A Snapshot and The Scoop: Grand Prismatic Spring

Clocking in at 200 feet across, Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest hot spring in Yellowstone National Park and is one of the most brilliantly colored hot springs, but you can't see that from the ground. A brilliant blue center surrounded by yellows, oranges, and browns, this massive spring roils at temperatures near 160 F, resulting in a near-constant cloak of steam. The clear blue color of the spring is caused by sunlight scattering through the fine particles suspended in the boiling water, much like the vivid blues of glacial tarns (though with quite a bit of temperature difference). Extremeophile mats contribute to the yellows, oranges, and browns that surround the spring in its runoff channels. Extremeophiles, microorganisms that survive in extreme conditions, thrive near the hot springs of Yellowstone, creating a special, easily accessible area to study these microorganisms in the type of harsh environments that are found throughout the solar system. In our search for extra terrestrial life we are likely going to be searching for something like the tiny organisms that live near hot springs, or in glacial ice, and where better to study these fascinating creatures than Yellowstone? Musings about ET aside, Grand Prismatic Spring was an amazing setting to catch the sunset, the low light reflecting off shallow runoff and catching on the twisting steam columns. What better way to spend an evening than on a boardwalk surrounded by light and heat.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Excelsior Geyser

There's nothing quite like standing close enough to a gigantic, unpredictable geyser who's last recorded eruptions shot water three hundred feet into the air and left a massive crater in the ground that you are frequently shrouded in the vapor rising from its boiling surface. Excelsior Geyser, located right next to Grand Prismatic Spring and the Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park may be dormant but it is still busy roiling and steaming, pouring 4000 gallons of water per minute into the Firehole River. My sister and I made it a point to hit this area of Yellowstone at sunset, knowing the low light would make for an unforgetable view. The mist clouds, smelling faintly of sulphur, turned all but opaque in the setting sun, obscuring the world until the breeze shifted it away and we were left with stunning views of reflected sun on shallow, steaming water. We stayed until the sun dropped below the silhouetted horizon, the rim of the vast crater cradling Yellowstone's geyser basins, and the world dipped into twilight.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Davis Mountains State Park

On a whirlwind adventure last spring I found myself deep in the Chihuahuan desert in southwestern Texas, at Davis Mountains State Park. Western Texas is full of little desert mountain ranges, and while yes, it was definitely desert, I was more than a little suprised to find an abudance of grasses covering the mountains. It even rained a little during my visit; not enough to do much more than wet the earth, but hey rain is rain in the arid southwest. The rolling mountains and little canyons boast a wide variety of wildlife, including a booming population of cougars to the point where you're warned not to hike alone. I didn't instead opting to stick to the roads and other people during my one-night visit to the park, but I couldn't help but wish I'd seen one of the elusive cats. Despite my years of travelling and years of working with them, I've never seen a cougar (puma, mountain lion, catamount, pather, etc.) in the wild. Perhaps someday I'll get lucky, but I know more than likely I'll get a glimpse of a dark tufted tail disappearing into the bushes and that'll be it. You never know!

Leave me a comment below and tell me if you've ever seen a cougar in the wild! I work with them, and I'm not sure I actually want to come face to face with one on the trail..

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Potatoes on the Peaks

When I told everyone we had accomplished our goal of hiking six 14'ers in five days, a lot of people asked what got us through it. Hiking mountains is no easy task, let alone hiking 14,000 foot mountains back to back for a week. Jokingly but not, I always told them it was the three P's: Pride, Pepsi, and Potatoes. I am far too stubborn to let anything short of catastrophe stop me from finishing a goal, so my pride wouldn't allow me to take the hit if the only reason I was stopping short was because I was a little tired. Pepsi, because I'm a caffine fiend who probably has an addiction problem (I'm drinking one as I write this, as a matter of fact...) And potatoes? Well, funnily enough despite twenty plus years of friendship Torrey and I only just discovered last year that we both enjoy raw potatoes as snacks. And you can't really go wrong with potatoes as a source of fuel for your body on strenuous hikes, given the starches and crisp crunch that goes a long way toward making it yummy on the trail. So every mountain we climbed found us also hauling up a couple of baby potatoes each, munching on them at the summit of each mountain to refuel after the climb and prepare for the hike down. So yes, potatoes are going to be a staple on every hike we take together. Pride, pepsi, and potatoes. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Leave me a comment and tell me what your must-haves are when you hike or travel! What weird and wonderful things do you carry that get you through a trip?

