quick hits

one of the local parks (crown mountain) has opened a 'playground' for the 50-older set.  Oh my, I guess I qualify.  I don't think of myself as '0ld' and I think I am in pretty good shape but now I am being sent to the old peoples playground.  Ugh

my daughter is enjoying aspen a ton.  she loves being able to ride to the stream near by and jumping off the bridge and rope swing  (see above).  She also performed a huge good deed when some 20 year old guy lost his dad's POW bracelet when he was jumping off the bridge.  My daughter zipped home, grabbed her mom's goggles, went back and dove around the stream till she found the lost bracelet.  Way to go S.

As she has gotten more comfortable with living here her requests for a longer leash have increased.  Yesterday she asked if she and a friend could go to Glenwood Cavern Adventure park.  She said she would pay for it, and take the bus to and from the amusement park.  For those of you who don't live here she was asking to take a bus 43 miles from home to roam an amusement park on her own.  Glenwood is also on the other side of the fire (which is growing again).  Her parents applauded her spunk and then said NO.

The fire is growing again.  Flights are canceled between 9am and 9 pm again. Its been over 2 weeks since the fire started.  Its really weird to kinda getting used to there being a real danger so near by.  The new normal.  Weird, and unsettling. 

Lastly there is some data showing Aspen real estate prices softening.  This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise with real estate prices up 30%+ over the past 3 years, but its interesting to see.  I continue to think all US asset prices are way over done and just waiting for final push to tumble.  I am often too early in this kind of thinking, but could Aspen real estate be the canary in the coal mine?

staycation

How to go on vacation without even trying.

Its so easy---and so hard. 

My summers are an exercise in controlled mayhem.  Once again, our rental situation proved anything but smooth.  We did manage to stay at our current location (ya all really should come visit--its probably the last year we rent something sooooooo big) it was touch and go.  My son is sailing out east which wound up meaning 3 trips east for the wife this year.  We did managed to offload my daughter for two weeks of camping in Yellowstone, but that resulted in 4 days of driving 600 miles--add in a trip to St. Louis to see my parents and I find myself asking  "where did my summer go?"

Add in that I am a cheap bastard living in one of the more expensive places in the world with no current income and staycation has my name written all over it.  That and the fact that we live in Aspen which seems to be the kind of place we would goto on vacation if we didn't live here.

1.  Get rid of the kids
2.  limit amount of time you will 'work'---be that answering emails or signing kids up for fall sports
3.  do something different (sleep in, afternoon delight) and most important for us do different outdoors things.  For me going up smuggler or the ute trail is kinda like running in central park, or 'hiking' Runyon canyon in LA.  While out of towners might enjoy the Ute, its pretty much my off lead dog run.  So we have to be a bit more thoughtful and pick hikes, bikes and raft trips that we  want to do but somehow don't manage in our day to day life.  We knocked out electric pass, mid-valley (basically a left turn at lost man and come down to Warren lakes) and a couple of different bike rides. 

None of this took much planning or effort but did require a little mindfulness (yea that dang yoga coaching speak).

The next time your kids are out of town plan something different, and you just might find yourself on vacation.

idiots part II

Never mind the fire (8% contained) ----Aspen is jam packed.  Restaurants are full, town is full, roads are busy and trails are overflowing with .................idiots.

Yesterday I took the dogs up the Ute trail (all the way up to the top of Aspen mountain).  The Ute trail is easily accessed from downtown Aspen and is listed as a strenuous trail.  Many folks refer to going 'up the Ute' as going to the rock outcropping (that is the Aspen version of a quick run on the lake or around central park in NYC for you city folk).  The rock outcropping is about 1k vertical feet gain over a bit less than a mile.  The full trail ist over 3k feet of vertical gain over about 3 miles and the top is about 11.2k feet.

What did I see along my way?  Lots of people--lots and lots of people.  Some of the first people I saw were a family of 5 with kids ranging in age from 3-6 in Crocs, mom in Vans and dad in running shoes.  They were coming down having given up after 10 minutes.  Crocs are not the right shoes for the Ute---actually IMHO Crocs are never the right shoes on a trail.  Next up were the folks tossing rocks off the trail---the trail has a lot of switchbacks so basically they were tossing rocks at people below them.  Moving further up the trail I provided support to a guy who had a nasty blister (yes I walk with a pack with some basics for being in the woods----duh).  And near the top I gave food, water and encouragement to a guy in flip flops and blue jean shorts who looked like he was having a very bad day.  Heading down in the gondola I noticed many families heading to the top with kids in shorts and tee shirts (or sundresses) and nothing else--boy were they going to be surprised when they got outside and discovered it was windy and cool.

Before my quick jaunt up the Ute I read in the paper that Mountain Rescue Aspen was searching for a lost hiker on 4 pass loop (stick to the path on the loop--honestly its a little tuff because much of it is rocky which can make navigation hard).  MRA had also shut the Ute the day before to aid a tourist who had broken their ankle (was she wearing Crocs? --the article didn't say).  In addition they had to rescue a hiker from North Maroon who had cliffed out.  The cliffed out hiker had a partner who left him on the decent because he wasn't moving fast enough.  When he didn't get back to base camp by 8pm he called MRA who rescued him the next day.  Do you think they are still friends?

