Spring Board Meeting and another Estes Park Getaway, 2016

At Nymph Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park

Once again the USHPA board meeting was in Golden, CO. This time, though, we would bring our wings with us and not miss a chance to fly the local site, Lookout Mountain, visible from our meeting venue. Almost as an afterthought, I checked with WorldMark and found that there was a condo unit available for the week starting right after the meeting. Since we had enjoyed our last two stays in Estes (as well as two on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park), I booked us in for five days starting Sunday (Unusually, the board meeting was starting on a Wednesday and would be over on Friday night with the Awards Banquet). I figured we needed an extra day if we were going to try to get in a flight. Amazingly, it all worked out and we had a good time.

7 Mar, Mon – I got up early to go to my dermatology appointment in Kirkland (Dr. Wang, Advanced Dermatology), scheduled by Veterans Choice; and hopefully paid by the VA. After a quick stop at Costco to fill up with gas, I was home soon enough to load the car and be on our way shortly after 1000. It was raining as we pulled out and on the Pass it was snowing hard. That was about the last of the bad weather because it cleared up in Eastern WA; we had sunny weather most of the way to Boise. We got gas in Pendleton at Safeway and then again in Boise at Costco. We stayed at the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge which was hidden behind Walmart off W. Overland. We took our coupons to a nearby Arby’s and shared a pretty good reuben, fries and a “free” Andes Mint shake.

8 Mar, Tue – Up at 0645 for the okay breakfast in the lobby. We stopped in Ogden at Costco for gas  and at AAA for maps and tour books. Then we drove across Wyoming where there were piles of snow where drifts had formed. It was pretty cold (below freezing) at 6-7000 ft elevation. We stopped in Rawlins for the night at 1st Choice Motel which probably would not be our first choice again. The room was okay but the breakfast was limited in selection. We ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant (Four Seasons) recommended by the Asian motel manager; it had a pretty good buffet with lots of variety.

9 Mar, Wed – Up at 0645 and on the road before 0800. It was 100 miles to Laramie where we stopped for gas (24.45) and left I-80 for 287 south to Fort Collins, then I-25 to Denver and up I-76 to Golden arriving around 1130. Our AirBnB hostess, Cherry, would not be around until after 1700 so we went to The American Mountaineering Academy and found the board members just breaking for lunch. Mark talked us into going to Golden Sweets for an ice cream lunch. After lunch there was a presentation by GW Meadows about PASA and the insurance scheme for commercial instructors/schools. Lindsey Matush, whom we had first met at the Craters fly-in, did a training exercise for the directors which went until 1800. Then there was the traditional icebreaker which was attended by a good number of local pilots. We had a little beer and a few empanadas which was enough for a light supper. Mark Forbes accompanied us to Cherry’s just to say hello to his hostess from last year. Cherry and her dog, Sheila, were very welcoming and we had the run of the house and a room of our own.

10 Mar, Thu – up at 0645, Cherry had left us Greek yogurt, bananas, and granola for breakfast. We walked over to the AMA for the first session at 0800 – the final step of Lindsey’s goal-setting exercise. After that was a long Safety and Training Committee meeting, lunch with Brad and Maren at an Italian pannini bistro. The afternoon schedule included Tandem, Accident Report, Communication, and Chapter Support meetings. We went to Amir Lebanese and Mediterranean Café with Jug and Julie and had a combo platter with chicken skewer, lamb, tabbouleh, rice, grape leaf wrap, hummus and baba ghanaj (?) with a large, fresh-baked flatbread. We got back to Cherry’s just after 2000.

