The Switzerland of America

Oh Beautiful Ouray Colorado! You can see from the picture above why they call it the Switzerland of America. It's such a quaint little town with an unbelievable backdrop of the towering Rocky Mountains.

I went to Ouray on a day off while working in Lake City. Actually I was just passing through on my way back from Durango, I had no plans to stop here but I am so glad that I did. Ouray is quite possibly one of the cutest little towns I've ever been too. Last summer I traveled all the way to Europe to see towns just like this one...I never even needed to leave the States!

Once again, this small Colorado town was founded in the late 1800's due to.....you guessed it, Mining! The town was incorporated on October 2, 1876, and was named after Chief Ouray of the Native American Ute tribe. The entire Main Street of the town is a National Historic District. I absolutely loved these 19th century buildings.

Better yet were the incredibly cool houses, many of which serve as Bed and Breakfasts' today as tourism is likely the largest industry for the town.


Wow these homes are fantastic! I could just look at them forever. That bottom house is for sale by the way. If anyone out there has a passionate desire to move to Ouray and start a B&B you've got a partner right here! Oh, did I happen to mention the hot springs!? That's right, as if this town weren't cool enough, just go down main street a bit and you'll see a huge pool, several pools actually, complete with water slides and hot tubs fed directly by the hot springs. Oh how glorious can you get? I haven't even mentioned the endless recreational hiking, biking and climbing opportunities either. What a town. It's certainly off the beaten path, a bit of a challenge to get here, but if you ever have a chance, I would absolutely recommend and nice long weekend get away here at Ouray. You can check out more by visiting their website here: http://www.ouraycolorado.com/Summer+Activities

Almost done!

Well, that might not be entirely accurate. For me however, the summer is officially over, and my work at the Alpine Guard Station is indeed, done. School starts this week so I had to come down off the mountain early.

It's hard to believe that I have been up on the top of a mountain for 3 solid months with no internet or cell service (minus our one day off a week), no showers, no pressurized water, etc. I have to admit that I feel glutinous right now- sleeping in a big, soft, warm bed, turning on the faucet and getting hot water, showering everyday, not dealing with rat poop constantly! It's so GLORIOUS!

Don't get me wrong, I loved my three months of camping, and the work was fantastic. It's just quite the treat to have those lovely conveniences we all take for granted.

I really wish I could now show you some amazing before and after photos. Sadly though, the work is not done, and likely will not get done by the target date which is the end of this week. I can at least show you a few photos of my last day and the progress we've made so far:



Personally I'm super excited about the amazing new deck on the main cabin, I think it looks fantastic. You can also see that cabinets have started to go in the Kitchen, all ready for a sink! AND, you can also see the water tank next to that. Now that is exciting!

This was a really huge task to take on in such a short time, but we did give it our all, and I mean, completely. We usually worked very long days, but I loved it. The physical work was great. I was sore in the beginning, but quickly got used to that and the physical activity felt fantastic. It was also exhilarating being outdoors in such an incredible location all the time. I already miss the constant fresh air and amazing scenery, not to mention the lack of stress from constant technological stimuli. I also became pretty attached to my co-workers and all the amazing volunteers we had. I'm not going to deny that tears were shed as I drove down the mountain for the last time.

All in all it was a great summer, and I feel so very fortunate to have gotten such great hands-on experience. I just wish we could have seen the project to final completion. I'm not sure of the exact plan HistoriCorps has to complete the buildings, but I will definitely be taking a trip back there next summer to see the final results. Keep in mind, this cabin should be available for rentals next summer, trust me when I say that you should strongly consider a get away here, you won't be disappointed!

Durango!

Since we're coming upon our last week here at the Alpine Guard Station, and we knew we would be working extremely long hours to wrap up as much as we could- we geared up by taking a day off. We were hoping to build up some reserves and relax just a little so that we could start the week running and not stop until we're done.

As usual, when I'm given a day off I hit the road. There is so much to see here in Colorado and so many places I want to go, so off to Durango I went. I really wanted to go to Mesa Verde, but I didn't want to have only one day to take it all in, so I'm saving that trip for later when I can do it right. I figured Durango was a good compromise; and how right I was!

Durango very well could be Cathy heaven. First of all, it's surrounded by the most beautiful landscape. And there is a river than runs right through town- I could hear the constant laughter and "woo-hoo's!" from all the college kids tubing down it. OH I was dying to go jump in that river!
Then there was quaint little Historic District. I decided to go to Durango because I learned about it in one of my Historic Preservation classes. It was supposed to have a pretty good historic area, including the fabulous Strater Hotel. Like most small Colorado towns, Durango was populated largely due to it's mining potential. The town was organized in 1880 by the Railroad of course. And it also had to have a first rate hotel, which is soooo cool!
Durango also had some fabulous houses that I would just love to either live in, or work on. They had quaint neighborhood streets lined with big old trees and large green yards- just my kind of town.

