Guiding in Raja Ampat, Indonesia and side trip to Hong Kong

 I was asked to lead a couple Oceanic Society trips to Raja Ampat in West Papua, Indonesia this fall. As an incentive to do 2 trips, they said I could bring Elisha on the first trip and not only would the trip be free for her, but they'd pay for all her airfare. 

10/14/25

We drove to Denver over Cottonwood Pass, which had a bit of snow on it. We stayed with Nate Dub in Denver and went out to a new Mexican Restaurant in his neighborhood, which was offering free margaritas and appetizers!

10/15

Early flight to LAX then onto Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, which was a nice airline.

10/16

We arrived at night into Hong Kong, but on our approach as the sun was setting, we flew over a crazy amount of oceanic windmills. After getting through the airport and going through immigration and customs, we took a double decker bus from Lantau Island (where the airport is) to Hong Kong Island. After alighting , we walked to the Victoria Peak Tram and took the steep tram up to "the peak" where we had a really nice view of the sparkling city below, full of towering high rises. We took the tram back down and then walked to the pier where we caught the Star Ferry to Kowloon. We found a place to get some delicious chinese noodle soup. We then walked a short distance to a large apartment complex "Mirador Mansion" where our guesthouse was on the 12th floor. We arrived there about midnight. 

10/17

I got up very early, crossed back over to Hong Kong Island on the Star Ferry. From there I began a steep and sweaty hike up the Old Peak Road to the top. From there I hiked a 3 or so kilometer loop trail around the peak (you aren't allowed to go to the tippy top as it's radio communication and such). The trail had great views in areas where there was a break in the rainforest. I climbed up a small peak, High West, before descending back down the way I climbed up. I finished the loop, going past a small waterfall, before arriving back to where the tram station is. On my descent I went via a way that took me down to midlands. At midlands, there is an escalator system which consists of 20+ escalators that run downhill from 6am-10:30am (for commuters going to work) and uphill from 10:30am to midnight. I was coming down at a time that I got to use the elevators to go downhill. It's supposedly the longest outdoor escalator complex in the world!

I met Elisha at the Star Ferry where we got a ice milk tea from a robotic barista and then crossed back over to Kowloon to get a shower and some dim sum for lunch before taking the bus to the airport. 

Cathay Pacific flight to Jakarta. We got picked up at the airport and taken to the FM7 hotel where we had a late dinner on the rooftop bar.

10/18

Amazing buffet breakfast in the morning before taking a Grab taxi to Chinatown. We walked around the market a bit, bought some fruit, and then walked to Kota Tua (the old Dutch Town). We then took a taxi to the Grand Jakarta mall, which is a big fancy mall (with AC!). We shared various dishes (Korean, Japanese, Indonesian, Sumatran) from the monstrous food court. After some ice cream, we visited a cool animated art exhibit. We took a taxi back to FM7 and had dinner.

10/19 Spa Day!

We had an early breakfast at the huge breakfast buffet, and then I worked on my lectures. After that I went for a run on the treadmill (still really hot even in the indoor AC). I hit the pool for some laps and jumped into the icy cold plunge to cool off before lunch. The pool area makes one feel very wealthy as you get a personal attendant in the locker room giving you towels, sandals, and mopping the floor up after you. Toiletries and shavers are supplied for you as well as a swimsuit. After lunch we had traditional massages and then pedicures. We took a nap and then had dinner at the restaurant before our midnight flight to Sorong.

10/20

We arrived early in the morning to Sorong and boarded the Dancing Wind, our liveaboard phinisi ship. There are 13 guests + Elisha, Dalton, and myself and 16 crew. Dalton was sick and went straight to bed, which made things stressful for me as I know less about the boat and the itinerary than he does. We had an afternoon snorkel (with lots of giant fruit bats flying overhead during it), and I gave my intro talk. 

10/21

A beautiful sunrise to start the day. On the a.m. snorkel we saw 2 turtles and a moray eel. On the afternoon snorkel we saw a bumphead parrotfish and nudibranch. In the evening, we went to a small island for sunset on the beach and then watched the fruit bats depart for the night.

10/22

We did an early a.m. walk up to see the red bird of paradise do its mating dance at a lek. Afterwards we visited the village. We did a morning snorkel and saw seahorses and a wobbegong shark. The afternoon snorkel was along a beautiful wall with nice corals, tunicates (sea squirts), and sponges. We saw several nudibranchs and a crocodile fish. I gave a talk at night.

10/23

On the morning snorkel, we had a pretty good current, which made it seem like we were actually flying as we zoomed over the reef. The afternoon snorkel was very clear with beautiful corals. On the snorkels we saw lots of big fish including napoleon wrasses, snappers, groupers, porcupine fish, sweet lips, and more. Lots of hawksbill turtles and crocodile fish. Gave a talk at night.

10/24

The morning snorkel had tons of green and hawksbill turtles as well as a black-tipped reef shark, cuttlefish, some squid, and a couple of nudibranchs. There were also lots of big fish (Napoleon wrasse, sweetlips, porcupine fish, trevally). On the afternoon snorkel we saw lots of blue-spotted stingrays, a few cuttlefish, and Elisha saw a spotted eagle ray. Gave an evening talk.

10/25

We took an early morning birding boat ride among the mangroves. We saw an eclectus parrot, cockatiel, and some fish eagles. The morning snorkel was along a beautiful reef alongside mangroves. We saw pajama cardinalfish, a sea snake, and a large school of jacks. Then we saw a *huge* school of big-eyed scad that we could swim through, with them swirling around you. The afternoon snorkel was amazing! We saw some super tiny shrimp in a coral and tons of Christmas tree worms. We also saw juvenile barramundi and  sweet lips, an "oreo" nudibranch, archer fish, and a hunting sea snake. Elisha saw a mobula ray. We had the most incredible experience with a cuttlefish where it let Elisha and I just chill with it as it shimmered and changed color so magically. We watched it feeding on something inside the coral, almost like a hummingbird sticking it's tentacles into the coral. We had a nice sunset from the ship deck. I gave my Greenland travelogue.

10/26

We took an early morning boat ride to one of the famous viewpoints (Piaynemo) overlooking some karst "mushroom" islands. It's super beautiful with the islands dotting the turquoise water. We did 2 snorkels with nothing super notable other than Elisha saw a couple of black-tipped reef sharks. In the evening we set sail for Misool, which took 8 hours of sailing overnight. We stepped into the bridge (ship navigation deck) and watched them navigate.

