I build my fires the same way every time,

Because it's the quickest, most sure-fire (pun intended) method.

I clump a pile of tinder (dry, highly flammable material such as twigs & leaves) in my fire-pit.

I then build a little teepee of branches over the tinder. 


Once the tinder is lit, the teepee will follow with a longer blaze.

More tinder...

Bigger teepee on top.

Reach inside the teepee with a match,

& voila!

Leaving space at the base to feed air to the tinder

gets it going instantaneously.

Within minutes, she's roaring away,

& will burn steadily for some time.


Seriously, the teepee method is failproof.

"The blazing evidence of immortality is our dissatisfaction with any other solution."

Two-hundred yards from my tent;

Gorgeous...

“Give me health and a day,
& I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous.”
- Emerson, Nature



I awoke to a mild 48 degrees

& had a strange breakfast,

But a hearty one.

Baked beans, & a warm fire...



And, yes - that is snow in the background.

My tent is surrounded by it.

Still too frigid to bathe in,

But this gurgling, gushing Mountain Stream

Is perfect for filling up on water,

& doing my dishes.

“Build therefore your own world.” 
- Emerson, Nature


A footbridge that takes me on a shortcut to my tent.

I've been working on the shortest routes to & from my site.

I can now reach town within an hour of leaving my "front door."

.




The only thing is...

Who wants to go into town?

A cool, quiet evening on Baldy. I dug a pit & built a fire. There's no burn-ban in Summit County, yet; so the risk is low. I suspect, however, that a burn ban will be in effect by July, unless we see some solid Summer rain. Temps tonight should dip down to 41. As I lie here in my tent, I can hear the babble of a nearby stream (temporarily formed by snow-melt), the howls & screeches of various animals, & the distant sigh of a jet: above my tent, & far above the sleepy Pines. I wonder where it's going, & if anyone suspects that far below, I'm grinning at the blaze of a roaring fire, & pulling my sleeping-bag around my ears...

Yesterday afternoon I went to the Cliff with Henry Thoreau. Warm, pleasant, misty weather, which the great Mountain ampitheatre seemed to drink in with gladness. A Crow's voice seemed to fill all the miles of air with sound. A Bird's voice, even a piping Frog, enlivens a solitude and makes world enough for us. At night I went out into the dark and saw a glimmering Star and heard a Frog, and Nature seemed to say, "Well, do not these suffice? Here is a new scene, a new experience. Ponder it, Emerson, and not like the foolish world, hanker after...multitudes."

This photo is of the entrance to an old, unmarked mine, in the White River National Forest. I begin goldpanning soon! (Photos & video to follow)

05.30.13 

More snow & freezing rain all night.

Still massive amounts falling today.