Wooden Church Key, i.e. bottle opener

No its not a sap, its a bottle opener.

The original idea came from a blog post: http://blog.woodworking-magazine.com/blog/New+Contest+Build+A+Woodworkers+Bottle+Opener.aspx , but I kinda went in a different direction.

This is made from some scrap tiger maple laying around the shop. I took me a couple of hours to make.

There is a magnet in the top to grab the cap off the bottle when it comes off.

Notice that there is a finger recess in the top to direct the index finger when operating.

I used a couple of stainless steel screws, which have been inserted into a critical depth to assure ease of use.

It was a fun afternoon project. I gave this one to Derek, in his sock for Christmas, so at least one or two more will be needed for use around here.

Moving the behemoth

It sat in the shop for a month. Today it went up to the house.

First it needed to lighten it up, so two people could lift it.

Out came the drawers...all 14 of them.

Off came the back.

And finally the top was removed.

We unceremoniously strapped it onto the ATV, so it could be taken around to the back porch, reducing the steps needed to be climbed and straightened the path through the house.

The entire move turned out to be less epic then I expected and after 30 minutes, or so we had it in place.

After Marlys was done reloading her stuff, I too had space for my stuff...the lower right hand drawer.

Finally its done.

Marlys' dresser is now done, but the challenge is going to be getting it up into the bedroom. I bet that even with the top and drawers removed this is a 150-200# lift.

For those wondering the drawer knobs are paduek.

Finished with a coat of Sealcoat (shellac) sanding sealer, and multiple coats of satin BLO/Tung/Poly.

Dresser Chapter 2

The pile of wood is virtually gone and the dresser has moved into a stage where Marlys is getting involved.

The carcase, face frame, top and ends are done. The next step involves making all of the drawers and there will be many (14). So far no mechanical fasteners have been used, only Titebond glue, but I think figure-eights will be used to fasten the top to allow for wood movement.

The drawers will be made individually (i.e. not production mode) to account for any differences (i.e. mistakes) there may be in the build. Of course, since I have done such a great job there are none (ya, you betcha). At least none that I haven't been able to either fix or hide, so far.

The drawers will have dovetailed fronts with plywood sides and bottoms. As I mentioned before they will slide on UHMW tapes in all four corners.

I have been thinking of putting a sign on the stump, where the tree came from being used in the dresser, saying what happened to it. I sometimes wonder when I am walking through the trees and come across a cut stump what happened to the tree.

The Dresser Begins

Let me start by answering a question posed by two folks from, I believe, last week.

What is a slash pile?

What you see pictured is a slash pile. It is made up of the branches and shrubs cut down during the summer, mainly for fire mitigation.

There are at least five piles around the property that will be burned during the winter.

This week the dresser started to take form. The carcase pieces were sawn and the glue up began.

As you can see the need for clamps is extensive.

This glue up took me between 2-3 hours (I work pretty slow) with clean up from the squeeze out. The carcase is made of 3/4" cabinet grade Maple plywood. It will be faced in beetle kill Ponderosa Pine, more on that later.

While waiting on the glue to dry, the drawer fronts where cut to rough size and the grains matched for compliment.

The entire front edging and drawer fronts are coming out of one fitch of wood for consistency.

I won't start the drawers until the carcase is completed, with sides, legs and top.

I am planning to dovetail the fronts to the drawer sides and use UHMW for slide facing in the carcase.

The drawer pulls will be something dark probably Padute, as there is still some around the shop.

The larger glue up panels, for the sides and the top, will also come out of one fitch, which is the next section down from this one on the same tree.

What I mean is that the fitch for the front came from the top of the tree and this one will be from the log just below it. There should be consistency, but we will need to see.

The fitch for the top and sides came off the mill much more usable form, as it was cut after I put on new belts which virtually eliminated the vibration I was getting in the mill head.

Those of you with mills remember to de-tension the saw blade when not in use so as not to flat spot the belts.

The wood stickered under the sawhorses is the fitch for the top and sides.