Misool is in the south of Raja Ampat, and I've never been there. Normally we go to the north of Raja Ampat (Aljui bay area). It's a spectacular area and considered the crown jewel of Raja. The reason we're changing up our itinerary and not going there is that there is a major mining conflict going on up there. It's rather tragic. Some huge mining companies from Jakarta plan to mine on these small islands, which will destroy the reefs and the fisheries, but they're offering to pay the locals an amount of money to allow the mining. Different environmental groups are trying to block it (such as Greenpeace). Because the locals are upset by this and want the one-time check from the mining companies, they are saying that tourists cannot go there to dive and snorkel until the conservation groups allow the mines to happen. Unfortunately it's very short-sighted as the locals will get a one-time payment of about $1000, which is really nice, but once the mines come in, they will lose their livelihood, which is tourism and fishing. The mine pollution and runoff caused by the deforestation will kill the reefs, which will in turn kill tourism and fishing (they've seen this in other places in Raja). Meanwhile, the fat cats in Jakarta will get rich off the mines and the locals won't even have the opportunity to work in the mines. It will be Javans and filipinos. Partly because of this and other complex reasons, Papua would like to become independent from Indonesia.

10/27

In the morning we took a boat ride past cool karst islands and pearl farms to reach the entrance of a large cave. We snorkeled through the cave to reach 2 other openings. It was definitely sweet to snorkel through a cave. In the cave, Lyn, a guest from Australia who has a PhD in in music sange some hymns. She has a great cathedral voice, which worked great in the cave amongst the towering ceilings and stalactites.

On the afternoon snorkel we saw a black-tipped reef shark, a couple nudibranchs, a moray eel, and a cute baby stingray. Also tons of clams! In the evening we boated to a beach for sunset and beers. I gave a talk in the evening after dinner.

10/28

A *beautiful* morning snorkel along a wall. Lots of sea fans and sea squirts and sponges. So much color! We also saw some nudibranchs and a cool lionfish. I had rained hard overnight and continued into the morning. Some of us, including me, had leaks dripping onto our beds. The afternoon snorkel was also great.  We saw lots of nudibranchs, 2 free swimming moray eels, a large school of bumphead parrotfish, a juvenile lionfish!, crocodile fish, lobsters, and a great coral and sponges. Gave a talk on Antarctica in the evening.

10/29

*Amazing* morning snorkel! We got to watch an oceanic manta ray for a long time up close as it got cleaned at a cleaning station. Right in the same area we saw a couple of turtles and also a school of 7 or 8 young grey reef sharks. Towards the end of the snorkel we hung out for a long time with a very friendly octopus who let us great really close and did a lot of changing colors. We got to watch it as it went hunting along the reef. It was truly amazing! On the afternoon snorkel we saw another octopus, though this one was more shy. We also saw a large school of bumphead parrotfish, some sea turtles, and lots of nudibranchs. 

We watched a beautiful sunset from the boat deck with spinner dolphins jumping to a backdrop of a pink and orange sky--like a painting! We had a fancy dinner on the boat deck with red snapper, lobster, soft drinks, beef and chicken satay, and ice cream! Then, and this was a huge surprise, Nunu (the head dining attendant), led a dance and karaoke night. He could really sing! And he got really into it. Elisha and I sang "Sweet Caroline"

10/30

We started the morning with a spinner dolphin snorkel alongside these fishing bangkas (barges). That was fun! Dolphins are always so entertaining, and to be in the water alongside them is a treat. 

We then took a boat ride along Karst islands and teal lagoons to see some ancient wall paintings. After that we did a short, but treacherous scramble up over a karst ridge to a secluded and hidden lagoon. NOrmally there are millions of golden jellyfish, which have lost their ability to sting due to evolving in a predator free area. Thus you can snorkel right through them even though the lake is densely filled with them. However, when we arrived we could tell something was wrong because the water looked empty. When we got in all we could see were a few moon jellies. We eventually found *one* golden jelly. Perhaps the last of its kind in the lake. There are supposedly only 3 jellyfish lakes like this in the world--Palau, Raja, and Borneo are where they are located. We had heard recently that all the jellies in Palau had died. Now here too. It's pretty devastating! Perhaps it is due to climate change (these isolated lakes warm up quicker than the ocean) or some other human cause (sunscreen, introduced microbe??). All the same it left me with a heavy heart.

When we got back we set sail for Sorong, which would take about 10 hours. After lunch I gave a talk on my Kenya research. Then I gave a talk on reef conservation after dinner. A scary talk, which fits in perfectly with Halloween. 

10/31 Happy Halloween!

We took the tender boats early in the morning back to land. Most of the group went to the airport to fly to Jakarta. We went to the Aston Resort as I'll be staying in Sorong until I meet the next group coming in. We enjoyed the fancy and big breakfast buffet at the hotle. We did some computer business in the morning since we were back in good internet. Our room was then ready, so we moved into it. I went for a run in the gym and then took a walk outside to a grocery store. We then took a grab taxi to a pagoda on the hill to watch the sunset over the harbor. We had dinner at the hotel.

11/1

We enjoyed the breakfast and then we went to a mall. I got a haircut (not near as good as the one in Nepal!). I rode some go-karts, and then we went to a ramen restaurant and got some chai tea. When we got back I went for a run on the treadmill and swam some laps in the pool. We then headed out to get a fresh green coconut on the street. After that we had dinner and drinks at the rooftop skylounge of our hotel.

11/2

We picked up the new group at the airport and said goodbye to Elisha. We did an afternoon checkout snorkel where we saw a blue-spotted stingray, nudibranch, and long-jawed mackerel, which are cool because they swim around in schools with their mouths wide open. We had a nice sunset with fruit bats flying by. Gave a talk.

11/3

On the morning snorkel we saw a scorpion fish, remoras, a hawksbill turtle, and the tail of an epaulette walking shark. Also the parrotfish here are just so numerous and diverse and amazing. Our afternoon snorkel was on a deep wall. We saw a hawksbill turtle, mantis shrimp, and Napoleon Wrasse. Nice sunset. Gave a talk.

11/4

Early morning hike on Waigeo Island to see the red birds of paradise. We then toured the village. On the morning snorkel we saw both a yellow and brown seahorse, a swimming wobbegong shark, and a juvenile barramundi. On the afternoon snorkel we saw a crocodile fish and a nudibranch. In the evening there was a nice sunset with a beautiful and nearly full moon. Gave a talk.

11/5

The morning snorkel was a cool drift snorkel with lots of bigger fish and nice corals. We saw 5 or 6 turtles, Napoleon wrasse, blue-spotted stingray, and a moray eel. On the afternoon snorkel we saw several crocodile fish, Napoleon wrasse, lots of oriental sweetlips, and some other huge sweetlips. At night it was an amazing sunset with the full moon rising off the bow of the ship. I had a "date" with 80 year old Suzie. We sat together at our own private table and she shared with me some of her very expensive scotch. I gave a talk

11/6

We visited a village in the morning. On the visit we hung out with some of the kids at school and did the hokie pokie with them. A friendly eclectus parrot was hanging around the village, and it even perched on our hands. 

We had a really nice morning snorkel. There were SO many turtles (13-14 green and hawksbill). We also saw a few sharks, giant Napoleon wrasse, and a scorpion fish. On the afternoon snorkel we saw 2 cuttlefish, a couple moray eels, and an archer fish. I also finally saw a mobula ray (devil ray).

