooper to a tree because the summit trail is too difficult for him. The trail began through a snowy patch that most descenders decided to butt-sled down. It was understandably difficult to pass through and left my hands nearly frozen. The next part was again steep and slippery with lots of loose rock. Quickly I became the last in our group and then decided that it was too steep and too slippery for my liking so I crab crawled back down the mountain. I went back to hang out with Cooper while the others finished the climb. Curse my fear of heights and death. The others enjoyed the hike up, admitting that it got even hairier later as you had to boulder over a few places next to sheer drops.
We hiked back out, cleaned up and went out for happy hour drinks and food. First we went to The Office for red wine, then to Carvers for raspberry wheat ale, then the Irish Embassy for a car bomb, then Purple Haze for music and some light dancing. It was a long night. (but we had a blast!)
Day Seventeen: A Taste of Durango
We woke up and spent some quality time on the Internet. Then we went to Carvers Brewing Company for breakfast. I had a tasty bloody Mary and an avocado burrito that was killer (way better than then previous night's Tex-Mex at Tequilas). Then on to a camera store to get replacement lens caps; we have managed to lose two lens caps! This time we got replacements with a clever elastic strap so the lens is physically attached to the camera.
Then Robert, David, Cooper (dog) and I went on a short hike near Molas Pass and Little Molas Lake. It was beautiful. The terrain wasn't too hard, but Robert and I were sucking some serious wind. We stopped halfway and enjoyed the view and sitting for a while. On our way down, a storm started approaching, it had some pretty gnarly thunder and lightning and it looked like the black clouds were melting into the mountains. We scurried down to the treeline and felt the first raindrops right as we reached the car. Robert picked up a book called from Dirt to Plate, all about foraging wild plants. I have read it just a little, but I was eyeing the dandelion greens with interest as we hiked.
For dinner were grilled lots of veggies, steaks and portabellas. David and Christina's friend Jolly came over to help us eat and drink and be merry. We tried to watch more Benjamin Button, but quickly retired because we were exhausted.
Then Robert, David, Cooper (dog) and I went on a short hike near Molas Pass and Little Molas Lake. It was beautiful. The terrain wasn't too hard, but Robert and I were sucking some serious wind. We stopped halfway and enjoyed the view and sitting for a while. On our way down, a storm started approaching, it had some pretty gnarly thunder and lightning and it looked like the black clouds were melting into the mountains. We scurried down to the treeline and felt the first raindrops right as we reached the car. Robert picked up a book called from Dirt to Plate, all about foraging wild plants. I have read it just a little, but I was eyeing the dandelion greens with interest as we hiked.
For dinner were grilled lots of veggies, steaks and portabellas. David and Christina's friend Jolly came over to help us eat and drink and be merry. We tried to watch more Benjamin Button, but quickly retired because we were exhausted.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Day Sixteen
Let me start by finishing last night. As we got into New Mexico, we hit a pretty terrible storm. Driving rain and strong winds. Rob was worried about the SnugTop, but it held fast and there was no where to stop to weather the storm anyways, just miles of desert. Eventually we passed through the storm and got into a beautiful sunset. We decided to press on to El Porvenir, despite the possibility of more rain.
At some point I made a fatal mistake. We stopped at a gas station and I was craving Hot Tamales, there were none to be found so I opted for Junior Mints. Once we were back on the road, I was reviewing the nutritional information to see how many corn products were in them and how many empty calories I was about to enjoy, when I noticed...gelatin was the final ingredient. (I'm sure you knew this one already, Amanda, but you know I have a very selective memory.) I was appalled and downtrodden. This would have been my first candy of the trip. Now it sat at the floorboards, narrowly escaping angry foot stomping. (When we stopped next, Robert went in claiming, "I am really thirsty." He came out with a bag of Hot Tamales. What a charmer.)
