Scrambling

A few weeks ago Matt invited Jen and I up to his family cabin for the weekend. We had a great time hanging out, burning things, and scrambling on the large rock formations nearby.



The cabin itself is located near Deckers, south-west of Denver, in a little valley full of family vacation cabins.



On a ridge above the road there are several large granite formations that make for excellent scrambling. While I'm far from the most daring person around heights, I had some fun showing up Matt and Jen, who were both a bit more cautions than I was.



Though Matt DID decide to do a bit of free climbing up a sheer rock face.



As always, the view from the top was worth it. I never get tired of looking down on a vista from a high point, no matter where I am.

I waited five years for this?

I read a lot. I reckon I finish around 50 books a year across a wide variety of genres, but one of my favorite is the 'adventure' book. You know, books that read sort of like Raiders of the Lost Ark, with lots of cliff hangers and general feats of daring.

With reading habits like these, it was inevitable that I would encounter Dan Brown. The first of his books that I read was Angels and Demons and I loved it. It had a propulsive, thrilling plot, an interesting premise, and was in general a fun romp through Rome.

I read The Da Vinci Code too, along with all the rest of the world, but enjoyed it less. While it was still a page turner, there was a lot more speechifying, and it felt a bit like the author had an ax to grind.

Which brings us to today, and The Lost Symbol. I was on the hold list for this book since before I quit at the library and moved to Japan, so it's been a long time in coming. The good news is that Brown can still write short, fast moving chapters that keep you constantly reading to find out what happens next. Sadly, that is pretty much the only good news. I often had the feeling that rather than reading a thriller I was attending the lecture of a rather stuffy professor. If our hero Robert Langdon isn't lecturing about symbols to one of the other characters, then one of them is lecturing him to 'open his mind.'

The book also mirrors some of the other defects of The Da Vinci Code, including a laughably insane antagonist, and a real let down of a climax. I understand that for books like this that flirt with the supernatural and yet take place in the 'real' world it can be hard to write a fitting ending. The finish we are presented with in The Lost Symbol is ludicrous. The final reveal of the villains plot is so un-epic and nonsensical that I felt more than a bit robbed.

I do have more of a problem with Mr. Brown than this derivative follow up to The Most Popular Book Ever. He has inspired a huge copycat following. Every other author of adventure/ thriller novels has been trying to hit it Da Vinci Code big for years, and so now much of the genre is taken over with novels about religion, science, codes and all of the other tropes that propelled The Da Vinci Code to the huge sales numbers that it enjoyed.

Luckily, I have come up with the The Lost Symbol drinking game. Take a shot every time Langdon lectures somebody, every time somebody tells him to be less skeptical, every time you read the words "ancient mysteries" and every time you successfully guessed a plot twist. If this was a two hour movie, the amount of shots consumed as a result of playing this game may well prove fatal, but with a few days to read the book, you should be safe.

The last stop

On our way into Denver from Taos, we decided to make one final stop at the Garden of the Gods. We needed to stretch our legs a bit, and this seemed a good spot to do so. The Garden is certainly one of the most beautiful areas in Colorado, and the fact that it is free to enter makes it even better. We did notice though that despite the literally dozens of signs proclaiming that the rocks should not be climbed or scrambled on without permission, there were plenty of people and kids clambering all over the place. I was a bit annoyed because while the light was perfect, I had a gaggle of kids in one of my shots, and as soon as they had descended out of the frame of my camera, a cloud passed over the sun and stole my light!



While our trip was only four days, it was packed full of great places and adventures and was a fantastic way for both Liz and I to say farewell to Colorado, even if my departure has now been delayed.

Taos

Last winter the Denver Art Museum hosted a special exhibit of Ernest L Blumenschein's paintings. Blumenschein was best known for his life in Taos, and for his founding of the Taos Society of Artists. Much of his work drew on his love of the Southwest, and after seeing the exhibition I was very eager to go see Taos for myself.



Arriving in Taos I was struck by how the reality of the town and my expectations clashed. I was expecting a much larger and more vertical town than I got, perhaps a place about the size of Durango. Actually Taos is fairly small, though for it's size it is a pretty spralling town. Very few of the buildings rise above a story, and almost all of them, even McDonalds, are built in Southwestern Adobe style.



A major item on our agenda for Taos was to get some Mexican food, and we found the perfect place for it, a delightful open patio restaurant a few blocks away from the main plaza. The food was amazing, and the "Tequila Wine" Margarita's were a delicious compliment to the meal.



