Rocky Mountain National Park and Golden, Colorado

After visiting back home in Berwyn and before we came back to our California home, we made a quick stop to Denver. It gave us a chance to visit Romy's relatives, Jeraline and John and their daughter Joanna, who live in Golden, Colorado, and also to meet up with Courtney and her mom to go hiking around Rocky Mountain National Park.



View from the Thurston's deck in Golden Colorado. Beyond the trees you can see more snow-capped mountains.

Romy's relatives in Golden, recently (in June, I think) acquired a 1976 VW Westfalia Bus. The whole Thurston and extended family has started restoring it so that it could get back on the road. John plans to drive it to Door County in Wisconsin in October or September for a bike ride through the county. When we arrived at their place on July 11th, Romy helped them do some minor work. But then it was time for lunch, and we went to Buffalo Bill's and had a buffalo burger. Mmmmmmm.



The 'dragon wagon' which the Thurston family is fixing up.

In the afternoon, Romy continued to help here and there with the bus, and then we went on a drive through the local mountains in John's Miata convertible. Sadly, we had to leave that evening, but we would be back a few days later to help and get the bus running (which it did on Tuesday)! We went off to pick up Courtney and her mom at the airport, and then we all drove to Rocky Mountain National Park that night. We camped in the KOA in Estes Park.

The next morning, Courtney, Romy, and I packed up all of our stuff and headed to the back-country permit office for the national park. We picked up our back-country camping permit, and bear vault to store our food in, and hit the Fern Lake trail head to hike the Bear Lake Loop on the East side of the park.



Me, Courtney, and Romy starting our hike to Fern Lake.

When we started hiking, it was sunny and warm, but afternoon thunderstorms were rolling in. We hiked through an aspen and pine forest, with abundant wild flowers and wild roses for about an hour before we made it to "The Pool," where it started raining. Although we didn't like the rain, it wasn't too bad, so we stopped under some trees out of the rain, and had our sandwiches that we packed for lunch. This was the last time we would see a good amount of other people until the end of the hike at Bear Lake. When the rain stopped and we finished our lunch, we continued on the trail. The next leg to Fern Falls was really tough because it was constantly uphill. We were breathing pretty had because of the elevation. We were over 8,000 ft. and climbing through pine forested mountainsides.



Courtney and Romy hiking to Fern Lake.

When we reached Fern Falls, we took a short break, but soon continued on the uphill climb to our back-country campsite at Fern Lake, which stands at roughly 9,500 ft. We were getting more and more tired, although the hiking would have been pretty easy at sea level. By the time we reached the campsite, it was still cloudy and drizzling. All three of us set up camp in the forest, and made sure to hide the bear canister with all of food and toiletries far away, at least 70 feet away from the tents. The bears can still smell the food inside, but it is near impossible for them to open it up to get to the food. The bear eventually gives up and leaves the canister and your camp alone. Once a bear learns that it can get free food at a campsite, the bear becomes dangerous because it will always come back. Bears that never learn that they can get food from humans at campsites will stay healthy and wild and will most likely not bother anyone camping in the back country unless they feel threatened.



Our campsite at Fern Lake.

Once we set up camp, we hiked an off-shoot trail to Spruce Lake, another small subalpine lake. When we got there, the thunderstorm clouds started clearing out and gave way to blue skies. This made us really happy! In the area, the stream we followed had a lot of trout in it. I tried poking one with a stick to see if it would be easy to spear one like the Man vs Wild episode, and the fish didn't move! I poked it and it didn't even care!



The next morning we woke up to clear skies. Me, Romy, and Courtney in front of Fern Lake.

That evening, when we returned to the campsite, we ate and then checked out Fern Lake. There we met two other campers from Ohio and helped them cook their dinner. Once it got dark, we hurried back to camp and fell asleep. We were pretty tired. We hiked a total of about 5 miles that day.



Romy and I at Odessa Lake.



Another view of Odessa Lake at 10,020 ft.

The next morning, we continued our hike another 0.8 miles uphill to Odessa Lake, which stood at 10,020 ft. This lake was more picturesque because of the larger mountains in the background. Some people we saw there jumped in for a quick dip, but although it was hot out, the water was still too cold for us! We only stayed for a few minutes to enjoy the views, and then went back on the trail where were kept going up, up, and up!



After Odessa Lake, the trail took us high enough that we had to hike over some snow!

The hike after Odessa Lake was my favorite part. We climbed up near the edge of the treeline at over 11,000 ft. The views were spectacular, and we saw snow covered peaks with waterfalls, tundra and wild flowers, and sweeping views of some valleys below us. We even had to cross some patches of snow which didn't get a chance to melt yet, although it was mid-July. The trail became pretty exposed with little tree cover in some areas, but the weather was fine and we hiked on at a leisurely pace.



Jenn taking a break at over 11,000 ft between Odessa Lake and Bear Lake.

