MistyCastle

Archive for the ‘Trail Journals’ Category

November is sneaking up on us and you would never know it. We still have a lot of trees that are just now beginning to turn color here in the city. We were up in the Puma Hills last weekend on a camping trip with my Mom and while there were still some beautiful patches of golden aspens, the bulk of them had pretty bare limbs.  It’s a touch late in the season for most people to camp in the mountains. However, my Mom was here for her first visit with  Great Grandson, Caleb, and Josh’s birthday in Pueblo. To make travel simpler to Pueblo, we rented a RV from a local place here in Denver and an opportunity for a scenic return trip home presented itself.  It would be Mom’s first Colorado camping experience! We loaded the RV and headed south on the beginning of this adventure. We took a short rest break at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs and then on to Josh, Selenda, and Caleb’s home in Pueblo.

We had a good time chatting over dinner that evening and breakfast the next morning catching up on events in everyone’s life. After that it was out to see and feed the horses. Josh and Selenda own three horses at the moment and Mom really enjoys their beauty.

I also got an opportunity to drive Josh’s race simulator, whoo hoo! That was great! Thanks for taking the time away from your studies to share it with me.

Getting back on the road again, we headed west towards the mountains and got to Canon City right about lunchtime. We stopped at the Holy Cross Abbey and fixed lunch in their parking lot. The Abbey is beautiful and someday I would like to get inside for a look-see. After lunch, we headed up into the mountains and wound our way up Hwy 9 to Hartsel. Doubling back a short distance east on Hwy 24, up and over Wilkerson Pass; then north into the Pike National Forest to our campsite. The last mile was the killer for Mom with a nasty washboard road but she toughed it out and we arrived safely.

The campsite was one that Rhonda and I had used a year or so ago. It sits up on top of a small hill and affords wonderful views in all directions. I wasn’t sure if I could get the RV up the windy forest road and into the campsite as the RV was pretty long (30-footer) but I took it REAL easy. With Rhonda guiding me, it went fine and we soon were making “camp”. Making camp has a different connotation with a 30 ft RV than it does with our Jeep and tent! We knew we had missed the full moon by a few days but were still anticipating watching it rise over the mountains in the east. It got completely dark before moonrise and we were treated to an amazing display of the Milky Way which can only be appreciated away from the light pollution of the cities. Mom laid down on the ground so she could look up and see it in all its glory. Quite a sight to behold! Shortly thereafter, the moon rose over the horizon and bathed the landscape with moonshine and the darkness was transformed. To take the chill off, we spent the rest of the evening chatting around the campfire and finally went into the RV for a restful nights sleep without the noises of the city.

The sky was magnificent at dawn. I could see it just fine out the window but Rhonda and Mom got dressed and went outside to get the full effect and watch the sun rise. We spent the rest of the morning just sitting around soaking up the sunshine, admiring the scenery, and watching the wildlife. We actually had a pair Bluebirds stop by the campsite for awhile on their late migration south! A real delight for us all. By noon, the winds had started blowing a bit too much for our comfort. We packed up and headed the RV back towards civilization. Along the way we made a small detour alongside the South Platte River where it first comes down out of the mountains at Eleven Mile Canyon. Mom got the opportunity to take her shoes off and walk out into the cold stream. It was a milestone moment! A quick tea/coffee/snack break at the charming tea house in Florissant and we were back in Denver for dinner! Whew! Lots of milestones in this weekend!

This past weekend was a rather full and “eventful” three days. Friday was a “taking care of business” day in Colorado Springs. Both of us needed to see several medical providers and there was a cargo trailer to be purchased. Despite our best efforts we seemed to be constantly running behind as we kept having to wait for this, that, or the other. But, eventually we were able to head south for our weekend getaway in La Veta, CO. We arrived just in time to get checked in at the La Veta Inn and get downstairs for our dinner reservation at Alys Restaurant.

We dined out on the patio and enjoyed the live music as Tom Munch kept a steady string of tunes going. Alys came out and personally assisted Rhonda with her gluten-free selections while I sipped on a local brew. The dinner was exceptional, kudos to Alys and crew, and we liked Tom’s music enough to buy a couple of his CDs.

Saturday had a plan. We had purchased tickets on the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad and were headed to the top of La Veta Pass where, in a natural mountain amphitheater run by solar and wind power you’ll find Fir, Colorado, the site of the Mountain Rails Live Summer Concert Series; The only Rocky Mountain concert venue that is accessible solely by train. The weather was shaping up beautifully, clear blue skies with a few clouds and nice warm temperatures. We walked over to the train depot and soon were boarded and chugging up the mountain. The track winds in and out of the canyons, along the sides of the hills, and it goes pretty slow so there is plenty of opportunity to take in the sights. At the present time the sights include black bears who are frequenting a grain spill up between two tunnels. We saw five of them chowing down on the spilled grain when we went past.

