What's ET up to now?

Alaska_2016, Joshua Tree NP, Puerto Rico_2019, New Zealand,

East Africa, Nepal, SW--USA_2008, Argentina, Central Asia 2024-25

Svalbard_2008, Norway-Iceland_2008, Camino de Portugues_2015, Toolik_2022

2025

Just to clarify, that photo in the upper corner is from when I started this blog thing in 2009. It has aged much better than I, but I don't want to have to figure out how to change it... so 2009 photo it is.

Also, I am way behind, but here is 2025...

So, this year had some adventures as well. I hope you enjoy reading about them, and checking out the usual overload of photos. I have added an album above of my Central Asia trips, so check out all the photos there.

Ouray ice climbing

The New Year started with the usual activities like some skate skiing at the local area, instructing snowboard and skiing at Snowy Range ski area, and getting a bit more settled at the new job (started in November 2024) as a Grant Development Manager. My friend Matt and I also did a bit of ice climbing in Ouray, CO as well as a day skiing at Crested Butte - a first time for me.

February was full of exercising, skiing, snowboarding, biking to work in the snow, and taking a course reading MacArthur award papers, but no big out of town expeditions. I did something to my knee but it eventually got better with a whole bunch of PT.

flying into SLC

March had a nice duel trip to Snowbird to ride in the snow with my brother and family, then directly to San Diego for a conference and to visit friends.

April-signed up to look for vultures in a citizen science project. Re-certified for Mental Health First Aid

May- Took a couple days to visit some WY state parks. I had won WY State Parks pass, and if you visit all of the parks, and get a stamp, you can get free pass the next year. So, I visited a few parks on the east side of the state, plus a National Historic Fort, and Scotts Bluff NM. I also re-certified my Wilderness First Responder as well.

June- I foolishly took a summer class, forgetting that it is super accelerated, but the Physical Geography stuff is pretty interesting. I did a bit more citizen science work for my old PhD advisor, looking at cheat grass growth after a very large fire, just west of Laramie in the Medicine Bow National Forest: Mullen Fire.

WY parks, state and Federal

Portland, OR

July- Visited 9 more state parks, completing my "passport" of state parks, and passed through Yellowstone and Teton National parks, as they were on the way.

Went to Portland, OR over a weekend for a friend's celebration of life and got to visit with some old friends from Laramie.

Hiked near the Flatirons, Boulder, CO

Elk Mt, Research Station

Got to join a bunch of researchers checking out the renovated atmospheric research station on top of Elk Mt, WY

Did a few more transects in the Mullen Fire area.

Medicine Bow Peak

The first half of August was several local hiking days, plus an afternoon spent riding my bike and then walking the sweep for the Medicine Bow Rail Marathon race.

The second half was a trip to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan via Istanbul. Unfortunately, my luggage and I did not make the same trip, though I reunite with my luggage in Denver on my way home.

Kyr-Taj

I took the trip with a tour group out of Italy, and everyone else was Italian. In some ways it was great, I could just zone out and enjoy the countryside and not have to talk. Of course, that also meant that at least 1/2 the time I had no idea what was going on. The folks were amazing, accomplished, interesting, and enjoyable. The scenery was stunning, and I even got to pretend that I could see K2 in the Hindu Kush, just over that very large rise in Afghanistan, just across the Panj River. There is all sorts of amazing history in the region from the Ancient Silk Road, several sections of which we followed loosely, to the Great Game of the British and Russian empire building. For those who know I like to travel to scenery, you will not be surprise to hear that some of it looked rather like Wyoming--huge vistas, big mountains, arid landscape. This area is basically the far Western end of the Himalayas.

We started in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, stopping at the bazaar for a few things--including all the stuff that was still in my luggage somewhere. Then headed East, towards the Chinese border, and then the Pamir. The Pamir Highway is an amazing route through some incredibly harsh and beautiful landscape. We basically followed it all the way to Dushnabe, Tajikistan. Along the way we stayed in yurts and hiked up to the climbing base camp for Lenin Peak, a very accessible 7000 meter peak. That made me very happy, and also very sick: bad water or some food, anyway, I was pretty sick and out of it for a couple days, but then back on my feet to look across the Panj River to Afghanistan and the Hindu Kush mountains that lie along the Afghan-Pakistan border. We visited really ancient fortresses that were part of the Silk Road, a loose term that refers to hundreds of years of history and numerous dynasties, kingdoms, and trading routes. We also visited Soviet monuments and lovely mosaics in several cities. It was a fascinating tour through ancient mountain villages and stunning landscapes. The tour link here

Wedding in CA

September- I attended my cousin Chris's son Austin's wedding, near Palo Alto, CA. The venue was up in the hills to the south, and was so cute and lovely. Austin and Val were really fun as I got to hang out with them the night before all the festivities. It was also great to catch up with my cousin and his awesome wife and some of their kids who I had not met before. Even got to meet a cousin-in-law.

Back in Laramie, September saw me doing some more local hikes and playing on a co-ed volleyball team--been sometime since I have played volley ball! Spent a weekend in Breckenridge, CO on a work weekend with my friend Matt for his membership obligation at a very old ski club. It was actually pretty fun and we had dinner in town with some old and new friends. Took a class on Forest Dynamics!

October- I decided to spend the money and take a tourist train ride that wanders along the CO-NM border for miles. The Cumbres-Toltec railroad. It was a really fun day, with a bus ride back to the start. I met some cool folks and totally enjoyed the warm day in the outside car. I missed the peak of leaf season but it was still gorgeous. (there are a lot of shots of the train going around corners as I was trying to get the perfect shot for my holiday cards.)

Cumbres-Toltec RR

November- was a lot of shots of my cats and a few day hikes in the area. I played some ice hockey and put up my Holiday tree--I really love all the little lights.