"Fire and Water" Kalmiopsis Wilderness and Oregon Caves

Eight incredible days in Oregon; a 6 day excursion in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, a trip to the Oregon Caves and 2 days on the coast, including a night camping near the beach.

I had originally planned to spend 3 days in the Kalmiopsis and 4 days in the Sky Lakes Wilderness, until a ranger told me that (b/c of snow, of course) i wouldn't be able to get to within 20 miles of the Sky Lakes TH. No big deal; as the highest elevation in the Kalmiopsis is "only" about 6,000', snow wouldn't be an issue there, so i decided to make that a 5 day trip and visit the Oregon Caves National Monument.

Kalmiopsis Wilderness

the lowdown: the Kalmiopsis is a unique botanical and geological area, about 20 miles inland in Oregon, just north of the California border. Due to the uncommon nature of coastal subduction here, the mountain and soil are highly mineralized, and will not support the vegetation native to surrounding areas. But there are over 30 species of plant and flower that have adapted to this environment and exist only in this wilderness. The high mineral content of the soil also attracted mining operations (mostly for chromium) until it was designated a wilderness about 50 yrs ago. The wilderness contains the headwaters of the Illinois and Chetco Rivers,

which have carved incredibly scenic valleys into the serpentine rock.A large fire burned much of the wilderness and the surrounding areas in 2002; though the forest in recovery was a beautiful sight to behold (phoenix from the ashes and all,) the aftermath of the fire (deadfall and landslides) made for difficult travel on trails that barely qualified as such.

dates: June 17-22
mileage, elevation +/-, pinnacle: 35 miles (mostly off trail,) +/- 10,800

conditions: i didn't expect well maintained trails, and i wasn't disappointed. The deadfall and

slides from the fire made travel difficult even when following trail. Much of the hike was of

f trail, along the Chetco River, where i alternated between walking in the river and along the banks.

weather: simply gorgeous, high 80's in the day, 50's at night, and only the slightest trace of rain for 15 minutes one night.
highlights: the beauty of the river, the remoteness, the trout, the flowers, and surviving the drive in on the mining road.
challenges: not so much the difficulty of the travel over fire damage, but what it did to my legs. and the raging case of poison sumac, but even that is confined to my legs and arms, so it could've been much worse.

the hike: The Sourdough trailhead is located just west of Chetco Pass, on the eastern edge on the Wilderness. And just getting there was half the fun. The approach over the final few miles consists of repeated switchbacks up the eastern face of the mountain on an old dirt mining road, gaining 3000'. A road which is now seriously degraded due to the erosion resulting from the 2002 fire. I'm not kidding when i say that my Rescue Beacon was powered on and clipped to my

belt on this drive. I could never have done it without 4 wheel drive and likely couldn't have done it in anything larger than the Jeep Liberty I was driving. I averaged a little better than hiking speed until the "road" became impassable, a little after reaching an

d crossing Chetco Pass. There was no evidence of anyone having been here all season, and i bedded down near the car for the night before heading down into the valley the next day.

Much of this eastern part of the Wilderness burned in the 2002 fire. The landscape of limbless, scorched trees standing dead amidst charcoal logs on the ground is at first impression, bleak.

But time spent hiking in a recovering area can be an incredible experience; to see the profusion of wildflowers and saplings taking root in soil enriched by charcoal, in the sun

unobstructed by tree limbs, the absence of which also reveal previously hidden vistas.

Hiking in a recovering area can also messy, exhausting work. Erosion may wash out sections of trail, and standing trees burned and killed but not consumed in the fire eventually fall, creating obstructions. And by definition, a wilderness area is going to be significantly less maintained than a

national park. So i knew i was in for a tough go of it, at least until I got out of the fire damaged

areas, a little further west and down into the river valley.

To accomplish this i took a route west down into the valley, then up a few hundred feet after crossing the river to follow a ridge west before descending again to the Chetco River. It was a bit tougher than i had expected, but i would've suffered twice as bad gladly had i known how

beautiful, gorgeous and pristine the Chetco River is. It is also teeming with trout! I settled in for the night along the river at Taggarts Bar, to cross in the am.