BTW, the dresser will be slightly over 7 feet long and 42" high. When done it could weight 150-200#.

Yes it is a big one.

Next step is cutting and gluing on the front edge of Ponderosa to each piece of plywood.

This will also exercise the complete inventory of clamps.

Most everything is cut, but there will be fine tuning as the pieces of the puzzle are glued and clamped into place.

I hope to finish this up on Sunday.

Marlys has also been in the shop most of the week making some items, and refurbishing the ten year old wood bear statue we have on the patio. I especially like what she did with the eyes and lips.

Military Flyovers

I think I mentioned this in a previous post about nighttime helicopter flyovers up here, and yesterday afternoon I had a couple of herky bird's flyover the shop at about 500', it now looks like these may become more widespread.
Here is a picture from the Wall Street Journal. We are 28 miles southwest of the Pikes Peak (west of Colorado Springs), which looks like it puts us in the north central area of the proposed area.

These flyovers are not that often, nor disruptive, being a hanger rat I find them interesting in that some of the aircraft are not seen that often, especially making low altitude flybys.

So far the most unusual were the Osprey's making touch and goes at the Gunnison Airport a couple of years ago.

It does make you think about the area we live in, when the military says it is a good stand in for Afghanistan.

Trip and Hike Plans for 2011

OK, OK, OK, I received a couple of notices that I haven't written anything in a couple of weeks wondering what gives...

Well, we have been busy with the mundane, which I am sure you don't want to hear about, e.g. putting things away for winter (good thing since a week ago Monday was the first snow fall), looking through the slash pile for shop stove wood and getting the dresser project and Molesworth chair project lumber ready to go. Along with our daily hikes and horse duties (which have come to an end, for now, since "Puff the Magic Flashlight" is now back home.

We have during the course of these tasks had conversations about trips for 2011, Hawaii in January is already locked and loaded, and a southwestern camper excursion is on the slate for late February.

But we have started planning for the actual trip for which the truck camper was envisioned... which would be to Alaska. At this point it is looking like a mid-May launch and will last 6-8 weeks.

The Gypsy Camp-in is on the docket for September, which we missed this year.

Oktober Fest is also tentatively scheduled for September 2012.

On another note the list of mountains for 2011 seems to be growing. Right now Massive and La Plata are tentatively scheduled, but Pikes (which would complete all of the Front Range 14ers for me) is also creeping on to the list.

Also from a county "high pointing" perspective I would like to go up Bushnell Peak in the Sangre De Cristo range, as it is the highest point in Fremont County (where we are located) at 13,105'. Although not a 14ers it looks like a challenge from the trip reports I have read. It is part of a complex of peaks that folks seem to hit all at once to include the Two Sisters and Red mountain.

Right now my feet hurt, but there is nothing like an objective to work them back into shape.

Chairs, Chairs, Chairs

Sorry, I know it has been a while since my last post. We have been down to Las Cruces to visit Derek, and Marlys had "Da Gurls" here for a week.

Just to bring things up to date, it is FALL here in the mountains and most of the leaves have turned and dropped. The temps have dropped too, but it is still real nice when the sun is out. Yesterday, we had a few minutes of sloppy snow during a shower and more is forecast for early next week.

We even fired up the wood stove in the shop yesterday.

There are many projects on line right now, one that has turned out nice is the painting of the Skiadirondack Chairs (vs. stained and sealed), which have added some color to the patio. Marlys has been matching the color to the skis...or vice versa. The oil enamel paint really puts a solid finish on the chairs for the winter.

Pretty soon the fire pit will need to be moved in to place and replace the table, but we have a fire ban in effect right now.

We also have a new bench in process for visitors to use in removing shoes at the door. Marlys is doing some wood burning on it, but we hope to have it ready in the next few days.

I have also spent a few hours working on the design and measurements for a "Molesworth Club Chair". which has been pretty enlightening.

