In Mountain and Meadow~Colorado Nature Close To Home -

2 February ~2009

My schedule is my own and this weekend I gave up a Saturday Night at the Grizzly Rose to take another winter backpacking trip. I went off trail, climbing up a steep slope to an isolated intermediate ridgetop with some nice rock formations. Bushwhacking off trail invariably means I will have the area all to myself. A midwinter trip makes that more likely.

It was perfect - adventure, solitude, and a long relaxing and warm night in my sleeping bag.

Getting out of the sleeping bag was damn cold though. My water bucket froze solid, which doesnt happen often. I immediately made a morning campfire, taking the edge off of what would have been a rough time.

In the summer I rarely make a fire, but in the winter they are a necessity, especially if I want to cook. My liquid fuel stove doesnt work very well in cold weather, especially at high altitudes. When I let my campfire burn down to embers I just sit my pot on them and go exploring with the dogs. When I come back I have boiling water for cooking or coffee.

The naturalist Enos Mills, who is known as the father of Rocky Mountain National Park, wrote this about campfires:

"I wish everyone could have a night by a camp-fire -- by Mother Nature's old hearthstone. When one sits in the forest within the camp-fire's magic tent of light, amid the silent, sculptured trees, there go thrilling through one's blood all the trials and triumphs of our race. A camp-fire in the forest is the most enchanting place on life's highway by which to have a lodging for the night."

Six month old Mollie gets the fact that we are entering a wild place with plenty of mystery. She is quiet and attentive on the way up. Once I set up the tent she had the time of her life, following Ben everywhere she is able to. I noticed she would run up on a rock formation before he gets to it, and watch him from above, as if to prove to him that right now he is little, and she is big.

Ben's passion for climbing up high and looking down from the heights might be from an ancient instinct predators have to get somewhere where they cannot be surprised, where any danger is visible, as are prey animals below.

He is still agile at almost nine years old, perhaps from the natural diet I have him on. (raw meat). At one point he climbed straight up a rock to be near me, while I had my camera set up on time release. Another time he went out on a ledge that was angled down, and I was worried for him, since all there was below was air. He turned around and used his claws to keep from slipping on his way back.

There are more hours of night than can be spent sleeping, so I brought along a book (The Grizzly by Enos Mills) and some music to play. I like the lyrics of Allison Kraus's song, that you've got silver in the stars, gold in the morning sun.