Driving to El Porvenir was interesting, the houses kept getting poorer and poorer, the road more and more narrow, steeper and winding. It was about dusk when we finally found the campsite and trailhead. We got out of the car to look around and immediately didn't feel right. There was a seemingly abandoned suburban at the trailhead, the road up to the campsite was closed and graffitied with "Why?," a nearby house was blaring strange music, and not a soul was camping at the campsite. We walked the entire loop, eyes darting, me glued to Robert's side, Robert with his shotgun slung over a shoulder, that's how creeped out we felt. We conferred a bit and eventually decided that we would rather not camp there, despite it being almost 10:00pm with no hope for an alternate campsite for miles. It just didn't feel right. As we were leaving, the creepy music shut off abruptly and the abandoned car had mysteriously disappeared, good decision.
We decided to head to Taos where we would both surely feel more comfortable camping. We had about an hour and a half drive ahead of us. I took it since Robert had driven us for the last five hours? Something like that. We took 518 over, a small winding mountain road, it was difficult and slow going. Finally, Taos. On through to our next prospective campsite: El Sombra in the Carson National Forest. The road again became a winding nightmare, with the added bonus of deer and elk along the road! One was even newly dead, laying serenely in the road. Sad.
We kept driving and kept driving. It was supposedly 15 miles, but 15 came and still no campsite. Eventually I got so tired that I gave up on finding the campsite. It was getting dangerous for me to be driving and Robert wasn't any better. We found a wide pullout and parked. The tent fit between the truck and the fence line pretty well. It would have to do for the night. We got out long unders and hats because the temperature had dropped considerably. I think it was low fifties when we hit the sack, securing one edge of the fly in the car door because the ground was unstakable. As soon as we were zipped into our bags, we plunged into sleep and it was great. It was both of our first times as roadside campers, more contingency planning in the future.
We woke in full sun with cars zooming by, oh yea, maybe this is why most don't opt to camp by roads. Hmm. Drove into Taos for a triple espresso and chai tea fix. (see if you can guess who got what) Next we pulled our bikes off the truck and pedaled our way to breakfast at The Bean. It was so tasty. I got my deluxe breakfast burrito smothered in Christmas salsa (half red, half green, both excellent). Next more pedaling back to town square and window shopped for an hour. Notable were the outdoor shop, where we chatted with a friendly guy about how lost we got the night before (we literally drove those 15 mi in the opposite direction), correct size of a pack for me, and then he stopped us to chat about Surley's, and the Moby Dickenson Bookshop where Robert got a fly fihsing book and a guide to edible plants in the Rockies and I got a lonely planet, southeast asia on a shoestring and a notion that maybe I would like to run a bookstore one day.
Now driving up to Durango, just passed the 10K ft mark. Serious elk country, gorgeous meadows surrounded by pockets of forests of pine fir and Aspen, we think. Just pulled off to get some pictures of the view and spoke with another motorist who just had to stop so a brown bear could cross. More bears! These sound more dangerous though - don't fight back, just play dead, completely at their mercy. Sweet. Going to pay attention to the drive now.
Later...
Got to Durango. Had a hot shower, started some laundry, went out for Mexican food and a margarita, slept in a real bed - I feel almost like I'm not on a crazy camping trip. We watched Benjamin Button until too late. It was quite nice to curl up on a soft couch that didn't resemble a log or a rock or the ground.
At some point I made a fatal mistake. We stopped at a gas station and I was craving Hot Tamales, there were none to be found so I opted for Junior Mints. Once we were back on the road, I was reviewing the nutritional information to see how many corn products were in them and how many empty calories I was about to enjoy, when I noticed...gelatin was the final ingredient. (I'm sure you knew this one already, Amanda, but you know I have a very selective memory.) I was appalled and downtrodden. This would have been my first candy of the trip. Now it sat at the floorboards, narrowly escaping angry foot stomping. (When we stopped next, Robert went in claiming, "I am really thirsty." He came out with a bag of Hot Tamales. What a charmer.)
