A Visit to a Southwest Troublemaker...

I wasn't looking for any hassles when I hiked upstream from the Colorado River Trailhead to see the birth canal of the most litigated waterway in the world. 

The Colorado River (formerly known as the Grand River until 1921), begins its long journey to the courthouses (mostly the Supreme Court) near La Poudre Pass in RMNP. The river rarely ever makes it to the delta it once formed in Baja California. Every drop is appropriated between the Upper Basin States (Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah) and the Lower Basin states (Arizona, Nevada and California). What little remains, sometimes goes to Mexico. 

The river has hardly had its umbilical cord severed before half of its cargo gets diverted east along the Grand Ditch. I guess I can't complain seeing the ditch provides some of the water I drank in Fort Collins, Colorado. It's also a major component of IPA microbrewery beer! There's rumors out there, some people use it for showering, agriculture and even laundry. But that's just a rumor. 

The problem is (despite a big water year like 2015 in Colorado) there's still not enough to quench the thirst of the 40 million people who live both in and outside of its watershed. Who knows where this will end? Probably in the Supreme Court again. 

Use water wisely please.

Cheers

Jeff

On a day that felt...

more like early-May than post-summer solstice, I headed uphill toward Timber Lake in RMNP.

When I closed in on tree line, there was hail, a few rogue lightning bolts and moose.

I love moose. They are an animal designed by a painfully hungover committee. While elk have the grace, style and class of Michael Jordan in his prime. Moose are content to have evolved from Homer Simpson. Doh! 

The committee members added aquatic talents to their long list of descriptors. Decades ago, I saw a bull wade out into a lake on Isle Royale National Park. He went Tarzan for 45 seconds below the surface. Who the heck knows what he was doing under the water. Eating? Looking at the fish? Checking out the view? 

I didn't ask and he didn't tell.

Warming trend on the horizon in Grand Lake, Colorado.

Yay!

Cheers!

Jeff

So long Boulder, Colorado and the...

Front Range for now. 

It's been a very comfortable month of hanging out despite the stranger than usual weather. (Yesterday's high temperature was in the 60's). 

Here's my clicheish thought on world climate change. The new normal is there is no normal.

Which is similar to the denizens of Boulder. What's normal? It's a people watching paradise. Even an ADD adult like myself can be entertained for hours while drinking an IPA and watching the throngs of humanity breeze by on Pearl Street. 

Colorado is home to me, make no mistake about it. Too bad, Sid Sambur passed on his Cold Weenie gene to his youngest son. It would be so easy to live in this state if I could handle inclement weather. 

But then again, there wouldn't be a W, W Jew blog. 

Off to a wet campground in Rocky Mountain National Park manana. Good thing I have a great book to read to while away the night.

Come on summer!

Jeff