Marmots, Pink Elephants, and Icebergs - Oh, My!

Since Sara loves wildflowers and Brian loves marmots, we found a place to go backpacking that would have both. We decided to go to Lake Dorothy which is just outside of Boulder, Colorado. We left for our trip on July 20th and headed for the Fourth of July Campground to "car camp" one night and then head up the mountain to Lake Dorothy the next day. On Monday (the 20th) when we got to the campground, it wasn't too busy... but when we left on Wednesday, it was PACKED! WOW! We were so glad we had come up when we did because otherwise we wouldn't have had any place to even park the truck! :)

So we camped the first night there on our cushy air mattress and enjoyed eating our delicious hobo dinners and then crashing in the tent.

The next morning, we packed our things up and got our backpacks ready for the climb up. It was about a 3-mile climb, and it was pretty tame in comparison with our last two backpacking trips. We only gained about two-thousand feet on this one... so, not bad. Oh, and the wildflowers on the trail were breathtaking! We saw everything from Monk's Hood to Columbines and Cow Parsnip and Delphinium. I was THRILLED when I found the flower I had never seen before but had always wanted to see: Pink Elephant. My favorite animal is the elephant and the fact that there is a wildflower (which I love flowers, anyway) that looks like an elephant's head is incredible! (It's the first picture...)
On the hike up, we also had a breathtaking view of a HUGE waterfall... it was incredible! It was really running, too... guess there is still a lot of snow melt to feed the waterfall.
There was so much water we walked through, over, and next to on the way up! It was such a gorgeous hike; we could see why it was such a popular trail. There was one pretty big waterfall we crossed over by jumping from rock to rock. Fun!

As we neared the top of the mountain, it got pretty windy. It had been warm on the way up, but as soon as it started to get windy, it also got chilly. We were almost to Lake Dorothy, though... so we just pushed through the wind. There were times that the wind was so strong that it was pushing me sideways (my backpack acted as a big sail!). Once we arrived at the lake, we dipped into a slight valley, so the wind was a bit better.

We found a really cool windbreak shelter that was right next to the lake and pitched our tent next to it so we could use the structure for cooking. After our tent was set up and we had things somewhat arranged, we hiked around the lake and did some exploring.

There was still a lot of snow in the area and even a few icebergs on the lake! One of the floating icebergs was right on one of the shores that we explored and Brian couldn't resist... he had to try to jump onto it! He made it!

There were some mouse-like creatures that we heard first - and then we began to see them darting around on the rocks... but they were bigger than mice. They were about the size of small rabbits! At first, we thought they were baby marmots. But after seeing several of them, we realized that they were not baby marmots, but something else... but what? We had never seen anything like these little guys! They made a cute little squeaking noise. After getting back home and researching it, we found out that they were little "pikas." Come to find out, the anime character Pikatchu isn't a made up little animal after all! Pikatchu is a Pika!

We saw a marmot, too. During the first day when we were there, we only saw the one same marmot hanging around the lake. We never heard any marmot noises (which is a squeak-like noise, but not quite like the Pika noise). "Hmm," we thought. "Maybe he is the only one around here for some reason?" He did have some scars on his back which indicated that maybe he had been in a marmot-scrap and lost. An outcast marmot, perhaps? Fortunately, the next day we did some more hiking around camp and found some others. Whew! There were more up there and the poor little guy wasn't alone. :) This is a picture of the one marmot that was hanging around camp. Brian has a new favorite animal! Marmots are so cute (and funny to watch!).
The night after we made camp, we cooked ourselves some yummy Mountain House dinners (freeze-dried meals that really are quite tasty... just add boiling water). We had green beans and beef stew and hot chocolate and tea. It was a delicious meal! (Brian can certainly cook a good meal!)Even after we ate all of that, we were still a little hungry. Fortunately, Brian had packed an extra meal - Mexican Rice and Chicken. It smelled so good and tasted great.

After dinner, we brushed our teeth and got ready for bed... even though it was only about 8:00pm - we were exhausted. There was still a bit of daylight left, too, which was amazing. I wanted to badly to stay awake and see the stars, so Brian did his best to keep me awake by talking to me and playing Uno (our favorite game!). After beating him at several games in a row, darkness had finally come and we poked our heads outside our cozy tent and gazed at the night sky. It was so cool to see all the stars that are normally washed out by city lights. We were able to clearly see the milky way!

Sleep came easily to us both after such a fun, long day of hiking and playing outside.

I was unaware of when Brian got up and left the tent in the middle of the night... until I heard him outside on the rocks nearby hurling up his Mexican Rice and Chicken! I was dreaming one minute, and then woke up to realize that he really wasn't next to me and he really was outside getting sick! Oh no! (There is always that moment of denial where you say, "No, this isn't happening!")