11 Mar, Fri – Committee reports and more about the RRG. I had no meeting, thus no report and got a cheer for saying so. C.J. went off with Kay to visit the Quilt Museum and I went to lunch at the pizza place across the street from Table Mtn Inn with Rich Hass, Dick Heckman and Paul Olson (partner in the old Raven SkySports in Whitewater). More of the same in the afternoon with a nice break when Mike Meier gave his famous safety talk, the one he first gave to the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. When we finally broke at 1800 C.J. and I walked to The Dove Inn to get two boxes of awards from Ashley’s car and brought them to the Kokopelli Room in the Table Mtn Inn. Fortunately Scott Harris from Jackson was there to help. After checking to be sure that Jug was not in need of anything for the presentation, C.J. and I walked back to Cherry’s, changed clothes and walked back along the busy street to the Kokopelli Room. We got a couple of overpriced drinks and then enjoyed a tasty SW-themed buffet dinner. Jug did his usual excellent job as emcee for the awards presentation (although he had some technical glitches with his Apple computer and had to use a borrowed PC which had problems as well). We got to talk with some of the local pilots about flying (a dozen had flown in the afternoon) on Saturday, and Benzie and others said to meet early (0900) because it was supposed to get windy by noon. [Kay had not been encouraging about flying Lookout which she considered to be quite technical; but she had students to teach early Saturday at Foothills Community Park in North Boulder so she would not have been able to fly Lookout anyway.] We got back to Cherry’s by 2230 or so and spent some time packing up for an early departure.

12 Mar, Sat – Up at the usual time although we had set the alarm for a bit later. Cherry did not have to work and was going for a hike on South Table Mountain with her dog and left before we had moved out. There were several hang glider pilots and an equal number of paras in the LZ across Rte 6 from the Colo School of Mines football and other playing fields. About a third of the LZ had been fenced off for construction parking and equipment (large pipes), but there appeared to be room to set up and land. Benzie gave us a ride to the trail and we climbed up without too much strain. C.J.’s new reversible harness made the load somewhat easier to carry. After setting up we waited quite a while for conditions to improve. A mini-wing launched and later a PG and two HG’s before I took off. Fortunately I found some lift to the left at the North Point and climbed a bit over launch. I flew back south and worked some light lift out in front of launch. The cycle ended and I flew back and forth across the face sinking until I got below the road. Then I tried going out to the E/SE and found another patch of lift before reaching the development above the LZ. That gave me a few more minutes but soon I was flying over the LZ and the ridge at the E end. I made a good aircraft approached and landed gently in the middle of the field. ( :15?). Benzie wasn’t as fortunate and had a short sledder. C.J., after a couple of aborts launched in a good cycle and got up over launch and stayed up for close to 40 min, the best flight of the day (at least on the first round). By 1215 we were packed up and we said goodbye to the pilots and Lindsay Matush who showed up late and was probably going to fly with a borrowed wing. Steve Kroop and Jamie also dropped by killing time with a hike before heading for Breckinridge. We decided to celebrate a new site flown with lunch at Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburger in Lakewood at the Colorado Mills shopping center (14). Then we headed for Boulder with a stop at Costco in Superior for a rotisserie chicken, some bananas, and a box of Swiss Miss (not available in Iss.) and gas. We drove through the busy downtown and Pearl Street pedestrian mall to Foothills Park to check out the flying site. Then we drove up the canyon route from Boulder to Nederland where a big event was happening, apparently  “Frozen Dead Guy Days” something or other. The Peak to Peak highway took us up over 9000 ft at one point but there was little snow even though we drove through a brief flurry. We got to Worldmark in Estes Park before 1700 but we had to wait an hour before our room was ready. After moving in we drove to RMNP Beaver Meadow Visitor Center for the last Saturday evening ranger program of the winter – a presentation on science and the national park. We got back to the condo shortly after 2000 and had some chicken and salad for dinner. No luck getting our wireless to work so far.