We had a nice sunset, and then did a night snorkel. During the night snorkel we saw the tail of an epaulette shark and a big crab. But probably the best was watching the full moon (very orange) rise as we snorkeled.

11/7

We did a morning mangrove and bird boat tour. We saw some parrots, herons, and lorikeets. For the morning snorkel, we snorkeled on the reef right by the mangroves. We saw pajama cardinalfish, a moray eel, and a signal blenny. The highlights were 2 chill cuttlefish and a shallow sea snake. The afternoon snorkel was also by the mangroves. We saw some archerfish. The best were 2 more cuttlefish in the shallows. I was able to watch them go about their business as they rapidly changed colors. In the evening I gave a talk on McM which they all loved.

11/8

We did a morning hike up to the stunning piaynemo viewpoint and a boat ride in the lagoons. Coming in overnight was a good bit of wind and some waves from the hurricane hitting the Philippines. There was nothing particularly noteworthy on the morning snorkel, just one distant bumphead parrotfish and some god hard corals. The boat was rocking and swaying at lunch and break. The afternoon snorkel was a beautiful and cool wall snorkel. Great colors! 

We sailed overnight to get to Misool. It was rough seas for the area, and I felt a bit queasy, so I went to bed right after dinner.

11/9

The morning snorkel was through the cool cave. Dalton was sick, so I led it. The afternoon snorkel was through some coral that wasn't great, and the visibility wasn't very good. But we did see a turtle, a black-tipped reef shark, and a spot-fin lionfish.

We went to the beach for happy hour, and then I gave a talk after dinner.  This group is very fun, drinks quite a lot, and really enjoys my humor, which makes it fun. They're completely different from the last group.

11/10

We woke up to a bit of rain. We snorkeled the Neptune site, which is a beautiful wall site. It was absolutely stunning!! SO many fish and such beautiful corals and sponges. So much color! At one point Nic (from Australia) said "the visibility is sh*t. I can't see the fish because so many other fish are blocking my view". But yea, it was just stunning. Everyone was super excited. We saw a juvenile angelfish!, 2 nudibranchs, moray eel, scorpion fish, lionfish, napoleon  wrasse, some large jacks that were hunting, and just so many fish. The afternoon snorkel was in the same place, but the current was strong, and it was a quick snorkel. We then moved to a different area to finish our snorkel. 

After dinner I gave a talk on the plight of coral reefs. During the talk, one of the guests (Karen), passed out! I guess the sad news about reef decline was too much for her to take...

11/11

We had a really beautiful morning snorkel. So many fish! We also saw a huge school of juvenile grey reef sharks. I counted 12, but Dalton said he counted 41 in the area. We saw a couple of lionfish, and I hung out with a sea snake for a while. On the afternoon snorkel we saw a turtle, several nudibranchs, and a huge "thundering herd" of bumphead parrotfish.

We had a fancy dinner on the deck with trevally, giant prawns, tom yum soup, lobster, and ice cream. This group was much more into the karaoke and dance party, so it was a lot of fun! I sang "I will survive" for my song.

11/12 A marvelous end to the trip!

In the morning we swam with dolphins. It was such a great experience. There were more of them, they came closer, and they really seemed quite curious compared to the last time. I got some really great looks at them. 

After breakfast, we headed to try a different jellyfish lake that someone had recently found after the disaster of finding a dead lake last time. This time it was a success!!! We were able to snorkel in the lake with jellies everywhere and with no worry that they'd sting us since they have evolved over time, with no predators in the lake, to be stingless. It was such a cool experience just brushing up against and hitting them--in your face as you swam--the multitude of jellies. They're very soft feeling. It was truly magical. 

After the lake, we did a hike (new to me) up to the top of a karst island that had beautiful views of the jagged karst islands and emerald lagoons below. It was a steeper hike than piaynemo and featured rickety stairs (some missing), but the group made it up. Very stunning views! After the hike, we took a boat ride to the cave paintings before heading back to the boat where I organized a group jump off of the back of the boat (Craig and I had also jumped off the very high bow). 

Once back on the boat, we set sail back to Sorong. I enjoyed a beer while ride up on the bow with the wind on my face. Later I moved to the bridge where I helped the crew steer the boat for a bit. After dinner I gave a travelogue on both Gothic and Mpala.

11/13

We had an early departure from the boat and then the flight to Jakarta. I got a hotel at the airport, had some food, watched some tv, got a message, and then caught a midnight flight to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific

11/14

I arrived early to Hong Kong. I went through immigration and then caught a double-decker bus (I sat on the top, front row) to another bus station. There I waited about an hour for the first bus to take me up to the village of Ngong Ping situated at an elevation of about 1300 feet. The drive was very scenic going over the pass and then by some beaches before going up to the village. 

The village is surrounded by peaks, has a monastery (Po Lin), and a giant buddha known as Tian Tan that is 112 feet tall. I first walked through the village. Then I took a hike up to a viewpoint where I could see the village, giant buddha, monastery, and even the ocean far below. I walked around the monastery, and then, when they opened the steep steps up to the big buddha, I was the first up the steps and the first to reach the buddha. There were really nice views from the buddha which included the mountains and the ocean below. After visiting the buddha, I walked back down to the village and then took the scenic gondola back towards the airport area. It was a beautiful ride going up and over the mountains and over a turquoise bay.

I was the only one in the gondola as I had time it all perfectly! When I got down to the bottom, there was an incredibly (seriously incredible) long line. It was smart to take the bus up to the village and arrive at the big buddha before the gondola opened and the hoards of people arrived. Then when the gondola started running, I rode down while the people below were just starting to go up.

I took a bus back to the airport and then took the really long (14 hours or so) Cathay Pacific flight to Chicago. After arriving in Chicago I had a little trouble with my American ticket to Denver. I got it sorted out with 4 minutes to spare to make the 40 minute before the flight check in cutoff. Flight to Denver then a United flight to Gunnison.  A couple of friends were on that flight on their way back from Mexico, including one who had been bitten by a rattlesnake! In Gunnison Elisha picked me up, and we drove to Gothic as there still isn't too much snow yet.

End of Summer

 8/19/25

Mom got into town for bro's birthday. We all went out to a lovely Thai dinner.

There is much drama at Eleven as they are getting rid of (selling) one of the lodges (Taylor River Lodge), but also reducing staff at Scarp Ridge Lodge (the one Elisha works at. They are cutting a lot of staff and also reducing pay and benefits for other staff, so many people are very angry. They did offer Elisha a position, but it would be a demotion in pay. They only gave her 1 day to decide, but she decided to turn it down. What does this mean for us? Who knows, but a new life adventure

8/20

We went for a hike with mom and bro and Mary and Ellis to the Devil's Punchbowls, where we did some jumping off the rocks into the cold waterfall.

