2020

Scotland,   Antarctica,  Puffins and More,  Alaska,  Joshua Tree NP,   Puerto Rico,

New Zealand,  Argentina,  East Africa,  Nepal,  SW--USA,  Svalbard,  Norway-Iceland,

Camino de Portugues,

It's 2020 and what an interesting year it has been...

 

 

Like most years I spent some weekends teaching skiing and snowboarding at the local ski area, Snowy Range. But this year, I entered the Sr. Olympics and won me a Gold medal in Giant Slalom.

I also did some xc skiing in CO with Cindy and Caroline, as well as some local xc skiing and some Rails to Trails trips. See photo link below

 

One night a week I played Ice Hockey with the over 35 crowd, though some youngsters were there as well (until covid in March).

And entered a few photo contests -- no big wins, but I hope you enjoy my linked photos.

Cheyenne Capital  Building

 I decided to give back to the community and joined the Friends of the Library Board for the Albany County Public Library.  I also spent a week working with the Wyoming Outdoor Council lobbying the Wyoming State Legislature in February, receiving some training from SHAPE before I jumped into the fire.  It was an extremely interesting experience, and I no longer wonder why things so rarely get done by government and never in the form in which the idea started.  Wow, amazing that anything at all gets done!

 Along the lines of civil duty, I also worked as a Poll Judge for the November election in Albany County, WY.  It was actually the least political day I had had in months:  there is no political anything in the polls, can't talk about it, or mention it, or anything.  It was actually quite a lovely day of helping folks complete forms and do their civic responsibility.  I highly recommend working the polls if you never have.  It is a good experience to see how elections actually play out on the ground.

 

 

Further adventures of civic duty included working on the 2020 Census.  I was very part-time but still got to hit some remote bits of SE Wyoming.  Click the link if you want to know more about the Census.

Saguaro NP, Tucson

  In March I drove to Tucson, AZ to count saguaro cactus for a week as part of the Saguaro National Park -- 2020 Census.  I learned of the census through Adventure Scientists, a really cool organization the looks to match up adventuring people with scientists who need extra help in the field. There were about 15 of us that week who hiked out to remote parts of the Park and counted every single cactus that we could find, in predetermined plots, from 5 centimeters (about 2") to almost 20 meters (about 60 feet) tall.  We got to camp in the Park and spent evenings wandering around on nearby horse trails.  I spent a few dinners visiting with friends in Tucson who I had not seen in years.  

 

 

On the way home I spent a little bit of time in Canyon de Chelly National Park and then another afternoon in Great Sand Dunes NP.   It was a fun drive home though I spent the overnights in the car to save some money.  It was a bit chilly in New Mexico at night at that time of year.  😀

Then COVID hit and life got a bit more local.

Rails to Trails ski day

 

 

 

Rail Trail Ski with C&C multiple times

In April,  Phoebe passes to the next life after nearly 19 years, 14 of them with me.

Once upon a cat,

Phoebe a few years ago

There were reasons that

I loved her:

Fur so soft,

Meow so strong,

Head butts aplenty,

And rarely a glare;

Not much of a hunter,

Or climber,

But always ready  

To snuggle and purr

 

 

  And I spent an afternoon biking Highway 130 a local Scenic Route through the mountains after it had been plowed but before it opened to cars.   

Laramie Peak area, WY

 

 

In June, a few friends and I hiked to the Laramie Peak area for long weekend of hiking.  It was lovely and we enjoyed the peace and quiet of the hiking as well as the lovely drive there and back.

 

 

Bernard, my new 2001 Tacoma

In July, I unexpectedly bought a 2001 Toyota Tacoma, on line.  I placed a bid but never expected to win as I was an early bidder and the price was excellent. Apparently, no one out bid me... so new truck.   It does have a lot of miles, but there are lots of these trucks out there, and I can replace the engine if needed.  The body is in great shape.  I had to fly to San Diego, and visited friends while there, then drove it home from Tecate, CA. It was about 1400 miles--great way to test drive a new vehicle, and I camped out in the truck and got to see a few cool things along the way including Great Basin National Park.

 

Horse packing in the Winds

In August I joined a group of NOLS alumni and friends to ride horses in the Wind River Range, a beautiful range of mountains in Central/Western Wyoming; probably my favorite range of mountains in the world.  We stayed on the Western side of the divide, and had great weather.

 

 

 

 

Ceres and Tulsi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Duna and Kiya

  Starting in July and running through the rest of the year, I have been fostering kittens for the local        shelter LAWS. 

The links are the same photo album.

 

 

 In September, a forest fire started in the general area of a whole bunch of research sites that I take care of.  We decided to remove as much of our instruments as possible before the fire closed off access.  We were fortunate that the fire stayed to South of our installations, but many homes and other structures were not so fortunate.  In the end the  Mullen Fire burned ~176,000 acres in the Snowy Range of SE Wyoming.
 

 

 

Tetons in October

In October, Dave, a housemate, and I did an iconic overnight trip to  Grand Teton National Park, the Cascade to Paintbrush Canyon trip.  It ended up a bit longer than we had planned as, surprisingly for October, the campground along our route was full.  We had to take a short detour to camp, then backtrack the next morning to get back on our trail.  It was also strange to see folks with rifles and scopes, but the Park decided to cull some Mountain goats that are taking over historic Bighorn  sheep habitat.  

It was a spectacular trip as the huckleberry bushes were in full color as well as the willows and other shrubs.  The flowers were gone, but it was great weather and beautiful, though there was some smoke from fires in other parts of the country.

local photos

And finally a few photos of life at home and around Laramie this year (the same album as the kittens).  

I will be adding a few more photos along the way.

Thanks for reading my post.  

I hope that you have a terrific Holiday Season and that 2021 is amazingly wonderful!