Monthly Archives: September 2012

Sky Pond

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The trail to Sky Pond is fairly heavily traveled and I’ve been there at least three or four times over the years. Lately I’ve preferred to visit lakes I’ve never been to before, and I’ve come to enjoy the relative seclusion many of these hikes have provided. But I was looking at the map the other day and noticed Embryo Lake, just off the trail where Andrews Creek joins Icy Brook. So off to Sky Pond it was, thinking it may be late enough in the season to be less crowded than usual.

I had hoped to hit the trail by 8:30, but I got off to a bit of a late start. And when I arrived at the park entrance, the express pass lane was closed. It’s another free day in the park. The Bear Lake road is now paved almost all the way to Hallowell Park, but now they’ve removed the pavement from there to the park and ride.

From the Glacier Gorge trailhead, Sky Pond is 4.4 miles one way, with a 1,720 foot elevation gain. But because of my late start, and it being free day, but the time I got there Glacier Gorge parking lot was full and the Bear Lake parking lot was getting there. The trip from Bear Lake to Glacier Gorge Junction adds about a quarter mile to the trip, downhill in the morning but uphill after a long hike at the end.

To offset that, I now know where the ‘Fire trail’ is. I’ve seen it on the old maps but it’s not on the new ones, and I never looked that hard for it. Earlier this year I hiked to Frozen Lake with Ed and that’s how we returned. This cuts six tenths off the trip each way, so in the end I hiked more like 8.1 miles round trip.

The trail was quite busy today, except for the Fire trail, where I saw one other hiker in the morning and none in the afternoon. Other than that, I probably didn’t go more than three minutes without seeing or hearing another hiker.

The Fire trail is supposedly unimproved, but it’s about as unimproved as the back way down from Haiyaha – fairly well maintained. I’ve been on the main trail, to Alberta Falls then to the Mills/Loch junction, so many times it’s become a bit of a chore, a trail to push through quickly in the morning and to endure in the afternoons. So it’s a nice change to go another way, particularly as so few use it.

I made it to the Loch in less than an hour. Here is where you first get a nice view of the mountains – the higher elevations dusted with snow the last few nights. The trail winds around the Loch then goes back into the forest. Just after the turn for Andrews Glacier there is a meadow on the left affording a nice view of Powell Peak and Taylor Peak, with Timberline Falls below, glinting in the sun. It is here one makes a side trip to Embryo Lake, but I decide to save this side trip for the way back.

A few minutes further along and the trail starts to climb in earnest, leaving the forest below and the falls above. The trail is a staircase, long and winding up to the right side of Timberline Falls. At the falls you have to use your hands a bit; I caught up to a young couple here and she had some difficulty deciding how to go about it.

I really don’t like this part of the hike. I find it not so bad going up, but I don’t like the descent at all. This time of year, though, it is much less nerve wracking for me as there isn’t as much water flowing and splashing on the rocks. I didn’t have any trouble today.

Glass Lake lies just above the falls. I always used to see it called “Lake of Glass” but that usage seems to have gone away.

It is only another couple of tenths of a mile, another eighty vertical feet to Sky Pond. It has been windy every time I’ve been there, and usually there’s a rich insect life. Today it was windy but I enjoyed my lunch without interference by clouds of gnats. I sat there for half an hour without bothering to set up for a time lapse as there was not a cloud in the sky.

By the time I left, the lake was beginning to get crowded and I ran into another dozen or so hikers on the trail between Glass Lake and Sky Pond. As I said, I had no difficulty descending the falls and before long was back at the Andrews Glacier trail junction. Here, I set off to the south in search of Embryo Lake.

I quickly found a faint trail that led me to an easy crossing of Icy Brook. After skirting some deadfall and circling around a small mound I found a small meadow with a tiny pond. This must be Embryo Lake. I assume it is cleverly named – it is much too small to qualify as a lake in any regard. And based on the grass around it, I’m guessing it doesn’t get much bigger in the spring.

I was back to the Loch a few minutes after one. By now some clouds were popping up over the divide. I found a nice rock outcropping with a view and set up the cameras. As usual, I brought the GoPro. And this was my first time playing with the intervalometer for the SLR. Problem was, I hadn’t taken the time to figure out how to work it, so nothing came out. To top it off, the battery I popped in the SLR this morning indicated fully charged, but clearly it wasn’t as it died completely within minutes.

Here’s the short clip from the GoPro. Not very good – aimed too close to the sun.

Timetable

Out In
Trailhead 09:00 AM 02:35 AM
Mills/Loch jct 09:35 AM 02:00 AM
The Loch 09:55 AM 01:05 AM
Andrews jct 10:20 AM 12:30 PM
Glass Lake 10:55 AM 12:10 PM
Sky Pond 11:15 AM 11:45 AM

The side trip to Embryo Lake took only 15 minutes, and I spent a half hour shooting time lapse at the Loch on the return trip.