At roughly the halfway point for our hike that day, about 2.5 miles on the trail, we stopped and ate lunch on a small boulder field. Squirrels and Chipmunks ran around us and we even saw a Pika scurry past! At that point the trail began to go downhill and the hiking got way easier. Not only that, but we began seeing more people hike past as we got nearer to Bear Lake, the end of our hike and also one of the most popular places in the national park. There were more mountain meadows and small creeks that we passed, full of wild flowers until we finally got to Bear Lake.



The popular Bear Lake.

We squeezed through the masses of people as we hiked past the lake and tried to find the closest shuttle bus. Since we started our hike at Fern Lake, and ended it at Bear Lake, we needed to get back to the car by shuttle bus. Luckily one left right away, so we hoped on it and it felt good to be sitting down on a cushioned seat. The shuttle drove down the road to a main station (Park and Ride) where we transferred to a smaller shuttle. It took us back down another road where we parked our car the day before at the Fern Lake trail head. We got to the car just as it started to rain on us! Like clockwork, the afternoon thunderstorms rumbled over us.



The afternoon thunderstorms roll in as we made it to the Fern Lake trail head.

The storms passed quickly and we were already on our way to Old Fall River Rd., a dirt road which climbed to over 12,000 ft up to Trail Ridge Road (Hwy 34), the highest continuously paved highway in the US. On the way we saw Elk and Marmots, and beautiful mountain views. Then we spent the rest of our last day in the park driving the Trail Ridge Road back to Estes Park, where we camped out for one last night before going back to Denver and Golden.



Elk resting at nearly 12,000 ft on Old Fall River Rd.



Tundra, wild flowers, and huge mountains off Trail Ridge Rd.



The top of the world.

Hanging out in Eastern Michigan

After 4th of July, we went to visit Mark and Emma in Ann Arbor, Michigan. On Sunday we checked out Mark's new house in Hamburg, MI and then we ordered the most interesting pizza I ever ate - a BLT pizza that had mayonnaise instead of pizza sauce, cheese, bacon, and diced lettuce on top. It was tasty but messy! On Monday, after Mark got off work, we headed to Big Portage Lake to have a swim and a BBQ. Here are some pictures:



Setting up the BBQ pit.


Emma tends to the brats while Mark and Romy relax on the blanket. When the sun went away behind the clouds it got cold.


Me and Romy at the lake, with a fat woman in orange walking behind us.

Picking up the gold Buick

The gold Buick LeSabre 4 door, which Romy's grandma purchased in 1970, has been kept in Romy's family. Over the years, it has had a few coats of paint put on it and some rust developed since it was kept in Berwyn. Romy decided to start restoring it and part of the job included getting the body work done to get rid of the rust and then get a new paint job. Romy contacted a guy up in Green Bay Wisconsin who paints old Buicks and other old cars to do the body work and paint (Scott Scheffen - dscheffen@aol.com). He did a great job!

Romy also has a second 1970 Buick LeSabre, but it is a green (actually multi-colored) 2 door, which he also decided to get painted by the same guy, Scott. So on Thursday afternoon, we all packed up the 2 door Buick with camping gear and spare parts, and headed off to Green Bay. We didn't have any problems getting there, except that we arrived after dark. Scott let us camp in his huge yard, so we set up our tents and were very excited to see the car in the sunlight the next morning. Scott also made a nice fire in his campfire pit, and we had some drinks and sat around the fire.

Here are some before and after pictures of the 4 door gold Buick:



The Gold Buick before it was painted in the garage.


The 'new' Gold Buick after Scott did all of the body work and paint. It was painted with the original color, Cornet Gold Poly, and had a metallic sheen.


The rear of the Gold Buick. The black vinyl roof will be put on soon, but for now, Scott just sanded it and primed the roof in preparation for the vinyl roof to be put on later.


Romy put a rebuilt 455 engine in before it got painted.


The Gold Buick on Scott's lawn.


The Gold Buick shines in the Wisconsin sun.


Romy gets the Gold Buick ready to hit the road back to Berwyn.


The Green Buick will be painted by Scott next.


Camping out in Scott's yard.

A Drive Down the Coast and Through the Redwoods

Yesterday was sunny and hot, a perfect day to go to the beach and drive down the coast! We packed some lunch, and the Olympus camera that we found, and went over the bay towards Half Moon Bay, which is just south of San Francisco and on the ocean. But before we could get close, there was a major traffic jam, so we ended up getting onto I-280 and driving south until Route 7 to Woodside. There we took Route 84, aka La Honda Rd to the small city of La Honda, which is situated in the redwoods. This was the start of our ride through the redwoods.




There are many small winding roads (which aren't shown on the Google Map above) through the mountains between the San Jose area and Santa Cruz through the Santa Cruz Mountains. The mountains aren't so high, at most ~2,000 ft, but they are covered with old and second growth redwoods. Its fun to drive past the many state parks and open space reserves that are in the area.


The beach we had lunch at near the city of Davenport.

