Thoughts about solitude, hygiene and supplies

Hello again!
I'm back from five days out in my cabin.
Actually I've been back for a day now (I have two days off each week), but the shower I took when I got back, including shaving (my head and ALSO my face), scrubbing my toenails and fingernails and washing behind the ears- took longer than I thought, and I only got to a computer today.
So what have I learned?

I learned that even if you are a rough-tough hairy-chested man (which I am)- your ego doesn't get too bruised while using a walking stick, especially if you are carrying a full pack (30kg) with 5 days worth of supplies, and there is nobody to see you do it. That third leg comes in very handy when you are going up, but even more when you go down steep slopes. Those fold up telescopic canes are highly recommended, and they come in any range of color to match your "lone wolf" eyes. It's the new fashionable thing to do- "accessorise".
I also learned, to my surprise, that hikers, and hiking families are not only dropping in numbers (which I have now suspected for quite some time), but that they are actually an endangered species. I spent all of labor day weekend out in the backcountry (Saturday through Tuesday), and I met a total of five people during this entire time, one of which was Joel, one of the other SCAs* in the park who came out to spend a night in the cabin. Two were a couple of girls (college age, maybe) out on a day hike, and in a hurry to get back to grandma's house for 4 o'clock cocktails, and only two were true backpackers- and they didn't have permits to camp in the park so I had to tell them they would need to camp out on forest land (no permit required there). It's not that the park wasn't busy- throughout the whole weekend the silence of the forest around me was constantly interrupted by my radio broadcasting the desperate cries of my fellow park employees at headquarters, the entrance station and the visitor's center going on about the long line at the entrance and the full parking areas and the need to put out the "20 min minimum wait" sign. The lovely retired couple that volunteers at the campground was all ready to come down to the canyon and assist with directing traffic and parking cars, and this whole time I was hiking, off trail, with the stunning view of the Rio Grande on one side and the Jemez mountain range on the other- pretty much the whole park in my sight, thinking- "Where the hell are all these people I keep hearing about?". All these people paid the entrance fee ($12 a car-not cheap) and came in for a walk around the ruins that takes 2 hours if you are really going to take your time about it. I'm sure most went through the museum and watched the short movie. The more adventurous type grabbed a bottle of water and went to either the falls trail (2 hours of the beautiful lower Frijoles creek as it comes down to waterfalls), or ventured up to the canyon rim- a good healthy climb of about half an hour to 40 minutes in each direction to visit the Frijoleto ruin. Only the two girls that I saw went on a full day hike. I mean, obviously not all these people should or would enjoy packing food for a couple of days and walking about 7-10 miles to the backcountry camping areas- but someone? anyone? during the entire weekend- 5 backcountry camping permits were issued.
I don't know why I'm complaining though- more for me, I guess. Dad, you would have loved it.

During my time out in the backcountry, I also had a chance to work on my cabin and install the solar panel for my fridge. This is an interesting example of government spending. The cabin used to have a propane powered fridge. The kind of fridge you find in trailers and RVs. While the motor of the vehicle is running- the fridge works on electricity from the battery, but once you park it, and turn the motor off, you switch to GAS mode so your car battery doesn't drain. The old fridge worked just fine just on gas. Last season, the new park superintendent (the big boss of the park)and her husband went out to the cabin for the weekend and decided the fridge needed to be replaced. It was working fine- or so the people lower on the totem pole have been telling me. So money was given and someone, (who this mysterious someone is, might have some importance- but I definitely am TOO low on the totem pole to get my nose into this one), anyway SOMEONE went out and bought the new model of the same fridge- same make, same size. The fridge was brought out to the cabin and hooked up, and the old one was taken away (where to? that is another mystery that the solution to definitely falls in the realm of freedom of information, but for some reason another mysterious SOMEONE has yet to declassify it). Only problem was that since this appliance was designed for vehicular use, safety regulations have forced minor adjustments into it's design. In case of an accident, an unfortunate combination of circumstances could lead to a very explosive situation. If any of the electrical circuits in the cars were lose and were causing sparks, and at the same time, if the pilot light in the fridge went out- you'd have a gas leak and sparks in very close proximity, plus an RVs gasoline tank not too far. In order to prevent that kind of thing- the fridge now needs a constant electrical current to work. Nothing of any great voltage, just enough to indicate that the car's electrical system is functioning properly. Well, the cabin has NO electricity what so ever. A car battery was then carried out to the cabin and hooked up to the fridge- and it worked! For a while...
Eventually it did drain out- as was expected. Only at this point, the pack horses that were being used to carry all of this stuff out to the backcountry had been sold away as part of park system cut backs and tightening of belts. Propane tanks and essential supplies were now to be flown to the cabin by helicopter once or twice a year. On the next helicopter flight, along with propane, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, new signs for the backcountry camp zones and toothpicks, a new battery and a solar panel were also loaded onto the helicopter.
So, for a couple of days during this past week, after coming back from my daily hikes and rehydrating on "TANG" (unbelievable invention- you can really get addicted to the taste of toxic waste), I've been fiddling with installing the solar panel and getting it to charge the battery that doesn't power the fridge, but allows the propane to flow so it can power the fridge.
Sorry if I got all technical on you this time- this is what has been occupying my mind this week.

