keely – Page 27 – State of Wilderness

The Supermoon of Moab

Yes, I am still telling stories of our summer vacation. This is a place for us to hold on to them so they won’t disappear from our memory.

When we were in the planning stages of our vacation, Jason didn’t even want to go back to Moab, and especially not Arches National Park. It was great when we went in 2010, but he was a little over it. I had this sense, though, that this was a place that my oldest son would really feel called towards, and I wanted to give him a chance to see it. In the end, I was right. Among the many places in our travels, the most inspiring to my oldest son was this visit to Arches.
He felt a connection to the rock formations, and wanted to be a part of it. We explored the Windows section near sunset, and he had a chance to connect with the Park intimately through its accessibility. He decided that someday he wanted to return to some of the National Park places to have a deeper encounter with rocks, canyons and mountains. Since then, we’ve been hitting the rock gyms and looking for weekend opportunities for him to go test these skills in the hill country with a group. This is important to us, as he is tiptoeing into his teenage years and we want him to have healthy connections with nature.
As we walked down towards the parking lot, we felt a collective gasp among the other park visitors, and turned to look at what they were seeing. The “Supermoon” was peeking through the North Window, surrounded by a cloud halo, and it was so beautiful we all stopped and stared for a while. None of our cameras could capture that incredible display of light and beauty, but we did get this one shot above of the moon over a different formation.
The memory of this view lingered for days after along our visits of other National Park areas. “Remember that legendary moon we saw?” my younger son would ask, and we would all murmur in agreement. These treasured moments in Arches; the inspiration for future goals in which to better explore the wilderness awoken in my older son, and the way the world lit up for a moment in a dazzling display of earth and sky, will forever be a beacon for us to draw us into exploring more of what this country’s National Park areas have to offer.

Lost Bearings in Buena Vista, Colorado: Cottonwood Hot Springs

We had a plan for the night when we left the Wolf Center, but just like many good plans do, this one came unraveled fast. It was all the fault of that nasty cold virus the little one shared.

We were having a great time cruising down Highway 24 west from Lake George, enjoying the scenery. It got late, though. Suddenly, the thought of setting up camp was too much for Jason, who was the most sick and usually has the most work to do setting up camp.

We decided to find a hotel instead. Only, there was a monkeywrench thrown into this whole mix. First of all, we had no reception, so there was no way to map hotels or call around to get a room. Secondly, there was a whole issue of a travel book for Colorado that would have helped out, but we weren’t sure where it was – packed away in the back, or left behind. Thirdly, there was a whole other set of fate working against us, a reality in which every hotel in the entire town (of which there were several), AND in the closest town 50 miles away, were all booked up for the night.

I was having trouble grasping this because the feel of the town had completely changed since last time I had been there, sixteen years ago. I remembered a Subway in the middle of the prairie, mountains in the distance, a drive in theater, and a few inns. Now Buena Vista seemed to be full of hip new places and hot festivals, restaurants, houses, and hotels; every one of which had a “no vacancy” sign in the window.

So we sat at K’s Burger right off the main street, borrowed their phone book, and made frantic phone calls in the dark while scarfing down our dinner. What it came down to, this late, was that we found one room available in town…and it happened to be like a rent-a-room in the house of the out-of-town owner of Cottonwood Hot Springs. We shared the house with two or three other couples and paid way too much for this luxury. However, the bed was very comfortable, and we were able to get passes to enjoy the Hot Springs the next morning, which turned out to be a highlight of our entire trip.

Perhaps it was meant to be. I DID want to bring my children to this Springs. I had been there when I came here so long ago, and had fond memories of the place. The place seems to be run by a bunch of hippies, but the atmosphere is one of total relaxation.

Here is a poem I wrote representing the five public pools in the Hot Springs area, all of which were connected by a stone walkway.

Cottonwood

Slow, cool, calming Cold Pool

Invigorating, rising the spirit

Clean, esoteric female fertility statue

Pouring life force into our souls

Move over to Watsu

Deep. pure moderation

Float up to meditate

Let go, feel troubles float away

Walk into Belly Pool

Multi-colored stone floor

Slightly dank, sulfur smell

Visceral reflection of reality

Slide into Elbow Pool

Warm, inviting social pool

Sit on stone benches, smile

Smell the mint and awaken

Relax in warmth of Head Pool

Hot mist rising around faces

Feel tension slip further away

Loosen stiff muscles, limber up

Rinse, repeat as necessary

What Does the Wolf Say?

What does the wolf say, when he points his muzzle at the sky?

Is it a call of camaraderie, or a long goodbye?

When those last notes trail off, does he look around for friends?

Or does he know that the bond of the pack never ends?

I wonder if he is thinking of those who passed on,

And that is what adds the forlorn sound to the song

Or is it a solemn celebration, a call for an ally

A communal effort to make the pack rally

Whatever it is, you can’t deny that effect

Heart beats faster, rising of hair on the neck

A feeling like you are part of the whole

Carrying friends with you in the depths of your soul

The feeling is overwhelming; to be honest it made me cry

Hearing the sad, sweet songs of the wolves saying goodbye

Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center, Divide CO, July 11 2014

GC18: Tarryall

To get to Tarryall, the oldest cache in Colorado and twentieth oldest active geocache in the world, one would take the Ute Pass out of Colorado Springs. Heading west on Highway 24 will take you past the turn offs for the North Pole, the Pikes Peak Tollway, and Green Mountain Falls. You’ll be tempted to stop for lunch in Woodland Park, and maybe grab a couple of other caches along the way.

A little further up the road from Woodland Park, you will reach Lake George. You will look for a turn-off for County Road 77 that leads off to the north. To get to this cache, you would turn right at this turn off, following the signs for Tarryall Reservoir. You will gape at the incredible beauty along this secluded road. Clear creeks run down from the mountains in rivulets along green pastures. You are trying to pay attention to the road, but every now and then a brilliant flash of natural beauty catches your eye, and you will glance at your companion and say, “wow, did you see that?”

Then, you will take a left hand turn on to a dirt road that may or may not have a sign, we don’t remember. Google calls it La Salle Pass Rd and it looks like it goes on for a while out there in the wilderness. You will kinda veer off in the rutted dirt road to the right. If you are in a car with low clearance, you might find yourself having to park along this road and walk the rest of the way in. Maybe you will be lucky, like our new friend from Alabama, rmayben9, and some cachers from Texas like us, in a Subaru like ours, will pick you up and give you a lift the rest of the way down the dirt road until it is time to stop. At that point, you will walk slightly uphill, at 8,000 elevation, and look for an ammo can hidden near a tree. Maybe you will even get some sub-standard cell phone pictures like we did. You will see some very interesting plants and possibly, as the occasional log reports, black bear. We saw no animals but we did enjoy the plants.

After this, you will have to walk back down to your car and make it back out the dirt road. You might even find some more caches along the way out, although not if you were pressed for time like we were.

You will feel a sense of accomplishment for finding this very old cache, and feel refreshed from the nice drive and short hike. It will be worth the diversion, trust me.