High Plains Raceway

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Had another track day with CECA at HPR. The first CECA event at HPR this year was the “official” LOCO track day but we had a good turnout of Lotuses today as well – if I didn’t miscount, it was seven Elises (BRG, LRG, blue, black, Storm Titanium, red, orange), an Exige (orange), an Elan, and two Caterhams. I was mildly surprised and happy to see three Ferraris out as well. Plus the usual CECA participants – a couple of Corvettes, a handful of Mustangs, some Porsches, a Viper, and so on.

I invited Scott out for a ride and he brought Nicole. They both had a ride with me and managed to get rides in other cars as well. I think they had a good time – they stayed a bit longer than their original plan. I assume that’s a good sign.

Michael was kind enough to be my support crew. We loaded the gear into his truck last night and hit the road by 6:15 this morning so I could get the slicks mounted up in time for tech inspection. On the drive to the track, we drove into a pretty sunrise, with the sun right over the highway. Once we got the slicks on, I headed to the tech inspection line and Michael crawled into the truck for a nap.

Scott rode with me for the first session. I cut it a couple of laps short because I started hearing a noise in right-hand turns. I couldn’t see anything amiss, so went back out for the second session with Nicole as a passenger. She had arranged a ride in a Viper, so I dropped her off after a few laps. The noise was still there, but not as bad, and I shortly decided I was just getting a bit of rubbing.

Third session was after lunch. Michael rode with me for that one, and about six laps in he was wanting out. This is twice now he’s been getting queasy on the track. I blamed the last time on the big bumps at the CSP track. No such excuse this time.

Michael had to leave the track early to make is evening plans, so after three sessions we put the street wheels back on. For the fourth session, I had Jason (LRG Elise) ride with me. He was driving in the blue group, so I then rode with him. It was quite interesting noting the differences in how we get around the track. For the most part, we get on the brakes and throttle at about the same spots and for most turns we follow the same line. But I’m a gear higher in almost every turn than he is. And with our fairly comparable street tires, we’re running pretty much the same lap times. My biggest take away is that I need to learn turns 4 and 10 better. He carries much more speed through both.

In the three sessions with slicks, my fast time was 2:12.64 according to the video tape. I also managed two laps in the 2:13’s and two in the 2:15’s. On street tires, I ran eight laps, six of which were less than 2:21.

Over all, it was perhaps my most enjoyable day at the track.

Here’s my fast lap:

Everett, WA

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I went to Everett, Washington on business this week. Ah, the glamor of business travel. I stayed at the Holiday Inn downtown, with a gorgeous 7th floor view of I-5. The weather couldn’t have been much nicer – a bit of fog that burned off by mid-morning, then sunny cloudless days.

Tuesday I went for a fish dinner in Mukilteo. Ivar’s is right next to where the ferry to Whidbey Island docks and about a block from Mukilteo Lighthouse Park. I ordered their “World Famous” fish and chips. Couldn’t help but notice the menu said “Fresh Fish Flown in Daily”. Struck me as a little funny; the restaurant is right on the water, but their fish is shipped in. Pretty sure the fries were frozen, but it was a nice meal. From my seat I could watch the ferry load and unload. The ferry came about every half hour. It’s a double-decker. I don’t know how many cars it holds, but I counted about 120 getting on while I ate. Plus pedestrians and motorcycles.

After I ate I checked out the lighthouse and the park. I watched a couple more ferries cross paths. The sun was setting, a man was fishing with his young boy, people sat around fires  by the water. As it got darker, a line of boats came into the boat slip. It was a pretty sunset, with a crescent moon setting as well, over the distant peaks of the Olympic peninsula.

Thursday I drove up to Bellingham to have dinner with Phil. Hadn’t seen him for a couple years, it was good to visit with him. Bellingham is something like 60 miles from Everett. Phil is in Vancouver, BC, so we met half way. I told him I’d be at the restaurant by 6:30. Left the client’s office at 5:30, brought up the navigation on the phone and saw that with traffic it would take me an hour and a half to get there. As luck would have it, Phil had to wait a while at the border crossing so we arrived at pretty much the same time. It was a pleasant drive up I-5 along the coast of the Sound with nice views all around, once I got out of traffic.

I ended up with Friday off. There was a little mix-up with scheduling – the client wanted me there all week, but then they realized they had a charity thing going on Friday and they wouldn’t be able to meet with me. I decided to see if I could walk up to get a tour of Boeing, then head to the airport and see if I could get an earlier flight. On the way, if the weather was good, maybe I’d go up to the observation deck of the space needle and get a picture of downtown Seattle with Mt. Rainier in the background.