The next day i continued west along the steep banks of the Chetco and when those banks became too steep i was happy to hike in the river, stopping often to fish, with much success. I spent the night riverside and continued west as far as Chetco Bar the next day where i turned around. I gradually made my way back towards Taggarts Bar, where i spent the night.

After spending a good part of the next morning building a minnow/crayfish trap and catching plenty of the latter and none of the former, i decided against a backcoutry Cajun feast, released my captives and hiked back towards the trailhead, which i made a dark.

I waited for daylight to drive out on the mining road, a doubly wise decision in hindsight, as I blew out a tire on the way out. Fortunately, I was in a Jeep, with a full sized spare so i had my Christmas Story/OH Fudge! moment and went on my way, to a large pancake breakfast before heading over to the Oregon Caves National Monument.

Oregon Caves National

the lowdown: a system of marble caves on the western side of the Cascades. A fun day hike, way bigger than the ice cave in New Mexico.

"Over Hill and Under Hill" Canyonlands NP

Back on trail!! and what a trail! A 5 day hike up, over and under the otherworldly rock formations and canyons in the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park, Utah.

While sleeping on snow in Colorado and New Mexico, I often went to sleep fantasizing about the desert...
What a great way to get back on track after the "incident;" great weather, conditions, and incredible company.

the lowdown: Canyonlands NP is located upriver from the Grand Canyon, and as both are part of the Colorado Plateau, the rock is very similar. That is, primarily sandstone and limestone, the former appearing in various shades of red depending on iron content. The white limestone (i think it may technically be a shale) is harder, and erodes less easily. The resulting formations are spectacular. The major difference is scale; the canyons here are only a few hundred feet deep, but as a result, the rock formations (arches, needles, etc) are much more accessible.
dates: June 9-13
mileage, elevation +/- pinnacle: 55 miles, +/- 10,500'; 5,800'--Druid Arch
conditions: travel was mostly through, up and over, canyons and along "slickrock," the smooth rock that makes up most of the rock formations and canyon walls. Trails were well marked (by rock cairn and sign) and well maintained. Water was scarce but available on days 1-3, but days 4&5 were dry, and i had to plan accordingly (carry heavy water.)
weather: low 90s & sunny during day, no lower than 60's @ night, with clear skies. No precipitation (surprise.)
highlights: incredible scenery, great company, easy conditions, and sitting outside the tent at night to admire the sky (and bs with the guys i met.)
lowlights: really, just erasing my pics from Rocky Mtn NP and New Mexico while playing with my camera one night. So that's what "format memory card" does to 1.6 GB of pics and video!!

