Colorado Burning



High Park Fire plumes from Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP)
Darker plume on right was new on Saturday (June 23).
Homes burned in Estes Park, the gateway town to RMNP.
The entry station at Beaver Meadows closed
and to exit the Park we were detoured around town.

Sustained gusts describe the winds I've experienced camping and hiking this season.
It seems impossible for the firemen to get a handle on the burns.
At summits, I've had to brace myself against the wind.



High Park Fire
from trail to Sky Pond

Sky Pond
10 mile hike, 1700' elevation gain
Stunning Stunning and Stunning
One arrives and smiles.
Is it a shock on the senses every time?

Who is at the Pearly Gate?
It's me!

Loch Lake
Lakes, Rivers, Waterfalls
One Day
One Hike
One Woman's Life


We scaled a waterfall; the trail went up it.

I love climbing rocks.
Rocks are my friends.

Mountains = Vistas with No End
Another summit
Another trail

Snow in summer
104 in Denver
80 on the trail

Alberta Falls
The Loch
Lake of Glass
Sky Pond

Snow
June 23, 2012


Since December 1,
I have put 330 miles on my Keen Hiking Boots.



This lake seemed to edge over the world
like the fancy pools at resorts.

Trails lead forward.

Hell's Hole

I hike.
I work
...by caring for kids in their homes.
I have the best families, the best moms.
It is privilege to spend time with them.
I learn. They learn.

On being a vegetarian,
one child said about animals and eating meat,
"I hear them crying in my mouth."

Is there not anything more aware than a child?

It's like touching curiosity and innocence
before we turned into grizzly adults.

Hell's Hole
The tag doesn't fit.
9 miles
2000 elevation gain

Old Bristlecone Pine
2000 years old
This tree is the reason for my email address (bristlecone).
I exist because it lives.

Lunching at Hell's Hole
15 of us on a mid-week hike
Even with 90 degree heat in Denver
and fires raging,
the high country can blow cool wind
with snow in sight.

Paul Coelho ALEPH

I came upon this paragraph in Aleph, Paul Coelho's 2010 book. It is a clear and precise description of what occured traveling 5 weeks alone and 5 weeks with a friend. The Portuguese writer expressed it perfectly.

After weeks on the road, listening to a language you don't understand, using a currency whose value you don't comprehend, walking down streets you've never walked down before, you discover that your old "I," along with everything you ever learned, is absolutely no use at all in the face of those new challenges, and you begin to realize that buried deep in your unconscious mind there is someone much more interesting and adventurous and more open to the world and to new experiences.

It is when I need rebuilding the most that I dig out my passport and renew...

June 2012

Wordless for six months.

Been living.
Hiking.
Renting.
Friending.
Working.
Establishing.

Words coming back.
S-l-o-w-l-y.


Profile picture taken on seven-mile hike in the high country, Herman Gulch Trail.
360 degree vista of sky, peaks, and foreshadowing clouds.
Elevation 10,332 to 11, 987, sucking air.




How lucky am I?
Herman Gulch Trail
6-16-2012



Six hike buddies lunching at Herman Lake

Roosevelt Lake Hike