Bug Traps

Places: Mountains

Mountains, mountains, mountains! Where are my mountains! I've sat atop a granite rock in the Big Horn Mountains, overlooking a canyon wall of limestone, and watched swallows swooping in and out, in and out, chasing off a hawk. My position is so high I can see the full length of the canyon, the valley into which it opens, the miles of hills, another valley, more purple desert hills and finally other mountain ranges, the Owl Creeks, Absorokees, Wind Rivers, and Bear Tooth, peaking through the summer haze. Or, those thunderstorms, that make anything man made rattle and wobble, trying to withstand a sudden downpour and claps of thunder. I've walked along a dusty trail in dangerous heat, swatting big blue flies that had previously been visiting cow pies. I've camped at 10,000 feet, listening to raindrops which I hoped would not make it through my old tent's walls. I miss the mountains. Perhaps I should go back there.

Yes, living in mountains is different than vacationing in them. I've done both. My six-member family lived in a two room cabin for three summers. I hated some of it, but really enjoyed more. The outhouse up the hill. The doe and he twin fauns living near the pond. Sleeping in bunked cots. Washing dishes on the porch. Having watermelon seed spitting contests directly into wild, native, grasses. Watching the neighbor marmot watch us. I liked the smells, and the quiet sounds. The wind.

Hiking is one of my favorite things. I could hike all day. Trail or no, I'll go. There is a beauty to planning one thing for your day, a hike. You need food, books, protection, tools for your job, if you have one, and water.

As a kid, I sometimes joined Phil on an excursion to inspect bug traps. We drove the gravel road, hiked along the trail, and stopped at every bug trap that was set up. Phil would identify and count the various insects in the trap, to understand what bugs were in the area, to later decide if that was a good thing. If an especially interesting bug was trapped, Phil put it into his Nalgene bottle, or a special container filled with a preservative, so that Kelly, the bug-guy, could inspect it later. Then I would help reset the traps. I would like to do that again.

Could I collect things in the mountains. Bugs, rocks, dirt, tree core samples, leaves, bones, owl pellets, footprints. I would like a job like that.