Sometimes diversion is called for ... so on Sunday we took a hike up "Waterdog Trail". (if you click on the picture you will see an extra big version where I traced the trail which is barely visible with a red line ... the little inset picture I found via Google Earth's site, it is somebody else's photo of the two lakes - I hadn't brought along a camera) We had a map and everything. It is located just shy of Monarch Pass on the east side of the continental divide. It was a little hard to find exactly where the trail started, and as it turned out we missed the official start, but found an alternate that worked too. The main difference was that we missed the sign in sheet and the warning signs about "bear country" ... truth be told, it is probably best we missed those things, otherwise I may not have continued. Staring altitude was 10,435 feet and the lake was at 11,395 feet, distance was probably only a mile or mile and a half. The climb was
steep and consisted mostly of loose stones (fist size to basketball size boulders). It was cool and damp, the forest floor full of lovely wild flowers under the ponderosas. Mushrooms here and there. It really was pretty. We had to pause often to breathe and kept the pace slow and steady. Eventually we were rewarded with a beautiful lake. Actually there are two lakes, but I protested looking for the second one because there was no clear marking of which trail to take and I felt very far away from civilization at that point. We were just below the crest of the continental divide which still has some snow on it. We were on the lookout for King Boletus (Karl Johan svamp) mushrooms and found two likely suspects, but closer inspection with a guide book in hand confirmed that they were members of the Boletus family, just not the "King" variety. Drat!! Downhill was much easier.
Here are my two specimens of non-king Boletus beauties. Also Chris with a very special parcel that came at the post office ... he's been waiting about a year and a half for this item. Bet you can't guess ... it's a bass nyckelharpa (one octave lower than our regular nyckelharpas) that was hand made to order for Chris by Olle Plahn in Sweden. He's super excited! Next image, newly arrived from Australia, is Evan who will be working with us for the duration. He's a friend of Lars' from George School days.
Finally! The cement for the shop floor it getting poured. We were dubious that we'd ever get past the monsoons and dry out enough to pour. We have been promised two full days of no rain by the weather service and hope they are true to their word just this one time.
Sometimes diversion is called for ... so on Sunday we took a hike up "Waterdog Trail". (if you click on the picture you will see an extra big version where I traced the trail which is barely visible with a red line ... the little inset picture I found via Google Earth's site, it is somebody else's photo of the two lakes - I hadn't brought along a camera) We had a map and everything. It is located just shy of Monarch Pass on the east side of the continental divide. It was a little hard to find exactly where the trail started, and as it turned out we missed the official start, but found an alternate that worked too. The main difference was that we missed the sign in sheet and the warning signs about "bear country" ... truth be told, it is probably best we missed those things, otherwise I may not have continued. Staring altitude was 10,435 feet and the lake was at 11,395 feet, distance was probably only a mile or mile and a half. The climb was steep and consisted mostly of loose stones (fist size to basketball size boulders). It was cool and damp, the forest floor full of lovely wild flowers under the ponderosas. Mushrooms here and there. It really was pretty. We had to pause often to breathe and kept the pace slow and steady. Eventually we were rewarded with a beautiful lake. Actually there are two lakes, but I protested looking for the second one because there was no clear marking of which trail to take and I felt very far away from civilization at that point. We were just below the crest of the continental divide which still has some snow on it. We were on the lookout for King Boletus (Karl Johan svamp) mushrooms and found two likely suspects, but closer inspection with a guide book in hand confirmed that they were members of the Boletus family, just not the "King" variety. Drat!! Downhill was much easier.
Here are my two specimens of non-king Boletus beauties. Also Chris with a very special parcel that came at the post office ... he's been waiting about a year and a half for this item. Bet you can't guess ... it's a bass nyckelharpa (one octave lower than our regular nyckelharpas) that was hand made to order for Chris by Olle Plahn in Sweden. He's super excited! Next image, newly arrived from Australia, is Evan who will be working with us for the duration. He's a friend of Lars' from George School days.
Finally! The cement for the shop floor it getting poured. We were dubious that we'd ever get past the monsoons and dry out enough to pour. We have been promised two full days of no rain by the weather service and hope they are true to their word just this one time.
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