Thomas Molesworth who is noted for his Cowboy style furniture is also noted for never having used plans. So for those of us attempting to recreate his pieces it can be a real challenge. I have relied on information available from other builders and photographs. Using this info I have made a mock up out of OSB, and remade the mock up, and remade the mock up.

The first one nearly gave me a concussion, when I set down in it and it went right over on its back...I guess the back angle and center of gravity were wrong. Well that is what the mock up was for...testing the design, not ending up on my back in the shop...just missed smacking into the vertical vise on the side of the workbench.

I guess a clear space should be on the mockup check list...and maybe a mattress to land on.

25 degrees of back angle was too much. So, I went back to the web to see if there was a rule of thumb for back angle I should start with as my work with a protractor and photographs was not working.

Luckily, I found some good info at a Cornell University site. This got me into the ballpark, at least I wasn't tipping over. The second version of the mock up had a total back angle of 15 degrees. OK but not just right. Since, I hadn't flipped on to my back this time I could check some of the other dimensions. The arms were too low and the seat pan was too long, also the seat height was OK, but since this is a club chair (for lounging), it could probably be a little lower.

Marlys sat in it and blew the arm off. This was after all a mock not a real chair and was only held together with a few screws.

So back to the drawing board.

5 degrees was added to the back angle, the arms were raised 2 inches, the seat pan was narrowed 2 inches as was its depth.

I also sawed the uprights for the arms to check proportions and work out the log diameter for the back.

I am still fiddling with the dimensions, put this is what the mock up looks like right now.

The coffee cans on the upright was to gauge different diameters for the rear milled log uprights.

The arm uprights are at two different setbacks from the front of the seat, as I am still looking at that.

The tape on the bottom was so that an accurate angle measurement could be made.

I still don't like the visual proportions of the seat base to the overall chair size, but that is for the next version of the mock up, at least this one didn't try and kill me when I set down in it...very gently.

As I began this post there was a deer sitting outside the office window. I stayed there for a few hours and didn't seem to be too bothered by the dogs or Marlys going out on the back porch (deck).

As you can see we are kinda green...we (actually Marlys) sometimes uses a clothesline.

Next week, the milling of the boards for the dresser begins.

And the next chair mock up.

We went to a ski swap and ended up at Oktoberfest.

We went in search of skis for a red Adirondack chair. We had in mind a ski swap we had gone to 15 years ago at the Minnesota State Fair grounds one Fall, where there were piles of old skis going for $5 a pair.

What we found in Breckenridge was not that. These were skis mostly in the year or two old category with near new prices. Needless to say we didn't pick up any chair skis, these were too nice (and expensive) to cut up. BUT, I will not forget this swap next time I need skis.

It was a great fall day in the high country and the ski swap was not our only reason for going to Breck. The aspens are turning and the summer tourist traffic is gone...mostly.

Marlys and I crossed the bridge from the Riverwalk Center and were transported to Germany.

The Summit Band was playing polkas, the beer was cold and on tap, and the brats and sausage were being grilled.





Its hard not to be content with this combination.





We got a Paulaner Pilsner sat down near the band and enjoyed the afternoon.





Although there were quite a few folks in attendance it wasn't armpits and assholes crowded, just enough people to make it nice.


We talked to couple from North Dakota that have lived in Breck since 1991...as expected they were able to polka pretty well.


All in all a great day!

14er season done for the year... for me.

Five 14ers were hiked/climbed this year. Two were for the third time and two were milestones; namely the highest-Mt.Elbert and the most difficult (for me) Longs Peak.

The Everest Base Camp Trek has been postponed due to items beyond our control.

Next year there are three 14er's currently on the list; Huron, Massive and Pikes.

The Mundane Work of Fall

Its fall in the high country and the Aspens have started their turn along with the Ponderosa's getting yellow needles. It also is time to get the tasks done that were suppose to have been done during the summer, but alas they didn't.

Beyond the completion of the pergola, there were three major items scheduled for last summer; cleaning and resetting the fill float in the cistern, getting the wood stove installed and the chimney but in and prepping the wood for the dresser construction this winter. I can now same I almost have them done.