Then in town there was a bbq for bro's birthday where many of the folks from their wedding were there. We then played a couple games of "cops and robbers" downtown, which was a lot of fun. At the very end, on the bike home, we saw a huge bear.

9/2-9/4

We went on a camping trip to Summit County. On the first day we biked a super sweet flowy trail on Copper Mountain, but before we got there we stopped in Leadville for $1.25 Taco Tuesday. We camped that night along Lake Dillon on the Frisco Peninsula. The next morning we rode some fun flow trails on the Peninsula before heading into Frisco for breakfast and thrift shopping. In the afternoon we rode some fun trails in Breckenridge and then went out for pizza. We camped above Breckenridge on Boreas Pass. Our last day there we rode a trail in Breckenridge, then one in Dillon, and finished off with a fun flow trail in Copper.

9/5

I had a hike from Aspen to CB for my shuttle job in the fog and a bit of rain. It was the first snow of the season on the peaks!

9/8

We did a group work hike up to the top of Mt CB. The main purpose was to take Evelyn, the Bahamian who was visiting us for a month to help. She definitely struggled getting up, but loved it.

9/10

Did a really big bike ride in Gunnison, but flatted out at the very end.

9/11

I drove Elisha to Montrose so that she could fly home for a her dad's 70th birthday and a family reunion. Since I was there I did 2 bike rides in Montrose (at Buzzard Gulch and Electric Hills), both of which were a lot of fun, but the Electric Hills area was just awesome.

9/12

I had another single shuttle and hike from Aspen to CB. It rained basically the whole hike! And sometimes hard. Snow up on the pass and up on the mountains. Nasty weather, but a fun time.

9/13

It snowed hard overnight on the mountains around CB. I woke in the morning to a huge hailstorm. It rained basically all day! I drove out to Gothic to enjoy the fall colors of the willows with the snow on the peaks and to walk a bit. As it rained so much, I didn't bike today, but instead did a run in the pouring rain and then soaked in the hot tub.

9/14

I drove out to Montrose again and biked some more sweet trails in the Electric Hills and then pitched my tent to camp up on the Rim Rock.

9/15

I did a fun ride in Montrose in the Spring Creek Canyon before picking Elisha up in Montrose from her flight.

9/17

Today I rode every single (non double black) mountain bike trail on Crested Butte Mountain Resort. It ended up being over 50 miles and 9500 feet of vertical!

9/18

I did a hike back from Aspen for a shuttle. Fall colors are starting to get nice. We went to a nice pre-season potluck at the Nordic Center. Someone made a turkey, which was awesome, and there was lots of good food. Also saw Kaitlyn there and caught up with her.

9/20

Another hike back from Aspen. A bit of snow up in the mountains! Beautiful rainbows too.

9/21

Elisha and I biked the 401, which was really great with all the rain we've had recently to make the dirt nice and tacky

9/22

We did a beautiful fall color ride up the slate river before the rain and snow came in.

9/23

The mountains were beautiful this morning with snow on the peaks and yellows in the valley

9/23-9/26--Took a van trip to Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley for fall colors and biking

9/23

We drove to Aspen over beautiful Kebler Pass. My parents are staying at a hotel in Snowmass, so we met them in Snowmass for pizza. We just parked in the parking lot of their hotel for camping, which was nice because we could walk into the hotel for the bathroom and to get tea!

9/24

We biked down from Snowmass to a super delicious bakery for cinnamon rolls near the airport. The bike ride was beautiful as you could see Capitol Peak (a 14er), snowy in the background with the fall colors in the foreground. We biked along the river for a while to get to the bakery. After the bakery we went to a little cafe for a burrito and Elisha to get some coffee. 

Next we biked up to Maroon Lake. The road is only open to the shuttle busses, so it's a great place to ride bikes. Of course the fall colors were just gorgeous! Super gorgeous. The view from the lake was was stunning as the Maroon Bells were covered in snow, the aspens in front were yellow, and the lake azure. From the lake we did a bit of a hike up into the aspens.

In the afternoon I did a mountain bike ride up on Snowmass' bike trails amongst the fall colors before we headed to Basalt to get Ramen for dinner.

9/25

In the morning we went and got more cinnamon rolls. First we drove up Castle Creek to the start of the Pearl Pass 4WD road back to Crested Butte to look at the fall colors. Then we drove to Aspen, got tacos (the cheapest in town) at the gas station before driving partway up Independence Pass, descending the bike path there, and then starting the Rio Grande bike path that goes all the way to Glenwood Springs. The trail was really nice, and mostly downhill from Aspen to Glenwood. It followed the river almost the whole time and was mostly shaded with yellow cottonwoods. We stopped in Carbondale to eat lunch at a Mexican diner, and then we biked all the way to DQ for some blizzards. After the blizzards we biked to the bus station. In total it was 53.97 miles. 

When we got to the bus station, a bus driver for a different route said we wouldn't be able to put our bikes on the bus as it was after 6. I hadn't known that rule, otherwise we would have skipped DQ! This was a problem for us because our car was actually 4.3 miles up Independence Pass from the bus station. So if we had to lock our bikes up in Glenwood, take the bus up, I'd have to jog 4 miles up to get the car in the dark. But I sorta figured all bus drivers wouldn't be so strict, and luckily our bus driver back to Aspen didn't care. When we got to Aspen, I biked the 4.33 miles up to the van. I met Elisha at a yummy Thai place for dinner.

9/26

I did a couple of really awesome mtn bike rides up on Snowmass. I pedaled up to the Elk Camp summit a couple of times, which had great views of the Maroon Bells and other 14ers as well as across the Roaring Fork Valley. Not to mention the purpose built trails were long and flowy and through the golden aspens.

Elisha took a hike in the Aspens and then drove the van back to CB. I picked up a car in Snowmass to drive back to CB for my shuttling job, which worked out perfectly, allowing us to stay an extra day and for me to do some extra riding.

9/27-9/30

More hikes and bikes through the beautiful fall colors. Did I mention Clawdia has been staying with us? So lots of fall Clawdia snuggles.

9/30

Our first day doing the weather station at RMBL as part of our winter caretaking duties.

10/1-10/2 Van camping trip in the Ohio Pass/Kelber area

10/1

We drove up and over Ohio Pass in the van and found a great camping spot amongst the Aspens. We then drove back over up to Lake Irwin to do a hike up Ruby Peak. From the top of Ruby Peak is just an insanely expansive view of a huge swath of aspens--the Kebler aspens. It's one of the largest, if not the largest living organism on earth (it's close between the Kebler grove and the Pando grove in Utah). Aspen groves are clones and thus considered one individual organism, and not a thousand separate trees. Anyways, the view was stunning. There's also a beautiful view of the beautiful sapphire colored Blue Lake below. 

Back at camp we started a fire in a meadow surrounded by aspens and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.