the hike: I had planned on getting here on the 10th, but as i was eager to get back on trail, i checked into arriving early with a ranger on the phone, and found that i could start a day early. All i needed to do was get to the backcountry office by 3, which i did, with only a few minutes to spare...After a gorgeous hike over slickrock and up and down canyons i got to camp at Salt Creek right at dusk. Salt Creek stays wet through the year, and is an area of archaeological significance, and i passed petroglyphs on the canyon walls that date to well before 1000 BCE. I had a great night in the warm desert air looking at the most amazing sky. The next day found me exploring nearby Horse Creek Canyon on and out and back hike (to the same campsite that night.) The canyon was a totally dry wash that probably only runs a few times a year. The formations were beautiful, and the hike was a good way to gauge what my water needs would be for the week, knowing that i had a good water source very near camp to rehydrate that night. But even better than the water was the company that showed up that night and camped not far from me--3 guys from the Bureau of Land Management on their 1st night of a trip into the backcountry. They worked with the University; one specialized in water quality, and the other 2 worked with insects. They were great company that night for quite a few hours. I set out down Salt Creek Canyon, as I'd heard it was beautiful. After about 3 miles, i retraced my steps to the campsite and continued on westward, out of Salt Creek Canyon. Descending into Salt Creek Canyon, I followed the (intermittent) creek a few miles into camp, Lost Creek 2, an incredibly beautiful campsite. Where i erased the memory card, holding all the pics from Chicago, Rocky Mtn NP, New Mexico, Mesa Verde... Basically, everything from the going away part to that moment. No big, i guess, b/c i'll never forget those places, but i do like to share.So, with lots of memory space to spare, i headed out the next day toward Chesler Park and the eponymous Needles formations. I planned a side trip down and out a canyon and up into a formation known as Druid Arch. I also expected to find water at the trail junction, but not again for the next 3 days or so as i headed west through Devil's Pocket towards to confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers. I carry a "dromedary" for times like this in the desert, a 3 gal water bladder, which can be stretched to 2.5-3 days worth if you're careful, but it is also 18lbs when full. So if there's going to be an extended "dry" stretch like this in my route, i try to plan these days for the end, so food weight is down.At Druid Arch, I met 2 incredibly cool guys, from Brooklyn, natch. They were celebrating Ed's doctorate in neurobiology before starting his residency (the man can de-brain a mouse in less than 30 seconds, i hear.) His companion, John, had just finished shooting a movie in Buenos Aires, and could beat-box like i've never heard. Turns out that they were at a site less than a half mile from me that night, so we hiked out, filled up our water and headed to Chesler Park, which was a winter pasture for herders, and there is a ton of cowboy graffiti from the 1850's on to the mid 20th century on the rocks. We all hung out after dinner that night, and they were excited by the route i had planned for the next day: through the Joint trail, which narrows to less than 2' across between rock formations for a half mile, then onto the confluence. It was going to be a long day for me, and if they wanted to join it would be a really long day for them, as they planned on hiking 4 miles further that night, to get back to their car to keep on schedule. Despite all that, they were at my site the next am, ready to go, and we set off to explore the Joint trail and rivers. The former was incredible; we were forced to remove our packs to shimmy and slide through these cracks in the rocks, emerging at one point into a cavern where someone(s) had created a work of art using rocks. We continued on to the overlook of the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers, which is in a 1,500' deep canyon and is quite impressive. At this point, we were all pretty thirsty, having burned off a lot of water in a very exposed hike through Cyclone Canyon, where the sun was just merciless. With 6 miles to go to my camp for that night, this wasn't too much of a problem for me, knowing that i had at least 2 gal of water stashed there from when we had passed it earlier. By the time we did get back to camp, we were all pretty de-hydrated, having already hiked 14 miles. The only water we'd seen in over a day was a puddle, about 3 gallons, and full of tadpoles and algae, and it was tough not to want to try to filter that (it would've been potable, but tasted like tadpole piss and algae.)Rather than skimp on the water that i wanted to share with the guys, i decided that we should drink up, and i'd hike out with them. They could then drive me to my car, and we could all go to Moab that night. So we did, and finished with 18 miles and 3000' up and down under our belts. Needless to say, once we got to Moab, we ate very well that night, and all crashed in the same Days Inn. In fact, I'm pretty sure we got the last 2 rooms in town, as we had tried about 10 other places first with no luck. It was an incredible trip; great company, scenery and weather. Very low stress and high reward.

"At the Sign of the Prancing Pony" well, a Holiday Inn Express, but...

Cleaning up the bear mess, reflections on the burglary, and getting back on the road/trail...

You've got your known knowns; these are challenges that you are certain to face and can prepare for. Then you've got your known unknowns; these are challenges that you may face, but you're not sure how, or in what form. Then you've got your unknown unknowns; these are the toughest challenges, the ones that come out of left field.

After taking care of the essential repairs that Friday in Albuquerque, i had time to truck over to the local walmart to replenish some essentials. And while walmart certainly is a good place to get a bunch of stuff all at once, trying to find a wearable pear of jeans there is enough to send me back to the wilderness...

But first i had to get my car, gear and the remaining food "de-beared." This process entailed emptying the car and cleaning it as best as i could, bringing the gear and food inside my room to be cleaned in the tub, and tipping the maid well.

As you might imagine, this took the better part of saturday, but i still had time to get down to the historic city center, where they were holding a local festival. A lot of fun, including a mariachi band on the gazebo. I also had an incredible dinner on a small, private patio with a waterfall behind me, where they allowed me to sit and write until the end of the night, keeping my coffee mug fresh.

