Backpack trip up to Ice Lake Basin

Last weekend, Mary Dawn, Smokie and Valentino went backpacking up to Ice Lake Basin.



For being as close to Telluride, I had never been. From the map and the descriptions it looked amazing. It is a realitivly short hike but with 2400 feet of elevation gain. We have not been backpacking for several years (Valentino and Smokie's first time), so we knew it would be "up".

To get there from Ski Ranches, the shortest route is over the 4-wheel road Ophir Pass. Another first for me, Mary Dawn had down this route before.

The first couple of photos were of trip over Ophir Pass. It is the easiest of the 4-wheel roads into Telluride.


We did a quick stop in to Silverton, and the we drove to Clear Lake Trail Head. I had been by here when I had done the Colorado Trail, gosh ~15 Years back.

Lots, and lots of vehicles at the trailhead. Which was expected. We loaded up, put Smokie's pack on and headed up the trail.



The trail switch backs up Clear Creek, then turns left across a meadow.


Then a non-stop climb up to Lower Ice Lake basin. We had lunch there. The boys got their normal chicken necks for lunch.



We pass thru the "corn field", and rested before the last climb up in the Ice Lake Basin. The trail here as a little bit of exposure, nothing serious, but we were watchful for the dogs getting to close to the edge.



Once we got up on top, we were treated to the most stunning blue lakes I have ever seen. And I have seen quite a few alpine lakes, but Ice Lake was amazing. The sky and the lake where the same shade of blue.


Speaking of the sky, that weekend weather was incredible. Not a cloud in the sky. You have to understand that August is monsoon season. It typically rains for a bit in the afternoon. Not this weekend.

The wildflowers were incredible!


We scouted around for a spot to set up camp. Found one, setup the Walrus tent, and then went exploring around Ice Lake Basin. Our destination was Fuller Lake. We rested there for a bit, and headed back for dinner.


Dinner:


The pups were so tired. Big day for them.


Went to bed early, during the middle of the night, the dogs started to bark, so into our tent they came. A bit cramped, but it made it warmer. :) Maybe they were barking at the Alpine "elves"


The next morning we did our chores, packed up, and went for a small day hike up to some of the Upper Ice Lakes.


Nice hair!


We both had full weeks the next week, so we headed back down to the truck. Mary Dawn was a bit sore in the shoulders, we might need to invest in a backpack for her next time.



Overall it was a GREAT, AMAZING trip.

There is "a few" more photos that are interesting if you want to dig deeper.

As usual for the full slideshow, you click on on the photo below to start the slideshow. Enjoy.
[note: there is 86 photos here, you can use the arrow keys to advance, or if you hover over the slideshow, you can advance thru the thumbnails. If you want to view it full screen click on the icon in bottom right.]



If you want to see some of the descriptions that go with the pictures, click here.

For the map of the geo tagged photos click here.


Other photos can be found here. www.michaelmowerymedia.com


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A Year a go, I "left" the corporate job at Harris, My thoughts

Hello all,

I am sitting out on the deck amongst the trees of the forest. The moon is rising, as I can see it peek through the trunks of the trees up on the hill behind me. It is not as quiet here as it can be, the dogs in the neighborhood are barking. Mr. Bear must be roaming about.

Anyway, I am writing to reflect my thoughts of 1 year of non-corporate life and the events that led up to it.

A little background. I worked at Harris, Inc. in the Broadcast Division. when I was downsized. I had "survived" many layoffs in the past, but the months leading up to year ago, I had a feeling that my time had come to move on.

A couple of clues:
In Spring of 2008, I was showing Vice President Bob Duncan some of the good work I did. He seemed very pleased with my work (great!) but kept asking if I was the only one working on this project. I said essentially yes, and it concerned him. The director John Patrick was also in this meeting, and well never mind...

Following that it seemed like I was setup to fail. Prior, I was given lots of respect, but it then felt like the project was on life support. It is funny thinking back on that project, on how I stressed about it, and how I wanted it to so much to succeed. Oh well.

