Trail Ridge Road Restoration
What a day: with Denver sweltering in 90-degree heat, the whole downtown a cluster with the Democratic National Convention, and summer fading away at a relentless speed, I got a “get out of jail free” card today to head to the hills and volunteer on company time. Don’t know many companies that let their employees do that.
Above is our crew (from top to bottom, left to right): Beth Bonczek, Keith Lin, Lisa Pogue, Carrie Koenig, Mikey Dehner (y’all remember Mikey, right?) and Madeline, our 86-year-old dynamo trail boss.
Weaver sets this program up each summer where we form groups around interests and causes (e.g. women’s issues, international aid, outdoors/mountains) and those groups each get one paid-day out of the office giving back to that cause. Being the co-founder of the Mountain Funk Militia in high school, you know what I opted for: trail work!
Keith and Lisa did a good deal of the research, and the two of them set us up with the Colorado Mountain Club and Rocky Mountain National Park. Last summer, the park had some road work done on Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous paved through-route in North America (did you know I used to be the editor of the Colorado Official State Vacation Guide and can blurt out random Colorado facts on a dime?). The road work site did a bit of damage to the alpine ecosystem immediately downhill, and the park needed some help restoring the slope and slowing the erosion.
For the project, the park’s botanist had gathered 14,000 native grass seeds, grew them in the park’s greenhouse, and we simply planted them. Well, not simply. It felt like we were planting the grass in loose marbles. The hill was mostly gravel and jagged granite rocks, so getting the plants secure and flush with the hillside was tricky.
As work progressed, the hillside started to look more like a zen garden than a natural habitat, but over time (at least we hope), the roots will spread and keep the hillside together, green and pretty.
However did we maintain our stamina at 12,600 feet? Lots of trail mix. Oh, and $9.99-gas-station-aviator sunglasses helped keep the sun out of me eyes. (thanks to Mikey for insisting I strike this pose…it’s badass).
By the way, Keith is the most mild mannered guy at Weaver…really, he is.
You can’t help but think what a great gig this: the scenery, making stuff grow, the camaraderie….sure beats stuffing envelopes for a volunteer stint.
One lone hitch: we had it in our heads that lunch was provided, but…it…wasn’t. Fortunately, all of the other volunteers gave us trail mix, chocolate and cookies. Generous, yes, but I was sugared out and surprisingly punchy afterward.
As we rapped up, I found these perfect alpine gentians. Gentians are always the last flowers to bloom in the high country — a precursor of autumn — and because of that, they are kind of a sad flower for me. When I see them, they usually remind me that I didn’t do enough hiking in the summer.
On that note: smiling group shot!
OK, the next few weeks will have some exciting blog posts so stay tuned.
- We might head down to the DNC tomorrow night. Don’t know what we’ll see, but I’ll be carrying my camera. I’m loving the fact that Denver matters for once.
- On Friday, a new piece of equipment will arrive on my doorstep courtesy of BH Photo: bright white-seamless paper and a support stand. I’m going to start experimenting with portraits on a white backdrop, so look for those.
- Also, I’ll be hiking Sunday with Grand Master Mountain Funk (aka my best bud Matt), who knows where, but it oughta be good
- And the following weekend we’ll be heading back up to Estes Park for the Scottish-Irish Heritage Festival. Another white seamless opportunity? The idea is intriguing….
[...] changing up there. The star gentians on the left are always end of the season wildflowers, like the alpine gentians I mentioned last week. The tunda is turning an orange rust, the wind has extra bite, and the creeks are pretty low. [...]
The James Peak Wilderness « The Tanager Blog said this on September 5, 2008 at 4:33 pm |