So with the bliss that accompanies a belly full of chile rellenos and good coffee, i was able to put the whole experience in perspective:

In planning the trip, i knew that while on trail, i was certain to encounter some of the aforementioned "unknown unknowns." I resolved that i would be objective, and not resent the obstacle, creating an adversarial (counter productive) frame of thinking. This attitude had served me well in Rocky Mtn NP, as i enjoyed myself immensely in the face of some serious slop on the ground there.

I realized that since the day earlier i had looked at the whole break-in thing through the same prism. I believe that one can't resent the turn of circumstance itself, even if it was an evil act that created it. Since i wasn't looking at the break-in as a "bad" or "unfortunate" thing, i was able to treat it like any other obstacle

So it is really our response to circumstance, not the circumstance itself, that determines if it will be "bad/unfortunate" or "good/lucky." For example, i mentioned earlier that i had lost my compass while in the Cruces Basin, while navigating off trail. I reminded myself at the time that this was going to be what i made of it; a chance to test either my navigating skills or my rescue beacon...

Since i was moving much slower w/o the compass, i had to spend the night of the 5th in the woods, instead of making it back to the car. However, had i made it to the car as planned, one of 2 things would've happened. Either i would've returned to the car to discover the car burglarized and not enough day left to do anything about it, or worse, run into the bear in the act. I may even have decided to sleep next to the car, and been in camp there when the bear arrived...

If i had cursed the lost compass from the beginning, i would look back and say "blessing in disguise," and have felt silly for getting angry earlier. But by keeping neutral about the situation from the get go, no disguise, and no wasted emotion.

And the final lesson i'll take from the experience concerns my somewhat lax "bear practices." I've never really feared black (as opposed to grizzly) bears; almost all of my hiking has been in black bear territory, and the most that i'll do is hang my food bag, and not even that all the time. And i'm also guilty of frequently keeping snacks in my tent at night. I fell into the trap of thinking that the black's reputation as a shy animal (as opposed to the grizzly) and small size (again, relative to the grizzly, not me-more importantly) made them a species to be taken lightly. Nevermore, I say!!! After seeing the size of the tracks, rips in the car, and general destruction that bear caused, i am a convert!

So on Sunday, i set off from Albuquerque, headed back towards the "4 Corners" area. Along the way, i stopped at a volcano cone/ice caves park in NM, and hiked a few miles. It was billed as "Fire and Ice," which was a little misleading. The fire was 10,000 yrs extinct, and the ice caves were incorrectly pluralized, as it was just one 200ft square pool. But it was great to get my boots dusty again, and even though it was oversold a bit, it was worth the stop to see the lava flows.

That night i got into a hotel in cortez, co, and set out the next day to see Mesa Verde NP. This is the home of the cliff dwellings, inhabited first by the Ancestral Puebloans (1000BCE-1000CE,) then later by the Anasazi. The settlement was nestled into the valleys and cliffs of 9,000' mesas. I hiked a few miles there also, enjoyed the archaeology immensely, and set out for Canyonlands after lunch to see if i could start my hike a day early.

"Many Meetings" To all the fantastic people in New Mexico!

