Spring Time

It is spring in the mountains. Spring, where it might be short sleeves and sunshine one day and blowing snow the next. Where the gooseberries and ruhbarb are emerging from winter burial and snowbanks persist in shady, north facing alcoves. We were skiing up on the mountain up until a few days ago, and working on the garden in the same week. And did I mention the gooseberries? I am really excited because only this afternoon while weeding around the ruhbarb (reliable performer that it is) I saw that both the gooseberry and rasberry I planted last fall survived the winter and are showing new growth, when I had thought them dead beyond salvation.

In other spring related activity, I taught a Wilderness First Responder class over NAU's spring break, on the San Juan river. We rafted the upper section of the San Juan, in southern Utah, over 9 days while learning about trauma, medical, and envirnmental emergencies in the wilderness. The class was a huge success, if a lot of work. The following weekend Risa and I borrowed a canoe and ran the Little Colorado River, from Grand Falls (pictured) to Cameron, about 40 miles distant. Part of what made this so cool, in addition to navigating steep class 2+ rapids in an open top canoe fully loaded with camping gear, is that 10 months of the year the river is nearly dry, only a tiny trickle of mud and quicksand through this stretch. But spring snow melt gives a window of incredible views at Grand Falls and good canoeing down the river.

Oh, a further paradox of spring in the mountains? I am teaching an intro to mountaineering class in a week and expect to be snow camping and using crampons and ice axe to mauever up Engineer Mountain in Colorado.

It is spring in the mountains. Spring, where it might be short sleeves and sunshine one day and blowing snow the next. Where the gooseberries and ruhbarb are emerging from winter burial and snowbanks persist in shady, north facing alcoves. We were skiing up on the mountain up until a few days ago, and working on the garden in the same week. And did I mention the gooseberries? I am really excited because only this afternoon while weeding around the ruhbarb (reliable performer that it is) I saw that both the gooseberry and rasberry I planted last fall survived the winter and are showing new growth, when I had thought them dead beyond salvation.

In other spring related activity, I taught a Wilderness First Responder class over NAU's spring break, on the San Juan river. We rafted the upper section of the San Juan, in southern Utah, over 9 days while learning about trauma, medical, and envirnmental emergencies in the wilderness. The class was a huge success, if a lot of work. The following weekend Risa and I borrowed a canoe and ran the Little Colorado River, from Grand Falls (pictured) to Cameron, about 40 miles distant. Part of what made this so cool, in addition to navigating steep class 2+ rapids in an open top canoe fully loaded with camping gear, is that 10 months of the year the river is nearly dry, only a tiny trickle of mud and quicksand through this stretch. But spring snow melt gives a window of incredible views at Grand Falls and good canoeing down the river.

Oh, a further paradox of spring in the mountains? I am teaching an intro to mountaineering class in a week and expect to be snow camping and using crampons and ice axe to mauever up Engineer Mountain in Colorado.