We headed to the beach as our first destination, where we had a picnic. We stopped at a beach just past the Ano Nuevo State Reserve, where the elephant seals live, and had lunch. It was so warm, we didn't need a wind-coat. Next we drove back into the redwoods to go hiking in Butano State Park. We hiked through oaks and berry patches, and finally into a pine forest and further through a redwood forest deep in a canyon with a small stream running through it. There was a campground we passed through with lots of camper making fires. Then we drove out of the park and down more winding roads, Bonny Doon Rd and Route 236, which were neat! Route 236 went right through Big Basin Redwoods State Park, where we stopped at the visitor center. They had huge blown-up maps of the area made for hiking, and we discovered that there was a trail which went in and between many of the state parks, such as Portola, Butano, Big Basin, and Castle Rock. There are also back-country campsites for through hikers. One day we will do the multi-day hike!


Castle Rock State Park at Sunset

As it was getting dark, we drove back towards home, driving past Castle Rock State Park of Route 9 and then continued down Skyline Blvd (Hwy 35) back to Hwy 92 and over the bay. The picture above is looking over the park. All of the darker mountains in the background are forested with redwoods.

Since we bought our digital SLR Canon camera, we haven't been able to take short videos because the camera doesn't have that feature. The Olympus camera which we found kinda sucks (photo quality and zoom) but it was free and it takes videos, so we tried making one at the beach. This is the first time I am posting a video clip on the blog, so here it goes:

Corpse Flower Blooms!

The colorful and odor-ful corpse flower at the UC Botanical Garden.

At the UC Botanical Garden, we heard news that Trudy, the garden's "Corpse Flower," Amorphophallus titanum, aka Titan Arum, was about to bloom. The corpse flower is the largest flowering structure in the plant world, and was discovered in 1878 by an Italian botanist in Sumatra, Indonesia. When we went to the garden to see Trudy flower, she was 66 inches high, or 5 ft 6 inches tall. That's taller than me! It lives in tropical conditions, and only flowers at certain times. It typically takes at least seven years before the plant first flowers after it sprouts from its seed. The garden employees said that the tuber, which is the large bulb-like part of the plant which lives underground, has to grow to be at least 30 lbs before the plant is ready to flower. Trudy's tuber weighed about 60 lbs.


Trudy, the UC Botanical Garden's corpse flower.

The flower will only stay open for a day or two before it begins to close. We went to go see it the morning after it opened. The plant heats up and produces an odor of rotting flesh while it blooms to attract flies to pollinate it. It really smelled bad! And there were a ton of flies hovering in and around the bloom.


Trudy's sister, which looks a lot smaller, is actually not that much younger than Trudy.

During years that the plant doesn't bloom (the last time Trudy bloomed was in 2005) it grows a gigantic single leaf which doesn't look like a leaf at all. It looks like a tall stalk that gets leafy at the top, growing 10-15 ft tall. But it actually only is one leaf which splits up at the top. After about 16 months the leaf goes dormant, and the next time something sprouts up from the tuber, it might be another leaf or a corpse flower!


The stalk/tree in this picture is actually a single enormous leaf of the Titan Arum plant when it it not in the stage of flowering.


The corpse flower in the foreground with another single enormous leaf of a Titan Arum in the background.

The UC Botanical Garden kept a blog up of Trudy's bloom here. It is also where I got all of the information about the corpse flower.

Volunteering to Build the Bay Area Ridge Trail

This past weekend I decided to volunteer to help build a new section of the Bay Area Ridge (BAR) Trail which, when finished, will be a continuous trail encircling the entire Bay Area. The section I worked on, along with over 100 other volunteers, was in Hercules, CA, in the north east bay area.

The current map of the Bay Area Ridge Trail. There are still many sections which need to be completed, as shown by the dotted line.
Not all of the land that the BAR Trail crosses was public. There are many private ranches around the bay area which are still privately owned. This isn't really a bad thing, since the ranches are usually hundreds of acres large and are not developed. It adds a open and wild feel to much of the hills around the bay. But since the ranches are privately owned, trails aren't allowed to be built across their land. Luckily, certain public land trusts raise money to try to buy these ranches, which the owning family usually ends up selling for millions of dollars to the land trusts. The land trusts then donate or pass on the property to the government, such as the East Bay Regional Park District, or keep the land open for public use. The Muir Heritage Land Trust bought the Fernandez Ranch in Hercules and is now beginning to open the land for public use. Thats how I ended up helping out to build a new connecting section of the BAR Trail there.

I volunteered with V-O-Cal, Volunteers for Outdoor California. They specialize in organizing large groups of volunteers for mobilization for projects around Northern California, such as building new trails, making new campgrounds, habitat restoration, and trail maintenance. They provide free camping spots at the project site, free meals and beer, and free showers. I could only stay for one day since I planned to go last minute, but it was still a lot of fun (and a lot of hard work)! Here are some pictures I took with my cell phone:

This is a typical view of the rolling hills of Fernandez Ranch where the trail was cut. Most of it was routed through the forested parts.

The breakfast/lunch/beer tent for volunteers.

My group's section of the trail to be cut was on a slope.

The first step in cutting out our section of the trail was to clear the grass and plants off the surface.

Next, we started digging into the earth to cut a wedge out of the side of the hill. We aimed at making the trail 4 feet wide.

The trail finished after the first day of work. The day after I left, the rest of my group finished it off by smoothing out bumps and removing loose dirt that was thrown down the slope.