I owe thanks to so many people in the state of New Mexico who went out of their way to help me in the aftermath of the burglary. Which just really does illustrate the point about the one bad apple in the bushel...
The 1st people i owe gratitude to are the staff at the Carson NF Ranger District office. In addition to letting this trail filthy guy take over a corner of their office to make phone calls they assisted with getting state police and other numbers and allowed me to empty the bear ravaged car in their parking lot to inventory before the police arrived.
Which brings me to Officer Daniel Cordova of the NM State Police. Nicest guy, got me through the whole process in no time. Not to mention a great source of info on the area and "driving times..."
This info soon came in very handy; my dad (another life saver in this experience) had been working the phones and web for me, finding a glass shop that would fix the car that day. There was one, but it was in Albuquerque, and making it there before closing was going to be tough. So, using the trooper's advice on traffic and speed limit areas, i made a cannonball run down Interstate 25, from Taos to Albuquerque, making the 142 mile drive in under 2 hrs. Quick note--my route followed the Camino Real, the historic route b/w Santa Fe and Mexico City, when that was all Spanish territory.
Which got me to the Speedy glass shop shortly before closing. The technician, Nick, got right to fixing the glass, and loaned me the use of the vacuum cleaner to start some of the heavy cleaning of bear mess.
But i really owe a ton of thanks to Priscilla at Speedy, who located and gave me directions to the local shopping, including the Verizon store--
Where Romelia had me set up with a new phone, making phone calls, in about 15 minutes. When she heard my story, she told her manager, and they were able to put together a bundle of chargers and accessories for me, and got me a rebate, which considerably softened the financial blow of losing my phone.
I owe a great debt of gratitude to all of these wonderful folks; their collective efforts really contributed to my checking into a hotel in Albuquerque that night in a great state of mind and ready to get on with the process of restocking and cleaning up. Clearly, despite the break-in and theft, New Mexico was a great experience. And while I'll devote a separate post to reflecting on the entire situation (and describing the cleaning,) I do want to say here that i firmly believe that keeping a positive state of mind that day and not holding a grudge from the get go really helped. You do get back what you put out there in life, and while i'm sure that i could've justified (to myself) a bit of spite and anger, getting into a snit and staying there all day, i doubt people would've extended themselves as much to someone like that. Which in turn would've made the experience even worse, in a self perpetuating loop... well, more on that later anyway.
Thanks again New Mexico!!

"A Thief in the Night!" a tale of multi-species burglary...

"If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans"--Delilah

As I was finishing my hike in the Cruces Basin, walking the final quarter mile to the car, i was planning on getting to my next hike by 4pm, with plenty of time for a restaurant lunch, thinking maybe tacos, beans and rice...
Quick disclosure--when I'm at the very end of a hike, but just before my car actually comes into view, i often experience a moment of panic when i'm sure that it won't be there. Then, in a few seconds, i catch a reflection of glass or glint of metal through the trees and the car itself comes into view. Every time.
Of course, this hike was no different: as soon as i though to myself that i should've seen the car by now, and was beginning to worry, there it was.
But very quickly, i realized that, this time, something was different. And how...
i'd have to say the 1st clue that trouble was afoot was the mess of food wrappers, trail mix crumbs and shredded plastic strewn about the car. The 2nd hint was the smashed driver's side window and open lift gate.
I had seen fresh bear tracks a few hundred yards back, so before getting any closer i made sure that the bear had eaten his full and left the area. I moved in for a closer inspection, and looking past the food mess in the car, realized that my ice tools were missing.
I was momentarily perplexed as to why a bear might need crampons, an ice ax and snow shoes (it was a hard winter and a late spring, but still...) I soon realized that i had been burglarized not once, but twice!
Based on the fact that there were fresh bear, but no human, tracks in the snow that had fallen late night on the 4th, into the morning of the 5th, here's what i surmise happened:
The car was broken into by (barely) humans on the night of the 4th. The thieves left the lift gate open, allowing access to the bear, probably on the night of the 5th. A bear, by the way, who was probably just out of hibernation and delighted at the motherlode of goodies he'd just sniffed out. Remember that i'm carrying (or was, anyway) about 60 days of food...
How can i possibly describe the scene? Well, thank God for small miracles; due to his size (i'm guessing 8-9') the bear wasn't able to reach 2/3 of the food. But, oh, what he could reach, he demolished!
It would've been nice if all got his paws on were dry goods, like pasta or rice; this was absolutely not the case. In fact, what was in his reach was the stickiest, messiest foodstuffs that i had; pb & j, honey, olive oil, powered milk, cheese and sports drink.
I can't begin to describe what an unholy, sticky mess of food and bear drool covered the car and everything in it. A battalion of 3yr olds couldn't have done worse... Not to mention that it all smelled, strongly, of sour milk and cheese, with a citrus note from the powdered sports drink.
Another box of food that the bear was able reach contained my energy gels and cliff bars. Now i favor the caffeinated versions of both these items, and i estimate that the bear consumed at least 2,000 mgs of caffeine--the equivalent of about 200 Venti Americano coffees from Starbucks, with the extra shot of espresso in each... Now even if i'm close in my estimate of a 450-500 lb animal, that's still a damn lot of caffeine.
So a word to the wise; if you're planning a trip into the Cruces Basin in the near future, beware of encountering a hyped-up, jittery, sleep-deprived bear. One whose digestive system is probably proving, over and over, the old adage--a bear does shit in the woods, and i'm guessing you don't want to be anywhere near this one for the foreseeable future. As 2 thumbs noted, the bear will be lucky if he's able to hibernate next fall...
Now, this is all I have to say on the matter for now, but let me assure any concerned parties that all has worked out very much in my favor since. Thanks to the help of a number of people, i was pretty much good to go within 12hrs of finding the car violated. In fact, the help i got from these folks was so extraordinary, that i'd like to devote an entire post to them and their heroic deeds, and why this situation, which had bad news written all over it has turned out so very positive.

