Boulders of Ice

Here is another "oldie"... lately it seems I've been more interested in digging through old photos rather than shooting new ones. However, the weather recently has been bringing us cooler temperatures so hopefully there will be some NEW ice to photograph soon :-)





































In the meantime, I bring you this shot from March of 2007. We had a lot of ice that year, and some rather unique things happened. We had ice extending out from shore quite a ways and a big wind storm came up, crushing up the surface ice. As the ice rolled around in the waves it was shaped into these round-ish "boulders". Then, the waves flung the ice boulders up onto the shoreline. Most of the beaches in Grand Portage were covered with ice similar to what you see in this photo. It was pretty surreal... and FUN walking along the shoreline and taking in this winter wonderland! This post comes to you on Christmas Eve, so I'd like to wish you all a wonderful and very Merry Christmas!

Crystal Springs ..

Got out on the skinny skis for the first time this season. Jennifer and I were originally planning a trip to one of the MTTA huts but were not able to on short notice due to their archaic reservation system. (That and our hut of choice was already full.) We decided on one day of skiing but where would we go? While the state was already charging to park at Sno Parks, no grooming had actually occurred except on the MTTA trails. I checked with the ranger stationed in REI and he told me the I90 Sno Parks would be groomed starting December 5th. Since this information was not online I took it because it was all we had. Jennifer and I were still going to head that way because we didn't know where else to go.

Meany snow cats awaiting more snow

Signs were good when we arrived at the pass and it was snowing. We continued east and stopped at the Crystal Springs Sno Park. We figured with the snowmobile traffic, it would resemble groomed and be good enough to ski on. To our dismay, the parking lot was not plowed and a high clearance vehicle was needed to negotiate it. So we drove down the highway to Cabin Creek to see what was in store. When we arrived, we saw a few guys digging a spot out in the parking lot so they could park. I wasn't particularly interested in that kind of workout, so we went across the highway to check on the trail condition. It certainly was not groomed. There was a small trail trench in the middle and that was it. We decided to head back to Crystal Springs.

The road

From our earlier trip to the parking lot we knew there was a spot to park just outside the lot where the road was plowed and we would not be in the way. We parked there and geared up. Jennifer was excited to use her new skis for the first time. We skied through the parking lot and onto the trail while keeping a close eye out for snow machines. The snow coverage wasn't great, but we didn't have to ski on dirt anywhere. Once we hit the road, there was low coverage from wheeled vehicles driving on it, so we kept to one side. We decided to head down the road to Trollhaugen as they had run their snow cat on it but did not groom. (That, and it was off limits to snowmobiles.) We skied down that way on what was nice compacted snow from the cat. Once at an intersection, the cat had turned around and we ventured out into untracked snow on the trails there. We made a small loop and returned back out to the road.

Skiing in the untracked forest

On our way out we stumbled upon ski tracks heading into the Erling Stordahl trails and we followed them for a loop. While not quite as nice as skiing on the trails the cat had driven on, it was nice having the track in there for us already. After that loop we called it quits and headed home.

Faster skiing on tracked snow

It was fun getting out on the skinny skis for a change. They'll probably make me better on the fatter skis, because I find it more difficult to balance and ski with them. Jennifer had fun and cannot wait to go back. Unfortunately, the trails will not be groomed until December 5th. Which makes sense to me now that I saw that the coverage probably wasn't enough for a proper grooming. And they wouldn't want to start grooming on Thanksgiving Weekend for obvious reasons. (Although I bet the state could have earned more money if they did.)

Grand Canyon :: Bright Angel Trail to Indian Gardens

Prior to our little adventure yesterday we had gone to the Backcountry Permit Office to see what was available for an overnight trip. Somehow, Sue and Fred had talked me into a little backpacking hike and an overnighter. It really didn't take much convincing on their part as I was ready for a little adventure. Sue and Fred have hiked all the way to the river previously, spending a night at Phantom Ranch, then stopping off a second night at the Indian Gardens campground, making the trek to the top the following day. They have also done a lot of hiking and backpacking to various other places. They had also “trained” for this trip. So they were “old pros” at this backpacking thing. Me? Never backpacked. Never slept under the stars. There's a first time for everything!