Buffalo River Trail: Erbie to Pruitt

Concluded. The last day of hiking the Buffalo River Trail started out wet. It had rained in the night, and though we expected it we were a little disappointed to see the rain clouds lingering as we broke camp. We hopped in the car and went to get the other one parked at Steel Creek, debating the whole time whether or not to finish the BRT with the risk of rain or to save it for next year. In the end, we decided to go for it, figuring even if we got wet we'd end up in a dry car no matter how the day went. After dropping a car at Pruitt, the final trailhead on the BRT, we went back to Erbie and began.

The hike between Erbie and Pruitt was a gentle one. Sure, there were ups and downs, but for the most part we stayed right along the mist-shrouded Buffalo River. I couldn't have been more thankful for gentle terrain; my hotspots from the day before had developed into full fledged blisters, and pretty much every step was pain. I guess that's where my stubborn streak came in, as I all but refused to slow down or stop. I wanted to finish the trail, and nothing was going to keep me from it!

The trail took us through a little more open land than we'd seen so far, winding through a pine forest in places and along clear creek beds in others. The rain we worried about set in within a couple miles, forcing us to pull out our rain gear as we plodded along. It only rained hard for a bit, though it never really went away, sometimes misting, sometimes drizzling, sometimes with enough persistence to wet our jackets. A little bit of moisture on the carpet of leaves meant our trail became a little more treacherous, and we had to watch our footing more carefully as the leaves slipped under our shoes.

Torrey and I didn't talk much, prefering instead to listen to the crunch of leaves and whisper of wind. I withdrew into my own head, letting my imagination run wild in an attempt to take my mind off my wet feet and hot blisters. The littlest details caught my attention and more than once I stopped to poke at a mushroom peeking through the leaves, or to run my hand over the furry moss covering a tree trunk. I fell behind as the day wore on, and found myself walking alone through the autumn woods.

Almost at the end of the trail Torrey waited for me on a fallen log. As we rested we watched the river and glimpsed a bald eagle soaring over the bluffs around us. The final approach to Pruitt was slow and, on my part, painful. My feet hurt, and it was with a sense of relief and accomplishment that I approached my car. We ditched our packs and headed to the river, determined to touch it just once on our hike before calling it a day. Exhaustion melted away as we stood on the banks of the Buffalo River, gazing from its teal waters to the blue-gray bluffs towering above it, then on to the forest hugging the cliffs around us. We'd done it, we hiked the entire Buffalo River Trail from start to finish. With last year's trek from Boxley to Steel Creek added to this year's Steel Creek to Pruitt, we finished the 30+ mile BRT! We'll be back next year, but we aren't quite sure where we'll hike quite yet. Maybe the day hikes in the area, maybe explore other remote areas of the wilderness. Some day we'll float the river, but that'll be a summer adventure. Until next time, BRT! We'll be back.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Smoke-Hazed Mountains

I have never, in all my years of visiting Rocky Mountain National Park, seen the sky so hazy. As a result of the fires burning all over Colorado this past summer our visit to the state, and specifically to the park, was filled with smoky skies. The smoke and fires were concerning enough that we mapped out our planned 14'er hikes accordingly, making sure the fires weren't anywhere close to where we would be. That didn't stop the smoke, of course, and on more than one occasion the brown smudge of smoke filled the horizon no matter where we looked. It was particularly bad in Rocky Mountain NP, with the mountains reduced to featurless silhouettes in the not-too-far distance. Breathing never became difficult, but you could smell smoke tainting the fresh mountain air, feeling it on the back of your tongue like a bitter aftertaste. I know fires are a natural part of forest life, especially those started by lightning and not the man-made kind, but it was still a bit sad knowing how much was going up in flames around us.

Leave me a comment below and tell me if you've ever seen the smoke from forest fires firsthand. What was your impression?

A Snapshot and The Scoop: The Wines of Colorado

What's a Pikes Peak visit without a little tradition thrown in? Torrey and I have been visiting Pikes Peak every year since 2014, with no end in sight, and in addition to visiting the peak and exploring Colorado for a week we also tend to stop at one very specific restaruant/tasting room right at the foot of the mountain. The Wines of Colorado combines awesome food (seriously, it's great) with an absolutely fantastic assortment of wines from all over the state. Every time we visit neither Torrey nor I walk away without several bottles of wine each. Something new we discovered this year? Their outdoor patio is pet friendly! Hoodoo got to chill with us as we prepared for five days of hiking 14'ers, enjoying little licks off my plate when he thought I wasn't paying attention. We've definitely begun looking forward to our afternoon on their patio before we hit the road to explore more of Colorful Colorado, and I can't wait for next year's visit. Good food and good wine, what's not to love?

