Last night was very windy. I had to get up in the middle of the night to take the tarp off the top of the tent as it was too noisy. Our tent is well ventilated – the inner tent is mostly netting, and the outer flysheet is staked out well away from the inner walls. This means no annoying condensation, but allows the cold wind to blast through the tent. The weather forecast said the wind would die down,…
We decided to go for an easier hike today, so we took the shuttle bus up to Bear Lake, and walked down to the next shuttle stop below, with a detour to explore the riparian environment of Glacier Creek. Meanwhile, back in the camp, something is smoking. What can it be? Let’s look inside. In the clouds of smoke there are ribs! And tofu?
It is a dead elk. It has shuffled off this mortal coil and joined the choir invisibule. Paula’s sister Pat arrived today, and we hiked the trail up to Cub Lake. It heads up the side of a glacial valley, along the edge of a lateral moraine, and past two elk skeletons. Cub Lake itself was less scenic that it had been before a big fire went through, and the weather was not so great up there so we headed…
We went over to the local visitor center and talked to the ranger there about mammals. The mountain goats and the moose were introduced and are not that welcome. The lack of wolves means that the elk are destroying the beaver habitat. They are trying to let the willows regrow by fencing off areas to keep the elk out, but they would really prefer a pack of wolves. The local landowners won’t let them import wolves, but if a pack…
The park has a shuttle bus system to get you up to the trailheads with limited parking. I went up to the Bear Lake trailhead. The view from the lake is very cool. However, the trail round the lake was packed with people, so I headed off on a side for a three and a half mile hike, half a mile uphill to shake off the riff raff, then three miles downhill to a different shuttle stop. At high altitudes…
The view from our campsite is most excellent. Paula has a minor heart condition which occasionally results in palpitations. Normally attacks only last a few minutes, but she had one that lasted all night, probably triggered by the altitude, so we went into the emergency room to make sure that everything was OK. By the time we got there the attack was over, but they kept her under observation for a while, and she had another little one while she…
We bid farewell to the Super 8, with one more shower and a top up of the ice in the cooler, not to mention first and second breakfast. We followed the Google Maps fastest route to our campsite in Rocky National Park. In retrospect I should have been a bit more inquisitive about the roads. Turning onto Colorado Highway 1 there is a friendly unofficial sign: “IT’S A DIRT ROAD TO HIGHWAY 9 BUT YOUR CAR WILL BE OK”. I…
The problem with crossing things off my bucket list is that I feel that much closer to death. The only solution is to keep adding things to the bucket list to keep it the same size. Now that I have seen a really big meteor crater, I’m just going to have to add “enter an archery competition” to the list. Since I can’t actually shoot a bow and arrow that may take some time. So about that crater. It’s too…
A group of mule deer wandered through the campground this morning as we were packing up to leave. Man, those things have big ears. We had a long drive today across southern Utah, which is much prettier than you might think, especially once you get past the town of Delta, where we stopped for gas and groceries, mostly stuff I had forgotten to pack. We followed Highway 50 and then Highway 70 before turning off towards Moab. Moab, as far…
After breakfast this morning, Paula noticed an odd lump on a low branch a few yards from our campsite. Closer inspection revealed that it was an owl. It was obviously trying to get a good day’s sleep, so we left it to its owly dreams, and went on the cave tour. Lehman caves are noted for their fine collection of cave shields, circular disks, often with stalactites dripping from the bottom. They also have cave bacon. Back in camp we…