As it turns out, there was a spot open at the Indian Gardens Campground for the next day, Tuesday. We were warned that there was a chance of precipitation Monday afternoon, possibly even some snow Monday night. We went ahead and made the reservation anyway.

Monday afternoon, after our return from Cedar Ridge, the temperature dropped dramatically. It had started raining in the late afternoon but that rain quickly changed to snow! Big flakes. Wet flakes. Lots of them. At first it didn't stick, but we soon noticed it accumulating on the branches of trees. By the time we went to bed Monday night, there was about two inches of snow on the ground. And it was cold. It got even colder during the night. And the snow was still there on Tuesday morning.

The scene we awoke to on Tuesday morning.

It was pretty, but we really could have done without it! I guess Mother Nature just wanted us to be able to experience all facets of the Grand Canyon.

By the time we had breakfast and double checked to see that we had everything, the sun had come out. It was about 8:30 when we left for the trailhead. Fred dropped Sue and me off, parked the car in the overnight lot, and returned within a few minutes. Then we walked to the trailhead. When we got to the Canyon, another surprise awaited us!

Fog! Filling the Canyon! Yes, snow, we had expected. But fog? One amongst our party, who shall remain nameless (not me), wasn't sure that we should continue. It would be too slippery. We couldn't see. But the other two of us took the positive attitude (or perhaps, were a little crazy) “It will get better. The fog will go away. The snow won't be very far down.” On we went. This picture was taken at 8:42 a.m. just beyond the first turn into the canyon.

Sue and Fred at the first tunnel, just .18 miles from the rim and ten minutes into the hike. The tunnel is visible in the previous photo. It was slow going. It was slippery. We took our time. Others had gone down that path before us, so it had to be okay, right?

The view of the rim from the trail, 20 minutes into the hike.

One of the worst patches of the trail, about 30 minutes into the hike. Beneath that fresh layer of snow was a very thick layer of slippery ice. This section of the trail gets little, if any, sun.

To be continued... part two

A Most Excellent Adventure :: Humpback Whales!

Friday, August 27th - - On my way to Juneau on the Alaska Ferry on Wednesday several people offered their opinions on the best tours there. The overwhelming consensus was that the Tracy Arm Cruise to the Sawyer Glaciers with the Adventure Bound was the absolute best. So the first thing I did when I got to Juneau was to stop by their office, which was very easy to find, and make my reservation.

Our cruise was aboard the little boat on the left, which is owned by Steve and Winona Weber. Steve is also the Captain of the boat and he promised us it was going to be a great day – especially since it was his birthday!

Departure was right on time at eight o'clock. Not quite filled to capacity there were about 40 passengers onboard. As you can see, it was another cloudy-gray day and we all had our fingers crossed just hoping that it would not rain.

Because of the overcast skies, the first portion of the cruise was a little dreary. The clouds generally covered the mountain tops, or rather they hovered over them and everything was rather grayish and dull looking. Some of us would occasionally go outside for a little while but when the boat was moving at full speed it was very cold.

Not quite an hour into the cruise, Captain Steve made a sharp turn to starboard (right) and broadcast over the loudspeaker that whales had been sighted. He went on to say that he usually doesn't stop for whale sightings on the way to the glaciers but that these were too good to pass by.

Everyone was excited. We couldn't see them in front of us yet but could tell that the Captain was excited too. After what seemed like a long time, but in actuality was only about 15 minutes, the boat slowed down. Still in the distance up ahead we could see three whales spouting off. Wondering why he didn't go closer, we were directed to look to the right and there was a pod of seven Humpback whales – and they weren't very far away! We had all been so intent on looking at what was ahead of us that no one had seen the second group of whales.