10/2

In the morning we took a hike in the aspens around camp. Then we drove to brush creek and biked the gorgeous, aspen-filled Strawberry trail. We then drove up up Cement Creek to "leaf peep". I ended up biking the beautiful waterfall/fenceline trail amongst the aspens all the way to CB South while Elisha drove back home. I then took the bus back to CB. To end our awesome "weekend," we biked up to the top of West Wall and sat on the chair lift there looking out over the golden aspens and having happy hour with cheese and bubbly.

10/3

We woke up early and hiked up to the top of Mount Crested Butte for 360 views of the aspens. After we'd been at the top, we saw a guy climb/running up Guide's Ridge. He did a quick nod as he went up and over the summit and started running down. His name is Cam Smith, and he's training to qualify for the Olympics in the brand new sport this year of SkiMo (Ski Mountaineering). 

In the afternoon, for work, we went to Taylor River Lodge for an end of the year bbq. And actually it was an end of forever for TRL as it now listed for sale by Eleven. It's a beautiful spot along the Taylor River, and it was good to see Nolan and some other people.

10/4

I started stacking wood at RMBL for the winter.

10/6

I biked the Dyke Trail up on Kebler pass for some more good aspen action. But the aspens are starting to dwindle as we got a pretty good wind and snow storm this past week.

10/8

I got my covid and flu shots and then we went to a talk at the Center for the Arts by Bill McKibben and environmentalist who is famous for writing the first book for the public about Climate Change. Here he was talking about his new book "Here Comes the Sun" about the power of solar energy. The talk was simply amazing. He was so well-spoken, knowledgeable, and funny. We went with Benn, Sophia, and Benn's parents who were visiting, and we all loved it.

10/9

Mom is out visiting, so we had a fire at weenie roast at Gothic

10/11

I drove a car to Aspen and then had to hike back in heavy rain most of the way (snow and sleet at the top of the pass). But it was beautiful with the clouds and mist. When I got home, I definitely hit the hot tub! And then of course snuggled with Clawdia.

10/12

One of our guests at Eleven had gifted us a gift certificate to one of the super fancy restaurants in CB, so we got dressed up and went out for a fancy dinner

10/13 

Funny story. I got a text in the morning from my good friend Lael. It was a forwarded message from a friend in college (Chris Holcomb) with a picture of my car. It said something to the tune of "Lael, is this car Travis Guy's? It has Antarctica and College of Idaho stickers, and I think he was living in Colorado". Because of his recognition of my very noticeable car we met at the Eldo for beers and Indian food. It was really good to catch up with him.

During this last part of the fall, there was definitely some stress. Because the fall colors are so beautiful, and we want to enjoy them to their fullest, we really got out and played amongst them instead of packing for our move to Gothic. So the last week or so, we were really busy finishing work at Eleven and Maroon Bells Shuttles, starting work at Gothic, moving to Gothic, getting our condo ready to be shown for selling (oh yea, we're trying to sell our condo b/c the fire insurance just went up way too much for us to deal with), prepping for our trip to Indonesia (I'll be gone for a month guiding a couple trips and Elisha will join me for 1). So yea, that's a lot to deal with! Any of those alone would be a lot, but moving, selling, trip prepping, all a lot! We were definitely feeling excited to get to the airport where we could most of those stresses behind us. Though, when we "moved" into Gothic, we were simply just throwing all our stuff in the cabin, so we'd have to fully move in when we got back

Colorado Headwaters Ecological Spectroscopy Study (CHESS)

 This summer I worked on the CHESS campaign (Colorado Headwaters Ecological Spectroscopy Study) funded by NASA and run by RMBL.

The campaign was collecting data to ask 3 main questions:

1. How are landscape patterns of leaf area, foliar chemistry, functional traits, and plant species distributions shifting? How do these patterns relate to changes in climate and land use?

2. How is environmental stress changing the structure and function of forests? What are the drivers and thresholds of change for different species, successional changes, and landscape positions?

3. How do the shifts described above feed back to changes in the energy and water balance?

To answer these questions, we used 3 levels of data collection. At the highest and broadest level, we used data collected by a NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network) plane (a twin otter) that was fitted with several instruments including LiDAR, hyperspectral sensors, and RGB cameras. At the mid level we used a drone fitted with some similar instruments. At the most precise level, we conducted ground truthing at various sampling areas (3 larger locations: Almont area (Lower Taylor River), Crested Butte/Gothic area (Upper East River), and Taylor Park area (Upper Taylor River). We collected the data during peak green-up time at the various locales.

For the ground truthing we collected data at plots such as species ID, percent cover, plant height, functional groups, tree health, leaf area index (LAI). We also clipped all the plants in the plots to determine foliar traits back in the lab: leaf mass area (LMA), leaf water content (LWC), foliar nitrogen, foliar carbon, and foliar delta-13C. We also collected soil cores to analyze the soil and geochemistry of the soils. We had 4 separate groups all collecting something slightly different. There was the meadow team, the shrub team, tree team, and soils team.

I was one of 4 leads hired. I was a meadow lead, and I was also in charge of plot selection. However, I helped out with shrubs quite a bit, and even a little bit with trees.

A typical day was spent from 8am until 1 or 2pm in the field. Then from 2 pm until 6 or 7pm in the lab sorting samples and doing lab processing. We worked long days, and sometimes 8 or 9 days in a row without a day off. This was due to the fact that the NEON plane could only fly when the weather was favorable (no clouds, no wind), so whenever we had good weather we worked. We basically needed to be collecting the ground data within 48 hours of the plane overlight.

The project was definitely very cool, and it will take a while to sort through and analyze all the amazing data we collected. But the best part of the whole project was the crew! It was such a fun and amazing crew! We instantly became good friends. We worked hard in the field and then chatted and listened/sang to music while doing sometimes mindless leaf sorting tasks in the lab. But we just really became really close!

Here is the team:

Ian: He was the PI and who secured the funding from NASA

Amanda: Overall field lead

Sophia: She is in RMBL's spatial ecology department. She mainly ran the LAI instrument. She went to UCLA for undergrad.

4 leads/techs

Me: meadow lead and plot selection

Cassidy: meadow. She's born and raised in Aspen and went to Denver University for undergrad

Piper: shrubs lead. She's a 3rd or 4th year PhD student from UCSB

Bradley: Drone operation lead. He's a master's student in Ian's lab at Western State University. He went to Thompson Valley High School in Loveland.

4 Western Undergrads

Bayden: in charge of the GPS.  He's a long distance athlete and on Western's XC and skimo teams

Reagan: meadow team

Yahaira: tree team. She's on Western's Search and Rescue Team.

Jack: tree team

The tree team was run by Marshall, a postdoc with NASA's jet propulsion lab. He was assisted by Dre, a Western Master's student. Anna, a German PhD student was also on tree team.

Other scientists rotated in and out, but the above was the core team

Summer in CB (a hot and dry one)

 6/7

Today I did a 34 mile bike ride in the beautiful flowers and green landscape. I met Sophia and Benn at Oh Be Joyful creek to watch the Oh Be Joyful kayak race. It was pretty cool to see because the river is just crazy white water full of waterfalls and it's amazing that kayakers go over it.

