Back from the Rawah

This summer 2010 I worked for the American Conservation Corps again, this time as assistant leader of the Rawah Wilderness crew. "Rawah" means "wild place" in the Arapaho language. So, I was in the Wilderness Wilderness. My crew was very well matched and I enjoyed working with all of them in various ways. We accomplished a significant amount of trail maintenance and I covered over two hundred miles.

Wildlife sightings were frequent, especially moose. I got to see a porcupine, squirrels, moose, elk, deer, ptarmigans, blue grouse, red tails, eagles, etc. Even a blue heron one day outside of our bunkhouse. Andy and Tyler sighted an American Martin, which is rare indeed. Our biggest project involved moving about a ton of gravel from the surrounding forest onto the trail to raise the tread above the spring water. We also built a turnpike and dozens of rock water bars and step/checks.

Here are a few pictures.

The crew: Me, Tim, Andy, Sarah, Peter, and Tyler


Me touching the remains of a game drive wall dating back between 3850 and 3400 B.C.


Showing off our boots on Clark's Peak, the highest in the Rawah Wilderness. Long's Peak is in the middle of the horizon. I won a bandanna for this photo.


One of our very satisfying rock step projects on the Blue Lake trail.


Everyone after an all-crew project in RMNP.


Andrea and I up at Grassy Pass in the Rawahs . . . a wonderful trip.


One morning our work was delayed an hour because of these guys grazing on our trail.


Learning and tying knots one evening after work in the back country.


The best scenic picture I got all summer . . . on my solo 10 mile hike to Sky Pond my last day in RMNP. This photo was taken at The Loch about 6:00 am.


Atop Mount Lady Washington, enjoying a view of Long's Peak, which I will summit a month after at the same time that Jim Detterline made his world record breaking ascent of 351, beating Shep Housted's record of about a hundred years earlier. He asked me to photograph his group. Saw him again the other day when he came by to drop off some zucchini bread from Andrea's mother . . . he had just been visiting her parents in Nebraska . . . old time family friends. He had just made his 352nd ascent that day. We invited him to come to our favorite Nepali restaurant for supper with us, but he was off to some party across town. Andrea and I enjoyed our Nepali food ourselves and talked about our lives after such a summer.

Yep, a fun time indeed!