To any of you that thought that rattle snakes were called that because they rattle- let me tell you- not all do. especially not the big monster I almost stepped on walking on the dry creek bed of Alamo canyon. This 6 foot friend was just waiting for me, all curled up and ready to leap, with eyes that said "I won't make a sound, I'll just wait here until you step on me so I have moral justification to bite you".
All you people as my witnesses, I swear- I would have moved out of it's way, if only it did what God had intended it to do - and rattled.
I jumped pretty high when I did notice it.
Another thing that I discovered this past week is that creek water is cold and that wash-cloth baths are not fun or refreshing. Hopefully when it gets a little colder, and I have to light the wood stove to heat the cabin, I'll be able to put a pot of water on it to bathe with. But I guess until it gets cold- I'm going to be taking cold showers. Come to think about it, that could also explain why yesterday's shower took so long.

It would seem that people get extremely poetic when they are out on their lonely-own for a while. Evidence to that observation could be found on the walls of my out house. It seems like all Backcountry rangers before me have left their scribblings there and will be forever remembered in the pages of outhouse history. I will need to think carefully about how I would like to be remembered in such an honorable place. It also happens to be that my books from the open university have finally caught up with me (thanks again, Mom and Dad), so my thoughts this coming week will be less occupied with the proper way to be recorded in local New Mexican history, and more with "An introduction to Micro economics".
We will see.


P.S.
I had no relevant pictures this week, so you get to enjoy the flowers.

My Cabin

Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, I went to my cabin, and let me tell you- it is awesome!I went there on Tuesday and only spent one night. I'm going to go out for a whole five day stint tomorrow.

Who would have believed that in the 21st century, when I can sit in front of the computer and write this blog to you all- which will reach anywhere around the world the second I hit "post", pictures included, that in this same reality I can go out and survive for 5 days without electricity and running water?

I have a hand pump outside and I have to carry my water in a bucket to the filter in my kitchen before I can use it.

I have a propane stove and oven- but once it gets cold- I'll probably do all of my cooking on the wood stove- that I need to cut firewood for...

The propane refrigerator is not working yet- I'll have to fiddle with that. But don't you worry- this cabin comes with a complete set of tools and a tool shack. My outhouse

has a great view of the cliffs of the canyon (yeah, I keep the door open. It's one of the perks of being alone in the wilderness), and at night I cook and eat to the light of candles. GOT TO LOVE IT!

I can't wait to go out again.

Down canyon from my cabin is a site called painted cave. It's pretty cool, as you can see.

So this is my new home, and for now- I am really excited about going and spending some time out there.
I took the long way out on Wednesday. Dale picked me up outside of the western boundary of the park (opposite side of HQ). That meant hiking a long trail that is no longer used very often. After you leave the park boundary you still have about 4 miles in National forest land. As I was walking out, dealing with a whole bunch of fallen trees on the trail (The ones in the park I cleared, when I crossed the boundary out to forest land I just started jumping over them), I could see the sky darkening, and a thick layer of black clouds approach. No one likes to get caught in the rain, and I was already late to my rendezvous with Dale (fallen Junipers really put up a fight when approached with an axe), so I started walking really fast. I got to the "pumis mines trail head" quite short of breath- but it was well worth it. Three minutes later the skies opened up and it started pouring. Rain and hale dropped like it was being poured from buckets. Since we were all the way around on the other side of the park and most of the way back was through forest dirt roads- it took about 40 minutes to get back- and it was pouring the entire time. When Dale dropped me off we had another surprise- The creek that runs through the main canyon had over flooded from all the rain and was washing over the small concrete bridges. Apparently a very rare thing. We all ran out to see the flood- which lasted about an hour.

The next morning was supposed to be my day off. At 11am, as I was having a late breakfast, Brian (another law enforcement ranger), and John Mack (head of resource division) came knocking on my door. "We need someone to patrol the main canyon trail to see if they can re-open it to the public, after closing it due to flood. So I packed up and went on a three hour hike, during which I was glad to see that all the small double-log bridges were washed away. It was like nature sneezing away all those man made restraints on it. Like a dog shaking water off from his fur. Some parts of the trail were washed away- but you could still hike it. Anywhere you needed to cross the creek- you could still do it by jumping on a few rocks. I was also surprised to see at least four small bull-snakes just warming up in the sun. I guess the flood washed them out of their normal hiding places. Another species was out of it's element: the fish that I found lying on the trail. The flood brought them there and then settled down and left them high and dry on the high ground. Took photos of all the fallen trees and washed out bridges, along with GPS locations- put them all in a report for the rangers, and went on to enjoy what was left of my day off. In the evening Bree was nice enough to drive me over to the library and the grocery store.

Today, on my second day off, Bree and I headed to the post office in Los Alamos and then went hiking to a hot (luke warm actually) spring. A lovely little spot in the Jemez Mountains- about 40 minutes away from the park. The sky was threatening rain again so there was no-one else on the trail. The spring flows out into a little pool (assisted just a little bit by a man-made dam to deepen it). Had a great time, though the water wasn't really hot. Later today Dale had me over for dinner at his house in White Rock. There was a Zydeco concert in the park and we went over after dinner. Not a bad weekend (Thursday and Friday- but who cares). Tomorrow I head out to my cabin, and besides the beginning of a new month it's also the beginning of hunting season. No hunting is allowed in the parkalthough there will be a lot of hunting going on in the national forest land all around us. I'm definitely going to be wearing my orange vest this week.