13 Mar, Sun – Slept in until 0800 or so and then had some oatmeal for breakfast. After that we went over to the office to see why we weren’t getting Wi-Fi; they just told us to call the network company. So I did that and got our login (sturtevant) and password (ush_____) figured out and the Wi-Fi working. Then we packed our day packs for relatively warm but windy conditions and drove over to the Fall River Visitor Center. The ranger gave us a couple of trail maps and suggested several hikes. We thought that we might do the Deer Mountain one but when we got there, we saw a dozen or more cars at the trailhead. So we continued on to Moraine Park and the Fern Lake trailhead. It was also almost completely parked up; in fact, we took the last spot and then many more cars drove by looking for a spot to park (ca. 8160ft). We thought that we’d probably do the whole six-mile loop to The Pool, Cub Lake and back to the Cub L trailhead, then the 0.3-mi walk back to the car. It was 0.7 mi along the road to the summer trailhead and then another 1.7 mi to The Pool where the trail crosses the Big Thompson River (a trail continues a mile to the falls and another mile or two to Fern Lake. We ate lunch in the sunshine on the rocks near The Pool along with quite a few others around 1330 (started hiking at 1220). We ran into snow on the trail, continuous, not just patches, almost as soon as we started the climb to Cub L. The footing was just about good enough that we didn’t slide off the trail, but if I had carried my snowshoes, I would have put them on just for the crampons. A number of people did have Microspikes or Yaktraks, but we made do with our good boots and trekking poles. It took more than an hour to get to the top of the ridge before descending to mostly-frozen Cub L (1.2 mi from The Pool and somewhat over 8700 ft). We had been hearing that the trail between Cub and Moraine Park was steep and icy, but we found that it wasn’t as bad as the climb from The Pool. Once we got down C.J. sent me on ahead so I could get the car. I wasn’t moving all that fast myself but I got the car and met C.J. just after she got to the Cub Lake trailhead. We drove directly back to the condo and relaxed for a while before dinner. It looks like tomorrow will have to be a less strenuous day.  

14 Mar, Mon – Craig called around 0830 and said this was a good day to get together. He got here around 0945 and we visited until 1130 or so. Weather was unsettled with sunshine and snow flurries so we didn’t want to do a hike; besides, C.J. was complaining of soreness in her right knee on the outside. Around noon we drove up to the Beaver Meadow VC and watched the two films, both very good. It was snowing harder just the mile closer to the mountains and the ranger reported heavy snow up around Bear Lake. Back at the condo we had salad with chicken, bread, and some of Craig’s rice and veggies with curry spice. Snow flurries continued and there was enough snow on the ground for one of the kids to make a small snowman. We shared photos of our Thailand trip and Craig and Jane’s trip to Africa. After Craig left, around 1600, we went out and visited the Warming Hut and the Mountain Shop to look at boot crampons. [After checking around it appears that none of the brands are worth anything except the expensive Kahtoola MicroSpikes which cost about $60.] We stopped at Safeway to get gas  and buy some groceries . Back home we borrowed Into the Woods from the office and watched the movie. The flurries had stopped earlier.

15 Mar, Tue – up at 0730; called to reserve a place on the Wed snowshoe ecology walk; too late it was all booked up with eight on the waiting list. The report from RMNP for Bear Lake was 52 in of snow on the ground with 10.5 in of new – sounded great! Sometime after 0900 we geared up and drove to Bear Lake. The road was icy from the Bierstadt shuttle stop but sanded and there was plenty of parking both at Glacier Gorge and at Bear Lake. The temperature was in the teens and the wind gusts made it seem even colder. Our clothing was adequate but our faces would have been liable to frostbite if we hadn’t gotten out of the wind in the forest. We were pleased to see that there was at least one party ahead of us on the trail to Bierstadt Lake. Unfortunately, they turned off to head toward Flattop Mtn and we had to break trail from that trail junction to Bierstadt L, about 1.7 mi. The 3-400 ft climb to the ridge was fairly steep but the rest of the slope down to the lake was gentle giving us a net loss of 34 ft. from 9500-ft Bear Lake. At the lake we followed the shoreline clockwise around the south end and then got back on the trail shortly before it intersected with the steep trail up the front face of Bierstadt Moraine. That trail was well packed by hikers without snowshoes. A few minute’s walk to the west put us on the top of the steep slope with a view down into the Bear Creek valley (on a clear day there would probably be a view toward Longs Peak). We ate lunch there but the wind gusts kept covering us with snow so we did not linger. C.J. was considering descending that trail but decided against doing that because of the exposure to the increasing wind (and the challenge of hitching back to our car). So we followed our tracks back to the top of the ridge where we met the first snowshoers of the day on the Bierstadt trail. Descending was fairly easy and C.J. took off her snowshoes part way down to give her hip joints a rest. As we started across the sloping parking lot at Bear Lake, we saw an older man slip and fall hard on the ice. We went to help, and fortunately a ski patroller also was there quickly and took over the first aid. After what looked like a thorough exam, the victim did not seem to be seriously injured and was able to get up and be helped to his car by his companion. The road was covered with compact snow and ice down as far as Bierstadt and it was still snowing lightly. Back at the condo we unpacked and C.J. started a pot of soup with some roasted bones from the rotisserie chicken. Then we drove down to the Estes Park Brewery where we had a Safeway coupon for four free samples each of their craft beer. That was kind of fun, and the beer was good enough that we bought a six-pack of the varieties we liked (7.61). Then we went to Safeway to buy some frozen limeade/Margarita mix, and some on-sale Tillamook ice cream . C.J. finished the soup for dinner and it was even better than usual – was it the Costco chicken or the WM package of Italian seasoning, or something else?