It took about an hour to get to the top where we de-trained, had a bit of BBQ for lunch, and then went down and enjoyed the music. Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen from Vermont opened with traditional folk music and some original songs. Playing the guitar, concertina and banjo, they had a rich harmony, compelling songs and a good dose of humor. The main attraction was Weavermania, a folk group dedicated to recreating the songs and music of The Weavers, whose musical influence can still be heard in the Kingston Trio; Peter, Paul and Mary; and in every coffee house and folk club in the country. All of the music was great and we really enjoyed the afternoon. Late in the afternoon, the train took us back down to La Veta and we relaxed a bit before having another great dinner at Alys’ and heading for an early bed.

Sunday we hung around for awhile and then headed up Hwy 12 to Cucharas Pass and then took the dirt road on up the mountain to Cordova Pass, a high pass (11248 ft/3428 m) to the west of the peak. There we went on a short hike and enjoyed the views of the Spanish Peaks and surrounding areas. The drive down the east side of the twin peaks took considerably longer than we thought and we ended up being late to Caleb’s 1st Birthday party by the time we got back to Pueblo.

The party was a big success and everyone had fun, especially Caleb, who demonstrated that cake is not meant to be eaten but rather smeared around on your forehead! Looked like fun to me but I got “that look” from Rhonda when I thought about trying it Presents were opened and Caleb will definitely be entertained for awhile with all the new stuff.

On the way back through the Springs we picked up our cargo trailer which I found on Craigslist. I call it my “mobile shed” because our current house does not have a shed and this provides not only space to store the lawn mower, bicycles, etc. but also all the stuff we had in temporary storage during the move. Our backyard has a place all rocked-in for parking a trailer so this works out perfect.

Return to La Paz
We packed up and got ready to go. Ruben is supposed to have found a different route to get to us, but it is a long way round and involves more back-country roads. It is a different route than what we came in on.
We took the opportunity to finish up some loose ends, getting some interview questions answered and visiting a house or two.

The guides from the other nearby town, Komucala, showed up this morning wanting us to go now. We said we couldn’t because we were leaving. We will have to catch them next time or possibly find another EWB chapter to support their community.

We had an assortment of lumber left over, which we donated to the community to help finish the new church. We also left the egg incubator we had brought with us to test the water samples for bacteria. I was surprised that there were no chickens around. It seems like a logical solution to have hens laying eggs. The livestock in the community consists of lots of sheep, a few cows, and pigs. Mules, too.

Ruben arrives in the later morning and we packed up the LC and said our goodbyes. I let Amanda sit up front, as the trip out promised to be challenging and she is prone to motion sickness.

What a journey this was! After leaving Suncallo Valley, we headed east, down into the rugged sides of the Andes to the river, across the river and then back up the other side. It took two hours over some of the narrowest, twisty jeep trails I’ve ever seen. Once on the other side of the river, we passed through a small community that has one of the few medical clinics in the area.

We continued going up, although mostly on the ridge with some spectacular views of the Andes range and Mount Illampu in the foreground. We stopped for lunch at an overlook. The GPS put us at 15,500 feet, with Illampu towering at 20,000 feet in the background. We were on wide, easy roads now, although still gravel through our descent back to the main highway. The remainder of the trip back to La Paz was uneventful.

Amanda did not fare well. We eventually had to get her to a doctor for dehydration and nausea. Fortunately, she recovered fully by the next afternoon. Tess was a faithful friend, and stayed with her through her ordeal.
The rest of us went out and found some pizza and then a coffee shop, which put a nice cap on my day. I had not had any coffee since I had gotten there. Lastly, we found an Internet café and were able to send home a quick email.

The next day was spent in La Paz relaxing, shopping, and attending a soccer game.

The following day began a little too early as we needed to be downstairs to meet Mike and load up for the trip back to the airport. Thus began a very long and frustrating travel day that finally ended back in the Denver airport at 11PM. It sure was good to get home.

Assessment Days
Morning arrived along with Catalina’s breakfast. The plan was to hike up the hill to visit the water sources. The community has an existing drinking water system that was installed many years ago, but there is not enough pressure to deliver water to all the houses. Senor Gregorio explains to us, as we walk back up the mountain, that there are two existing water sources that are piped down to the community. He wants to add two more, and that is where we were going… to see the water sources and look at the pipeline route they have identified. (Six or so locals went with us)

We passed by fields growing barley and some small ponds that have potatoes soaking. Sr. G. explained how the different potatoes are grown and processed so they have unique flavors. He tells us there are over 100 varieties of potatoes grown here. Some of them we see are soaking in pits, others are drying in the sun. Aside from some grains and a few beans they grow primarily potatoes and that is their main source of food.