About a month ago we picked up a 500 truck tank off of Craigslist. This was the prelude to the cistern work as we needed away to re-fill it quickly once it was drained and the inside work was done.

We also planned on using it to re-fill the hot tub which hadn't had the water changed in almost a year. The last time we re-filled it from the well and due to the alkalinity it seemed that we needed to add allot of chemicals to get everything balanced. Also the ozone generator need to be "re-newed".

Now with a truck tank we could pickup municipal water in Canon to re-fill the hot tub. About getting water in town, that required an inspection that the plumbing used to fill the tank would not allow any backwash and the setting up of a bulk water account with the water department. Water currently costs $6.04 per 1000 gallons and is purchased at a self service station in town.

Once we had everything squared away with the bulk water we re-filled the hot tub and then picked up 500 gallons for the cistern work. I turned off the well pump to draw down the cistern, but after three days, it had gotten down to about 8 inches and we moved ahead with the inside work. The challenge was getting into the cistern through the manhole cover. A ladder was cleaned and inserted then I attempted to squeeze in... and it was a tight one. Once inside I did the appointed tasks got out and dropped the 500 gallons in.

While it was filling I also installed a tank vent, which we never had and tried to calibrate the very scientifically designed tank gauge sticking through the cover.

I filled it to capacity with ~1200 gallons of bulk water, so that meant that the cistern still had about 500 gallons in it when the work was done (1700-1200=500).

I restarted the well pump and began taking meter readings on the gallons pumped out of the cistern on a daily basis.

The other project awaiting completion was the shop wood stove. As you may recall we bought a wood stove at the end of last winter when the they were on sale. I waited until now to buy the chimney because...well I needed Simpson Duraplus sections and Home Depot didn't have any in stock until the last month. The chimney will end up costing more then the wood stove.

There is a stage 1 burning ban going on right now so the stove will not be fired up for a while.

It is mostly installed but I will need to put another one foot section on top to get the clearance spec'd by code and the manufacturer.

I at least have it straight and plumb.

A CO and fire detector are also on the list for the shop before we really start using it, but it should be better then the propane construction heater used for the last few years.

Speaking of the shop, a few things needed to be cleaned up concerning the entertainment feeds...the TV dish and FM antenna have been just sitting on the ground next to the shop all summer and a more permanent location was needed.

The wood needed for the dresser has been saw and is stickered outside drying. That is old plywood sheltering the wood from rain and direct sun.

It hasn't been surfaced or squared up yet which will be a task for after the official start of fall next week.

Also there was a great post on the Hermitage blog concerning building and living in BFE, as Pat P. would say. Here is the link to Leland's Great post .

Finally saw a Tarantula

Over the years I have heard about the Tarantulas migrations(?) that happen near Canon City. I have heard them mentioned during the news broadcasts in Denver, and last week in Pueblo, I heard a guy talk about them swarming (probably not the right word) over the Pueblo Community College in Canon City, which he surmised was built in the middle of one of their routes.

In reading about the Tarantula's activity in the area them seem to be mostly in the Arkansas River area. It also seems the this is more of an annual mating ritual then a migration.

Seems that only males are out and about and they are smaller then the females that stay in their burrows. The mating season is from August to November.

Anyway I saw mine on Colorado 9 just before the junction with US 50 by the Royal Gorge. I can't imagine many survive crossing roads as they don't move too fast.

I thought I got it done on time....

Longs Peak

As I sit here Saturday morning to report on the trip up Long's Peak on Wednesday, I learned that the mountain claimed a climber on Friday, when he fell 800' from a ledge. Along with the climber that was blown off the top in June, this makes two that I know of this year, along with at least one climber being struck by lightening.

In chronicling my trip up I videoed a number of the different areas. Because the start was at 2:30am and I was using my little Cybershot point and shoot camera the first few videos are pretty dark. All of the embedded hyperlinks are to the videos which are loaded on Picasa.