In the southern side of town there is the San Francisco De Asis Church, and we felt that we should check it out, though by the time we arrived it had closed for the night, even though the sun had not yet set.



Artists say that the light in Taos is different, and I must agree. There was much more color in the light than I notice in Denver. While I don't know what the cause of the percevied difference is, I do know that I went crazy taking photographs of the sunset that evening.



For me breakfast the next morning was a plate of heuvos rancheros with a firey New Mexico red chili. From that excellent beginning we went to Kit Carson's house. The exterior was interesting, but the gift shop inside kind of turned us off, so we walked form there to the Blumenschein House instead. This was one of the best museum's of it's sort I've been to. The house itself was very cool in its design, and when I had finished I felt that I had learned something. The whole family were artist's, and the house had displays of both Blumenschein's work, and his Wife's and Daughter's paintings and illustrations as well.



Despite the massive breakfast I ate, when we sat down to lunch I suddenly found myself hungry again, and tucked into a plate of Tacos that were par for the course. That is to say they were utterly fantastic. Then it was time for the long drive back in to Denver.

Moving out without moving in

I spent the last few days finally moving out of my apartment. My lease wasn't up until September 30th, but they found somebody to rent the place to, which saves me a significant amount of money. I've left my apartment, and am currently 'living' in my parents basement. Its so nice to have such a support system, and I think Fritz (the dog) likes having somebody around during the day to scratch his ears and take him for walks. All that said, I do hope to get everything sorted out, and soon. Limbo is no fun, and classes started this week, so the longer everything takes, the more behind I will be.

The Rio Grande

As we approached Taos we came upon the Rio Grande Gorge, and the large steel bridge over it. Ironically, we initially stopped in the area because there was a rest stop, and it was only after we parked that I noticed the canyon right next door.



The source of the Rio Grande is in Colorado, and it flows from there south through New Mexico eventually forming part of the natural border between Texas and Mexico. For much of the river's path through Colorado and New Mexico it follows the Rio Grande rift, and area where the North American plate has stretched and thinned.



Indeed, the dark rocks of the Rio Grande Gorge are volcanic flows that resulted from the rift. Luckily for those of us living in the Southwest now, mysteriously the rifting stopped, and the area is fairly geologically quite now. For a view at what Taos and the area would be like if the area was still pulling apart, look at other rift zones like Iceland or Africa's Great Rift Valley.



While on the bridge I was thinking less of geology and more of just how far down the river was. I timed the drop and it was 17 seconds to the river below, a very long fall indeed.



I actually encountered a few photographic issues while shooting the gorge. The first was simply that I didn't a wide enough lens to capture both the shadow of the bridge and the full length of the view, so I shot another vertical panorama, such as you see below. Another issue that I didn't notice until I got home was that every single one of the photos I took was horribly overexposed, unusable. Thankfully, some post processing in Lightroom saved the day.

Chama, New Mexico

After an overnight in Durango we headed towards Taos, and Liz's first trip to New Mexico. En route I actually took a wrong turn and ended up in Chama. Chama is one end of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. Both the Cumbres and Toltec and the Silverton and Durango narrow gauge railroads are leftovers of the Denver and Rio Grande Western spur line that went from Antonito all the way to Silverton and it's famous mines.



While I had been unimpressed at the level of access within Mesa Verde, I was very impressed with the Chama yard. They had a variety of volunteers in the area restoring train cars, organizing tools and whatever else needed doing, and any of whom was happy to answer questions. The only area that was off limits was the engine house, where they were performing repairs. Other than that the whole yard was open. Imagine, an organization that trusts that people won't break things, hurt themselves or otherwise won't make a fuss.



I had a fantastic time wandering about the yard, poking my head into rail cars and just generally have a good time. My poor sister soon was soon wondering if I had been kidnapped by the trains, but I was just exploring down a side spur.



Pretty soon that was it for Chama, and we were back on the road towards Taos. While it was a wrong turn, I think that all together it was a right turn, even if it cost us over an hour of me poking about the trains!

Pause Button

I had planned to depart for Europe on the 22nd, but the lack of a visa delayed me. I pushed the flight back to a tentative Sept 15th. However, today I got back my passport with a form letter stating that my request for a Swedish Residence Permit had been denyed. I can appeal the decision within the next three weeks, and I may well do that. It is certainly a disapointment, however I am not as surprised as I might have been. For some reason, the past few weeks I have felt like something like this would happen, and that I would NOT be going to Lund to study. I can't say why I felt that way, just that I did. Of course now the big question is What's Next? For that, I have no answer as yet.