Leave me a comment and tell me about a place where you stop every time you make a return visit to your favorite spot! I want to begin new traditions everywhere I go.

Buffalo River Trail: Kyle's Landing to Erbie

Spent. Our first full day back on the Buffalo River Trail was going almost exactly as we'd planned, with the minor hiccup of missing the spur to hit the toilets and a picnic table at lunchtime. We just found a flat rock in a sunny place for lunch instead, and continued our hike along the thru trail. Our views along the trail continued to impress, with glimpses of the river through the trees and a few high spots that allowed us to overlook swaths of the Ozarks.

One thing we did miss out on, however, was the chance to fill up our water bottles. We'd planned on filling up at Kyle's Landing, if not from the taps that were likely closed for the season then at least from the river using our filter. We missed our turn, though, and walked several more miles before we found a small pool set in the shade of an alcove where we sat for a few minutes and drank our fill. It was around this time that I realized I hadn't been taking proper care of my feet, and I was beginnning to fill the hotspots that hearlded a comming blister. I took a few extra minutes to remove my shoes and cool my feet, changing my socks and hoping the damage wasn't too bad.

Of course, as we continued hiking it became pretty apparent that I hadn't acted quickly enough. My feet hurt, concentrated on my right heel, and I found myself compensating by walking with a pronounced limp. We still had several miles to go before we called it quits for the night, planning on reaching Erbie Campground and one of our cars at the trailhead. Torrey offered to slow down several times, but there was no point. We still had the same amount of ground to cover, and in my head hurrying through them was preferable to prolonging my discomfort.

We took what shortcuts we could, following a forest service road instead of the trail itself until it spit us out at Erbie Historic Site. After poking around the homestead a bit we hopped on the road, knowing it would take us up to the campground and the luxury of our car. As is my usual, I began to second guess myself if we were heading in the right direction, if our car really was only a mile or so up the road and not three miles up like I suddenly began to fear. It was close to dark, and night falls quickly in the mountains. A mile we could handle, three miles would mean we'd be walking in a dark forest, alone, with only our headlamps and night noises for company. I confessed my fear to Torrey, convincing myself with every step that I'd somehow messed up and parked further away than we really needed to, prolonging my already intolerable foot pain into something that surely counted as self-torture.

You can't imagine the tidal wave of relief that crashed over me when we saw the sign for the campground after only a mile on the road. I grinned like an idiot, ridiculously pleased with myself that I hadn't managed to screw up this year. As I limped up to the car and dumped my pack I could have cried. As it was, we really didn't have all that long before we lost the light so we hurried to pick a site where we set up the tent and began dinner. We stayed out at the picnic table far longer that we would have hung around if we were in the backcountry, watching the stars come out above us as we listened to the river rushing past, contemplating the next day and the end of our trail. Then, of course, we hit the bathroom before bed and Torrey decided to take us on a joy ride to the creepy abandoned farmstead just down the road. And I really did cry. Read about the night we confirmed I'm a wimp here.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: The Dragon's Mouth

Named over a hundred years ago by a park visitor, this hot spring at Yellowstone National Park certainly captures the imagination. Impossible to see with a single picture, the water in this spring roils and crashes with violent waves much like a dragon's tongue, while gasses bubbling to the surface release a dull, constant roar, contributing to the noise of the waves already bouncing off the cave's walls. Add a little steam into the mix, and it's not hard to imagine a dragon snoozing in the caverns beyond the mouth of the spring. While not the prettiest hot spring by any means, this was one of my favorites purely for the creative name and images provoked.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Cinder Garden

You wouldn't think anything could grow on volcanic cinder, but here we are. Even with the (geologically) recent eruptions at Craters of the Moon National Monument, deep in the Arco desert in central Idaho, life finds a way. With black rock as a base surface temperatures can reach as high as 150 F, which, coupled with constant high winds, creates fairly difficult growing conditions, and the few plants that can grow here are short, gnarled, and must endure high summer heat and blistering winter chill. Plants that do grow, however, thrive; they create cinder gardens as shown in this picture, where evenly spaced plants have an extensive root system that allows for maximum stability and water absorption. Even in the most desolate of deserts, plants can persevere.