Driving to El Porvenir was interesting, the houses kept getting poorer and poorer, the road more and more narrow, steeper and winding. It was about dusk when we finally found the campsite and trailhead. We got out of the car to look around and immediately didn't feel right. There was a seemingly abandoned suburban at the trailhead, the road up to the campsite was closed and graffitied with "Why?," a nearby house was blaring strange music, and not a soul was camping at the campsite. We walked the entire loop, eyes darting, me glued to Robert's side, Robert with his shotgun slung over a shoulder, that's how creeped out we felt. We conferred a bit and eventually decided that we would rather not camp there, despite it being almost 10:00pm with no hope for an alternate campsite for miles. It just didn't feel right. As we were leaving, the creepy music shut off abruptly and the abandoned car had mysteriously disappeared, good decision.
We decided to head to Taos where we would both surely feel more comfortable camping. We had about an hour and a half drive ahead of us. I took it since Robert had driven us for the last five hours? Something like that. We took 518 over, a small winding mountain road, it was difficult and slow going. Finally, Taos. On through to our next prospective campsite: El Sombra in the Carson National Forest. The road again became a winding nightmare, with the added bonus of deer and elk along the road! One was even newly dead, laying serenely in the road. Sad.
We kept driving and kept driving. It was supposedly 15 miles, but 15 came and still no campsite. Eventually I got so tired that I gave up on finding the campsite. It was getting dangerous for me to be driving and Robert wasn't any better. We found a wide pullout and parked. The tent fit between the truck and the fence line pretty well. It would have to do for the night. We got out long unders and hats because the temperature had dropped considerably. I think it was low fifties when we hit the sack, securing one edge of the fly in the car door because the ground was unstakable. As soon as we were zipped into our bags, we plunged into sleep and it was great. It was both of our first times as roadside campers, more contingency planning in the future.
We woke in full sun with cars zooming by, oh yea, maybe this is why most don't opt to camp by roads. Hmm. Drove into Taos for a triple espresso and chai tea fix. (see if you can guess who got what) Next we pulled our bikes off the truck and pedaled our way to breakfast at The Bean. It was so tasty. I got my deluxe breakfast burrito smothered in Christmas salsa (half red, half green, both excellent). Next more pedaling back to town square and window shopped for an hour. Notable were the outdoor shop, where we chatted with a friendly guy about how lost we got the night before (we literally drove those 15 mi in the opposite direction), correct size of a pack for me, and then he stopped us to chat about Surley's, and the Moby Dickenson Bookshop where Robert got a fly fihsing book and a guide to edible plants in the Rockies and I got a lonely planet, southeast asia on a shoestring and a notion that maybe I would like to run a bookstore one day.
Now driving up to Durango, just passed the 10K ft mark. Serious elk country, gorgeous meadows surrounded by pockets of forests of pine fir and Aspen, we think. Just pulled off to get some pictures of the view and spoke with another motorist who just had to stop so a brown bear could cross. More bears! These sound more dangerous though - don't fight back, just play dead, completely at their mercy. Sweet. Going to pay attention to the drive now.
Later...
Got to Durango. Had a hot shower, started some laundry, went out for Mexican food and a margarita, slept in a real bed - I feel almost like I'm not on a crazy camping trip. We watched Benjamin Button until too late. It was quite nice to curl up on a soft couch that didn't resemble a log or a rock or the ground.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Day Ten, Eleven and Twelve: Backcountry
Day Ten: We hiked out from Polls Gap five miles to backcountry campsite 41. A pleasant hike downhill, dreading the inevitable return trip. Enjoyed starting my very first personal fire all on my own - Robert helped a little, but let it be my baby. It started like a champ and warded off the bugs. Ate Pasta Primavera (alpine back country dehydrated food) and curry lentil soup mix for dinner. Got water from the stream for cooking, just boiled it. Used the clever bear bag system to hang our packs overnight.