Stay tuned.

Cliff Palace

While our legs felt rather rubbery after our hike, soon we had to head back to the overlook for our tour of the Cliff Palace. While waiting for the ranger, I heard a fair number of people griping about how they didn't know you needed tickets to actually go down to the ruin, so I felt better knowing that I was in good company with my own previous ignorance.



The group was about a hundred people, and we made our way past the ranger who was collecting tickets and down the stairs. The Anasazi didn't have anything so easy as a steel staircase to travel between the mesa top and their homes, rather they used precarious hand and toe trails that were cut into the rocks. While I didn't discover this on the tour, which was of dubious educational value, I found later in our Geology of Colorado book just where all of the cliff side caves in this area came from. Water seeps very easily through the upper layers of sandstone that make up the mesa, but when it hits the less permeable layers of shale, it flows to the side, creating springs along the sides of the mesa. The shale is also much weaker rock than the sandstone, so the springs easily erode it way, and the departure of the lower layer of rock has predictable effects on the upper layers, causing cracks and collapses that form the caves that the Anasazi moved into.



The opportunity to see the Cliff Palace close up was amazing, and the extra $3 per person is hardly a hardship, but I must say that the overall experience was less than optimal. The ranger selected a pair of younger travelers, and used them as his conduit of information. He would ask them speculative questions about daily life in Mesa Verde, and then go over the answer with the group. It was a very slow process, often punctuated by Umms and Hmmms from the two assistants. While I did learn that Pinon nuts are an excellent source of calories, I didn't learn much about where the Anasazi came from, why they built their cliff houses or where they went. These are all subjects that I find much more interesting than the nutritional value of nuts.



While the educational value of the tour itself was minimal, the experience of being down in the palace was totally worth it. I would have preferred more freedom to explore, but I can certainly understand why they would place such stringent limits on the amount of tourists and where they are allowed to go.

The Green Table

One of the major reasons I wanted to go on the road trip was the chance to see Mesa Verde. Anybody interested in history in Colorado has heard of the Anasazi ruins and the great Cliff Palace they created. My father and I had actually tried the trip before, but had barely made it past the small town of Baily before we had to turn back due to car issues. I've been waiting years for my chance to return.

The first thing that struck me as I drove up the side of the Mesa was just how large Mesa Verde truely is. The Mesa is huge, and you can see how the early Spanish explorers who named it could have missed finding the cliff dwellings.


This is actually a panorama of 5 vertically oriented frames

While there are over 600 cliff dwellings in the park, I made a bee-line for the Cliff Palace overlook for the chance to explore the largest and most famous of the structures. Imagine my dismay when I got there and found out that in order to go down to the Cliff Palace, you had to have a ticket for one of the ranger led tours. I hadn't bought one, so we made a quick drive back to the Visitors Center to see what time slots were still available.



The earliest time that could accomodate us was 4:30, so we had a few hours to kill, and decided to take in the views at the Spruce Tree House, which is a smaller but better preserved cliff dwelling on the opposite side of the Mesa. After our quick walk by the house, we decided to take the 2.2 mile "strenuous" hike to view petroglyphs along the canyon wall.



Well considering the National Park Status and the hordes of Californians and Europeans, we figured that 'strenuous' meant 'if you are from Colorado, you MIGHT break a sweat.' Well, I think I shattered the sweat, but the views from the canyon walls and top were totally worth the trek. The petroglyphs were fascinating, and even better was the fact that a trio of girls from a nearby camp were there too, one of whom was an archeology major who could interpret the symbols for us!



After the hike we swung through the museum, but it was a quick pass as the many Californians and French that had avoided the strenuous trail were in the air conditioned museum instead. I drank a ton of water to avoid dehydration in the dry southern Colorado air, then it was off to the crown Jewell of Mesa Verde...

The Scenic Route

View Larger Map



My sister and her friend had planned a trip to Mesa Verde and points south for a week in August. Liz needed the vacation, and wanted to spend some time seeing the further reaches of the state before she leaves for Hawaii. Sadly, her friend had a family emergency right before they were scheduled to leave. This left Liz without a companion, a car that could drive that far, and a driver comfortable with the interstate. Luckily for her, she had a few people volunteer to go with her!



I was one of those, and so early on a Saturday morning we headed south from Denver along State Highway 285. I've been down that way as far as Buena Vista in recent memory, so once we got past there it was all new to me. On a whim we stopped at the Gunnison Pioneer Museum, and what a stop that turned out to be. Not only did they have a full narrow gauge train (with bell to ring), they had one of the premier car collections in the country, a military collection with weapons from every major power in World War II, fashion from the last hundred years, a school house right out of 1925, a homestead, farming equipment and more. I was shocked to find such a unique museum just along the side of the road. It really does show that sometimes life's unplanned stops are the most rewarding.