Buffalo River Trail: Steel Creek to Kyle's Landing

Steady. Although we missed the leaf peak by two weeks, autumn in the Ozarks couldn't be passed up. Torrey and I were back in northern Arkansas, planning on finishing twenty-five miles of the Buffalo River Trail over four days in the middle of November. We arrived in the tiny town of Ponca at midday on Friday and spent a few hours getting ourselves oriented and settled before dropping a car off at each trailhead. We only had an hour and a half or so of light left, and spent about forty-five minutes hiking at a quick pace along Steel Creek until we made camp for the first night, settling in a hollow next to the creek just off trail.

I did mention it was autumn, right? It got cold that night, cold enough that I regretted not placing my pocket warmers somewhere I could find them when I inevitably woke up in the wee hours of the morning, freezing my toes off. I didn't really get back to sleep after that, shivering too much to relax in my bag, so I was up with the sun as I tried to bring feeling back into my fingers and toes. We ate a hot oatmeal breakfast as we waited for the forest to warm up around us, watching droplets of water fall like rain as the sun melted frost from the upper branches of the trees.

Soon enough we were on our way, gaining elevation as we rose above the creek to come out on a bluff high above the Buffalo River. Fading leaves carpeted the forest floor, crunching under our shoes as we waded through ankle deep piles blown around by the wind. Frozen trickles of water laced dry creek beds, echos of springtime rains and gushing falls, and we passed more than one overhang that surely boasted water pouring over its edge during summer storms. Not for the first time I wondered what the trail would be like to hike in a different season, perhaps late spring or early summer, when water was abundant and a green canopy obscured the sky. Maybe one year I'll find out, but for now I'll stick with the oranges and yellows and whitish blues that come with autumn leaves and open skies.

Even with our packs on the trail was relatively easy and we ate up miles. Several times I commented to Torrey that our hike this year seemed easier than the section we hiked last year. The views certainly were better, with the trail more closely parallelling the river and affording views of its greenish-blue waters more frequently. We planned to hike from Steel Creek all the way to the BRT's end point at Pruitt, though our short-term goal was Kyle's Landing where we planned on breaking for lunch.

At least, stopping at Kyle's Landing was the plan. We did great on the approach, making miles and time as we estimated we would. We knew we were getting close when we began losing elevation, leveling out at river level and hearing voices of day trippers. We even saw a few other hikers, presumably enjoying a short walk from the parking lot. Somehow or another, though, we missed our turn. Instead of taking the spur and heading to the parking lot and river, we kept going on the BRT, and it took us asking each other if that last tenth-mile felt like a lot further than it should have before we realized we'd missed our turn. It wasn't really a huge setback, though. Sure, I'd been looking forward to dumping some trash and using the pit toilets, but we had the forest to ourselves and we could empty trash at our next stop, where we planned on making camp that night. So, as the sun shone directly overhead Torrey and I found ourselves a couple of nice rocks and ate a cold lunch, resting up for the next leg of our hike.

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Craters of the Moon

Nestled in the heart of Idaho lies a desolate landscape that looks far more at home on the moon than it does on Earth. Craters of the Moon National Monument contains a geologically recent lava field, complete with shield volcanoes, spatter cones, and lava tubes. Although no longer active, the eruptions in the region have left their mark, covering the Arco Desert with sharp black cinders that will take thousands of years to break down. In the meantime, Craters of the Moon offers up close examples of steep-sided spatter cones, like the one pictured above, as well as broadly sloped shield volcanoes, and the chance to explore a handful of caves formed by lava without a guide. I mean who doesn't enjoy a little spelunking? This national monument located only a few hours away from Yellowstone National Park is for some reason seriously overlooked. Y'all don't know what you're missing!

The Happy Jar of 2018

Upbeat. It's already January 1, 2019, I have my travel Wrap-Up posted (read it here), so I guess that means it's time for my Happy Jar summary! All year long I write down what makes me happy and slip the little colored papers into a glass jar on my dresser so that I see it every day. Usually just seeing the jar and the tiny pieces of happiness it contains is enough to get me out of a bad mood, but in the case of extreme melancholy I'll take out those slips and read each one of them, reminding myself that I have a lot to be happy about. This year's Happy Jar contained a whole lot of animal-related joy, as well as a bunch of excitement and accomplishment regarding our house. In case you missed it, Jared and I bought our first house in December 2017, and we moved in during January 2018. The house has kept us (mostly me, because I'm a busy-body) occupied with minor improvement projects, including gardening. Gardening, surprisingly, also featured heavily in my Happy Jar this year, as did travelling (duh). Check out a few examples of my happiness below, and feel free to share bits of what made 2018 great for you!