"A Stab in the Dark" Cruces Basin Wilderness

A spontaneous trip to a hidden gem in northern New Mexico!
After consulting with the ranger in Weminuche Wilderness, CO (my planned destination for 6/4-10) and learning that many high passes along my route, all high passes in fact, were unstable and very dangerous, I decided to follow the sun south in search of better conditions. note: I may very well return to W'nuche in August on the trip back east, as I really want to climb some 14ers. Sort of a crowning achievement to the trip, I hope...
I had heard good things about Taos (thanks, Brita!) and it is surrounded by National Forest lands on all sides, so i was sure to find some good trails. I spent the night of the 3rd there, ate well, and after consulting with Carlos in Mud and Flood, a local hike/paddle shop, headed out to the Cruces Basin Wilderness.
This is remote wilderness; access is over 30 mi of dirt "road," and the basin has no trails, save game paths. I was excited to hone my orienteering skills, and even the caution in my guidebook (and from Carlos) that trail head theft and vandalism was a problem in northern N.M. barely gave me pause...

the lowdown: The Cruces is a high-altitude basin, with 5 mountain brooks dropping from the ridgeline at 11,000' into the basin and flowing through the meadows before joining and thundering through a steep-walled canyon to meet the Los Pinos river. The vast meadows and exposed rock in the basin resulted from an 1879 fire, and also made the area a prime habitat for big game, including herds of elk and mule deer, and predators such as coyotes, mountain lions and bear...

dates: June 4-6

mileage, elevation +/-, pinnacle: 18-20mi; +/-5,700'; 10,680'-on Brazos Ridge

conditions: snow line @ 9,600' patchy, save north facing slopes, where coverage reached 6'

weather: overcast and high 50's on days 1 and 3, precipitation on day 2 freezing rain in the basin and snow (4") above snowline, around 30 at night. Constant, intense winds chilled constantly.

highlights: so much wildlife! Elk, mule deer, birds of all sorts... Seeing the melt swollen brooks cascade down, then rush through the valley and into the gorge. Getting back to the car after losing my compass!

lowlights: losing my compass on day 2!! bad when you're hiking on-rail, really bad when you're off-trail navigating! Seeing the car once i got back to it (details in the next post!)