Speaking of dark, we planned this trip for a full moon to have more ambient light. In fact Phoenix really reveled in it, but after almost twisting my knee I decided that the chance of a injury out weighted the coolness factor of hiking in the moonlight, so on went the headlamp. The headlamp worked really well. I bought it at Harbor Freight for a whole $4.99. This may have to be added to the HF Gems list.

Knowing that we needed to get out early, since we anticipated a 14 hour trip, we slept in the campground in out cars on Tuesday night. I woke up at 1:45am and the operation moved over to the trail head, I want to say so as not to bother the other campers, but really because the toilets were closer over there.

The Trail Head.

The trail had an incredible amount of horse crap on it, making watching your step import, beyond even the possible twisted limb. It took quite awhile to work out of the trees, and we were passed by several groups.

In the Trees, as we got closer to treeline the trees were fairly stunted, testifying to the amount of wind that can be present on Long's. The forecast was for 5-10mph and decreasing, so we weren't really anticipating the wind being a factor in the climb.

Once out of the trees the lights of the Front Range came into view. You can be so isolated on these treks, yet when you see the lights it brings up the paradox of the thousands of people not really that far away.

As I moved higher out of the trees the headlamps of the people ahead of me could be seen weaving their way up to Granite Pass. The wind also started to come up and blocks some of the things I am saying.

After three hours the sky started to lighten, but the head lamp was still needed. It also was the about this time that I stopped waiting for Phoenix and decided that I would move on alone. I thought about this decision more after I made it, then when I made it. I figured that I felt good and at this point had waited a couple of time. Phoenix had said he was going to move slowly to savor the experience and stop to take pictures. I figured that I would have just so many hours of reasonable activity in me and I was concerned that I would use them up in waiting, leading to a collapse either before summitting or on the way down. I also rationalized that there were a number of people on the trail to provide support, if needed. I don't know if this was right or selfish, but it is what I did.

About this time the sunrise finally got into full swing and I could start to see the terrain around me.

As I climbed through Granite Pass, Long's came into view and the timing was perfect to see it bathed in alpenglow. This was my first really good view of the mountain and the Diamond big wall on its east face.

This was also the beginning of the Boulder Field, that featured prominently in most of the route and trip narratives I had read. I have to say that it lulled me in, in that it didn't seem so bad at this point.

About half way through I came to the campground for the folks that come up the evening before to shorten the trip a little. Speaking of the trip length I figured on 14 miles according to the route guide, but Google had it at 14.5 miles and after adding up the mileage on the trail signs I had it at 15. This may seem trivial, but after hours on the trail, I becomes very important.

At this point the Boulder Field got pretty serious. The trail had competing cairns on it, so as I watched different group moving through it, it kinda became everyone for themselves. I followed a group that seemed to have confidence in the cairns they had targeted...until about halfway through when their creditability came into question and I set off on my own. Seemed to work out OK until topping the field and trying to figure out the climb into the Keyhole, the transition to the backside (I wonder if a mountain has a backside) of Longs and the next stage called the Ledges. At this point I thought it would have been nice to be following someone to see how they got into the Keyhole.

I was feeling pretty good and according to the route guide at 14er.com it was less then a mile to the summit. The challenge of the Ledges brought me back to reality as the trail was narrow, hard to identify and had pretty serious exposure. At one point, I was reaching around a badly placed boulder to continue on. I started to realize that the step from a Difficulty 1 hike/climb, to a 3 was pretty serious, and although this was not considered a technical climb it wasn't for those with little to no experience, even though I would overtake a group from Ohio that had chosen Longs as their first 14er.

I thought I was prepared for the next section which in my mind represented the crux of the entire climb...The Trough. Phoenix had warned me that it was a straight up climb for about 600 feet, but the sliding scree with each step really brought it home. Looking up the Trough at the climbers already up it set a scale to this place that was pretty overwhelming. As I looked at a couple of the boulders pretty much teetering on rim along the top, the term "act of god", came to mind as a possibility.

