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Take me to the river
The idea is simple: we stay cool on a hot evening by bobbing around in the Poudre River for a while. The plan is complicated: Ann drives with our newly acquired tubes to the free solar-powered air pump on the bike trail, while I ride my bike to the take out at the Shields St…
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“Operation Aborted” error in Internet Explorer
A recent change to Google Maps brought this gremlin to the hobomap and many other Google Maps API users also. I found the explanation at Mapki. The cardinal sin is putting the map-creating javascript inside a <div> or other tag. It has to be right before the closing body tag. This is a bit painful…
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Storm Mountain – The Monastery
The day begins in a maddening comedy that ends with us chasing Sean down a forest road, and Sean going home with no idea where we are. We embark without him on the rugged trail to The Monastery, where we manage to do some climbing on strange new rock despite a hot sun. When we…
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Storm Mountain Camping
We don’t know any good open camping spots near Estes Park, but Roosevelt National Forest encompasses much of the map area northeast of there, so we go in search of a spot. Following Devil’s Gulch Road to Glen Haven we find nothing. Nor is there much prospect between Glen Haven and Drake. We’re planning to…
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Lumpy Ridge – Fin City
Intending to do so easy crack climbs and practice setting anchors, we head to Eagle Rock outside Estes Park, only to find “NO CLIMBING” signs posted at the access point. This resulted in a change of course to Fin City near Gem Lake, with a long approach, bushwhack, and exceedingly difficult anchor setup. We were…
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Movie: Baraka (1993)
Ten years after the mind-blowing Koyaanisqatsi, one the filmmakers, Ron Fricke, made this film in the same format. A comparison of the title translations, Koyaanisqatsi ~ Life Out Of Balance / Baraka ~ Blessing, hints at the differences. Any film capable of expanding my notion of humanity is worthy in my book, and both of…
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Movie: Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (2005)
A new species of naturalist has emerged – the observer of escaped pets living in the urban jungle, along with a documentary to observe the observer. There are all kinds of issues at work here, from invasive species to homelessness to love. The parrots are an effective symbol for many of the difficulties of being…
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Book: The Mathematical Experience / Philip J. Davis, Reuben Hersh
I’ve lived under the illusion that Mathematics is a body of “proven” knowlege, all of which can be completely and consistently derived logically from a set of “self-evident” axioms. This misconception is referred to, in one aspect at least, as the “Euclid Myth”. Although I was vaguely aware of the existence of some pesky paradoxes…
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Snowy Range – Brooklyn Lake
It’s looking like a hot day, so we’re happy to head up to the Snowy Range for hike in the cooler altitudes. Indeed we find a nice cool breeze at Brooklyn Lake – so nice that I make a rare blunder and forget to wear a hat. We soon find out that the price for…
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Vedauwoo – Valley Massif
At last, a sunny day at Vedauwoo! Ann, Sean, and I figure it’s been six weeks since our last route – yow. Dad and Sarah join us for the familiar hike into Valley Massif. We do a route called Soft Touch, 5.5. The rating is easy, but true to Vedauwoo, it’s only “easy” if your…