Sat by the fire digesting until we saw we had visitors. Three sets of eyes in the dark about twenty yards off. Quickly alerted Robert, turned on headlamps to find nothing. Then the eyes opened again. Crap! They were moving and quickly, the eyes were closer now. Robert was dubious that the eyes would shine without our lights on, so he guessed there was someone coming down the trail, shining a light. Headlamps on...no one...headlamps off...eyes. Breathing quickened, scrabbled closer to Robert - this is black bear country.
Lightning bugs.
Still didn't sleep that night and to add insult to injury one of those little guys hit me in the face and lit up in my eye to freak me out again at which point we retired to our protective nylon covering (the tent).
Day Eleven: Day hiked an eight mile loop. 2.3 miles straight up. Found our first bona fide bear tracks, bear scat too. Hike up was Tough. Survived. Pandered for a pot of water at The Swag (a swank resort that parallels the park by Hemphill Bald). Felt like a dork sitting on park land watching the wedding preparations on the other side of the fence. We even put out head nets on the bugs were so thick, I'm sure we made a great backdrop to their fancy pictures! Bald = a bald, grassy spot on to of the mountain. It was picturesque so we took pictures. Easier downhill back to camp. Camp was full of scouts preparing for Philmont. Don't mind us, we are just going to chill our beers in the stream. Best idea ever! Much more sleep seeing as the camp was teeming with people and no bear would dare to mess with us with those odds.
Day Twelve: Dreaded uphill hike out. Turned out to be not so bad. I just had to breath after every step and let Robert trail ahead of me so he wouldn't see me cringe at every step uphill. We made it out around noon and planned to hit up Clingman's Dome, highest point in the park, but the road was still under construction. I started to feel incredibly car sick. We found a place to stop and it was literally difficult for me to walk from car to picnic table with out hurling (sorry Amanda). I sat there, head down, until Robert forced me to eat our lunch of Pb&J tortillas. In ten minutes, my outlook changed and I was fine. Apparently my body wanted more food. Car sickness hasn't been that bad since thank God.
Drove into Gaitlinburg to get groceries and call the dads for Father's Day; Gaitlinburg proves it's worth- cell service and fresh veggies.
Dinner of green curry finally! Bucket shower after dark. Illegal, but it felt so good.
Sat by the fire digesting until we saw we had visitors. Three sets of eyes in the dark about twenty yards off. Quickly alerted Robert, turned on headlamps to find nothing. Then the eyes opened again. Crap! They were moving and quickly, the eyes were closer now. Robert was dubious that the eyes would shine without our lights on, so he guessed there was someone coming down the trail, shining a light. Headlamps on...no one...headlamps off...eyes. Breathing quickened, scrabbled closer to Robert - this is black bear country.
Lightning bugs.
Still didn't sleep that night and to add insult to injury one of those little guys hit me in the face and lit up in my eye to freak me out again at which point we retired to our protective nylon covering (the tent).
Day Eleven: Day hiked an eight mile loop. 2.3 miles straight up. Found our first bona fide bear tracks, bear scat too. Hike up was Tough. Survived. Pandered for a pot of water at The Swag (a swank resort that parallels the park by Hemphill Bald). Felt like a dork sitting on park land watching the wedding preparations on the other side of the fence. We even put out head nets on the bugs were so thick, I'm sure we made a great backdrop to their fancy pictures! Bald = a bald, grassy spot on to of the mountain. It was picturesque so we took pictures. Easier downhill back to camp. Camp was full of scouts preparing for Philmont. Don't mind us, we are just going to chill our beers in the stream. Best idea ever! Much more sleep seeing as the camp was teeming with people and no bear would dare to mess with us with those odds.
Day Twelve: Dreaded uphill hike out. Turned out to be not so bad. I just had to breath after every step and let Robert trail ahead of me so he wouldn't see me cringe at every step uphill. We made it out around noon and planned to hit up Clingman's Dome, highest point in the park, but the road was still under construction. I started to feel incredibly car sick. We found a place to stop and it was literally difficult for me to walk from car to picnic table with out hurling (sorry Amanda). I sat there, head down, until Robert forced me to eat our lunch of Pb&J tortillas. In ten minutes, my outlook changed and I was fine. Apparently my body wanted more food. Car sickness hasn't been that bad since thank God.
