Of Moose and Men

I went fishing a couple of days ago with my friends Scott and Dave.  I wanted to try a lake that I'd seen at the base of Mount Bierstadt when our group had climbed the mountain a couple of weeks ago.  We left later in the afternoon, so by the time we arrived it was already around 5 pm.  The setting is totally breathtaking.  The lake - really a large pond - is at 11, 500 ft, so it's above the tree line.  We got our gear together and hiked down to the pond.  When we got there we realized that it is actually a marsh, and there's no solid ground within 10 yards of the edge of the pond.  I had my waders on, so I squooshed my way in to where I could try a few casts while Scott and Dave walked around to the other side to see if there was any firmer footing.  As I trudged through the muck I would occasionally sink up to my thighs, and I was instantly grateful that I was not alone in case I got in deeper than I could get out.  I fished for 15 or 20 minutes, but there was absolutely no sign of any life in the pond.  The two guys had given up by this  time and were sitting on a knoll on the other side of the pond, so I squooshed my way over to them.  I had seen several smaller ponds from up on the mountain, so we decided to take a walk and investigate them for signs of life.  Again, no fish.  When I stepped into one of the smaller ponds I realized that the clear water we could see through was only the top 10 inches, and below that was 3 feet of muck... so it would be impossible for any fish to live there.  Around 7 pm we started our hike back to the car, and along the way we passed the larger pond - and to our amazement there was now an enormous bull moose standing in the water, feeding on the weeds on the bottom of the pond.  I don't know where he came from because we certainly hadn't seen him, and he would have been hard to miss!  I only had my iphone with me, but I took this video anyway.  It's blurry, but you can see the size of his rack pretty clearly.  So, we didn't catch any fish, but we got to see the biggest bull moose any of us had ever seen.  It was all worth it.

The world we live in

Massacre.  Mayhem. Confusing motives. Gun control.  Role-Playing.

Colorado's reputation as being the Mass-Shooting state is now carved in stone with this latest, tragic event in Aurora.  And this one hits closer to home; the son of dear friends in our church lost his best friend in the rampage.  It was his birthday, and he'd been married for only one year.

The mystery behind what might have motivated James Holmes continues to deepen.  A Ph.D student in neuroscience, no prior arrests, described as shy and retiring.  Raised in an upper middle-class home in California (why is it that mass-murderers are always young, white men from privileged backgrounds?).  Quiet.  Unassuming.  And yet his mother's first words when she heard of the massacre and the arrest of a suspect said to ABC news: "You have the right person," she said, apparently speaking on gut instinct. "I need to call the police... I need to fly out to Colorado."  Clad in sophisticated body armor (literally) from head to toe, wearing a gas mask, his hair dyed bright red, and identifying himself to police as the "Joker".   This story is far from over, and the more we learn as investigators search through the evidence, the more bizarre the details are likely to become.  Was he involved in mind-altering research?  Was he put up to this by other, currently unknown, parties? Opponents of current gun laws are already using this incident as one more "proof" of the need for stricter legislation in the purchase and use of firearms, particularly assault weapons such as the rifle that was used in the theater rampage.

I have legal permit to carry a concealed weapon.  I've taken several gun safety and marksmanship courses, but I am far from being an expert.  I am also an avid big-game hunter with a bear-skin rug to prove it, but shooting an animal is a universe away from pointing a weapon at a human being and pulling the trigger.  If I had been in the movie theater last Friday night, would I have had the intestinal fortitude to use my gun to at least attempt to halt the carnage?  I wouldn't be surprised if at least one person in the theater that night was packing, but there have been no reports of anyone returning fire.  None of us really know what we would be capable of until we find ourselves in the same situation.

 I will always remember what the instructor told us in one of the handgun courses I attended: "If you ever pull your weapon, it had better be for something you're willing to go to jail for, or to die for."

Mount Bierstadt

 

The boulder ridge from below

Sawtooth Ridge

Sunrise on the trail

Yesterday Daphne and I, along with six of our teammates, climbed Mount Bierstadt - considered one of the easier summits among Colorado's 53-some Fourteeners.  We left our house around 4:30 and reached the trailhead around 5:45.  There were already a dozen cars in the parking lot, so clearly there are some pretty intense climbers who start long before dawn.  It's possible to climb both Mt Bierstadt and Mt Evans in one day, but that involves a difficult - even treacherous - climb across the sawtooth ridge that joins the two peaks.  Apparently a woman fell to her death from the sawtooth last year, so it's not a climb to be attempted by novices.  Not long after we left the parking lot and starting down through the willows, I just happened to look back to my right and saw a large animal standing in a clearing about 100 yards away.  It was a young bull moose munching on the willow bushes.  As we stood there watching him, I realized upon closer inspection there were two other, larger bulls lying down with just their antlers visible above the bushes.  Pretty cool. Adam, who grew up in Colorado and who's climbed at least 20 Fourteeners, had never actually seen a moose in the wild.  I kick myself now for the decision not to bring my Nikon camera.  Next time.


We hiked down through a maze of willows, across a small creek, and then started the ascent.  I decided about 2/3 of the way to the summit that "easy" in Coloradan mountain-climbing lingo actually means "you probably won't kill yourself".  The trail-head starts at 11,600 ft and you climb to 14,060 - so around 2500 vertical feet.  I decided to take Duke along with us for the day because he loves to go on hikes.  After being pulled up the mountain and then pulled down, I've decided that Duke needs some remedial obedience training.  His energy level is unbelievable, and he could have turned around at the bottom and done the whole mountain again.  Course, he would have done it by himself because I was absolutely hammered by the time we got back.  The Bierstadt trail is only 7 miles round-trip, but the last 1/4 mile and 500 vertical feet is all boulders.  Standing at the bottom of that part and looking up at the summit you say to yourself, "You know,  I could be happy just to enjoy this from afar".  But of course, you drag yourself up that last stretch to the top.  It would be a real shame to get that far and not reach the summit.  The climb down was considerably easier, though I was really feeling it in my 50 year-old knees by the time we reached the bottom.  At one point Daphne and I stopped to wait for some of our teammates to catch up.  Duke and I found some shade under a tree that was partially hidden from the path.  About 5 minutes later a man came walking down the path and Duke, true to form, came up out of the bushes to saw hi.  I thought that guy was going to jump out of his skin!  Duke is the same color as a mountain lion, and for a split second he thought he was being attacked.  I tried not to laugh as I apologized for Duke's over enthusiasm, but it was really funny.

Jim and Duke at the summit

With a good night's rest and only some lingering soreness in my legs, I've caught the bug and I'm already planning my next Fourteener excursion.  I'll take my camera next time!