Sr. G. pointed out an irrigation pipeline in the other side of the valley. It provides water to another community down the valley further.

After a steady uphill hike of a mile or so, we got to the furthest water source. It is a typical mountain spring about 1,000 ft higher than the community. We took a break and Sr. G. offers a prayer of thanks for the project to succeed. I fired up the GPS and marked the spot. They have already roughed out a proposed pipe route and we started following that back towards the community, marking points with the GPS. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, it finally happened. All the effort I have put into getting a professional chapter of Engineers Without Borders started here in the Springs has come to fruition. We adopted a drinking water and sanitation project for a remote Aymara Indian community in the Andes Mountains last fall and have been raising funds and making preparations for a site assessment trip in the Spring of 2009. In mid-May I led a team consisting of three members of the professional chapter and three members of the Air Force Academy student chapter to Suncallo, Bolivia. What follows are the notes I wrote up on the plane coming back. It consists of many observations and side notes on the trip. There was a great deal of adventure getting there and back but overall we accomplished our mission and brought back lots of data and pictures which will help us in our engineering design work. Note: if you click on the pictures you can see a larger version.

Our trip was delayed by a day due to an American Airlines requirement that all travelers must provide proof of yellow fever vaccination. The American Airlines policy contradicts the guidance given on the US Governments Center for Disease Control (CDC) website which indicates that travelers proceeding to No-Risk areas in Bolivia may sign a waiver at the point of entry.

Our pre-trip research into the vaccination requirements on the CDC website clearly identified the project site to be in a No-Risk area and to keep the costs down and eliminate the risk of introducing a live vaccine into our bodies four of the team decided not to get the yellow fever vaccinations. It is worth noting that the US Air Force declined to provide the yellow fever vaccination to the members of EWB-AFA for the same reasons.

The last thing we expected was for the airline to deny us boarding our aircraft. Regardless of our justifications and documentation supporting our position American Airlines refused to allow us to board the aircraft. Other EWB chapters should be made aware that the airlines have this authority and that the airlines policy may differ from the US Governments. It should be incumbent upon the travel agency to make the travelers aware of any requirements levied by the airlines. Apparently, the $360 in “fees” we paid the travel agency didn’t include this small courtesy.

Fortunately, we were able to locate the required vaccine and proceed the following morning on a direct flight from Denver to Miami and thence on a direct flight (overnight) to La Paz from the Miami airport. Visa fees were paid, Immigration was cleared (no they didn’t ask to see our yellow fever vaccination certifications) and Customs was cleared effortlessly. Read the rest of this entry »

Three men went camping in the Puma Hills, an area in the Pike National Forest. What made this particular camping trip unique was; they were all Grimes men. Three generations in fact. Now that may not seem like a big deal but surprisingly, this camping trip took a long time to organize. I’ve been camping at various times over the years with both my Dad and with my Son but never at the same time. It seems like a simple thing to organize but with all of us serving in the armed forces at one time or another it just never made it past the good idea stage.

I’m the middle generation now but I remember trying to make the same scenario happen when I was a young man. We lived in Iowa at the time and the goal I had envisioned was making a trip up to the Boundary Waters in Canada. Dad was retiring from the Air Force and moving back to Des Moines but my Grandfathers health began to fail before I could make it a reality.

Time passes swiftly and I began to realize another opportunity might easily slip by so I got a commitment from everyone to make it happen this summer. Dad caught the train to Denver and slipped through the “Gestapo” as he called them [Denver was hosting the Democratic National Convention at the time and the Secret Service were all over the place to include boarding the train in Ft Morgan and checking everyone's "papers".] and rode the bus on down to the Springs. Read the rest of this entry »

The Continental Divide Trail (CDT) has a section that runs through the canyon. We drove back down the river to Skull Bridge and parked. Once you leave the road you are in the Chama River Canyon Wilderness. The trail heads out through the Ojitos Canyon where cattle are being grazed on the grassland. The walls of the Chama Canyons are a striking variety of colors from yellows to maroons marking the distinct sedimentary layers of rock. We hiked several miles across the canyon and then the trail headed up a side canyon and began to gain some elevation. We continued to follow it and it eventually started paralleling a small stream.

The clouds settled back in but they were high and did not seem to be threatening rain so we continued for awhile until we got tired. Didn’t see any wildlife to speak of but the canyon walls were quite interesting throughout the hike. We thought we might get to the point where the canyon narrowed down but decided we had best turn back. The hike back went pretty quickly and by the time we got back to the car we had covered eight miles. We hadn’t planned to go quite so far but it felt good to be out and about and not cooped up by bad weather. Read the rest of this entry »