The Falkirk Wheel

In case you haven't figured this out already, I post links to YouTube when I can't think of anything about which to write. Sorry, but I really do lead a dull life.

Anyway, the Scottish football season ended last week and my team, Falkirk FC managed to avoid relegation from the Scottish Premier League by the skin of their teeth. You might think I'm setting my goals rather low if that's something to celebrate but if you'd seen their position in the league table just a few weeks ago, it's nothing short of miraculous. Even better, in the last game of the year, they played the league champions off the field in the Scottish Cup Final before valiantly, albeit predictably, getting beaten.

So, in honor of Falkirk Football Club, here's a video of Falkirk's most famous (OK, pretty much only) local landmark, The Falkirk Wheel.

The what? Well, it's the world's largest boat lift and it allows boats to be hoisted from a canal to another 24 metres (79 ft) above it. This is roughly equivalent to the height of an eight story building. Wikipedia explains it better than I can.

The Falkirk Wheel

So here's the thing in action. It's a very, very cool piece of engineering.

The Colorado Trail ~ Day 6

Kenosha Pass to Jefferson Creek Road
Distance: 6 miles
Elevation Gain: ? ft


Just realized, I never came back to add the update. Once again, I was struck by the the Colorado Trail jinx and I'm not much further along the trail than I was before.

This is my 4th attempt at this stretch, but the first time I've actually made it onto the trail. As it's 33 miles, I figure 3 days, so previously, I've taken a Friday off with the intention of knocking it out over a weekend. Each time I did this, a storm would blow in and either during or right before the planned hike. I'm not an experienced enough winter hiker to even want to attempt that (it isn't simple wimpy-ness, it's dangerous) so I've ended up given it a miss.

For the last 2 months though, other than some wet, cold weekends the winter has been glorious and I figured any remaining snow would be above tree line and easily navigable. I didn't want to wait 'too' long or we'd end up with the brain-baking temperatures I experienced last time. So, as I had a whole week off, I figured I could fool Ma Nature into thinking I was at work and she'd send us some decent weather. I decided to make a 4 day trip out of it, with a shorter first day so that I could camp part way up the biggest hill of the hike, rather than attempting to get over it one go. After a picnic lunch at the trail head, away I went.

And you know what? I felt darn good. I haven't done any long hikes since The World's Most Irritating Dog™ hurt her foot and I was a bit worried about my conditioning but no problems at all. Sure, my pack felt heavy but there was none of that screaming agony ohmydoGIcan'ttakeanotherstep pain of 2007 and I was averaging almost 3 miles an hour which will do me fine. Took a break at around 3:30pm and began the climb up Georgia Pass (2,000 feet of altitude gain over 6 miles taking me almost to 12.000 feet above sea level), which I had been dreading but at this point was feeling so good that I was even wondering if I could pass my day's goal of 9 total miles and continue over the top after all. The only thing that was really holding me back was the late start (this was going to be a short day, remember?).

But then I hit the snow. While still in the trees. Completely covering the trail to the point where I couldn't see where it went. I floundered around for about an hour, often sinking up to me crotch (quite an experience in shorts, even on a hot day) before finally conceding defeat and heading back down. There were plenty of awesome places to camp for the night and the next day, I'd be able to hike back to the highway (about 6 miles away by dirt road) and call for a ride home. But then I figured I could make other plans for my week off and it might be easier if I got home sooner rather than later. So, I ended up at home late that night.

Altogether, about 14 miles hiked, although without too much altitude gain and the following morning my shoulders, legs and feet were a little tender. But not bad really. If I were still on the trail, I think I could have hiked a fair bit again. Looks like the winter hikes, and the irregular trips to the gym have done some good after all. I'm confident I can knock off the remainder of this segment in 2 days, especially if say, I do the 3 miles to my planned camp on a Friday evening after work. I just need to find the convenient window of weather and do it then.

It's going to be a piece of cake.

The Colorado Trail ~ The Next Bit

So in June 2007, I set out on the first leg of The Colorado Trail, a 480 mile long distance footpath winding from Denver to Durango. I covered the first 5 days, starting in Denver and finishing at Kenosha Pass, not all that far from where I live. And if you read The Gunsmoke Files at the time, you'll recall I didn't really enjoy it all that much.

The scenery was awesome of course - this is Colorado after all. But the temperatures hovered around the high 90's (high 30's for those of you reading in Centipede) all week, which sucked a lot of the fun out of it. And, in case you didn't know this, the ground between Denver and Kenosha Pass slopes up. Sometimes quite dramatically. And my pack was too bloody heavy and my muscles weren't there and my back was giving me problems and...OK, you get the picture. I was glad when it was over.

But kind of like how no woman would go through childbirth a second time, if nature didn't make them forget how bad the first one was, I've had almost 2 years for those bad memories to fade. So tomorrow, I'm setting out on the next leg. Just 3 and a bit days this time, from Kenosha to Breckenridge. Only 33 miles which sounds easy enough. Just as long as I ignore all those contours, and the words "Georgia Pass", and those tiny numbers that look suspiciously like "12,000". Feet, that is. Above sea level.

Ah, how hard can it be? This is going to be a piece of cake.

Hummingbird

The first hummingbirds of the year have shown up, looking hungry. So, I spent my lunch hour filling and hanging feeders. Hope the little buggers are grateful.

Sometimes I get impatient
but she cools me without words
and she comes so sweet and so plain
my hummingbird and have you heard
that I thought my life had ended
but I find that it’s just begun
cause she gets me where I live
I’ll give all I have to give
I’m talking about that hummingbird
oh she’s little and she loves me
too much for words to say
when I see her in the morning sleeping
she’s little and she loves me
to my lucky day
hummingbird don’t fly away

When I’m feeling wild and lonesome
she knows the words to say
and she gives me a little understanding
in her special way
and I just have to say
in my life I loved a woman
because she’s more than I deserve
and she gets me where I live
I’ll give all I have to give
I’m talking about that hummingbird
oh she’s little and she loves me
too much for words to say
when I see her in the morning sleeping
she’s little and she loves me
to my lucky day
hummingbird don’t fly away