The Weather Board August 28, 2008

With schools everywhere starting up again, activity at the YMCA and in Sweet Memorial has started to slow down. We have lost almost all of our seasonal staff, and there are nowhere near as many visitors as there were during the other summer months. Yesterday for example, I think I helped out maybe 20 guests during my eight hour shift. I was scheduled to run four family programs, but I only had guests signed up for two of them. To keep myself from going crazy, I have found lots of odd jobs to keep me busy, like re-fletching broken arrows, ripping sheets for animal detective headbands, restocking the trail tags, and even cutting out fins for our bottle rocket program. By the way, I should mention now that I hold the Sweet Memorial record for fitting the most fins on one poster board–44. Not an easy task, believe me!

One job I have recently found–actually look forward to doing–is updating the weather board. Earlier this summer, some of my coworkers started illustrating the weather forecast on our giant white board. Our boss, Gail, praised us for doing this, saying our creative and humorous interpretations of the weather always put smiles on the guests’ faces. Once most of the staff who did this job left, I decided to keep the tradition going. Pictured below are just a few of my forecasts (the ones I remembered to take pictures of).

As you can see, I like to draw the weather as a caricature–the sun always seems to be a cocky, overconfident subject, and the clouds are mischievous. It’s always fun to watch guests look up at the weather board and watch their reactions. Usually, their face starts solemn, and then a grin or a smile slowly creeps up. A few guests have even told me that they think I’m a talented artist. I’m proud to now be carrying the weather board torch, and plan to continue this summer 2008 staff tradition thoughout the rest of my stay at the YMCA.

An 18 Mile Adventure Across the National Park August 20, 2008

Yesterday was one of the best days of my life.  Yes, I’m hurting a lot today, but it was all worth it.  Everyone here has their “big hike”.  This one was mine.  An 18 mile trek from one side of the National Park to the other.  This hike starts at Bear Lake, summits on top of Flattop Mountain at over 12,000ft, and then descends across the national divide and into the valley, ending at Grand Lake.  I completed this hike with two of my coworkers and friends–Larissa and Ian.

We had to start early in the morning, so we agreed to meet in Howard Lobby at 5:30AM.  I was the first one there, and Larissa quickly followed.  She then told me a funny thing that happened to her last night.  “Ian knocked on my door at 5AM, wearing full out Joker makeup!  He asked if we were still going on the hike!”  Apparently, Ian went to a party the night before our hike where the theme where everyone at the party painted their faces like the Joker from the movie The Dark Knight. Larissa said that we were still going, but that he should go back to his room and wash his face.  Even so, when he came to meet us in the Lobby, he still had the dark black circles around his eyes and the red joker smile across his face.  Larissa and I chucked to ourselves and decided it was good enough.  We hoped into Larissa’s car and drove to the Bear Lake trail head.

The sun was just coming up as we started our hike.  It was the coldest I had ever been this year in Colorado.  Luckily, Larissa brought an extra hat and gloves that she let me borrow.  We knew the first 5 miles of the hike were going to be the hardest, as we had to climb Flattop Mountain.  We started off at a good pace, probably hiking two miles per hour.  As we got above tree line however, I started to feel the effects of the altitude.  I was having a really hard time catching my breath and it was very difficult keeping my balance.  Since it had snowed a couple of days ago, there was also a lot of ice and snow along the trail, which didn’t make things any easier.  Ian decided that he was going to run ahead to the top of Flattop, but Larissa stayed behind and helped me along.  Larissa kept asking me, “Are you sure you’re going to make it?”  I answered, “I’m determined to make it.  It’s all downhill after this mountain.”  And sure enough, we did make it. It took us an hour longer to summit than we had anticipated.  I was worried Ian would be upset me with, but when we found him at the top of the mountain, he was asleep on a rock!  He was grateful for the nap and feeling more energetic for the rest of the hike.  A hiker passed us on top of the mountain and we asked her if she could take our picture (you may be able to make out Ian’s makeup if you look closely).

The next part of the hike was the most fun.  We followed the North Inlet trail down the backside of Flattop into the valley below.  There were breathtaking views all around us, and the freshly fallen snow only added to the beauty.  Running around the rocks were cute animals called pikas, which were too fast for me to get a picture of.  The trail was very well marked with carins (pronounced like my name), which are piles of rocks hikers construct keep other hikers on path, and to protect the fragile tundra from being trampled.  The carins on this trail were very tall, in some cases four feet high–very unusual. Below are two pictures of Ian and Larissa, each with carins behind them.  They remind me of prehistoric goal posts.