6/12

Elisha and I did a very beautiful bike ride amongst yellow and purple flowers on Snodgrass.

6/14

We started data collection for CHESS out near Almont.

6/17

We started 2ish weeks of cat sitting Clawdia (Steiny's cat). She is so sweet and a joy to come home to everyday after work.

6/19

I did a beautiful bike ride full of lupines on deer creek, but making it a huge loop from our condo, around Mt. CB, over to strand, over deer creek pass to Gothic, and then back to Mt CB

6/20-30

Lots of beautiful bike rides through the Lupine. Also the monument plants have been huge and blooming this year.

6/25

Our CHESS team drove to Buena Vista where the NEON/NASA plane that is doing the hyperspectral data for us is stationed. We got a tour from the team there. It turns out that my former co-worker at Summit Station (Elissa) now works as a tech on those planes, though she wasn't assigned to the Colorado campaign, and instead was in Alaska.

6/27

Today was the chainless bike race. We did it with Sophia, Bradley, and Cassidy, and as always, it was a lot of fun.

My op-ed to the CB News in support of public lands was published. It was also published in the EP Trail Gazette.  I'll paste it at the bottom of this blog.

We've also started working in the Crested Butte zone for the CHESS project

7/1

All us CHESS people wore NEON bright colors in honor of NEON (National Ecological Observatory Network) of which our research campaign is part of. 

7/3

Elisha and I hiked up to Scarp Ridge where there was a super bloom of Old man on the mountain. We also saw a mama ptarmigan with 6 or more chicks. We watched the fireworks from our condo's deck as it was kind of drizzly.

7/4

We reinstituted the Gothic 1/3 marathon. This was an annual tradition for nearly 50 years before covid put an end to it. We decided to get it going again this year. It was a rainy, but beautiful morning with the fog. I hadn't run since last early November, except for 1 run this spring where I pulled my hamstring. In fact, I was considering not running b/c my hamstring was still nagging me. However, when I got there, with the excitement of it all and a smirnoff ice* I ended up doing it. I started out really slow, but was feeling great, so then I picked it up. I ended up getting 2nd! (amongst all those youngins.). In the end, I just didn't quite have enough distance left to catch the person in first (Kathleen, who is an avid marathon runner). If I had started earlier though...  The course starts in Gothic and runs up to Snodgrass, through Mt. CB, and finishes at rainbow park in CB. 

*Today was the start of what I would later call an ice age that has descended upon Gothic. At 7 in the morning, right before the race started, I was "iced". I didn't know what it was. Somone pointed behind me, and I looked and there was a smirnoff ice, and they said "you've been iced". As I didn't know what it was and as my hamstring had been hurting I thought it was to ice my hammy, haha. But then I learned I was supposed to go down on 1 knee and chug it. I was the first one at RMBL iced, but soon it would be a thing that went around to everyone. And Ice age in Gothic.

After the run, I joined the 4th of July parade with the KBUT disco inferno float. We then went to a catered bbq with our realtor Alex. After that it was chill time until going to a bbq at RMBL, which is always delicious. We ended the night hot tubbing at our condo, which has a very nice hot tub and pool.

We're still enjoying the snuggles of Clawdia

7/8

We were doing field sampling up by North Pole Basin, and we found some juvenile boreal toads! Something I did surveys of in Rocky Mountain National Park a long time ago. Unfortunately boreal toads are susceptible to Chytrid fungus, so their populations are struggling.

7/9

While working down in Schofield Park, we were visited by some grazing Yaks.

7/10

Happy Anniversary to us!

To celebrate our anniversary we biked the 401 trail on our brand new bikes. Their inaugural ride! We had bought them over the winter when they were half off! They're awesome bikes, and we were excited. The flowers on the 401 were of course amazing.

Mom and dad took us out to Slogars for a our anniversary. Always delicious

7/11

The family played mini golf up at the "free" mini golf on the mtn. Free as long as you go after hours and you have your own putter and balls.

The CHESS team is now working in Taylor Park area

7/12

Elisha and I biked up to the umbrella bar and enjoyed sunset and happy hour from one of the chairlifts. On the bike down, we biked past a mama moose and her young calf

7/13

We saw a bunch of bighorn sheep and their lambs on our drive back from the field. Benn brought down his espresso machine and made fancy coffees (and London Fog tea for me)

7/14

Some smoke from a fire in the distant vicinity made for a fantastic sunset over Red Lady mountain as we played spike ball at the Alpenglow concert. Also, have been seeing the cute fawns on my bike commute to and from work.

7/15

Elisha and I hiked up to Rustler's gulch where the flowers were amazing!

7/16

Elisha and I hiked up to North Pole basin where the flowers were just stunning. We hiked up to one of the mines and did some rock hounding and then went for a cold plunge in one of the ponds. 

Elisha cut my hair

7/18

I started my Maroon Bells Shuttles job for Evan. I hiked back over West Maroon pass and the flowers were stunning. Also tons of pika out and about!

7/19

Bro and I both had a shuttle over to Aspen. We took our bikes and then biked back to CB on a 40+ mile journey that took us mainly on singletrack from Ashcroft up Taylor Pass, up Star Pass and then sweet singletrack back to brush creek.

7/23

After music on the mountain, Henry (RMBL GIS guy) and I did a fun mtn bike lap on the mountain

7/24

Nat Geo + the BBC are here filming a thing (I believe called "Underdogs"). They are mainly focused on the salamanders. It's been cool to watch them set up their aquariums and film the salamanders. 

7/25

Last day of CHESS. We had Butte Bagels at Totem Pole Park. I gave out superlative awards to everyone with small chess pieces and then I gave Amanda and Ian (bosses) giant chess queen and king pieces that I had everyone sign and draw flowers on.

I had to drive my Aspen shuttle car up to the trailhead, so I took advantage of this by putting my bike in the car and mtn biking down the 401 which had beautiful fireweed blooming along the trail.

My op-ed on affordable housing (penned with a pseudonym) was published in the CB News. See this letter below as well.

7/26

A fun night of Karaoke at RMBL with the CHESS team and other RMBLers

7/27

A few of us CHESS team visited the Mexican Cut and Galena Lake. It's a beautiful area full of flowers and small ponds where salamanders live. There are also lots of mines and tunnels full of cool crystals. The area is run by the Nature Conservancy and is off limits to the public, so it's special to get to go there!

7/29

On my bike ride today I got to hang out with a black bear for awhile.

7/30

I helped CBMBA (Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association) build a new trail up by Lake Irwin

7/31

We got a tour of the local Crested Butte ski factory, Romp skis. They were also supplying free burgers and dogs and adult beverages.