the hike: I left the trailhead @ 10,400' and located the headwaters of Diablo Creek, which I followed north as it cascaded through steep pine forest into the basin. Once in the basin (9,600') the forest gave way to open meadows, with expansive views into wide valleys holding the other brooks, and lots of herd animals. All of the brooks were swollen, which made for interesting river crossings, but even better waterfalls in the gorge. I camped the first night just below the confluence of of all the brooks, at the mouth of the gorge below.
The next day i set off, still following the Diablo (now containg all the brooks from the basin,) only now i was on the cliffs above the gorge. I descended once into the gorge for an upclose view of the cascades. I won't lie--it was a bitch getting back up, even w/o my pack, but once you see the pictures, you'll know it was worth the effort.
Having reached the edge of the wilderness (on the small side @ 20,00 acres,) I headed back south by first heading up onto the northwestern ridge. I had travel through pine forest to reach the top of the ridge, but once there had expansive views of the entire basin looking south. I descended back into the basin from the ridge and picked up the Diablo again before heading up the ridge towards the car. Once i got to the edge of the basin i entered the forest again, and followed the brook towards the headwaters; after that it was only 2 mi to the car. I was on pace to return by 6 or so; i could car camp, which would allow me 3 full days before Canyonlands on the 10th, and Carlos had gotten me excited for a 3 day loop on the other side of Taos that i was looking forward to hiking.
Once past the headwaters I was navigating, then picked up my footprints from the day before, and put the map and compass away in my pocket. But my tracks were mostly obscured by fresh snow by 9,800' and totally covered by 10,000, which was a shame b/c the last 2 miles were the hardest in terms of route finding; having passed the headwaters of the brook, i no longer had it as a guide, and the forest was dense. This type of travel requires constant use of compass, sometimes following a bearing from tree to tree.
So you can imagine my horror when, after losing my tracks from the day before, i reached for my map and compass and found the pocket empty!!! I hadn't needed either while following the brook for the last mile or so, up 400' so i had to backtrack to the last place where i knew i had them both. Though i found the map, the compass was nowhere to be found, no matter how hard i looked. I almost always have a back-up compass, but i had given mine away and forgot to replace it!! So i was reduced to dead reckoning and reading the map. By 7, i knew i was within a half mile or so of the car, but i was tiring and hungry b/c i thought that by then 'd be eating well, in the relative luxury of car camping. After making a wrong turn and not realizing it for 15 minutes, i knew that my judgement was suffering, so i made camp for the night and finished the incredible book Drop Edge of Yonder by Ralph Wurlitzer (thanks Ter!)
In the morning i found the route to my car with no problem. On the hour-long hike back, I was feeling very proud of my route finding skills and very excited about the unique hike that i was about to complete; right up until the moment that my car came into view, I was judging my detour into New Mexico a "smashing" success...

"The Window on the West" Rocky Mountain NP

note: There are breathtaking pictures from this trip, but hotels and internet cafes almost never allow uploads, so they'll be up when they're up...

Finally on Trail!!!!
I loved Rocky Mtn National Park--I loathed the conditions!
(well, at times I did; see "post-holing," below...)

While I can't share pics now, here's a re-cap:

mileage, elevation +/-, pinnacle: 30-35 mi; +/- 15,500'; 12,700' -east of Sharkstooth

conditions: snow, and lots of it, starting @ 9,000' Depth from 1-12' consistent on trail, drifts up to 20' The snowpack was in various states of melt, so coverage, depth and consistency were variable based on altitude, exposure, etc. Many backcountry trails were obscured or the paths were unsafe, necessitating off-trail travel/bushwacking. Unstable slopes/cornices made ascent of Long's Peak and Andrews/Ptarmigan Glaciers unsafe.

weather: sunny and 60's every day, warming quickly from clear nights in the high 20's, and chilling just as quickly in the evenings.

highlights: no question, the ascent of "the Gash" in Andrew's Cirque, up to the Continental Divide @ 12,700' i wish i could post this video!! Also, the high alpine scenery, including Lakes Odessa, Fern, Haiyaha and the Loch.

lowlights: post-holing!!!! A cool name for a horrible experience in which you plunge into soft, deep snowpack with each step, sometimes to the knee, sometimes to the groin. Hiking like this is obscenely taxing and occasionally you will plunge onto something hard, like a rock or log. Which your shins are really not happy about...