Drove into Gaitlinburg to get groceries and call the dads for Father's Day; Gaitlinburg proves it's worth- cell service and fresh veggies.
Dinner of green curry finally! Bucket shower after dark. Illegal, but it felt so good.
Day Nine
Local day hike up Bradley Creek so Robert could fish with his license and unnecessary stamp. Despite sliding down a steep embankment and losing Robert completely for a while, it was a good day through and through. Started playing with the camera more, taking pictures of moths eating horse poop most notably. Played in the stream while Robert fished or wrote in my journal. Headed home when he lost a fly, skunked. :(
Potato soup for dinner (nod to you, mom...it's the Bear Creek soup mix you gave me eons ago). It was tasty after lots of black pepper...a trend you might notice.
Potato soup for dinner (nod to you, mom...it's the Bear Creek soup mix you gave me eons ago). It was tasty after lots of black pepper...a trend you might notice.
Day Eight
Drove to Waynesville, NC to find Internet via the one way scenic road out from Balsam. Given directions to the public library and the best BBQ in NC from some Okies we met in the bathroom parking lot at Balsam. They talked up the baby back ribs so much that we didn't have the heart to tell them that we had packed ourselves a tabouli lunch and that I only ate vegetables. Lovely drive. Managed to find Waynesville, despite the repetitious and ever-changing directions. Eventually found the library after asking at two different gas stations. Did the Internet thing for a while until we were both done with it for a while.
Headed off to find the walmart so we could get a few things. By the end of the whole walmart debacle we were done being in a town. The man insisted Robert get a trout stamp, even though he knew it was not required for fishing in the park. The pharmacy gave him hell about filling a prescription. The checkout man clammed up when I tried to make small talk with him, etc. We were just done. Forgot father's day card so we had to go back, then I couldn't find my stamps so we had to make another stop at the office of posting. Ughh. Closed. Robert panhandled for a stamp to no avail, instead got directions to a gas station selling stamps. Whew and we were outta there. Dinner was leftover stir fry and more Mac and cheese and peas, random but tasty.
Headed off to find the walmart so we could get a few things. By the end of the whole walmart debacle we were done being in a town. The man insisted Robert get a trout stamp, even though he knew it was not required for fishing in the park. The pharmacy gave him hell about filling a prescription. The checkout man clammed up when I tried to make small talk with him, etc. We were just done. Forgot father's day card so we had to go back, then I couldn't find my stamps so we had to make another stop at the office of posting. Ughh. Closed. Robert panhandled for a stamp to no avail, instead got directions to a gas station selling stamps. Whew and we were outta there. Dinner was leftover stir fry and more Mac and cheese and peas, random but tasty.
Day Seven
Awoke and moved campsites to a better location. Set up sun shelter in a choice spot only marginally blocking a walkway (campsite was sparsely populated so no worries). This was day one of eating less and working more so we had a small breakfast and attacked the FitDeck (nod to you, Josh). I'm sure our neighbors thought us a little strange, stretching synchronizedly on my big green blanket, but we didn't mind. Then it started raining, a lot (nod to you, Ben). We holed up in the shelter, me to read and Robert to write. Ranger came round at the end of the storm to ask us to move our sun shelter...unless we had kids...I don't know how that figured into things, but we don't, so we grudgingly moved. Quiet night.