They were amazing. After about ten minutes they disappeared beneath the surface of the water. When they resurfaced, Steve moved closer towards them. The first group of three that we had seen had moved south while these seven were going north. Then we saw another group of three coming towards us. Several times the whales went beneath the surface and each time Steve went after them. At one time the whales were quite close to the boat. It was so much fun watching them. It was incredible. None of the whales breached – jumped up out of the water – but they were so cool to watch. Everyone was on the outside decks, moving around, trying to get the best shot. You could feel the excitement.

Three in a row.
Going down.
They were so close together! One spouting and another going down.
They were coming right towards us! But they turned before they got closer.
Three of them together.
A few more tail flips...

Then there were at least four of them together!
Huge and amazing!
And then they were gone... Awesome!
We spent about half an hour with the whales and when they came up the last time they were way, way off in the distance. Steve turned the boat around and we resumed our journey to the glaciers. It was one of those “WOW” moments (many times over). Talking with several other passengers, one of them made the comment that nothing could top that! But he was to be proven wrong...

Studio Bike

As mentioned previously, my beautiful Mercier mixte (now named Suzanne) was acquired and spruced up for the important role of Studio Bike. She lives full-time in our photography studio outside of Boston, and is there for me when I need her for local errands. These involve mostly coffee runs and scoping out photo-shoot locations, neither of which are too far from the studio. And thank goodness for that, because my initial impression of the area as "No Bike Town" has only been confirmed over the past two months.



I know it looks like a day at the beach, but honest - we've been working all through the weekend! Plus, this bit of sunshine was but a brief interlude between hurricane-like rains.



See? Hard at work. Mlle. Suzanne fits nicely in the narrow space between my desk area (a.k.a. negative-scanning station) and the wall. To the right is the Co-Habitant's desk (a.k.a. paper-cutting station), behind us is the darkroom, and in front of us is our studio-mate's work area - including a formal portrait studio that he has been operating for decades.



A portion of the dark room.



Drying area for negatives and prints. Suzanne is overjoyed to have access to this cool space and to work as an artist's assistant. And I suspect being close to the beach does not hurt either.

A Few Hours With a Friend

Yesterday afternoon, my last day at the Family History Library, my stomach started growling and I realized I hadn't brought lunch as I usually do. I took the stairs from the 3rd floor, where I had been looking at some books, down to the 1st floor where the snack room was located.



As I was opening the door, I was pleasantly surprised to see Stephen Danko standing there. I think it took him a few seconds to realize it was me but I was soon engulfed by a hearty hug! We talked for a few minutes and made plans for supper after the library closed.



We met up as planned, had a delicious meal, then decided to walk through Temple Square. The Christmas Lights had been turned on Friday at dusk. The Square was crowded with lots of people enjoying the lights in the cool (actually cold) evening air.



The few pictures that I took don't do the scene justice and don't show the lights very well. Nearly every tree in the Square was wrapped in various covered lights.





There were several nativity scenes. This one simply shows Joseph and Mary with the baby Jesus, floating in one of the water features.







This was the one area in the Square that was not covered with lights. It told the story of the birth of Christ, with each scene being lit as the story progressed. It was nearly impossible to hear the narrator but I think most everyone there was familiar with the story!





The time passed quickly – too quickly – but it was so nice to see Steve again and spend even a few short hours together. Thanks, Steve!

Tuffee & Me

This is me and my dog, Tuffee taking a break in our very slow, windy walk along the first 100 yards or so of the trail down from Sandia Crest.

Monahans Sandhills State Park

Wednesday, April 5th - - Just off of I-20, about 30 miles west of Odessa, Texas lies the Monahans Sandhills State Park. When I arrived here early this afternoon the temperature was in the upper 80s and the sun was shining. There was a little wind, but nothing like it had been the previous three days. Although the campground is just a mile and a half off of the Interstate, the traffic could not be heard. It was peaceful and quiet with only four other campers present.