Up until now this was the hardest part of the climb for me and it seemed to go on forever, then on reaching what I thought would be an easy exit from the Trough to the Narrows, I realized that there was no clear exit and I had to climb to an extent that I was grabbing cracks in the rock and pulling my 190#s up and over the upper rim. My thought during this was how the hell would I get down and back into this gauntlet on the way back. I was so happy to reach the end and the entrance to the Narrows . This traverse across a rock face to the Homestretch was pretty intimidating, even more so then the Ledge and it was hard to see the path once across.

I just wanted to get through the Homestretch and on top. The surprise of the Homestretch was unexpected in that I figured it would be a walk up some cracks in a rock incline to the summit. It was more of a crawl using the cracks for handholds to another 10-15 foot climb at the top onto the summit. A miss here and you would be sliding a pretty long way. Which again brought up the question of how to transition back on to this stretch from the top when returning.

The Summit was pretty enormous, with about a dozen folks already there. The conditions were prefect, no wind, severe clear sky, all in all a good place to recoop a little before getting back on to the task of getting down.

I arrived here at 9:30, 7 hours after leaving the trail head. It normally takes me about as much time going down as, coming up. So I figured on a 14 hour round trip.

This picture is looking to the northwest.

I stayed on top for about 1/2 hour waiting to see if Phoenix would arrive, but at 10am I started down figuring I had 7 hard hours ahead of me.

The beginning being getting back down on to the Homestretch. I waited a few minutes to watch a couple that looked experienced and they slide on their butts most of the way down the stretch. I did the same and at the bottom they called this 5 pointing (hands, feet and butt).

Even though I had been across the Narrows, I didn't go fast back across it, the entrance to the Trough or down the Trough, because now I knew what I was in for and the exposure always looks greater when going down and generally facing away from the slope. On the way up you tend to fall into the terrain, while when going down you tend to fall away from it.

At the bottom of the Trough I finally ran into Phoenix, where he snapped this pic. He said I looked strong, but I don't know about that.

We talked for a while and he figured he had another 90 minutes before hitting the summit. I figured he was about 2-3 hours behind me at this point.

He continued up and I headed down. I still had misgivings about separating earlier, but he seemed to understand that we were moving at two totally different paces. Hindsight would say that a preliminary hike would have been in order to gauge our pace compatibility. Maybe some radios would have been of use in helping us stay in contact.

I got down through the Keyhole and back to the upper campground about 12:30. At this point my Camelbak had been drained of 3 liters and I refilled it with the only 2 liters of additonal water I was carrying.

The road apples in the trail question was also answered as a Ranger was checking out the camp and had 3 llamas in tow. Sorry horses.

The rest of the way down was long, but uneventful. It took me just under 14 hours.

Phoenix told me the next day that he summitted at 2pm, and reach the trail head at 11:30 that night for a 21 hour trip.

Although in past hikes the group had been separated somewhat by pace, usually in the 5-10 minute range, this separation made feel very guilty. Although it didn't seem to bother Phoenix, as the instigator it bothered me.

Long's Peak Tomorrow

The forecast is looking good for a climb (this is a class 3) up Long's Peak tomorrow. I am going to head up to the trail head campground later this morning with an anticipated start at 1:30am tomorrow morning. We have a full moon tonight, and I have my $4.99 LED headlamp from Harbor Freight.

This is a 14 mile round trip with 5000' of altitude gain. I am not the fastest person, so we are figuring a 14-17 hour trip.

Phoenix (a old hang gliding buddy) and I will meet up at the trail head campground and crap out in our cars till the jump off time.

I am going to try and do both pics and videos this time as some of the features are pretty spectacular, e.g. Keyhole, Narrows, Ledge, Homestretch, etc.

Stay tuned.

Pat
"Getting to the top is optional, getting down is not." - Heard or read somewhere else.