Day Thirteen
Today we went looking for waterfalls. We started at Laurel Falls, a simple 1.3 mile hike along paved trail off 441, the main cross-park thoroughfare. The accessibility was not lost on The Masses. The trail was clogged with families with small children, grandparents with canes and teenagers decked out in bikinis. This was not our cup of tea, but we pressed on to see what was touted as the tallest falls in the park. Rob dealt with the crowd by walking as fast as is humanly possible in sandals. "Excuse us," was heard repeatedly as we flew up the trail. One amusing sign along the way was: Caution. High vertical drops. Falling deaths have occurred. Control children. We got to the top shortly and were wholly disappointed. The falls were less than spectacular, water just slipping over a jumble of rocks, made even less spectacular by the hordes of children playing in the water and parents taking postcard shots of their chitlins by the "falls." We asked a man to take our picture though, climbing up next to the falls like everybody else. He handed the camera back to us apologetically, "I couldn't figure out how to zoom." We are in the frame and so are the falls, so we were satisfied.
We decided to drive to the Rainbow Falls trailhead before eating our tabouli lunch, so off we went. After a stop in Gatlinburg so I could call Benboy for his birthday, we found the trailhead disappointingly jammed with cars like Laurel Falls. We were surprised since this falls requires a 2.7 miles hike in. We decided to try it anyways. Like a good omen, Robert spotted a three and a half foot long black snake. He was very tolerant of our picture taking and didn't even really want to move away from the trail when Robert poked him with a stick. He did eventually move though back to his tree stump home and then rattled his little tail out his hole like bait trying to attract a meal. It was cool and a great start to a hike.
Around the next corner we got another treat. We met a father/daughter pair and asked about trail usage to find out that there were actually not too many people on the trail, the falls were worth the hike, and they had seen a bear a mere .8 miles up the trail! My face lit up like Christmas in June I'm sure because we hadn't seen a bear yet, despite all the talk about them. I practically ran up the trail.
Despite Robert's and my best efforts, we spotted only Beardeercats. Eventually we gave up and picked up our pace. Notable along the trail were the occasional log bridges helping us cross the stream we were chasing up the hill. Life Lesson 21: waterfall trails tend to go uphill. On one such bridge, Robert managed to knock his camera lens cover loose and it dropped into the stream. There was an exciting sequence of events as he made chase since it got stuck by a rock for a bit before rushing downstream to find a new home (first casualty of the trip). This would have been a bummer except that it got us down to the stream where we found scads of salamanders playing at the juncture between air and water. We spent a good thirty minutes taking their picture, chasing them (Robert was successful!), and trying to feed hapless flies, of which there were many, to terrified spider friends.
Once the flies became too obnoxious we continued on our merry way, neither of us much remembering that the camera lens was now dangerously exposed. It took us a fair bit longer to reach the falls, but it was entirely worth the walk! The water came cleanly off a forty foot precipice and dropped onto an exposed rock ledge. We of course climbed up to it to take an impromptu shower. How can you blame us? Beautiful waterfall, no other people in sight, no proper shower in over a week and no promise of one to come...it was inevitable and wonderful. We even waited around for the sun to dry our sweat soaked shirts so they were warm and dry for the hike down.
One final surprise colored our decent...a BEAR! Another set of bikers up asked us if we had seen a bear because they had been told about a sighting early, but we wrote them off as just getting excited for nothing as we ourselves had earlier. Neither of us remembers who saw it first, but an adolescent sized bear was foraging about thirty yards off the trail. He smartly turned around to leave when he saw us, so we were welcome to watch him depart at our leisure. I was giddy. There was a family behind us that I creeped out by snapping at them to alert them of the bear, but they just came closer to show their kid - not afraid in the least. They were locals so they were accustomed to bears. I on the other hand was not and enjoyed it greatly.
We saw another bear on the way down from the trailhead in the car. About five cars were messily stopped in the road and gathered fearfully, but curiously on the shoulder, cameras at the ready. I got out to gawk as well, but the poor bear was hiding behind a tree to get away from the terrifying tourists. I quickly rejoined Robert, too cool to get out and gawk with the rabble he was still sitting in the car.
Dreaming of how were going to cook a big pot of red beans and rice, we returned to our campsite famished to find our stove was leaking propane at an alarming rate. After engineer-boy took it apart, we discovered the broken copper tubing and cursed our luck. Dinner was then prepared using our two backpacking stoves, burning the snot out of the bottom of Robert's thin backpacking pot and smoothed over with a couple of jiggers of whiskey. All and all a great day.
