The Archies: High Peaks of 2012

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. 

 A list of last year's peaks can be viewed here and my very first Archies is at this link.

1. Graduated from UCA!!!
2. CAAH
3. Seed Swaps (Wayne and I coupled at the Jasper seed swap in 2010)
4. Author: Leslie Marmon Silko
5. Knitting: learned how to cable and make bobbles
6. Edge Campus Garden: sidewalk beds, raised beds, compost tumbler, cold frame grant (not to mention fresh salad during finals week!)
7. Hikes with Arkansas naturalist Kent Bonner
8. UCA Garden Committee
9. Pebble Wrestle 2012 at Horshoe Canyon Ranch: first legit V4 and first place in Women's division
10. Stop Arkansas Fracking
11. Laid down a rock spiral herb garden at Big Wayne's home
12. Completed Honors College thesis and Departmental thesis
13. Breakfasts with Patrick, Carpools with Raleigh
14. 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?
15. Leon the cat finds sisters in Sparkles and Rose at the Pitts' family home -- miss my fur child
16. The Stanley Hotel
17. Book: All the King's Men
18. 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.
19. Grey Jays (Rocky Mountain Camp Bird): beware! they swoop at granola bars in your hand
20. 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
21. Denver Museum of Nature and Science (Gemstone and Mineral exhibit)
22. 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.
23. Long's Peak: Cables Route, Key Hole Route, and priceless views
24. The shaking trashcan in the Stanley Hotel cafe -- ghost? or...... raccoon!!!
25. Mummy Mania:  Chapin, Chiquita, Ypsilon, Fairchild, Hague, Mummy
26. Writer: Enos Mills -- Father of RMNP
27. 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.
28. UCA Honors College Graduate gift of a pine tree -- lovingly planted at my family home.
29. Fourteen 14ers
30. 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.
31. Learning how to snowshoe. I have fallen in love with walking deep into the forest, gladly giving heat energy for the glittering wonderland.
32. Bobcats at Lumpy Ridge
33. Orion magazine
34. Outdoor Education at YMCA of the Rockies -- what a blessing to teach classes like Elk Ecology, Montain Ecology, and Outdoor Living skills in RMNP!!!
35. The Elk Rutting Season
36. Water Ouzel weaving joyfully in the Big Thompson running through Moraine Park
37.  Researching and exploring my student's conception of extirpated species.
38. Beef Beef births baby Maggie -- can't wait to go home and see her!
39. Hiking just short of 150 kids up Emerald Mountain and making sure they drank enough water!
40. Climbing the Cables Route on our neighborhood 14er, Longs Peak, with Big Wayne, Wayne, and Keifer
41. The sound of the wind above the highest peaks
42. First multi-pitch climb: Batman Pinnacle
43. Beginning casual bird watching: suet feeders, pine cone feeders, and guidance from George
44. Fresh mountain lion tracks on my habitual walking trail combined with this book: The Beast in the Garden
45. Walks with Lilian and Jenea
46. Xavier Rudd concert
47. Leadville coffee shop is a five star mountaineering fuel stop
48. Chickoree squirrel chasing a black blurr of scrabbit
49. Rocky Mountain Chocolate Shop Bear -- sweetest thief in town. See him here on youtube.and here on ABC news.
50. Estes Park Public Library
51. King Bullet Mushroom -- delicious forest foraging!
52. Fresh water spring at Alan's Park
53. 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)
54. Care packages and letters from Mama Diane -- shiitakes from Big Wayne's garden
55. White peaches make the summertime
56. The ache for a garden and compost heap while in staff housing at the YMCA
57. Do ponderosa pine trees smell like vanilla or butterscotch? 
58. North Inlet Trail: Hiked over the continental divide from Bear Lake to Granby
59. Snow Mountain Ranch -- Wayne's first time skiing and he is already speeding past me
60. Hitting a deer with the Subaru and then Wayne hit an elk a few weeks later