We were all in a great mood already, and then Ian spotted a  rare site–a herd of bighorn sheep! We continued on the trail until we were about 80ft from the herd.  We sat down, snapped pictures, and observed these fun animals for at least 20 minutes.  The horn of the bighorn sheep never stops growing and is made of keratin, the same material in our fingernails.  We could tell some of these sheep were very old by the size of their horns.  I took numerous pictures, but here are a few of my favorite.A

As we descended into the valley, we bumped into about 20 park rangers who were renovating parts of the trail.  We said “hello” and “good work” and continued on our way.  The more we elevation we lost, the more the scenery changed.  We went from alpine tundra to bushy chaparral to pine shaded forests in about two hours.  The final eight miles of the trail was all forest, but it did walk along a heavy flowing river. As we got more into the west side of the park, we could see how the pine beetle epidemic has really killed many of the trees.  They say that in about 5 years, 80-90% of the pine trees in the park will be dead.

I’d say by mile 15, we were all starting to go a little crazy.  Larissa and I started humming catchy theme songs to famous movies, which I’m sure annoyed Ian.  I also started a game I like to play with people while hiking called “Would You Rather”.  I would ask “would you rather…” and then pick two situations that could never happen in real life.  For example, one that started a lot of light hearted conversation was “would you rather have the ability to breath fire, or tickle people with your mind?  Both of these super powers can be controlled.”  Larissa would want to breathe fire, and Ian and I agreed tickling people with your mind would be too much fun.  This game helped us forget about how much or feet hurt and gave us that extra bit of help for the home stretch.  With about half a mile to go, Larissa and I decided to put our feet in the river. The water was icy cold, probably from all the recent snow melt, but it felt so good!

When we finally made it to the Grand Lake trail head, Ian threw his hat in the air in victory!  Now all we had to do was wait for our ride.  Our coworker and friend Caroline generously offered to pick us up.  We really appreciated this, especially since it’s about an hour and a half drive from the Y to the trail head. We all agreed we would go out to eat at a really good Mexican restaurant and we would buy Caroline her dinner.  All three exhausted hikers decided to take a short nap while we waited for Caroline.  However, we were resting on concrete with us our hiking packs as a pillow, so I didn’t sleep at all.  I gave up on sleeping and sat up.  As I did, I looked over towards the trail head, and there was a red fox!  I gently poked Larissa and Ian, saying “FOX! FOX! FOX!”  Larissa and I hopped up with our cameras and followed it down the road.  Larissa was able to snap a picture, but I was too slow.  It was an amazing last chapter to our wonderful hike.  As we chased the fox down the road, we saw Caroline pull up.  Perfect timing! Wonderful hike, wonderful company, and a wonderful Mexican dinner by Grand Lake.  What more could a girl ask for?

Ibuprofen I guess…

A Birthday in the Rockies August 20, 2008

First, I’d like to apologize to all of my loyal blog readers for not posting since last month. They took down the wireless adapter for my cabin because they will be bulldozing it in a few days. I had simply become to lazy to walk down to the administration building to use the wireless access there. Of course, I probably don’t need to be apologizing because the only “loyal” blog readers I have are my parents, and they are the subject of this post.

My parents came to Colorado to visit me for my birthday!! I drove down to Denver to pick them up from the airport the morning of August 5th. We then drove straight to the US Mint where we went on a free tour. The tour was fun, and mom was able to buy Arizona quarters to give out to friends at church who count the collection with her. We ate lunch at the local Johnny Rockets, and then drove up to Boulder for dessert. Dad had googled a local ice creamery named Glacier Ice Cream, which boasted to have over 80 flavors of ice cream and gelato at one time. I had a blackberry cream pie ice cream and it was delicious! Mom had the same, and Dad had Junior Mint ice cream, with the real candies mixed into the ice cream. That evening, we ate dinner in the Ponderosa dining hall (where I eat all my meals) and then played board games in Sweet Memorial (where I work).

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to go on a drive in the National Park. We drove past the alluvial fan waterfall, where Dad got some pictures. Next stop was Chasm Falls along Old Fall River Road. Below is a picture of Mom and Dad together at the Chasm Falls trail.

Old Fall River Road dead ends at the visitor center on top of Trail Ridge Road. We shopped for a few minutes, but then all agreed to leave because the altitude was making us feel lightheaded. We drove down Trail Ridge Road, which is the highest continuous paved road in North America! We ate lunch in the Ponderosa, then took an afternoon nap. That evening, we went into town to celebrate my birthday. We ate at Poppy’s, a local pizza place that reminded us of California Pizza Kitchen. It was a very good birthday.

The next day we decided to take it easy, as both of my lowland parents were having trouble with the high altitude. We started the day by playing miniature golf–I beat dad by two strokes. After that, we went into town to see a matinée of Forever Plaid. The show was exceptionally good for a locally produced show in a small dinner theater setting. The quartet singers were amazing. At the beginning of the first act, the group sang “Heart and Soul”, and then casually asked the audience who knew how to play the top part. I raised my hand, and the next thing I knew, I was pulled on stage! I played the top part of “Heart and Soul” and then danced with the quartet on stage. To thank me for participating in the show, I received a certificate that makes me an honorary “Plaid Performer”, and also some floss covered in plaid fabric. What a great birthday present!