8/1

Today was the no talent show at RMBL, which was really funny and then the Cabin Crawl, which was amazing. 10 cabins hosted, and they had different themes. One played an outside movie with popcorn for a RMBL remake of psycho. There was some video game themed one (minecraft?). A survivor themed one, where contestants had to crack a coconut. One with drinking games. One where there was a boyband "concert". One with a 1920's style gangster theme. My 2 favorites was an Abba dance them and then a French Revolution where they cut off the head of the king and chanted "no kings". One could obviously see the parallel to the current administration. 

8/2

I drove a Tesla to Aspen today. It has a computer that rates your driving. I got rated as aggressive and the clients complained. Well, they actually complained that the car was muddy. Well, duh, it was raining on a dirt pass. So then after they found out that information they tried to blame a scuff on the side-view mirror on me. Well, I had pics before I drove that it was there. So then trying to get something, they checked the computer driver rating. But when I googled how tesla rates the driving, I learned that going over a windy, steep, and narrow mountain pass would of course lead one to get a low rating, unless they were driving at a snail's pace.

A very rich dude is staying at the lodge. Tonight they paid to bring in the well-known musical group Sofi Tukker. It's one of Zach and Mary's favorite groups who they've gone to Red Rocks to see. Elisha and I worked during the small "concert" so we could hear and see them. Mary gave them massages, and Zach came in to be the bouncer. At the end of the night Tukker asked me for some water, ha. They played until past 1am. Also, of course, a bear got into the trash in the alley that night.

8/9

We got a new battery in the van for some roadtrips. We've been so busy this summer, we haven't had 2 days off in a row together to do something.

8/11

I drove very early in the morning to Salida to meet up with Hess. It was an amazing day! We started with breakfast burritos at Mo burrito. We then went for a 23 mile mtn bike ride (cottonwood tour). We took a dip in the Arkansas River, and then we then had lunch at Mo burrito. Then we went for a short mtn bike ride on Methodist Mountain trail system. Then it was back to town for pizza and brews. It was really great b/c we got to talk a whole lot and catch up and have some deep conversations. Jake and his family recently took in a refugee from Guatemala, so that's really cool. I camped in the van up on spiral hill.

8/12

I drove back to CB, picked up Elisha and then we drove to Leadville where we did a quick and really fun flow trail near the Colorado Mountain College. We then got lucky and found $1.50 taco tuesday downtown with $6 margaritas. And at the end they gave us a free shot of tequila. We camped over by the college. 

8/13

In the morning we did some more fun trails by the college before driving to Vail where we did a ride up on the mountain: Radio Flyer, one of my all-time favorite flow trails. Back in vail village we went to the red lion for their world famous huge nachos. We then swam and hung out by the river before going to city market for ice cream. Then it was on to Avon to utilize their "twilight hours" ($10) pool, lazy river, jacuzzi, and steam shower. We briefly stopped at Avon's free outdoor music concert before driving to Eagle to camp.

8/14

We biked the pool and ice rink trail, which is also one of my very favorite flow trails. After that trail we did the Haymaker loop, which was constructed to be used to host the Colorado High School Cycling League State Championships. After riding that trail, Elisha went to the thrift store, and I did another fun loop (Eagle Ranch Loop). Then it was off to Costco for food and ice cream before heading home.

8/16

It's been an incredibly hot and dry summer. The monsoon rains never came, which was especially bad considering we had a record low snowfall winter. There have been quite a lot of fires around, which have led to some smokiness here and there in the valley. The trails are dusty and the wildflowers shriveled up much earlier than normal. The raspberries looked pretty weak so far this year, and I haven't seen many huckleberries. And believe it or not, I've seen aspen leaves changing color already in Aspen, on CBMR, and on Kebler pass! Crazy.

Contact your senators to tell them what you think about Public Lands

Dear citizens and visitors to the Gunnison Valley

In my opinion, one of America's best ideas was to set aside land in the public domain to be used for the enjoyment of all people--Public Lands. Public lands have touched my life incredibly, and I am guessing the same is true of you. 

A recent proposal to the budget reconciliation bill would mandate the sale of up to 3 million acres of public land in the near future with 250 million acres vulnerable. Public lands are not a partisan issue. They are set aside for all and enjoyed by all. They provide recreational activities including hiking, skiing, hunting, biking, foraging, jeeping, horseback riding, camping, and fishing. They are also important for education and research.

A visit to public lands does wonders for people's mental health and soul. The benefits of access to nature are well documented in the scientific literature, and there is strong evidence that decreased exposure of children to nature leads to a wide range of health and behavioral issues including anxiety, attention difficulties, and reduced emotional resilience.  Of course there are the less obvious benefits. Our clean water mostly originates from public lands. Our air is cleaned on public lands. A huge segment of the economy (tourism) is driven by public lands. We are healthier--mentally and physically--because of them.

And you know what the best part is? The public lands are ours! We own them collectively as Americans. We can visit the VAST majority of public lands for FREE.

Even those that require a huge amount of infrastructure and staff (e.g. National Parks) are one of the most affordable things a family can do. A week-long pass to Rocky Mountain National Park costs $35 per car and a year pass to every NP in the country costs $80. Did you know that to take a family of 5 to see a 2 hour movie in Denver will cost $81.75 right now! A privatized natural space in Colorado Springs (the so-so 7 Falls) owned by the Broadmoor will cost a family of 5 during peak hours $102. This is the future when nature is privatized, if we’re granted access at all.

Even if all else were equal, it’s the magic of our public lands that make them special. Have you seen the look on the faces of kids to senior citizens alike when they gaze upon one of the wonders in our public lands, when they traipse through a trail full of sweet smelling plants and dancing butterflies, or dip their toes in a crystal clear stream moments after coming face to face with a gentle deer?

Public lands enrich our lives. They make us happier people. But once they're gone, they're gone forever. We the people certainly won't be able to buy them back.

No matter what side of the political aisle you're on, I'm sure you're stressed, unhappy, worried, angry, etc about the state of the world today. But I'll bet when you find yourself on public lands, many of those stresses fall away. You're healthier in mind, body, and spirit. This should be all that you need to know.

Please, please, reach out to your senators (email/call) about this, especially if you’re an out of state reader/visitor. It's easy: https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

Thank you from the bottom of my heart,

Travis Guy

Thoughts on Deed Restricted Housing

Dear Mark,

We appreciated your editorial in the 11 July paper regarding housing for locals. We agree with you that adding more and more homes to the market will not reduce prices, at least not to prices that locals can afford. There are so many wealthy folks in our country that would like to own a home in a place like this, that we don’t think the market would ever get satiated. There will always be someone with more money out there than locals who will willingly buy up homes at prices out of reach for us locals, especially since short-term rentals have made unoccupied places so lucrative. As you mention, as more homes are added, more people are required and housing shortages continue. As you scale up in desirable places, adding more homes doesn’t seem to reduce prices. Just look at other places bigger than us in Colorado from Eagle County to Summit County to Durango to Golden to even Denver.

