Bachelor and Sons

In the late winter and spring of 1975, I was trying to decide where to go for a vacation that summer. I liked canoeing and camping, and thought about a trip to Florida's Everglades National Park. I was also interested in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, as I had never seen mountains, having grown up in northern Illinois. About the highest elevation you ever got to in Illinois, was when you helped replace shingles on your parents roof. I can't now remember why I opted for Colorado. Once I experienced the western mountains, thoughts of travelling anywhere east lost all attraction. The contrasts from where I grew up were huge. There was sage and pine instead of corn and elms. The streams were crystal clear instead of the color of coffee with extra cream. The air was dry, not humid, and comfortable 70s during the day. Nights were crisp. There was snow on the peaks even in July and August. Hikes taken at high elevation, often crossed snow fields. When backpacking, you could catch a trout at noon, bury it in snow, and cook it for dinner.
In 1977, I veered more northward, into Wyoming. The mountains aren't as tall as in Colorado, but there were a lot less people and development. In 1979, I went backpacking in the Beartooth Mountains along the Wyoming/Montana border, and then on up to Glacier National Park at the Canadian border. The elevations there are not as high, but because you are further north, the tree line is lower, and there were glaciers all around. There were even less people and development there. In those years, you would be hard put to find a fast food place anywhere around Glacier. People said "if you want to see what Colorado was like 20 years ago, go to Wyoming. And if you want to see what Wyoming was like 20 years before that, go to Montana."
Now it is different. If you were never in Glacier National Park in the 70s, you can't see it now, at least not quite in the same way. The glaciers are disappearing. The sad thing is, I am responsible. I drove my CO2 belching 1977 Buick Special across the country to see the glaciers. We are all responsible.
In the animation below, watch what happens to the glaciers between 1980 and 2010. Then, watch them disappear between 2020 and 2030.
It makes me wonder what other things my sons won't see. And what things they will see, that they'll wish they never saw.

http://wilderness.org/content/sad-day-when-no-glaciers-exist-glacier-national-park

There is a one week lull between the end of Tyler's basketball season, and the start of the baseball season. This is the week, March 5 - 9.  Last week there were 2 basketball games, 2 band concerts, a counselor meeting, and a baseball practice.  This week...nothing.  Next week baseball tryouts start.  So, for the next 5 days, I am not a taxi driver and spectator.  Yippee!  One week of calm, and then the big push until summer will start.

Zach graduates in 2012. For more than 17 years, this guy has made being a dad easy.

Its that time of year when all the leaves need to be raked. I'm not raking them. Hope a big wind comes and blows them into the neighbors yard.
Tyler made the high school basketball team. So, now each night will include taxi service to the practices, followed by AP History homework, AP Statistics homework, and Language Arts homework. We'll be lucky to squeeze in some time to eat.
The web cams at Winter Park and Copper Mountain show people skiing already. Wish we were there.

Last fall, while cleaning out the garage, I found a box containing many of the old 35mm slides that I had taken back in the 1970 and 80s. I picked a few out and had them digitized at the local photo shop. One of them, I didn't remember that I even had, is the photo currently in the website heading (or here). I wrote about the location in this photo back in September of 2009. The story is here.
The photograph was taken above timberline on the Beartooth Plateau in Montana (Latitude: 45.055399 Longitude: -109.628137) . The distant peaks are to the southwest in Wyoming, bordering on Yellowstone National Park. You can see a little haze in the distance, which was caused by smoke from the forest fires that had just begun in Yellowstone. The year was 1988, famous for the fires that burned large areas of the park.
I am not in the photo, but my yellow Jansport backpack is there leaning against the rock near Tim Smith, a friend from Mt. Morris, Illinois. He, Teresa (eventually to become Tim's wife) and Mark and Phyllis were from Minneapolis. We had stopped for a lunch break, before carefully negotiating the scree slope heading down to the valley seen in shadow on the lower right of the photo. We camped by the first small lake you can see in the shadows. You can wear your arms out there, catching Cutthroat trout. There is a price to pay though, as it is need easy to get there. Watch out for Griz!



Above timberline on Trail Ridge Road




Chipmunk at Rainbow Curve



Clark's Nutcracker

Early morning Elk crossing

Sprague Lake and Hallett Peak

After fishing for a while, we drove up the old Fall River Road. It is gravel and has many switchbacks, some requiring you to jockey back and forth once, as the turn is to tight for a normal car's turning radius.

Near the upward end of Fall River Road.

On Monday, we got a sunrise start and headed over the the west side of the park and the Colorado River valley. We observed several herds of elk, some as near as 20 feet from our vehicle, as well as a coyote and red fox. Once over the pass we saw a number of moose and a few mule deer.

Elk grazing about timberline

We arrived in Winter Park in the late morning, and purchase tickets to ride the ski lift up to the Sunspot restaurant at the Ski area's summit. While there, Tyler became interested in the downhill mountain bikers, also riding the lift. He though it would be a lot of fun to ride down the mountain trails. No peddling, you know.

Sunspot, Winter Park

Tuesday, we left Winter Park, drove over Berthoud pass, through the Eisenhower tunnel and up to Copper Mountain Ski Area. We had a condo there, for the next 6 nights. Our friends from Leonard, Michigan were also staying there.

Ten Mile Creek and Taylor Crossing Condos

Tyler rented a mountain bike for 4 days and made about 15 runs down the trails of Copper Mountain with his friend Nino.


Tyler back at the base



View down to Interstate 70 from atop Copper Mountain

Coke break at the base

Tyler and Nino preparing to ride down

On Saturday the 13th, we drove down to Leadville to watch the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike race. There were about 1800 riders who tortured themselves for 100 miles at elevations of 10 - 12 thousand feet.

Sunday, we turned in the moutain bike and packed up for the trip home on Monday. We detoured through Loves Park, Illinois, in order to see my parents. Tyler had not seen them for almost a year.