In July of 2008 I approached HR asking that I was not happy with the project (and manager) and would like to switch projects. As a good HR person would do, she said OK, and will see what she could do. I'm sure she knew what was going on. I don't blame her, it is all part of the game.

I was asked many times by my manager if I would consider moving back to Denver. I flatly said NO, that I was established in Telluride and I would not consider it. That was the nail in my 5 year stay at Harris.

I was then asked to book a immediate flight to Budapest Hungary, where all the rest of the team on my project was located. I went out of my way to book a 2 week trip, even traveling on a weekend to maximize the amount of face time with my Hungarian peers.

During this time, the goal was to train a co-worker in what I had done, so he could help develop the project WITH me. Wow, that would be great. When leaving for the trip the HR person said, "Make sure you have some fun also while over there". Hmmmm... Ironically, a lot was learnt on both sides on how to stream line the project. I was starting to feel good about it again. Yet, a part of me knew, that this was the last time I would be over there on Budapest. I proceeded like it wasn't the end and I put thoughts on how I would continue the new relationships. The last day at the office in Budapest, I had lunch with the Development Manager over there. Great guy, I spoke to him saying that this may be the last time I speak to him. He honestly seemed surprised.

I arrived back in Telluride on Sunday, the following Monday morning at 8 am, I get the call from HR.
Hello this is so and so from HR. ......
That was August 4, 2008

The first thing I did, I said hmmm and got a PRB out of the fridge. I did not have to go to work that day. :)

One thing working for a company for 5+ years, I built up some severance pay. So, the immediate future was not in question. It was the long term I knew that I would have to re-invent myself in Telluride.

Mary Dawn convinced me to go a couple of trips to Europe. I was was little un-easy about going, but I agreed to "I won't have the opportunity to do this again soon", and put costs of the trip on credit cards. Yes, I had a good time. :)

Following that I started up TellurideTech.com in September time frame. I also have had several consulting projects with Hyperspider.com. AND a lot of time has been helping out in the store and web of Alpen Schatz.

One would think, that now I don't have the corporate job, I could go explore all these side projects I have dreaming about. But you know, it is hard to follow some of your dreams if you need to worry about money. Mom and Dad have been great, unemployment has help thru some lean times, but now I have good clients who respect me and my work.

Yes, I know, being a remote employee, I did not really live the corporate live. The 3+ years of working remote, I made sure, that I had plenty of face time in the office and to worked more than anyone else. Part of the reason why I lasted so long as a remote.

Anyway, prior to working for Encoda (who was acquired by Harris), I was a contractor. Contracting has been in my blood for half of my career. There are definitely challenges with contracting. Seems like you always have to sell yourself over and over to each new client or prospective client. Something that I need to work is to realize that a service-client relationship is a two way. In addition to the client making sure service provided is a good fit for them, the service-provider needs to make sure if the client is a good fit for them.

Plans moving forward:
Now that I got Telluride Tech somewhat established, I want to transition back into more programming projects. One of my goals is to finally publish an iPhone app. It seems like I never have time for this, but I just need to make time. It is always about time and balance.

I DO miss a lot of the friendships I had at Harris, but social media has help with keeping in touch.

Sigh, but sitting out here in the woods, I can't imagine myself anywhere else.

ps.
One of things I DON'T miss is this



pss.
Peter Gabriel - Don't Give Up



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Evening Sunday Picnic on Lizard Head Pass

Mary Dawn and I decided to go exploring around our neighborhood. She packed a picnic, we loaded up the boys, and we drove a short distance to an area that was new to both of us.

We first went to Priest Lake and looked around. We met a Marmot that lived in a cabin. We walked thru nasty thistles. And we looked at our reflection in the lake, while the fish avoided our glances.

We then drove on Trout Lake Road to Lizard Head Pass, where we stopped for a picnic. The boys had fun, we pondered out upon the high mountain meadow and we listened to the coyotes in the distance.

On the way back we stopped for a "few" photos of the sunset on Trout Lake. If you look close, you can even see the moon rising over the mountains. Very nice!

As usual just click on the view below to start the slide show.




I also took a long the GPS and geotagged the photos for those that are interested.
If you are curious about where the photos were taken click
here.



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