As you suggested, we do think there should be housing set aside for locals who have lived in the valley for a time as well as some sort of work requirement to keep wealthy folks with high paying remote jobs from “stealing” homes from locals.

Shifting gears a bit. You mention that deed restricted housing can be “a heavy yoke on working locals”. We bought a deed restricted condo on the mountain a couple of years ago, and we wanted to provide a few examples of how the deed restriction has been that heavy yoke.

-Our HOA dues just jumped from $760/mo to $1250/mo in 1 year due to an increase in building insurance. This is almost untenable for us when you include our mortgage. We can make it work for now, but we can’t deal with much more of an increase. When we bought the place, we weren’t stoked on the price or the HOA dues, but after too many heartbreaks with the housing lotteries, too many bad roommates, and moving 5 times over 3 years, we felt it was the right thing to do, but now we are questioning it. In our condo association, we would guess 80-90% of the units are airbnb’s or second homeowners. They can deal with this increase in dues easier than us (deed restricted units) as they can simply raise their airbnb rates or sell on the free market if the finances don’t work for them. We fear, due to the restrictions involved with the deed restriction and the fact that we’d be likely selling to those working in the tourist/service industry making so-so wages (like us), that we won’t be able to sell the place for what we bought it for, and would take a big loss. We don’t know who in their right mind would buy a house with HOA dues increasing like they have for us since we purchased.

-With the sudden turn in our housing situation, we have looked into some more affordable deed restricted places that have come onto the market recently. But we have been told we don’t qualify since we now own property in the valley, even if we agree to put our place on the market as soon as we close. We were told that the only way we could close on a deed restricted place is if the place we’re in now is sold on or before closing on the new place. This is basically impossible to make happen and rather scary. If our current place sold, but the new place fell through, we’d be homeless. If our old place didn’t sell, then we’d lose out on a better opportunity. Not to mention in the non-lottery deed restricted sales, the seller is not likely to choose someone who would be barred from buying in the event that the buyer cannot sell their place. This seems like a really bad situation, especially for locals who may want to upgrade their place if they have a growing family or have been promoted at work and can now afford a better living situation. We think it should be made easy to move up in the deed restriction “world”.

-Deed restrictions, at least ours, require that 80% of your income be made in the valley. I overall like this idea as it keeps it local. However, I wish there could be exceptions every now and then for people who will stay local. For example, if someone wanted to teach English abroad for a year, was involved in a work trade/experience and had the chance to go somewhere cool for a year, or needed to go out of town to caretake a sick parent for a year or 2. In our situation, we’d love the chance to go work a quick high-paying 6 month contract job every now and then to put some money away and help us afford the increased HOA dues, during which we’d of course rent our place to folks working in the valley during that time.

-Our friends who live elsewhere in desirable places often fund their vacations by airbnb-ing their places while they are on vacation. Due to the uniqueness of our tourist jobs, we are often out of the valley visiting friends and family for 4-5 weeks per year, and it would be awesome to try to make a little cash by short-term renting them during that time. Although this goes against the letter of the deed restricted law, we don’t believe this would go against the spirit of the law.

-Since the deed restricted housing is either capped with a certain growth rate, or is essentially capped due to limits on who can buy it (AMI restrictions), it means that the homes do not grow in step with the national growth rate. This means that if you own a home here for 10 or 15 years, but must move out of the valley because of some life situation (job change, health of a family member, growth of your family, etc), you will once again be behind in the housing market wherever you move to next.

Overall, we believe that the idea of deed restricted homes for locals is a great idea and probably the only way that people like us could ever dream of affording a place in this valley that we love. However, we believe that the way the system is set up now really limits options in life and creates the potential for some major hardships.

Thanks

Cassa and Theo

Notes from Gothic after winter: low snow year, marmots, billy barr, and pollinator phenological mismatch

 Notes from Gothic as winter comes to an end:

It was an extremely low snow year this winter in Gothic (3rd lowest winter since records began). With only a few weeks left when we might typically get snow, we're sitting at 225 inches (Historic average is 405.6", max snowfall was 646" winter of 94-95 and min snowfall was 186.6" was 76-77, also known as the "Winter of None"). I was looking back at photos I took May 1st from the Gothic bridge over the East River, and the difference is dramatic.

This caused me to look over billy barr's data set. For those not familiar with billy, he permanently moved to Gothic in 1974 and has been measuring snowfall and SWE (snow water content/equivalent) twice daily (a.m. and p.m.) since that first winter of 1974. He started doing it because he was curious (and bored, being one of only 3 people out here). He has used simple methods that line up with the now more sophisticated SNOTEL (automated snow telemetry) sites. His data is publicly available at https://www.gothicwx.org/

When graphed out, there's an obvious trend in Gothic towards less snow and for an earlier melt of the winter's snowpack. In the past 14 years, there has only been one year above the long-term average!

The 2nd graph is when the winter's snowpack melts to bare ground for the first time, not the last time snow is on the ground as mid June accumulating snows aren't uncommon. The red line is the trend line, the green dashed line is the average since billy began measuring snow. This year 0 cm was marked at May 4th. The latest the snowpack has subsisted was 19 June (winter 94-95) and the earliest it has melted out was 23 April (winter 11-12). On June 1st, there is on average 3.5" of snow still on the ground.

One of the things we noticed with the early snowmelt and warmer spring was that the flowers bloomed many weeks ahead of normal. Claytonia (common name: spring beauty, pictured) bloomed and faded before any pollinators had started flying (phenological mismatch). I talked to a pollination biologist this week, and he is unsure how this will affect their reproduction this year, but he will know by the end of the summer when he measures Claytonia seed set in his plots.

The marmots came out of hibernation in early April this year (graph courtesy of a trailside sign provided by Dan Blumstein of UCLA who has been part of a marmot study at RMBL dating back to 1962: https://sites.lifesci.ucla.edu/eeb-rmbl-marmots/ It's one of the longest continuous studies of a mammal in the world) Their research has shown that the earlier marmots emerge from hibernation the more negatively affected they are.

This is just the smallest of snippets from my personal observations and the research going on here at RMBL. RMBL has been operating as an outdoor lab since 1928, so they have been documenting change and species ability/inability to adapt for almost 100 years.

Take this info how you will. Here's to a deeper winter next year!

I kept track of the number of times I backcountry skied (alpine touring) and cross-country skied (skiing almost daily for work to do the rounds wasn't included). I also included the number of times I skied into town.

Nov. 8 cross country 2 back country 1 town trip

Dec. 13 xc 18 bc 9 town trip (Christmas time = lots of events in town)

Jan. 10 xc 28 bc 3 town trips

Feb. 11 xc 22 bc 3 town trips

Mar. 4 xc 29 bc 3 town trips

Apr     4 xc 1 bc                    1 town trip (we were in Morocco for most of Aprl)

May 1 xc 1 bc 0 town trips (due to the low snow year, there wasn't much snow left on the road in May

For a total of 51 cross country skis, 101 back country skis and 17 trips to town