Then we went to bed...to find our air mattress incapable of holding any air. Thermarests saved the night and for once we were glad we brought about two of everything!
We decided to drive to the Rainbow Falls trailhead before eating our tabouli lunch, so off we went. After a stop in Gatlinburg so I could call Benboy for his birthday, we found the trailhead disappointingly jammed with cars like Laurel Falls. We were surprised since this falls requires a 2.7 miles hike in. We decided to try it anyways. Like a good omen, Robert spotted a three and a half foot long black snake. He was very tolerant of our picture taking and didn't even really want to move away from the trail when Robert poked him with a stick. He did eventually move though back to his tree stump home and then rattled his little tail out his hole like bait trying to attract a meal. It was cool and a great start to a hike.
Around the next corner we got another treat. We met a father/daughter pair and asked about trail usage to find out that there were actually not too many people on the trail, the falls were worth the hike, and they had seen a bear a mere .8 miles up the trail! My face lit up like Christmas in June I'm sure because we hadn't seen a bear yet, despite all the talk about them. I practically ran up the trail.
Despite Robert's and my best efforts, we spotted only Beardeercats. Eventually we gave up and picked up our pace. Notable along the trail were the occasional log bridges helping us cross the stream we were chasing up the hill. Life Lesson 21: waterfall trails tend to go uphill. On one such bridge, Robert managed to knock his camera lens cover loose and it dropped into the stream. There was an exciting sequence of events as he made chase since it got stuck by a rock for a bit before rushing downstream to find a new home (first casualty of the trip). This would have been a bummer except that it got us down to the stream where we found scads of salamanders playing at the juncture between air and water. We spent a good thirty minutes taking their picture, chasing them (Robert was successful!), and trying to feed hapless flies, of which there were many, to terrified spider friends.
Once the flies became too obnoxious we continued on our merry way, neither of us much remembering that the camera lens was now dangerously exposed. It took us a fair bit longer to reach the falls, but it was entirely worth the walk! The water came cleanly off a forty foot precipice and dropped onto an exposed rock ledge. We of course climbed up to it to take an impromptu shower. How can you blame us? Beautiful waterfall, no other people in sight, no proper shower in over a week and no promise of one to come...it was inevitable and wonderful. We even waited around for the sun to dry our sweat soaked shirts so they were warm and dry for the hike down.
One final surprise colored our decent...a BEAR! Another set of bikers up asked us if we had seen a bear because they had been told about a sighting early, but we wrote them off as just getting excited for nothing as we ourselves had earlier. Neither of us remembers who saw it first, but an adolescent sized bear was foraging about thirty yards off the trail. He smartly turned around to leave when he saw us, so we were welcome to watch him depart at our leisure. I was giddy. There was a family behind us that I creeped out by snapping at them to alert them of the bear, but they just came closer to show their kid - not afraid in the least. They were locals so they were accustomed to bears. I on the other hand was not and enjoyed it greatly.
We saw another bear on the way down from the trailhead in the car. About five cars were messily stopped in the road and gathered fearfully, but curiously on the shoulder, cameras at the ready. I got out to gawk as well, but the poor bear was hiding behind a tree to get away from the terrifying tourists. I quickly rejoined Robert, too cool to get out and gawk with the rabble he was still sitting in the car.
Dreaming of how were going to cook a big pot of red beans and rice, we returned to our campsite famished to find our stove was leaking propane at an alarming rate. After engineer-boy took it apart, we discovered the broken copper tubing and cursed our luck. Dinner was then prepared using our two backpacking stoves, burning the snot out of the bottom of Robert's thin backpacking pot and smoothed over with a couple of jiggers of whiskey. All and all a great day.
Then we went to bed...to find our air mattress incapable of holding any air. Thermarests saved the night and for once we were glad we brought about two of everything!
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