The Latest Updates

My posts have been random lately so here is a real update of what's happening in my world...

I had a wonderful year teaching Adventure Education at Fort Lewis College. My colleagues, my students, the location was all fantastic. But, Julie (my partner) wasn't able to find a job in Durango. It's a small town and the economy forced the college into a hiring freeze and the school district was laying people off. It wasn't looking too good. And, she has a great job in Madison that she was hesitant to leave. Anyway, so after a year I bid farewell to my friends in Durango and loaded the U-Haul to head back to the midwest. Hopefully, I'll have the opportunitiy to teach a summer course there in the future or help out with some half semester courses. It's a great program!

This summer I am guiding sea kayaking trips in the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior. I work for Living Adventures out of Bayfield, WI. It's a great company and I love the people I work with. It's been a lot of fun and Lake Superior is gorgeous!! It's the largest lake in the world and almost more like an ocean without tides. The water is crystal clear and there are tons of wildlife. Nearly everyday I see bald eagles and loons. The other day we saw a bear crossing the road. I saw a baby and mama skunk one day, a baby loon sitting on the mama's back two days in a row, and two bald eagles locking talons in mid-air one day. All super cool!

Also, I am working for the Madison School District's ropes course this summer a bit leading team building and rock climbing trips. This may become a more permanant job in the fall - I hope so, just waiting to learn about some funding.

My experience at Fort Lewis has motivated me to go back to school to get my PhD. I loved teaching at FLC and I know it's somewhat rare that I had that opportunity w/o a PhD. Getting a PhD will give me more opportunities to teach at the college level. So, I am starting with two classes in Education this fall at UW Madison. I've connected with one of the faculty there who I think will be a good fit as an advisor for me. There's quite a bit of flexibility in the program and at this point I am planning to study creativity in adults, something that's fascinated me for years.

I am also prepping for the Madison area Open Art Studios in October. It'll be the third year I'm exhibiting, but this year instead of fiber art I am doing photography. It'll be my first photography show and I am very excited. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback about my photography and look forward to seeing what happens. If you are in Madison add it to your calendar - Oct. 17-18. My website has some photography, but hasn't been updated to the latest - soon enough though. There's also a lot on this blog.

I am taking my new kayak out to Cherokee Marsh now. Hopefully, I'll have some new photos for ya soon!

Summer Flowers

During my week of LeaderShape at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, NM I met a wonderful new friend and fellow photographer Dave Blandford. He's inspired me to get the camera back in my hands. (I haven't been that excited about photography lately - having a bit of a dry spell).

Yesterday and today I wandered around the neighborhood taking photos of flowers. There are some great gardeners around here, especially my next door neighbor. it was a little breezy which made it challenging since the flowers were swaying. Many were out of focus, but here are some of the highlights.

Lily 1:
1/200 at f/5.6, ISO 100, 190mm

Lily 2:

1/250 at f/5.6, ISO 100, 190mm

Coneflower:
1/1000s at f/5.6, ISO 250, 190mm

Dandelion:
1/250s at f/11, ISO 250, 190mm

Mourning Dove:
1/250 at f/6.3, ISO 100, 300mm

I'd love some feedback if you have any! What do you like? What can make them better?
Thanks y'all!
-a

Tandem Kayak Roll

I am guiding in the Apostle Islands this summer on Lake Superior. During a staff training overnight trip another guide and I successfully rolled a tandem kayak. It was a first for both of us. Here's the video...

Snowshoeing at Andrew's Lake

Today I went snowshoeing at Andrew's Lake with a few friends and four dogs. It was a gorgeous day - classic Colorado, blue-sky day! We hiked for about 4 hours and had a great time. Here are some highlights.

Crossing the bridge over Andrew's Lake

View of Engineer Mountain

My favorite of the day!

Windblown snow on the side of a ridge

Around mid-day we came upon this snowcave/igloo (which I later learned is actually called a quinzhee) and realized it was built by the Adventure Education Mountaineering class. They were out for the weekend. Inside was their sleeping bags and to the left (not pictured) was a bench they built out of snow including shelves to store their pots & pans. Quite fancy! Most of our group decided that as cool as the quinzhee was, we'll stick to the summer camping.

