We take so much from the National Park System. In fact, I think we’ve all learned some of our biggest life lessons in the parks. Several months ago we saw a Rocky Mountain Facebook post calling for summer volunteers. We realized that we had a free day and applied. A few weeks later we learned that our application had been accepted and just a few weeks ago we learned that we would be assisting the vegetation team on the west side of the park.
We were at our meeting post at 9 and met Christine. Turns out that she runs the entire vegetation program on the west side of Rocky Mountain and her job seems overwhelming and huge. We learned that a new water line was put in from the ranger living quarters to the visitor’s center last year and the process tore up a lot of the natural vegetation. Christine, another worker, Clem, and the four of us set out rake out the large rocks and reseed an area in the residential area. It was hard work and my arm muscles are going to feel it tomorrow. We raked up rocks, spread topsoil, native grass seeds, and mulch. As hard as the work was, it was a lot of fun to be doing something for the park.
We wrapped up the process at lunch time and got to eat in the ever so special rangers office! We shared some of our Cheetos (can you tell we really liked Christine??) and she shared some awesome homemade oatmeal butterscotch cookies. After lunch it was time to start weeding.
We headed back to the residential area and pulled a weed called scentless chamomile. There was a lot of it! I never would of guessed it was a weed among the native plates, but it was. After a couple of hours of that we did a small hike to search for rush grasses that can later be seeded. Unfortunately we didn’t find any, but we did come across a herd of elk. Pretty awesome!
The day was a joy. I hope we did more good than not and we were a help to Christine. Her job really does seem overwhelming and it is one that I’ve never thought about in the parks. She knows more about botany and the plants of Rocky Mountain than anyone I have come across. Adding to that, she’s climbed all but 9 of the 14ers in Colorado…she’s awesome!
We wrapped up the work a bit before 4 and headed across the park on Trail Ridge Road. We did come across lots more elk and a couple of moose. It was a stormy late afternoon and Zak did an awesome job driving through the clouds. Ellie was in awe that she was actually in a cloud! