Adventures In The Back Country

I've got a lot of random things to say and I don't even know where to start so I am just going to post this picture to get things rolling.
The sign reads "NO TRESSPASSING, NO SNOPPY NEIGHBORS." Now, usually I don't target people to make fun of, but this one is asking for it. While Laura and I were out geocaching this past weekend, we traveled well off the highway into some more remote locations and happened to pass this sign. Although I get the point, I still can't help but laugh at the 'redneck qualities' of this. Just to point out the obvious, the sign has two misspellings: Trespassing & Snoopy.

The fact that the sign is misspelled is enough to keep me off the property though. Anyone who doesn't care to take the time to look up the spelling for a big sign at the end of the driveway probably doesn't care to take the time to find out my intentions while they are loading up the shotgun. "SHH! Quite, do you hear a banjo?"

The peonies in our backyard bloomed last week and they looked great. I pulled them out of a job site last summer and brought them home - the owners were throwing them away so I rescued them. I have been collecting a few pots from work this summer and I plan to dig them up this fall and transplant them to move with us next year. I actually have several plants in the planters in the front yard as well that I rescued and hope to bring along. Hopefully we will have enough room.

Monday afternoon Laura and I took a hike. We were after two goals for the afternoon, those being getting a geocache and hiking to the top of Stuart Peak. We left around 2:00 p.m. and made the five mile hike to the geocache is just about an hour and forty-five minutes. The geocache was located in a rock field on the side of the mountain and it was tricky terrain to search in, but close investigation can reveal all sorts of things. The first thing I noticed was a chipmunk watching us from up above on a rock. He was really watching us, and didn't move a muscle. Then a few seconds later another movement in the rocks came. This time it was much larger and surprised me a little. It was a bushy-tailed woodrat. The woodrat was quite curious as to what we were doing and continued to get closer to us. I shooed it away (I'm not a big fan of rats or mice) and snapped a few pictures while it observed us.I indicated to Laura that where there are mice there are snakes and that it would be wise to watch where we were walking while crossing the rocks. *Note - I just used the letter W to begin six words in a row in the previous sentence. Back to the story: So just as I tell Laura to watch her step, I see something slithering towards me! The little snake was coming down the rocks and I was in mid-step when I saw the snake. In my effort to not step on the snake I lost my balance a little and I gave out a shout "WHOA BUDDY! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Too bad Laura didn't have a video camera to capture the hilarity that ensued from the work of a little racer snake and a few rodents. Her laughter indicated that I was really putting on a show.

The larger creatures like bears, moose, wolves, and mountain lions are out in the wilderness with us while we are hiking I expect to see them and stay alert. In the case that we should happen to meet up with a bear I carry the bear spray - it's a pepper spray that I would spray at the bear to give us a few minutes to, put lightly, 'get the heck outta dodge.' The trick with bear spray is the instructions read "This product has a range of UP TO 30 feet." That's right, up to 30 feet but 20-25 feet is probably the best range. I don't know about you, but 25 feet is close enough thanks! So in the event we should encounter a bear we are 'prepared' but those rats and snakes scare my silly so Lord knows what will happen if we are face to face with a bear or moose!

Well, we found the cache and we made it up high enough on the mountain for us to be happy with the result. The lakes at the top of the mountains looked cold, and the cool temperatures and wind didn't make the water very tempting - notice the snow on the side of the mountain?! Yeah, that was on Monday folks. Our hike took around 6 hours and we were rolling right along to finish the 18 miles before it was too dark or the rain caught us. We have three more mountains planned for the summer, and this was the smallest of the four we wanted to hike, so one down, three to go!

It's gonna be around 90 today and I am looking forward to some warm temps. I'm going to clean up the garage a little this afternoon and get things organized. Until again

-=Nolan=-