the lowdown: A fantastic start to the adventure; stunning alpine scenery, wildlife and a good challenge to various skills. As you may have surmised, conditions made for tough going at times. Backcountry skiers/snowshoers had given up the trails a few weeks ago, when the snow began to soften, and hikers were waiting for melt out.
This meant that as soon as i ventured further than 2-3 miles from a trailhead (where day-hikers had trod a good path,) I was the 1st person to travel a lot of these trails in a while. Which certainly was exciting, but also necessitated a lot of route finding and way more off-trail travel than i had anticipated (or desired!)
At times I could follow the path of the trail under the snow, but it was unstable or unsafe due to drifting, slope, runoff, etc. Other times, it was impossible to make out the trail at all. At these times, i looked for broken/trimmed branches, cleared deadfall or any other sign of a maintained trail. If i still couldn't follow the path, or it was unsafe, i needed to go off-trail and orient with map and compass. Not as hard as it sounds, at least not the orienteering part; the bushwacking is very taxing physically...
To choose a route, i oriented my map to the landscape, then triangulated my position using 2 bearings and my altimeter. Knowing where i was on the map, i could then study it to look for a spot where I could pick up the trail again, such as where it crests a ridge at a known altitude. I could then study the land to pick a safe (and hopefully, straightforward) route. However, the safest was rarely the easiest or shortest, and since safe trumps the other two, this meant lots of small (50-100') ascents and descents to reach my destination. And lots of appeals to higher powers, which clearly found sympathetic ears...Anyway, I'm here writing so i was never really lost! And it was pretty cool to be the guy in the middle of it, blazing trails. And when I exited the trailhead, I was beyond eager to share a trail report and conditions update when the ranger asked. So the conditions were tougher than i had anticipated, but I loved it, and it made the experience all the richer, especially day 4...
So my planned ascent of Ptarmigan Glacier, traverse of the Divide and descent of Andrew's Glacier was unsafe and unwise, mainly due to the danger of climbing under the cornices on the east side of the Divide. A cornice is a lip of snow that builds up over the winter on ridges, in the direction on prevailing winds (west to east.) Imagine an enormous wave, frozen in mid-break overhanging the valley. In this case, they appeared to extend about 50-60' over the ridge, which is a lot of snow. And when it is warm enough, it collapses and you don't want to be climbing under it when it does!
So to ascend the Divide, i needed a route that was mostly rock and stable snow. I found such a route in the "Gash," a series of couloirs that allowed me to, strenuously, ascend to the Divide at 12,700' from the tarn at 10, 500' The climb consisted mainly of kicking steps into stable snow for the 1st 1,500' then scrambling up rocks and talus for the final 700' to the top.
Seriously, i need this video up. The views from the top were awe-inspiring, stunning and many other things that words don't describe adequately. The descent was a ton of fun; as soon as i got to snow, i could glissade down, which is just a 2$ word for sliding down on your butt, using trekking poles to steer and brake. Some of my runs were very long!
On day 5 my legs hadn't recovered, even after a long morning in camp; after a short day hike, i returned to camp, packed up and made the trailhead before dark. This has allowed for 2 days in Denver to write, eat, shower, and do laundry--though not in that order. It has also allowed me time to research conditions in Weminuche and adjust accordingly.
Off to the next adventure tomorrow!

"A Short Rest" A stop in the Windy City!

Travelling west from the East Coast gave me the opportunity to stop off in Chicago, visit a good friend and take in Cubs game! A fantastic way to live the good life and rest up before heading west and hitting the trail!
PICTURES COMING SOON!

"An Unexpected Party" A great send-off with family and friends

Well, not really unexpected; no adventure may begin without a good farewell party... My wonderful family, renowned as entertainers of the 1st class, did indeed send me off in style. And unlike Bilbo Baggins, I did not have to do the dishes after...
So, on the penultimate day of my departure, friends and family descended on 3 Bragdon Ave for a day, well into the evening, of food, laughs and some bocce. I was, of course, running around the place, occupied with last minute details, vacuum sealing food, weighing gear on a digital scale and the like. Though I was not too occupied to eat, socalize and dominate at bocce (My partner Rit is a ringer--must have been the cricket back in Jolly Ole England.)
The time spent with everyone that day was the greatest gift for which i could hope. But when i left the next morning i took with me many more, tangible, (and very useful) gifts. Thus far on the trip I have enjoyed much great new music, started 2 new books, eaten many snacks, used muscle and hand salves, and read and re-read letters and cards. Thank you all so much for everything; I can't possibly convey how much each of your thoughtful gifts means to me. But imagine me reading a letter or card in camp and how much comfort i would take from it...
A great time was had by all and i departed for Chicago with a contented stomach and soul, accompanied by cd mixes, gifts and lots of love. Thank you all!

PICTURES TO COME SOON!