Power Down

I know it is a First World problem, and that complaining about it makes us seem spoiled, but the power supply at Rural Ways is frequently interrupted.  Power "bumps" are routine, and the odd 12-hour outage happens several times per year.  It is hard to know what is going on, but this could be part of it:  Some of the hundred-year-old wooden poles need to be replaced.  This one snapped off yesterday at ground level and replanted itself six feet away.  The power surged, but stayed on, and the power company fixed the problem with a boom truck.  I hope they have a lot of trucks.

Anxiety

As one who suffers from a bit of acrophobia, unroped, fifth-class moves over 500 feet of air make me somewhat nervous.  But watching my daughter make those same moves causes serious anxiety.  Yesterday, when we wanted to hike in a certain canyon, but could find no way down, we ended up sliding off the end of the rock pyramid pictured above.  We had a good hike, but I couldn't enjoy it because I was so worried about getting out of there.  In the event, EDO scampered to the top without any hesitation, but I was a nervous wreck until we were well away from the edge.

No Man's

Buckhorn Wash is really nice at this time of year.  But, as anyone who has seen it lately can attest, it has been completely overrun by the motor crowd.  Coming from me, I'm sure it sounds like an exaggeration, but it's not.  We passed one camp of at least 14 monster campers—pop-outs and satellite dishes—along with the requisite number of motorcycles, ATVs, rhinos, and I don't know what-all.  I said 14.  In one camp.  Every RV has a huge truck to pull it, plus another truck so the wife can pull the trailer stacked with ATVs.  We were only trying to leave, but I bet we passed another 45 vehicles crowding into the canyon.

To get away from it all, EDO and I found ourselves on the trail to No Man's Mountain.  We never found it.  The mountain, that is.  But we were on the trail for a couple of hours.  We saw petrified wood, mollusk fossils, and dozens of wildflowers.  We heard no motors.  Good.

Scree Surfing

At Easter Brunch today, I noticed that EDO's wrists and the palms of her hands were scratched.  The scratches were obtained from hiking in rough country.  Yesterday, we were going up (and then down) a pile of steep, loose rock.  It was perched at the angle of repose, so every step made it slide.  She fell a few times.  On her hands.

Self Timer

Here is one from last week:  Scott and Kristen were in Vegas.  They agreed to meet us in Central on Friday.  After goofing around on the oil for a while, we decided to hike a mile or two up Forsyth Canyon.  At the end, we stopped to put the camera on a stump.  On the first try, using the camera's timer, VSO was caught stepping across the flow; on the second, she simply straddled it.

A Mass of Snow

Then we went to Snowmass.  And it snowed.  Massively.  It snowed so much that I could barely see Benson.  Without Benson, I would have been alone on the mountain.

Highland Bowl

We were having a perfectly good morning at Aspen.  We had the mountain to ourselves, sharing it only with three to five inches of new snow.  But we didn't want to miss a big day at the Highlands, so, at noon, we decided to go over there.  It took at least two hours to catch the bus, ride the lift, and hike the ridge.  We only got one run.  But, it was outstanding.  Great terrain:  Here is Benson on the steep and deep.

Two Criks

On Saturday I went out to Huntington Creek.  I climbed a steep ridge above the canyon where I found the remains of a long-charred Great Basin Bristlecone Pine forest.  On Sunday I was on the Frying Pan River near Basalt, Colorado.  Another beautiful spot.  I noticed an old cabin for sale.  One of my friends estimated it at two to four million.  I decided not to make an offer.