So Friday morning I headed over to sign up for the Boeing tour. They recommend buying tickets online in advance, but it looked like they had plenty of open spots for the 10am. In the lobby, they want you to use a kiosk to buy your tickets. Two of the three were out of order, and the working one got stuck in a loop after I put my credit card in: the little hourglass icon would spin for 30 seconds, then a screen appeared asking if I was still there. Lather, rinse, repeat. Defeated by technology again, I had to resort to a human. And who knows how many times my credit card got charged.

The tour was pretty cool. They run one every half hour. A short film (out of date), then off in two groups to buses. They take you to the assembly building, the largest building in the world. Eight big doors, each the size of an NFL football field. The building is rectangular, with the short side measuring a third of a mile. They herded us down some steep steps into a service tunnel, then half that third of a mile to a service elevator that fit a busload of people at a time.

From the basement up past the first floor, mezzanine, second floor, to the third floor and onto an observation balcony over the 747 production line. The tour guide gave us the highlights – two planes a month are built, the 747-8. Six million individual parts, half of them fasteners. The stages of production – how the wings are assembled, then the fuselage, and finally to “weight on wheels”.

Next we went back down the elevator, back down the tunnel, back to the bus where we rode half the length of the building to the 787 production line. Then down more stairs, hike another 1/6 mile to another elevator and to a third floor balcony.

The 787 is assembled from components shipped in from other factories. They arrive on modified 747’s, parts as big as fuselage sections. They use special equipment to unload the planes and cart the parts to the assembly building. There, the put it all together and produce five 787’s a month and will be ramping up to ten a month soon. They’ve done something like 25 so far, mostly going to Japan (ANA and JAL).

I thought it was a pretty cool tour and I’m glad I had the chance to go. No photography allowed on the tour, of course. Not even cell phones allowed.

After that, it was south on I-5. After four days of ideal weather, things reverted to what I assume is more normal – overcast and damp. No point in making the detour to the space needle, so it was straight to SEA-TAC and the glamor of returning a rental car, going through security, and hanging out in the concourse for a couple hours. But I did get that earlier flight.

Colorado English Motoring Conclave

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Today Genae and I went to the 29th annual edition of the Colorado English Motoring Conclave. It is held every year at Oak Park in Arvada. Lotus Colorado had a good turn out, as usual, with a variety of years and models. We briefly said “hi” to a few of the LOCOs before wandering around to look at all the other marques. Everybody asked me where my car was. It was parked on the street, next to another LOCO member who didn’t enter his car.

I think Genae talked me in to entering my car next year. I’m sure it won’t win any awards, but it will look nice parked with all the other Lotuses and if the weather is as good as it has been the last two years it will be a dandy way to spend a day.

Organizers expected more than 500 cars there, representing most English marques – Rolls Royce, Bentley, Lotus, Caterham, MG, Austin-Healey, Jaguar, Rover, Mini, Triumph. There was even a Hillman Minx! (There are at least two Minxes in the area; Michael and I saw a different one here last year.)

LOCO Drive – Miner’s Tour

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Harv kindly organized a club drive for today. We met at the Denny’s in Boulder for breakfast and a mandatory drivers meeting. Most club drives are pretty casual – show up at the assembly point, perhaps hand out a short route description in case we get split up, then have lunch at some mountain restaurant.

This time, Harv added a little fun: four pages of detailed route notes full of interesting trivia and interspersed with questions. The team (driver/navigator) with the highest score wins a prize.

We had a nice group turn out – four Elises (BRG, LRG, black, yellow), a Caterham, a Miata, a Mercedes, and Harv led the way in his Porsche GT3. The route started up Boulder Canyon to Nederland, then down Coal Creek Canyon, up Golden Gate Canyon, down Clear Creek Canyon a bit, then over to Squaw Pass and finally to Jenny’s Restaurant in Empire for lunch and the all-important scoring of the test.

We generally like to find a scenic place to regroup along the way and also to get a group photo of all the cars. This time, all our regrouping was just beside the road so I didn’t have time for the picture. So no group photo. I did have Michael try to get a few shots from the cockpit, but those aren’t exactly ideal conditions. He got a couple of nice ones, but I need to give him a bit more instruction on how to use the camera 🙂

Note: if you order the pie at Jenny’s, be sure to share! They serve giant pieces.