16 Mar, Wed – Up before 0730. C.J. worked on her article for the next magazine until it was time to leave for Bear Lake to see if we could get in on the ranger-led snowshoe walk to Nymph Lake at 1230. The report from Bear Lake at 0740 was 52 in of snow with 1.5 new, enough to cover Tuesday’s tracks. [The forecast for Thursday was for 3-5 inches of snow down in Estes Park, so there could possibly be good XC skiing up near Sprague Lake.] We left at 1155 which seemed plenty early but encountered a line at the entrance station which slowed us down. Then we caught up to a big SUV from Texas which was going really slow even though the road was bare and there were just a few flurries of snow. I finally lost patience and passed him on a straight stretch. That put us at Bear Lake a bit after the gathering time for the ecology walk. But C.J. got an OK from the ranger to add two more people to the already large group (close to twenty). So we caught up with the group just a little ways off the Bear Lake trail; the ranger was doing a lesson on snowshoe skills like how to turn around and how to get up if you fall. Then she sent everyone off to try breaking trail in the deep snow. After that we lost a couple of less-fit people and then lost another few when a young woman felt dizzy and appeared to faint. We were only a short distance from the parking lot so it wasn’t a big deal to have her and her companions escorted back. Then we climbed steeply up the trail to Nymph Lake stopping a few times on the way to talk about the forest and how the critters deal with winter: hibernate, migrate, tolerate, or terminate (like insects). At the lake we turned back, good thing because the snow was falling quite heavily and the wind was gusting. We did a little excursion to a small overlook and took a steep off-trail chute down to the shore of Bear L. Back at the car we had a little lunch and some hot cider then drove down the snowy road to Storm Pass trailhead. We walked in 0.3 mile to the Glacier Creek trail to see if it would be suitable for skiing. It looked fine so that is a possible plan for Thursday. We returned to the condo by 1530 and caught up on journals and some editing. Soup, salad, and bread for dinner… and ice cream.

17 Mar, Thu – Up around 0700 so that we could get an early start to ski the west Glacier Creek trail from Sprague Lake to Glacier Gorge. There had been a little snowfall in Estes Park and I wanted to wait until the snow depth report was posted on the nps.gov/romo website. But it was not up by 0830 so we just drove up. Even a mile closer to the mountains at the Beaver Meadow entrance station it was snowing harder and the “winter driving ahead” signs were flashing. The road was snowy but not too slippery at least as far as Sprague Lake (above that it was probably pretty icy and snowy). Snow was falling steadily but it was not as cold or windy as it had been on previous days. We got our skis on and followed the tracks of two skiers upstream from Sprague. We worked up a pretty good sweat in the almost three miles of mostly gentle climbing to the bridge below Alberta Falls, less than a quarter mile from the trail junction at Glacier Gorge. We turned around there just as a couple of snowshoers passed us obliterating our ski tracks. Still, the trail was filling rapidly with falling snow so it was not a problem. It was flat out too snowy to stop for lunch, and I had lost my water bottle so I was ready to get back to the car. C.J.’s feet were hurting as well. Fortunately, it was gently downhill, which would have been better if our skis were not subject to freezing up and causing drag. Still, we got back around 1300 (left at 0940 according to my GPS) and I found my bottle in the snow not far from the lake. The road was a bit slipperier on the way down –we saw a car totally off the road and I got a bit of a skid as I pulled out onto the main road. Back at the condo we spread our wet gear out in front of the gas fireplace to dry, and whipped up a batch of nachos for lunch. And later I tried the blender and the Margarita mix – the results were not on a par with regular limeade concentrate and the Vitamix. C.J. prepared a stir fry for dinner. It continued to snow, mostly lightly but occasionally it would dump. We were mildly concerned knowing that we would be driving on Friday.