It never ceases to amaze me how life can get a foothold in such arid conditions. There were signs of several different critters in the sand along with these small trees.

Busch Gardens, Williamsburg VA

Today we headed over to Busch Gardens. I've been here before, but it's been years since then. None of the guys have ever been here.

I thought this was pretty fitting:

We had a lot of fun together! It was a great day!

1/29/10

That is the date of the very first C/T blog post. The comment was onice tool umbilicals.



Cold Thistle now enters its fourthyear. Amazing to me anyone drops by here. It is still fun so I continue with a little help from other writers (hopefully more writers) and the Outdoor Industry in general.



The blog hadn't hit 4K readers in a day or 10,000 readers in a month a couple of months ago. The last few weekshave been bumping at 6000 visitors a day and wentwell past 10,000 readers in January of '13 @ 115K.



Att that isexciting for me. Humbling as well and a responsibilityI take seriously.



Thanks for dropping by! Some fun stuff in the works coming shortly.

Pickleball Tournament at Sun City

Rich and Donna invited us to another Pickleball Tournament in Sun City. So we got up very early this morning and headed over there. I saw some familiar faces from last year and many new ones. From our Thousand Trails group there was Rich, Donna, Stan, Sally, Buddy, Tracy and Nathan, Austin and I.



The courts here are very nicely done so they are easy to play on. We did have some wind and sun, but not so much so that we couldn't play. I saw a lot of really good games played today.



And now, a moment to pause and brag on the boy. Whenever we are in these type of settings, I am always so impressed with how he handles himself. He was the only person under 40 playing and yet he acted as respectably and maturely as most of the adults there. He's pretty cute too!

Ok, back to the tournament! There were games for men and women's doubles in the morning. Mixed doubles in the afternoon. A bunch of people left after the morning games. Some without letting anyone know. So that switched things up in the afternoon. They did a great job of still making it a lot of fun and working out so those of us who stayed had fun.



I'm so glad we did go, and we are already making plans for the next one in February!



living the life in sunny Florida!

Trumpets of Color

Trumpets of Color, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

The 'Grandpa Ott' morning glories are going through a second bloom period. There were over 50 flowers on the plants today!

The 'Heavenly Blue' vines are not blooming much yet, but there are a lot of flower buds...

Up Close

You can see the white truck and trailer which gives a good idea just how big hot air balloons are. Balloon crews use a pickup or SUV with a trailer to haul their balloon and gandola around. Once the balloon is up and away the truck tries to follow the balloon from the ground. Of couse they use cell phones and 2 way radios to help keep track of the balloon. Some balloon owners bring their own chase crew, as the people who follow the balloon are called but some don't and the Balloon Fiesta is always in need of people to work on the chase crews.

Looking out to Sea

Prosecco and Summer Darkness in Utrecht

It is never too late to post what I did last weekend. Well, Saturday and Sunday I pretty much did what the doctor prescribed—do nothing and relax. But Friday evening I went out with Blondine for some drinks and people watching at Zussen Lobby Restaurant in Janskerkhof, Utrecht.

We had coffee and then prosecco. I had white and she had rose. Then we ordered another round, both rose. Then it rained. Summer ended for a while. Then it was dry again.

It was the perfect evening to people watch in Utrecht. Because it’s the yearly ‘Summer Darkness’ festival, a 3-day/night gothic-cosplay event held at the Dom. The city’s ambience was something like god threw out a huge party and invited all his friends from heaven and hell. We even saw the devil and his army of bats. Naturally, Blondine and I stayed glued to our seats as we relish the outstanding passing scenery before us. We had fun watching!

I was not able to take pictures of the great costumes because I was busy talking but I managed to take 1!