Earlier in the week my wife and I hiked electric pass.  We got a kinda late start (8:30am).  The trail was busy but not jammed.  On our return the trail was jammed.  Guess why electric pass is called electric pass. The pass is at about 13.5k which means it is a lightening target.  This is a hike best done early.  On our way down the trail was jammed with uphill hikers going way too late with little water, no additional clothes to layer and often the wrong shoes.  Unlike the Ute which heads up a ski mountain, electric pass is in the wilderness, which should command some respect, but didn't seem to.  My favorite moment might have been the group who asked me 'how much further?"  When they asked me they had hiked maybe 10% of the way up.  Thats kinda like my kids asking me how much further to St. Louis when we are leaving Chicago before we get past Cicero ave, and shoes a totally cluelessness as to the trip ahead.  Thats maybe understandable in a 4 year old, but not from an adult hiking in the wilderness.

Its great that so many people come to Aspen to recreate.  Tourists are the life blood of our town, and its great for city folk to get out in nature.  And its great that if you need support mountain rescue will be there for you at no cost to you (maybe the only bargain left in Aspen).  But please don't be an idiot---wear the right shoes, bring a layer or two with you, food, water and a bandaid.  Don't leave your partner, don't toss rocks and above all respect mother nature.  This isn't Disneyland.  You can't get off the ride if you don't like it.  And leave your ego at home, it just might kill you.

Oh yea--and Aspen is full of two way stop signs at 4 way intersections. 

idiots

The good news is its raining.  The bad news is there is a wildfire less than 20 miles from my house.  So far the fire has burned about 10k acres, a handful of homes and not killed anyone.  Below find a Q&A.

Q.  How did this fire get started?

A.   Some local idiots shot tracer rounds at the local gun range.  They missed the targets and the range and the tracers started a fire in the brush above the range.

Q.  What is a tracer bullet? 

A.  Its a bullet with a small pyrotechnic charge in it that causes the bullet's path to be illuminated.  Basically the bullet is on fire. 

Q.  Are tracer bullets legal?

A.  Yes, in every state but CA.

Q.  Why would anyone use a tracer bullet?

A.  They are typically used by machine gunners to allow them to correct their aim (4 regular bullets to 1 tracer bullet is the typical load pattern).  They are also sometimes used by NCOs to target enemies for their squad.  Additionally, they are often loaded as the 3rd to last round in a magazine to alert the solider that they are almost out of ammo.  The above reasons are all obviously strictly military ---why would a local idiot use tracer rounds at a gun range?  Do you have to ask?  Flaming bullets are so fucking cool.

Q.  Were there any fire restrictions in place at the time the tracer bullets were fired.

A.  Yes.  We were under level 2 fire restrictions which are very strict.  For example, you couldn't smoke a cigarette outside or fire up a charcoal grill at your home.

Q.  Would level 2 fire restrictions applied to tracer bullets?  To the gun range in general?

A.  Yes tracer bullets are restricted during level 2 fire conditions, but no level 2 fire restrictions do require the gun range to shut down.

Q.  What the fuck---why would grilling be illegal but firing a gun not?

A.  There are a couple of reasons--the first is a regular bullet fired into a target on a well maintained gun range with brush and scrub cleared shouldn't pose a threat--this fire only started because tracer bullets were used and landed outside the gun range.  In addition there is a theory that people are going to want to fire their guns so giving them a safe place to fire their weapons reduces the chance of them going into the woods which are filled with tinder.  The odds of a normal bullet starting a fire in the woods are still low but significantly higher than a bullet starting a fire at a well maintained gun range.

Q.  You didn't really answer my question.

A.  True.  The second amendment plus the NRA are quite powerful.  There isn't an amendment in the bill of rights protecting the use of grills, and while Big Tobacco is quite powerful they pale in comparison to the NRA.  So yes, level 2 fire restrictions restrict a lot of liberties, but not the right to fire your gun at an outside gun range.

Q.  Whats this going to cost?

A.  A lot.  Strictly speaking there are over 500 fire fighters who have been brought in, planes and helicopters dropping water and chemicals, displaced people, evacuation centers, housing fire teams, transporting fire teams, loss of woods, rebuilding homes, canceled flights, smoke water and fire mitigation for starters.  I would guess the costs will run into the millions.

Q.  That is a lot---why are so many resources being thrown at this fire?

A.  Because we are Aspen.  Not only are there a lot of valuable assets here (my guess is the insurance on homes up here would run well over $1 billion) but also if this fire was to sweep up the valley there would be only one escape route and that is up highway 82 and over independence pass.  10ks of people trying to flee over independence pass being chased by a fast moving fire would result in numerous fatalities.

Q.   Do you have a go bag packed?

A.  Yes.

Q.  Are you scared?

A.  Yes--I am a good risk manager and while the odds seem low of the current fire rapidly running up the valley and into Aspen it is not impossible to imagine and the single exit is not ideal.

Q.  Any final thoughts?

A.  Yes--this is another example of our country having idiotic views about guns.  Why do individuals need to be able to purchase tracer rounds?  Or bump stocks?  Or AR-15s.  Why are we considering hardening schools, arming teachers, and keeping gun ranges open during level 2 fire restrictions when you can't even grill outside.  I'm not going to go into a long rant on this---just realize to pretty much every other developed country we look like idiots.

Damm.  It stopped raining. 

Tomorrow--more idiots (yea I am thinking about you flip flop guy).