I found my poor husband out there getting sick in the middle of the night! There wasn't much I could do besides give him hugs and pray that he would feel better. Poor Brian had a throbbing headache and lost pretty much everything in his stomach. :( Finally, after some "midnight star-gazing" we went back to bed (and took some Rolaids that I so conveniently remembered to pack!).

In the morning, Brian felt all better! Wow, I was relieved.

We wanted to try hiking up to the top of Mount Neva which overlooked Lake Dorothy, so we hiked around the back side of the mount after eating some breakfast. On the trail over, we saw some very interesting looking birds... I believe they were White-Tailed Ptarmigans. The hike up the back side of the mount was a climb, but worth the view! We overlooked Lake Dorothy and could just barely see our little tent amongst the rocks. (Can you see the little black speck in the upper left corner near the lake? That was the shelter we found... our tent was right next to it.) We didn't quite make it to the top of Mount Neva, but we were totally satisfied with where we did make it to. It was a very pretty view! We hiked back down to camp and figured it was time to pack things up and start heading back down the mountain. So after paking up our sleeping bags, our tent, and everything else, we said goodbye to the marmots and the pikas and started back out on the trail leading down.

The wildflowers took my breath away on the way down just as much as they did on the way up! What a pretty trail.

Stinky and sweaty, we piled our stuff into the truck and headed home. It was a great trip! I hope that eventually we can get to a point that we can go more often. I'm just glad that I have such a mountain man to go campin' with! :)

The House Finch

A few weeks ago, I (Sara) woke up and walked out into the kitchen to grab my breakfast (our kitchen is connected to our living room which has a gas fireplace). As I poured my daily bowl of cereal, I heard some rustling of feathers that was coming from the fireplace... but I honestly thought it was coming from up in the chimney. Every now and then, I would hear a little "tweet tweet" and so my immediate thought was that we had birds making a nest in the chimney. "Silly birds," I thought. "Now how are we going to evict them?! There is no way to get up on our roof and walk over and take the nest out of the chimney!"

I wandered upstairs for my daily e-mail check and heard the same rustling sound. The sound came and went, and naturally, I assumed that the bird who was building a nest had gone to find more twigs and stuffing during the times there was silence. No... But something was strange. I was sitting at the computer in our loft which overlooks our living room and something just told me that I should look more closely at the fireplace. I really do think it was the voice of God that I heard because as I stared intently at the fireplace, I saw something poke out from below it! There is a little vent under the fire box and something small had just poked out for a brief second and went back in! Instantly, I knew what it was.

I sat my bowl of cereal down and ran downstairs. I examined the vent area and saw that it could be removed with a standard screwdriver, so I ran out in the garage and grabbed the first one I saw in Brian's toolbox. With my screwdriver (and a pair of leather gloves) in hand, I ran back in and pried the vent cover off to find a very frightened little finch stuck under the fireplace!! She was terrified! (I know it was a female now after doing a little research on the marking differences between the males and the females. It was a learning experience for me!) She was so terrified that she was frozen in fear, so the best thing I thought to do was to simply let her be and let her wander out on her own. Her poor little feathers were so ruffled! As I watched from a distance, I saw her hop out from the dark and scary place into the bright living room.

Unfortunately, she found a big window that cannot be opened in our living room and was absolutely convinced that that was the way out. Over and over again she slammed her poor little body in to the glass - when all along there was the big, huge patio door that was totally opened for her RIGHT BELOW the window where she sat perched and frustrated. She could hear her friends outside chirping away, and she even returned their chirping. She sounded so forlorn. I felt so sad for her!

Finally, after almost an hour of flying throughout the house (which must have seemed like an eternity for this poor little finch!), she found a window upstairs that I was able to remove the screen for her and she flew out. Whew! What a little ordeal for this poor little creature.

I think I've seen her once or twice getting a drink from the fountain on our patio that Brian built. I'm glad she is okay!

While I was trying to gently guide her down the patio door with the end of my broom while she sat perched on that big window's sill, it reminded me of how God sometimes tries to gently guide us in the direction that we should go - but we are so convinced that we know better than He does (like she thought the window WAS the way out of her crisis!). The open door may be very near to us, but we are sometimes too stubborn to trust His guidance. It broke my heart every time I heard her hit the glass and try to fly outside; similarly, I am sure it hurts God to see us suffer unnecessarily - especially when He loves us so much and wants what is best for us! Just like how I wanted that little bird to be able to spread her wings and find her friends and play outside, God wants us to be happy.

Anyway, what a little ordeal! I'm so glad that I could be home to rescue the little house finch! (That really is what the name of the bird is... a "house finch" - even though they liveoutside! haha). We called the repair man and had them put a screen around the top part of the chimney so no more little birdies can fly in and get trapped under the fireplace! :)

Our One-Year Anniversary

We made it one year already!

On June 20th, we said "Happy Anniversary" to each other for the first time. :) We had to wait until June 21, however, before we were able to celebrate...