18 Mar, Fri – We woke up before 0700 to about 8 inches of new, fluffy snow and continuing snowfall. I used the condo broom to sweep the snow off the stairs to our second-floor unit. Then I misunderstood C.J. who asked me if I had my keys; what I didn’t get was that she had locked herself out of the condo and needed my keys which were in the car. I blithely went about sweeping the snow off the car and starting it up so the ice would melt from the windshield and back window. I retrieved my wallet with the key card and rescued C.J. who was running in place on the landing to keep warm. By 0840 we had tromped down a path through the snow and had loaded everything. The roads were plowed but covered with packed snow all the way down Big Thompson Canyon to Loveland. It was snowy-slushy on 287 between Loveland and Fort Collins and my windshield was almost opaque – the wipers were working fine but the washer was frozen. I stopped at an auto parts store and bought a pint of booster for the washer fluid.  It didn’t help and the only time I could wipe the windshield was when a truck would splash a bunch of slush on it. We stopped in Laramie for gas at Pilot (16.12) and I bought a gallon of washer fluid supposedly good down to -25. The windshield washer still wasn’t working. I thought that possibly I had blown a fuse, and if it didn’t start working by the time we got to the relatively warm temperatures of Salt Lake City (in the 50’ according to the forecast) I’d check the fuse box. However, once we descended below the 7-8000 ft elevations of Wyoming, near the Utah border, the rear washer started to work and then the windshield washer kicked in also. There was much less snow on the ground as we left Colorado’s Front Range communities, and part way across Wyoming on I-80 the roads were bare and dry. The car, however, was covered with brown, frozen slush and the last of it did not drop off until we left it parked at the Salt Lake City Costco while we bought a pizza to bake at Nick’s house in SLC where we spent the night. We filled up with gas at the Costco also. Nick’s house was great; he has lots of decorative touches from his world travels like a rug from Iran, and wall hangings from Haiti.

19 Mar, Sat – On our way at 0640 after scrambled eggs for breakfast. We were more than a half hour down the road before we remembered that we had left the rest of the pizza in Nick’s refrigerator. It was nice and warm in the car with the sun beating in but still cool outside. We stopped at Sierra Trading Post in Meridian, ID, and C.J. found a lightweight fleece jacket at a great price. We looked at Steripens but the only models that were reasonably priced ($40) were the larger ones that use four AA batteries. The Traveler Steripen that I previously owned used two 3.5 v batteries (but it was priced at $65). I’ll wait for the REI spring sale and see what they have. We got gas at Costco in Nampa and then drove through to Baker City where I had reserved a room using our Wyndham Hotel points – 15,000 = one free night. We took the business route through town before checking in around 1530 PDT. C.J. immediately got to work writing her article for the 16/05 magazine. For dinner I ran out to Safeway and got a container of soup (clam chowder –good) and a couple of sandwiches from the deli.

20 Mar, Sun – The breakfast at the Super 8 wasn’t bad at all. In addition to the two waffle makers, there was an automated pancake maker plus the usual cold cereal and cinnamon rolls, some fruit and yogurt. We were on our way by 0820 and the trip seemed to go pretty quickly. We skipped Costco in Union Gap and found slightly cheaper gas in Ellensburg at 7-11. We took a break at Winegars – ice cream for lunch a last time before getting back to a more normal schedule. As we climbed over Snoqualmie Pass we ran into light rain. Fortunately it had let up by the time we reached North Bend and we were able to unpack without getting wet.