In addition to the lovely neighborhoods and historic feel; this town really took advantage of it's local resources. I found so many locally made items, from arts and crafts to food and herbs. Buying locally and in season is very important to me, so this was a real treat. I was so impressed with the local herb shop, I just wanted to live inside this store! Last week I had the unfortunate experience of a table saw kick-back. If you've never worked with a table saw before, imagine a projectile piece of wood flying back at you at unbelievable speed. Ya, it hurt, and bad. Kick-backs are very serious and can be life threatening. Luckily I had on a good thick pair of Dickies work pants so that softened the blow a bit. I still got a large laceration on my pelvic bone and one extremely big bruise and bump. However, the Durango herb shop definitely saved the day. I bought a locally made, natural, healing salve that worked like magic. Nearly a week later and the laceration is completely healed. Amazing! I have a nasty scar of course, but wow that was effective!
After the herb shop I just happened to drive past the local food co-op. I'm a huge fan of natural food stores, and a community food co-op just can't be beat. So much of the food in the store was locally made by Durango residents, and they had a lot of freshly made raw cuisine which looked so fabulous. What a fantastic place!
I also just happened to be there during a Durango Rail Fest celebration. There were reenactments of Durango life in the 1880's, and a pretty cool shoot out that I got to watch for a while.
I just loved it here, and I haven't even mentioned the impressively sized farmer's market where I bought some local peaches, or the very authentic Mediterranean restaurant where I ate lunch. Durango is just so awesome. My one and only concern, and this is a big one, is that I'm not sure I saw anyone that wasn't white. I mean, nothing against white people of course, but I think cultural diversity is important, and I'm not sure I could live in such a homogeneous environment. Still though, Durango is a very special place and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a nice road trip through the spectacular Colorado mountains!

Coming along

So we're nearing the end of August which means we're the nearing end of our time here at the Alpine Guard Station. The summer has gone incredibly fast- too fast in fact. It's hard to see that we'll accomplish all of our goals on these three buildings by the beginning of September. We're trying as hard as possible though, and it looks promising that we'll at least have the major structural work completed in time. We've also had some fantastic volunteers from the University of Denver that helped out for a couple of weeks. Most of them were very enthusiastic, some were overwhelmed with the shear amount of work to be done ;)


It's good to see the progress coming along. We've been working so hard for so long to get these buildings in good shape. The major hurdle of clearing the houses from all rodent activity has been a challenge, but rewarding. I just love the fact that you don't immediately smell the noxious odor of rat pee as you walk into the bunkhouse anymore. Thanks to the every mighty power washer with bleach!

It's also really exciting too see the changes from the beginning. Looking at the pictures I took 3 months ago, it's so amazing to see the differences. It's hard to even think back about what it all looked like a mere 12 weeks ago. Here's a pretty amazing comparison, check out what the bunkhouse looked like in June:
And look at it now! I especially like to point out the ELECTRICAL PANEL on the wall! That's right folks, very soon you'll be able to walk into this lovely bunkhouse and turn on the lights!


Wow what a transformation. I'm sad I won't be there to watch the installation of the furniture and new stove, but I'm sure it will be fantastic. I'm looking forward to being able to rent this building from the Forest Service next summer. What an amazing base camp to station a lovely vacation of hiking, biking and fishing; all the while you get to come home to warm wood burning stove, electrical lights and pressurized water!

Summer showers!

Oh yes, it's been quite wet, rainy and cold lately up at 10,000 feet. I must admit it's quite beautiful with the low laying clouds and misty mountain valley views.
On the other hand, it's been slightly cold and miserable with all the mud, wet clothes, and camping among them. I'm ok getting cold and wet, as long as I have a nice hot shower and warm bed to go home to. When you're cold and wet and camping however, that makes for a different story. At least my truck is relatively warm, so at the end of the day it isn't THAT bad. My huge down comforter actually does remarkably well keeping me warm. I will however do anything for a hot shower. I just don't like going to bed dirty you know?