Swarming Broadtail Hummingbirds

Boreas Pass Day Trip

One of the things that we missed when we moved out here was the taking of day trips to different parts of Colorado. This was something we did alot of when visiting from Minnesota. Retirement is suppose to put these trips back on the front burner.

Last week we decided to take a trip to a place we had driven by many times over the last few years...Camp Como.

Camp Como is located just north of Hwy 285, east of Fairplay. One of the reasons for going to Como was some info we had read in a book on South Park and its place in history as a railroad junction for many of the 1800 train lines from the mountain mining communities and the growing metropolis of Denver.

Como even had a round house for switching of locomotives between the different lines. The roundhouse still stands in Como today.

Using Como as the jumping off point we headed up Boreas Pass. This pass was used by the railroad for the line into Breckenridge, to haul supplies in and ore out. At one time Como being at one end of the line had a population of 6000 souls.

As we headed up the dirt road to the pass one of the mountains visible is called Silverheels.

This peak is named after a saloon hall madam that stayed in Como during an outbreak of smallpox's to look after the sick when most others had left.

This peak looks like one that will need to go on the list for next year. It isn't a 14er, but is pretty close at 13.8K.

At the top of the pass still stands the section house used by the railroad, it is owned by the Federal Government, but operated by the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association. It can be reserved for winter backcountry trips. It appears to be solar equipped and we can attest to the well outfitted outhouse facilities.

At 11,481" it still amazes me some of the places that people lived in the mountains back in the 1800's. This place is remote during the winter today, but I guess if you had a train line coming through it wouldn't be as out of touch back then.

We noticed on the drive up to the pass and the down into Breck the number of tree stumps. They were very old and didn't show burn marks, but looked sawn. We surmised that they were cut for rail ties, cabins and of course train fuel.

The sun was shining on the south side of the pass in Park County, but once at the pass and looking into Summit County the sky was dark and threatening.

You can just see the ski runs at Breck in the background in this shot.

As we moved further down from the pass the rain began and the road started to get muddy and interesting to drive on.

The road was just as wide as the rail bed. The cuts in the ridge were not the nice wide ones seen on most mountain highways today, but narrow cuts to accommodate the train and nothing else.

Sure can tell the difference in engineering between the rail companies profit motivation back then and what is now dictated by government regulations. Made for some tight squeezes.

The next stop was also a stop for the trains making the pull over the pass and that is Bank's Tank for water. It still stands along the road today.

Didn't look like it still held any water, but we didn't do that close an inspection.

The pass comes down into the Blue river area on the opposite side of the valley from CO 9. I had always wondered what was up in those hills, now driving them at least I have an idea.

This drive made for some great views of the reservoir, even in the rain.

After about an hour we reached the end of the 21 mile trip to Breckenridge.

This was a whole side of this town we had never explored, that this drive in unveiled.

Never really realized that much existed on the east side of CO 9, but it seems that this is actually where everyone lives.

People get target focused on the ski resort and the condos that populate pretty much the entire area west of 9.

The last stop was the old the snowblower used on the rail back in the old days.

Maybe we should look into this for Autumn Creek.

One more 14er is scheduled for this year, and will be the most challenging I have attempted so far...Longs Peak.

The job isn't done until the paper is completed - Apollo 11 Moon Manifest

If you have travelled internationally you have probably had to fill out one of these on the flight back to the U.S.

It appears that the Apollo 11 Astronauts did too.

I found this in a pile of materials in the Government Pavilion at the EAA Airventures Airshow two weeks ago.

The operator of the flight is listed as "NASA" and the flight number is "Apollo 11".

They declared moon rock and dust.

All three Astronauts had to sign the declaration and the chief inspector at the Honolulu airport signed as approved.

I guess it just goes to show that no one gets a break when dealing with government paperwork.

Oshkosh - Airventure 2010

As part of a trip back to Minnesota to retrieve Marlys, Bill (who took advantage of the retrieval to not buy a airline ticket home) suggested that we head over to the EAA Airventure Airshow.

