The Archies: High Peaks of 2012
Three years ago, I was inspired by one of my professors to reflect on the past year and then note in a list its defining threads. She had created this event, named the Archies in honor of her son, and it is a practice now shared by many who follow her blog. I have subtitled my Archies the High Peaks because while memories of years gone by can be misty, when I peer from the clarity of a summit, in this case a year's end, certain points rise strong and bold as mountain tops in my mind.
- Graduated from UCA!!!
- CAAH
- Seed Swaps (Wayne and I coupled at the Jasper seed swap in 2010)
- Author: Leslie Marmon Silko
- Knitting: learned how to cable and make bobbles
- Edge Campus Garden: sidewalk beds, raised beds, compost tumbler, cold frame grant (not to mention fresh salad during finals week!)
- Hikes with Arkansas naturalist Kent Bonner
- UCA Garden Committee
- Pebble Wrestle 2012 at Horshoe Canyon Ranch: first legit V4 and first place in Women's division
- Stop Arkansas Fracking
- Laid down a rock spiral herb garden at Big Wayne's home
- Completed Honors College thesis and Departmental thesis
- Breakfasts with Patrick, Carpools with Raleigh
- Fern Lake Fire: Life as an evacuee-- Could the YMCA of the Rockies burn? What is the importance of fire ecology? What changes will I observe in the now fire ridden trails, paths that I had walked all summer?
- Leon the cat finds sisters in Sparkles and Rose at the Pitts' family home -- miss my fur child
- The Stanley Hotel
- Book: All the King's Men
- Another Pitts Family Vacation to RMNP :) -- one of the best moments was when Anna spotted a hummingbird's nest, even though it was the size of a small plum, on the hike to Gem Lake. The bird perched inside peaked out as Dad raised Ella for a better view.
- Grey Jays (Rocky Mountain Camp Bird): beware! they swoop at granola bars in your hand
- Conundrum Hot Springs -- a natural springs in the back country...find a campsite beneath two 14ers (Conundrum and Castle) and then "soak" in the blissful mountain view
- Denver Museum of Nature and Science (Gemstone and Mineral exhibit)
- Gem Lake on summer afternoons. I fell asleep and woke up with a ground squirrell on my neck --my necklace must have looked like seeds. I took my Dad, Josh and Anna up there and when we ate trail mix, the ground squirrels ran all over us.
- Long's Peak: Cables Route, Key Hole Route, and priceless views
- The shaking trashcan in the Stanley Hotel cafe -- ghost? or...... raccoon!!!
- Mummy Mania: Chapin, Chiquita, Ypsilon, Fairchild, Hague, Mummy
- Writer: Enos Mills -- Father of RMNP
- Visit of Andrew Horris to Estes Park. Unfortunately he came during the fire evacuation and was a refugee tag-along. One wonderful moment was hiking into the Flatirons and playing his travel version on Settlers of Cataan.
- UCA Honors College Graduate gift of a pine tree -- lovingly planted at my family home.
- Fourteen 14ers
- Boulder Shakespeare Theater -- my favorite show this year was their version of Twelfth Night although Wayne and I also enjoyed Treasure Island, Richard III, and Noises Off.
- Learning how to snowshoe. I have fallen in love with walking deep into the forest, gladly giving heat energy for the glittering wonderland.
- Bobcats at Lumpy Ridge
- Orion magazine
- Outdoor Education at YMCA of the Rockies -- what a blessing to teach classes like Elk Ecology, Montain Ecology, and Outdoor Living skills in RMNP!!!
- The Elk Rutting Season
- Water Ouzel weaving joyfully in the Big Thompson running through Moraine Park
- Researching and exploring my student's conception of extirpated species.
- Beef Beef births baby Maggie -- can't wait to go home and see her!
- Hiking just short of 150 kids up Emerald Mountain and making sure they drank enough water!
- Climbing the Cables Route on our neighborhood 14er, Longs Peak, with Big Wayne, Wayne, and Keifer
- The sound of the wind above the highest peaks
- First multi-pitch climb: Batman Pinnacle
- Beginning casual bird watching: suet feeders, pine cone feeders, and guidance from George
- Fresh mountain lion tracks on my habitual walking trail combined with this book: The Beast in the Garden
- Walks with Lilian and Jenea
- Xavier Rudd concert
- Leadville coffee shop is a five star mountaineering fuel stop
- Chickoree squirrel chasing a black blurr of scrabbit
- Rocky Mountain Chocolate Shop Bear -- sweetest thief in town. See him here on youtube.and here on ABC news.
- Estes Park Public Library
- King Bullet Mushroom -- delicious forest foraging!
- Fresh water spring at Alan's Park
- I dropped Wayne's first gift to me, my favorite wild cat nalgene, off a cliff while descending Torreys (at least it wasn't an heirloom ring in the shower drain)
- Care packages and letters from Mama Diane -- shiitakes from Big Wayne's garden
- White peaches make the summertime
- The ache for a garden and compost heap while in staff housing at the YMCA
- Do ponderosa pine trees smell like vanilla or butterscotch?
- North Inlet Trail: Hiked over the continental divide from Bear Lake to Granby
- Snow Mountain Ranch -- Wayne's first time skiing and he is already speeding past me
- Hitting a deer with the Subaru and then Wayne hit an elk a few weeks later