So on Wednesday of last week, when we took our group of volunteers down to Lake City for dinner, I was stoked. I brought my toiletries bag with me. I had the ingenious plan to take a sponge bath at the restaurant. This would entail soaping up as much of my body as possible straight from the bathroom sink and using the harsh paper towels to dry. I knew I could be quick and I was excited. So to the restaurant we went. It was a pretty good place and I think the volunteers really enjoyed coming down to civilization. I ordered a quick salad and inhaled it- I wanted everyone else to be eating so I could slip away into the bathroom-come-shower. I made my way to the bathroom, and to my incredible shock- there in all it's beautiful glory was a real life, full, for real, shower. For real, a shower, as in, a shower you would have in your very own home. It was incredible. I was stunned and shocked. Why would a restaurant have a shower? I didn't care- I just locked the door, stripped down and jumped in! It was glorious- soap and all! Ah, what an amazing shower. I made it super quick as to not draw attention and occupy the bathroom for too long. Once I was done however, I realized one little problem- uh, towel? There were about 5 paper towels left in the dispenser, I used them to the best of my ability, soaking up as much water as possible. It wasn't enough but it helped. I pulled back on my dirty wet clothes but didn't care- underneath I was clean! Thank you, thank you Restaurant That Shall Not Be Named in case I get in trouble- you're shower is fantastic!
Of course, we don't always get this lucky. We must resort to other tactics up here in the middle of nowhere. Usually that means keeping a few sets of non-cotton clothes for changing, and wearing a good rain jacket. When we were able to get a fire going, some crafty volunteers took advantage to dry out their socks for example.

Other crafty folks came prepared with leg gaiters. Man what a brilliant idea! Especially when you're donning the super awesomely cool Utilikilt!
Though I was the only one with the guts, or perhaps gall, to shower in a restaurant, I have so much to learn from our fantastic volunteers. These tips are duly noted have no fear. If only I can find some leg gaiters on my next day off- rain is still in the forcast...

Haynie Brother follies...

First of all, I must give our project manager Helaman mad props for tackling the huge endeavor that is the Alpine Guard Station rehab. Restoring three buildings with very limited staff and resources in three months is a huge undertaking- he's done a fabulous job.

Thankfully his brother Bryson was able to help us move forward a little quicker. Sadly, his last day was yesterday, and he's on his way back to Utah. On that note, I'd like to take a moment and share some Haynie brother highlights from the summer.

Though the work is hard, and we're busting our butts to make these cabins look great, there is no lack of laughter and good times. Take for example our decision to burn a large pile of nastiness that came out of the barn. We had to sweep out all of the hay from the loft, and with that came lots of rat nasty as you can imagine. We wanted this stuff gone, and quick. So what better way than to burn it? And what better way is there to start a fire in the middle of a national forest? With gasoline of course...
This frightened me a bit, but it did work. As you can imagine, that pile went up in flames quick! It was pretty cool to watch actually. My only complaint was that the fire was still raging at 10p.m. I wanted to go to bed so badly, but being completely paranoid about burning down the forest, Elizabeth and I shoveled lots and lots of dirt on the fire to contain it somewhat.
Though I thought this practice of pyromany-ism was insane, several forest service employees were helping out the following week and did the same thing, so there you have it. (my deepest apologies if I get anyone in trouble for this).

In addition to fires (there were more), I was also very impressed with Bryson's gymnastic abilities. At 16 I guess you can still perform such feats like jumping off buildings without breaking a hip or something. And what better way to practice your skills than off the new solar panel shed. Just check this out...


Then there was the day of the rain- the heavy downpours that is. There has been lots of rain lately, and I'll get to that in my next post- but this event in particular deserves mention in the Brother's follies for sure. What happened was this; it was a very wet and rainy day, and that made for lots of mud and treachery. After an amazing dinner (cooked by Elizabeth and I), the brothers headed out for home in Lake City. So off with the truck they went across the field...and tires spinning, and spinning, and the truck is sliding, and they're going nowhere. It was a really wet and cold day, they really wanted to go home and I don't blame them. So how oh how where they to get the truck unstuck from this mass of slippery mud. With brute strength of course! Helaman decided that using a ratchet strap was always the best way out of a sticky situation. So there they were, tying one end to the truck, the other to a rock, and then, they'd push the strap out of the mess.
Oh if only I had gotten a picture of those first attempts! Did I mention it was slippery and muddy? Imagine the two of them pushing, pushing, pushing so hard on the strap as I pushed on the gas to move that truck. How many times did each of them nearly face plant straight into the mud right over the strap! Hilarious!

And then there's the moment of getting the strap stuck under the rock. Attempt delayed.

Here's the thing though, it actually worked. I'm not kidding. Once they got good leverage on that strap, the pushed so hard and I gunned it. The tires finally caught on some grass and up out onto the road I went. They were going home for a nice hot shower and warm bed after all, leaving the rest of us behind to sleep in the cold wet rain. It was a pretty hilarious sight to see upon victory. You can't tell so much here, but they were drenched and dir-tay!
Ah good times Haynies', thanks for the memories!