Our plan after the drinks was really to check out this ‘Summer Darkness’ event at the Dom but then bad luck came in the form of rain. It rained, and rained and rained. Continuously. No chance.

And midnight was fast approaching. These princesses need to go home and sleep and be tuck in bed so time to call the trusted and loyal prince charming Dutchman on his white horse (black car actually haha) to rescue the damsels in distress from the pouring rain.

Visit Period: July
Destination: Utrecht, The Netherlands

All things Rainier...

More information about the climbing routes and access to them is starting to pour in from our vast network of contributors (you could be one too)... And from the latest reports, getting up and down the Glacier Basin trail won't be so easy this year. Today, the NPS trail-crew leader said, "My initial impressions, given the several feet of snow, is that the route will be impassable to most people and will likely require the full replacement of about one mile of trail." There's more on the Glacier Basin trail in the Updated Route Conditions.

The Seattle PI (in the Getaway Section) did a nice feature on spring access to Mt Rainier. The story covers what's happening, safety, and what visitors may expect once the park reopens. But the best part of the story is that they managed to tag this blog as "all things Rainier." Nice!

Last week, I revisited Camp Muir for the first time in three months. Things there seemed as normal as ever when it comes to spring access... However, things will be different this summer with the new guide services on the mountain. The most notable change will be that the NPS ranger station is moving to the Cook Shack (which is much more centrally located in camp). Also worth noting are the changes to what guide service will be operating out of what facility... AND that there will be a few new weatherports at Camp Muir... When the dust settles on the plan, I'll post more information. In the meantime, the reservation office has been quite busy churning out permits. If you've submitted a climbing reservation, there is a good chance that your confirmation is already in the mail. Pictured right is Seattle Times photogragher Erika Shultz, image by Mike Gauthier.

In other mountaineering news, Phil Ershler (longtime guide for International Mountain Guides) and his wife Susan recently released a book about their quest for the seven summits. In 2002, they became the first known couple to complete the circuit. The Seattle PI did a really nice piece about them, and some of the trials and tribulations, that went on behind the scenes.

Center for Great Apes Tour

When we were doing volunteer work for Reach the World, I wrote about a sanctuary that is nearby that houses a famous chimp. Michael Jackson's chimp, Bubbles, lives there now. The kids really got a kick out of that and asked me lots of questions about him. Unfortunately at the time, I couldn't really answer because I hadn't been to the place he lived so I couldn't tell them.



This past week that changed because we not only visited his home, we saw him in person and saw he is doing well. I can't even describe how excited I was to visit where he does live, The Center for Great Apes. It is very close by where we are this winter, but because it is not open to the public, you would never know it was there. It is very discrete and on land that allows a beautiful place for the animals to live in a peaceful environment.



The center was started when it's founder agreed to take in an orangutan and it grew from there. You can read the story here: History of the Center for Great Apes. In short, it is now a sanctuary for orangutans and chimpanzees.



We had a very small group with us from Thousand Trails that went for a private tour. We rode over with new pickleball friends, Garth and Rosemary. Since our group was so small, it made the visit feel very intimate.



We were allowed to take pictures, but they asked that we not share them on the internet so I won't post them here.



I can share that this was one of my top favorite things to do since we hit the road full time. It was so much better than I ever expected. So many times when we visit places where animals are housed, I have conflicting emotions. I am glad they are safe, but at times it doesn't seem to be a way of life that I'd think is truly enjoyable for an animal. That was not the case here at all. This was the most impressive sanctuary we have ever visited as far as the thoughtfulness they put into the environment for the animals.



On top of all that, we were able to get much closer to the animals than I had expected. So close that it was overwhelming to me at times, because of the emotions that welled up inside of me. I didn't even edit my pictures for a few days because of the swell of emotions that I was still feeling from the visit. If you are in the area, get a group together and GO visit this place! You won't regret it!



We have been enjoying gorgeous weather here this winter which makes things like this even more enjoyable. Living the life in Sunny Florida!