We had planned to go on a camping trip to celebrate our anniversary and planned to leave on June 21 after Brian got back from work that morning (Brian is currently on the midnight shift and usually comes home around 6:30am). When Brian got home from work on the 21st, he came into the bedroom and kissed me awake and then told me that I had to wait before I came out of the bedroom. When he told me it was okay to come out, I found a small box sitting on the floor wrapped in pretty paper. I truly had no idea what could be in the box!

When I opened the box, I saw that it was ammunition for a shotgun.... could it possibly be? I had been drooling over a particular shotgun in the store. Brian had taken me there a few times to go look at it because he knew I liked it so much.

After opening the box of ammo, Brian said I should go look in the garage. When I saw a long skinny box sitting there (he wrapped it up, too!), I knew exactly what it was and I tore into it. There it was! It was the Mossberg!

We played around with it for a little bit and then finished getting all packed up and we headed for the mountains.

There is a certain campsite at Buffalo Creek that we really like, and fortunately it was available on this trip! We made camp; Brian set up a hammock, we pitched the tent, brought down firewood, unrolled our sleeping bags and just enjoyed the scenery for awhile.

That night we ate a delicious campfire dinner under the stars and wished each other "happy anniversary" again!

The next day, after Brian made breakfast, we hiked up to the top of a nearby mountain with a really cool outcropping of rocks on top. We hiked all the way up to the very top! What a view. It was a hot day that day, though, so we thought we should go to the nearby lake and cool off...

We drove up to the nearby lake and rented a canoe. We paddled on the lake for about 2 hours and challenged each other to take a dip in the freezing cold mountain lake. So I stripped down to my bikini and Brian was down to his swim shorts and we took turns dunking our whole bodies into the water. I went first because I am so brave (haha, whatever)... although it did take me awhile before I got the courage to dunk my head under. Brian went next and he "just did it" to get it over with. The cool water did feel good since it was actually really hot up there (even in June!).

After goofing around in the water, I felt something weird in my eye. It started getting pretty red and feeling like there was dirt in it or something... since I get pink eye very easily, I knew exactly what it was. We went to the little shop near the lake and bought some eye drops and I flushed out my eye using half the bottle! With prayers, our hoping, and a little faith, my eye eventually cleared up, but it did take about another day before it was better! Whew! That was close. :)

After we messed around at the lake and ate lunch there on the shore, we headed back to camp. We took this opportunity to bust out the shotgun (and Dad's tiny Ruger that he let us borrow to try out) and also Brian's Glock. We went for a hike to find a good spot for target practice.

We found one - we tied a line between two trees and hung targets from the line since I am a stickler about not shooting up live trees and plants. :) We practiced target shooting for awhile and we had a blast! (Literally, haha.)

I really like my new shotgun. :) Surprisingly, Dad's little tiny gun also did really well. I didn't think I would like it, but truly, I actually did.

That night, like every night, we enjoyed eating a delicious dinner from the dutch oven and we enjoyed some star gazing after dinner. We were surprisingly tired (especially the first night!) so it was all we could do to stay up until a few stars were out...

The next day, we got geared up and went mountain bike riding. We rode a ways on the dirt road that led to our camp (which was an uphill butt-kicker!) and then got to ride a ways on the Colorado Trail. What a beautiful trail! There were Columbines galore and lots of pretty flowers. It was so green! It was also very hot. :) Fortunately, there was more shade on this trail than other trails we have been on in the same area. We passed through lots of aspen meadows and I couldn't resist stopping for some pictures. There was one very technical downhill part that Brian FLEW down (I was amazed at his mad skills) - I enjoyed the downhill riding as well (but I pick my line a little more carefully than Brian does... so it takes me a little longer!).

We enjoyed just hanging out the next day... it began to rain on the final stretch of our ride back to camp, so we pedaled as fast as we could on our return trip "home." Brian used a tarp and strung it between a few trees to make a protective cover that we could cook our lunch under - and we made "beans and weenies" and tuna fish sandwiches for lunch while it rained all around us. We were snug under the tarp while we cooked and ate! For dessert, we had some tasty cherries. Then we snuggled in the tent and played some games and took a nap.

The next day (Wednesday) we had to get ready to come back home. Although we kicked around the idea of never returning back to civilization, we reluctantly packed things back into the truck. Brian said he didn't think I'd like living on squirrel meat, and I told him I would be fine with it. :) I just need lots of vegetables and there wasn't a whole lot to choose from out there in the woods... especially in the winter time. :)

We got most of our stuff packed back up and left out the guns and the shotgun so we could go do some final target practice. Brian also wanted to adjust the sites on my shotgun (yeah, I KNOW it's a shotgun with sites. Don't laugh!). After we blew up some more stuff and our shoulders were thoroughly sore from shooting slugs and birdshot, we finished putting everything back into the truck and headed home.

It was a fun, adventurous trip! We had a fabulous anniversary and we hope to enjoy many more!

Stay tuned for our backpacking trip this July....