Quinzhee built by Adv Ed Mountaineering class

On Monday at work I told Tim that we saw his class's quinzhee. He said it was so strong that five guys were all standing on top of it jumping and it didn't fall through. Impressive!

Crystal & Mark running through the thick snow

On the way back it was mostly downhill and running through the thick untracked snow is a lot of fun. Crystal particularly loved it!

Snowshoeing in the fog

This afternoon I drove up to Coal Bank Pass and went snowshoeing for a bit. Once I got up there it was really foggy and gray - very cool looking. Here are a few of the photos I took.

The snow depth marker - 5 feet deep!

A view on the drive home

You'd think these were taken with black and white film! Even in the fog it's so gorgeous here!

I learned to knit!

In October I took a knitting class at our local shop called Yarn. We learned to make hats. My first attempt was too large and as soon as I put it on it fell to my chin, so I ripped it out and redid it (i love that about knitting). The second attempt looked all wonky so I ripped that out and finally got it on the third attempt. By then I had learned to switch colors so I made it striped. Then made a second (or fourth) one for Julie.

My knit hat on left and the one I made for Julie on the right

I wanted to learn to knit because it's portable artwork. You can take it anywhere, even backpacking!

Now I am working on a scarf and then some felted knit Christmas stockings for 2009.

Grand Gulch Backpacking Trip, Sept 18-24

Since we were all a bit cold in the evenings on the backpacking trip around Engineer Mountain we decided to head to the desert in Utah and hike Grand Gulch Canyon. It was gorgeous!!

At the trailhead - the "before" photo

Ancient Pueblo handprints

Our campsite the first night

There were no bugs so we were able to use these open floor tent/tarps that are much lighter and cooler than regular tents.

the rock

Excited about the second day

Mid-way through the second day at the top of a dried up waterfall

Crossing the dried stream bed

View from our campsite as the sun was setting

Same photo - just goofing around in Photoshop

Ancient pueblo pictographs at the Green Mask spot, near our campsite

The Green Mask site with various drawings including some indicating "springs"

The Green Mask site with the two headless Basketmaker figures on the left

Taking a siesta during a day hike along a side canyon

View from our campsite

Making pizza

Animal tracks seen on the last day - coyote?

day hike

Canyon walls


Canyon walls -
you can see how the river has wound around and carved out the walls over the years


Canyon walls and blue sky

Ancient corncob from the Pueblo people - ruins in the background

Pueblo ruins

Gorgeous canyon walls

The trip was beautiful! The biggest challenge was having to carry a lot of water in the heat. I seem to have an higher tolerance for heat than most (and conversely a lower tolerance for cold) so the heat didn't bother me much. I hope to go back soon.

Hiking around Engineer Mountain, Sept. 6-9

This semester I am teaching the Block Semester at Fort Lewis. The Block Semester involves students taking 5 classes/15 credits together. The first nine credits are taken in the first half of the semester and allow us to go out on three extended backpacking trips ranging from 4-10 days in length. The format for the three classes - Wilderness Expedition, Adventure Leadership, and Adventure Instruction - allows the students to get hands-on experience planning all aspects of the trips, practicing leadership skills, and teaching their peers. It's a great design, but makes for a very intense semester for them and for the faculty.

The first trip we did was a four day backpacking trip around Engineer Mountain which is between Durango and Silverton, CO. It was a beautiful weekend with perfect sunny, clear weather. The nights were a bit cold, but still nice. The students were awesome and for some of them it was their first backpacking trip!

View of Engineer Mountain

My low point of the whole trip occured in the first five minutes of the hike. I had my small camera with me, a Canon SD750, and the lens jammed as soon as I took it out for a photo. I replaced the battery and was able to get the lens back in, but something was wrong and all the photos turned out blurry. The four here are the best of 'em, but they are a bit out of focus. After the trip I sent the camera back to Canon and even though it was 13 months old (one month out of warranty) they still repaired it for free and I had it back within a week just in time for the third trip.

View of nearby mountains

Hiking towards Jura Knob

Jura Knob in the background

The whole hike was such beautiful, lush green and it looked stunning against the red rocks of Jura Knob. The photos don't quite do it justice. We were planning to hike to the top of Jura Knob, but the group decided against it in favor of a bit more down time. I thought Jura Knob was more stunning than Engineer and I would love to go back and cimb it. It's a fairly simple climb and could even be done in a day.