Edit: Here’s a picture taken by Skip:

Ptarmigan Lake

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A quick glance at Google tells me there are two Ptarmigan Lakes in Colorado. This one, of course, is in RMNP. The Foster guide lists two ways to get there, one from the North Inlet trailhead and the other from Bear Lake. I hiked the North Inlet trail last September as far as Ptarmigan Creek, where I headed off-trail to Bench Lake. It was over seven miles to Bench Lake, and to proceed to Ptarmigan Lake would entail a couple more miles of bushwhacking. So I chose to start at Bear Lake, hike to the summit of Flattop Mtn, take the Tonohutu Creek trail northwest, then head off trail to the west and descend the better part of 900′ to the lake.

The trail up Fattop Mtn (12,324′) is busy and well maintained. It is the most popular route for hikers to reach the continental divide from the east side of the park. It’s about 4.4 miles from the parking lot to the sign at the trail junction at the “summit” (it’s flat on top, of course, so the generally accepted summit is the sign at a trail junction) and climbs 2,874′. Near the start of the trail, you get a nice view of Long’s Peak, then nothing but forest until reaching the Dream Lake overlook about a third of the way up. The next landmark is the Emerald Lake overlook about two-thirds of the way. From there, the trail takes you to the northern flank of Flattop, overlooking the Odessa Lake trail. It’s common to hear marmots barking their alarms as you work your way up the trail.

I’ve been on the top of Flattop several times. I’ve headed south to descend Andrew’s Glacier twice, summited Hallett once, and just sat above Tyndall Glacier for a picnic a few times. This was my first time taking the trail to the north. Not far along the trail you reach another trail junction, this one the North Inlet Trail. The Tonohutu Creek trail then proceeds along the eastern edge of the divide toward Ptarmigan Point, affording a nice view down the valley towards Odessa Lake: Ptarmigan Glacier, two unnamed pools, Lake Helene, Two Rivers Lake, and Odessa Lake are all visible below Notchtop Mountain.

The trail undulates a bit then turns almost due north near Ptarmigan Point. I headed off the trail, down the gently sloping tundra more or less in the direction of Snowdrift Peak in the distance. The mountain slopes gently at first but steadily becomes steeper and before long the lake comes into sight. I was expecting to descend a talus slope but it was almost entirely tundra. The descent is about 800 vertical feet from where I left the trail and it happens in a very short distance.

I set up the camera for the time lapse and ate my lunch. I wanted to stay for an hour, both to get a nice long video and to rest up for the steep climb back to the trail but I didn’t like the looks of the darkening clouds. After about 40 minutes I packed up, headed near the outlet for a quick panorama, then started the steep ascent.

About half way up I turned around to check out the view. I could now see Snowdrift lake to the west. I was about to take a picture, but the wind kicked up rather fiercely and nearly blew me over. It was so strong, in fact, that it made the steep climb much easier. I quit zig-zagging my way up the slope and headed in the same direction as the wind and was onto nearly level ground in no time.

Then the snow started coming down. “Coming down” isn’t exactly correct – it was coming sideways. In no time visibility to the north was very limited. Hallett Peak was just a silhouette and the peaks beyond it were totally obscured. Meanwhile, the Mummy range to the northeast was still bathed in bright sunshine. The blizzard continued for about a half hour, much to my chagrin. I was dressed in my usual hiking uniform of Hawaiian shirt and shorts (plus a windbreaker).

The weather finally broke when I started down the east side of Flattop. There I found a group of ptarmigans grazing in the tundra. (What’s the group name for ptarmigan? A pton?) They were conveniently working their way across the trail when I arrived and didn’t seem too bothered by me.

The remainder of the hike was under mostly clear, blue skies and the wind died down to a gentle breeze. Hard to believe I was experiencing such wintry conditions just a short while before.

Here’s the obligatory time lapse. It includes a short sequence filmed at Emerald Lake overlook on the way up and another from Dream Lake overlook on the way down. Yes, the weather varies that much in just a few hours on the continental divide!

Timetable

Out In
Trailhead 07:30 AM 03:20 PM
Odessa trail jct 07:55 AM 02:50 PM
Emerald Lake overlook 09:00 AM 01:30 PM
Flattop summit 10:00 AM 12:45 PM
Ptarmigan Lake 11:05 AM 11:45 AM

September Cars & Coffee, Lafayette

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Always an interesting and eclectic mix of cars at the Lafayette Cars & Coffee. As usual, exotics were in abundance and hot rods and muscle cars were the exception.

This beautiful Ford GT in iconic Gulf colors caught my eye. There was also a replica of a Ford GT-40 in red.

The car that drew the most attention was the Ferrari F40. It always had a crowd around it and I couldn’t get a nice picture of it until the owner moved it from the middle of the parking lot into a single space.

In the Lotus department, I counted five Elises, two Exiges, and an Elite. There may have been a Caterham or two as well. We generally manage to line up at least two or three in a row but not today.

Today was the first time I used the SLR since having it cleaned. Wow! It’s like a brand new camera.