From there we passed Blue Mountain Reservor and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It was hard to keep my eye's on the road sometimes, a problem that would only get worse as we drew closer to the San Juan Mountains in the South Western corner of the state.



We stopped for Dinner and gas in Ouray. We considered stopping for the night there, but there weren't many hotels that had room, and we wanted to get as close to Mesa Verde and Durango as we could in our first travel day.



Climbing out of Ouray was something else. I hadn't realized it, but we were on our way up the Million Dollar Highway (built back when a million dollars was a lot of money!) to Red Mountain Pass, one of the most beautiful passes in the state, and this is in a state with a LOT of gorgeous high mountain passes.



We made it to Silverton around 9:30 that night, and decided to go ahead and stay there rather than push on to Durango. It was only another 50 miles to go, but we'd be summiting another pass, and quite frankly I was getting tired! Also, I kind of wanted it to be daylight for the next pass in line.



Like a good Boy Scout, I'd come prepared for the hot, dry weather in the Four Corners area and Taos, not the crips cold night air of Silverton. This made for an interesting night and morning, as I walked around town in shorts and sandals, teeth chattering.



We ate at a nearby diner the next morning, and pondered if road trips would be possible without the traditional bottomless cup of coffee. Well fortified it was on the road again, this time headed to Molas pass and then on to Durango.



Molas Pass wasn't quite as distrubing a drive as the climb out of Ouray to Red Mountain Pass, but it was still full of amazing high country views. I'll admit that like many Denver dewllers, I tend to forget that there are patches of the Rocky Mountains that lie off of I-70, and that those patches are very well worth visiting.



After a quick photo stop at the top, we made top speed for Mesa Verde, for I knew that there would be a lot of sights to see there...

When a week is mere hours yet also eternity

In one week, if all goes well, I'll be departing Denver on a British Airways flight to Copenhagen via London. From there I will take the train 25 miles to Lund University, Sounthern Sweden, and start a new, more studious life. If all goes well. My student visa has not yet arrived, and I'll admit that that fact is causing me some stress. I sent away the documents back in early June, and have been eagerly checking my mail daily. My irrepressible optimism still thinks that everything will work out fine, but a certain level of worry has intruded into my life.

Really, the visa, though troubling, is only one part of my mess of worries. Despite the fact that I have done this sort of thing more than once, I still worry. Change is healthy, necessary and inevitable, but that doesn't mean we have to like it! On the other side of any big change is a vast ocean of uncertainty, and that is intimidating. However, I have been trying to look at it in the light that uncertainty is only another word for possibility, and so on the other side of any change is a blank slate of possibilities and opportunities. When we weather change, we become better people. At least, that is what I keep telling myself when I say good-bye to everybody... again.

Mt. Bierstadt Redux (Now with 357 degrees)

The other weekend I decided it was past time to head to the really high country, and so I conviced Jen and my dad to go summit Mt. Bierstadt with me. I did Bierstadt last summer too, but it's convinient location and the ease of the hike made it a no brainer to try again. This was especially true as it was Jen's first 14er, and Bierstadt makes an excellent introduction to Colorado's high mountains.



I was excited both to climb and to hone my Panorama skills. I really enjoy shooting panoramas, and the scenery above treeline almost demands the extra space. Every photo on this post is a panorama, most of them stitches of at least 4 or 5 photos. The above image is a stitch of five vertically oriented images, basically creating photoshop super wide angle lense, without a fisheye lens's distortion.



We were blessed with excellent weather, the sky was clear until long after we had decended from the summit. I would much rather mosey down from the mountains than flee the wrath of Zeus and his lightning bolts.



On top I decided it was time to try something new, a 360 degree panorama of the whole view from the summit. When I did the initial photo stitch, I actually forgot to include a couple pictures to make it a total 360 degree image, the result looked great, but is more like 350 degrees of view. When I figured out that I had the rest of the coverage, I redid the image, but I actually like the composition on this one better, so I am sticking with it. Interestingly enough, it wouldn't upload onto blogger (The high quality version is 25 megabytes, this one is 5) so I had to upload it to flickr and link from there. If you want to view the whole panorama, you'll have to click over to flickr, and if you want to see all the detail, e-mail or post in the comments and I can send out the high quality version.