I had n0t been there since 2001, when I would take Derek over, so I was really looking forward to it.

So after a 20 hour drive to Bill's place to drop off Dusty in northern Minnesota, we got back in the car for another 8 1/2 hours for the drive to someplace near Oshkosk t0 layover before hitting the show bright and early on Wednesday morning.

After stopping in Wausau at about 9:30, we headed out at 5am to finish the epic drive east from Colorado.

We were walking around the show by 7:30 and one of the static displays was a Global Hawk UAV. You hear about these unmanned aircraft being used in Iraq and Afghanistan, but you really don't get a feel for how big they are until you stand next to one.

These are really a full size aircraft, look at the person in the background standing by the wing.

As was the norm in 2001, there is too much t0 see in one day, but that was the time we had.


One aircraft that really impressed me was this helicopter from Mosquito Helicopters in New Zealand. It was FAR Part 103 compliant (similar to ultralights, hang gliders, paragliders), so no special license is required, but I am sure much practice as it is after all a helicopter.

It was very impressive to watch fly. I may need to look into one of these, I wonder if they would have enough juice to hover at 8500 feet?

Mosquito also had a turbine powered one seater, using a aircraft APU as the power plan, it was very cool.

While waiting for the helicopter to fly, I watched a guy reading his for take off, and he had a somewhat "wired" look, like he had or was coming down from drinking too much coffee. It turned out that he flew his Kompress Helicopter from the south of the France to Oshkosk across Europe, the Atlantic and Canada to get here. I guess I would be a little wired too.

Bill and I spent 40 hours over the last 3 days in the MKX (luckily Bill did not suffer from gaseous eruptions like Herb did after Sunday's walk up Bierstadt), so today there will be no driving as we are back in beautiful urban-like Laporte, MN.

We snag another one!

It was another early morning start with departure at 3am. Herb, Bill and myself arrived at Guanella Pass parking lot at 5:15 am and hit the trail to the summit of Mt Bierstadt at 5:30am.

It was a great morning with no wind and temps in the 40's.

On the way up we passed a couple of groups returning from watching the sunrise...must have gone up in the dark, but full moon lit night.

The hike was pretty straight forward until the boulder field just below the summit. This is what gives this hike a Class 2 difficulty.

We made it to the top in just under three hours and back down in just under two.

Grays and Torreys: Herb Gets His Mountain Mojo Back

Yesterday was the second trip up some 14ers this season. We were going to try and bag two peaks Grays and Torrey's.

This would also be an occasion for Herb to get his 14er's legs back under him after falling prey to the evil cold pizza breakfast that stopped him on Elbert in May.

But he was also coming back off a week of the liquid s..ts, after visiting his brother and family in Montana. 

On hearing this Bill and I thought he was getting the excuse ready early.

We started up at 6am on the 8.25 mile round trip (if we hit both peaks) in a big wind, with a lot of company. These are two of the most popular 14ers in the state due to their proximity to Denver and they are very accessible.

We were passed by quite a few groups, but funny thing is we re-passed most of them before the summit of Gray's.

We topped Gray's at 9am, spent a few minutes taking pictures, eating and hydrating.

Herb let us know at this point that he had no interest in going on to Torrey's. We said we would work down Gray's toward the saddle between the two peaks and make another assessment about going up Torrey's then.

By the time we hit the saddle and Herb could see Torrey's top just up the other side, he had changed his mind and we were off for number two of the day.

It took us about an hour to get from the top of Gray's to the top of Torrey's.

This is a picture of Herb coming up the final few feet to the top.

Gray's is in the background and you can see the trail crossing back and forth on the right side of the mountain to the top.

There was quite a crowd on Torrey's and Herb's signs were again a big hit.

Herb was asked by a Catholic Priest (in his roman collar) to take his picture for which he received a blessing.

We were down by 12:20pm making for a little over six hour round trip.

On Sunday we are off to Mt. Bierstadt.

Breckenridge Ski Resort in the background and Keystone on the middle right.