Last year Alisha and I scored permits to hike the Grand Canyon, this year we got permits to backpack the Tetons! Backpacking permits for major national parks are notoriously difficult to come by, and you usually have to book your trip on the first day it becomes available to reserve. The first Wednesday in January saw me glued to the NPS website, waiting as the site crashed for a nerve wracking two hours until I could be sure our reservations were accepted for our desired hike and dates. We got them!

2018 was filled with babies! Not mine (don't get excited) but there were a whole lot of the furry kind of babies that filled a vast majority of the year. The first was Leonard, an infant ring-tailed lemur who I took in turns with a couple coworkers to care for. Leonard was tiny when we first got her, about the size of my palm, and her favorite place to be was clinging to my neck. She still prefers sitting on shoulders, and it was our pleasure to have her home with us for a few days over Christmas.

I did say our house has been the source of a lot of my happiness, and I meant that. Including buying "adult" things, like a new couch! Of course, we had to make sure it was big enough to fit Jared, myself, Marley, Callie, Ghost, and all of the cats. It is!

I have wanted chickens for years, ever since some friends of ours had a flock back when we were kids. One of my requirements for buying a house was it had to be able to accommodate chickens! Just over a month after officially moving in, we got chicks!

Gardening has always been enjoyable to me, and I've kept at least a few potted plants throughout the years and several moves. Now that we have a house of our own, I can put plants into the ground! I started working on garden plots within a few months of moving (winter in Texas is a great time to do so!) so when spring came and I had the time, I planted my front and back gardens. I still have a lot more I want to do, including gardens along the sides of my house as well as a vegetable garden, but that's what this year is for.

Never underestimate the amount of joy I get from having visitors. Jared and I really aren't the most sociable of people, but when we have the time and energy to entertain, we love having people over. My sister in particular seems to practically live at my house for as often as she shows up here, but Jared's parents, my brother, and my mom and aunt have all come to visit in the last year, and we're always open to hosting more!

An absolutely enormous part of the last half of 2018 was the addition of Luna to the Tiger Creek family. Luna was a six week old little white ball of lioness fluff when we got her at the beginning of July, and to everyone's utter delight most of the staff at Tiger Creek were allowed to help raise her. As in, we got to take her home on a rotating schedule and care for her. Yes, we had a lion in our house. Frequently. And holy cow did she cuddle hard! It was awesome.

You guys, I finally got my orange kitten! This is not news to anyone who's been following along since August, but Jared surprised me with a couple of kittens at the end of July, one of whom happened to be a fluffy little orange tabby. Hoodoo and his sister, Rey, have settled in wonderfully with our already extensive personal zoo, and Hoodoo regularly accompanies me on my trips, including hiking six 14,000 foot mountains in five days (read it here)!

My last visit to Nebraska was not only a surprise to my sister (who graduated with her Masters Degree, woohoo!) but also a bonding moment for myself and Torrey. We've known each other since we were in grade school and have travelled together to Pikes Peak every year since 2014. This year, we decided to commemorate our annual vacation with a tattoo! That's right, we got a matching tattoo of Pikes Peak, where our artist took one of my photos and drew our tattoo from it. Torrey had the vision to color the mountain in shades of purple, and I think it turned out amazing. So much love!

I have always had a thing for photographs, going so far as to take as many photography classes in school as possible and even considering going to an arts college in Denver to pursue my passion with an acutal degree. I didn't follow that path, but my love of taking pictures has trailed me through the years. Now that I actually have a house where I can knock holes into the walls as I see fit, I knew I wanted to start hanging up my photos. The only problem was, I didn't know where to start. It was a conversation with my sister that inspired me to turn my hallway into a photo gallery, with various canvas prints of my favorite photos lining the walls. I finally began to turn my dream into reality (canvases are expensive, if you didn't know!) and have slowly started hanging my pictures. I love seeing my art on the walls of my home, and can't wait to take and print even more photos as the years and my travels progress.

So there you have it, a few examples of my pride, happiness, and accomplishments throughout 2018. There is absolutley nothing wrong with reflecting over each year and picking out the best parts of it, remembering the year based on the things that made you happy. I already have several things I know will make me thrilled during 2019, but I also keep in mind that I can find joy in little things. Unexpected happiness could be waiting in the future too, but I won't know it until it happens. So here's to saying goodbye to 2018 while ringing in 2019 with a bright and hopeful smile.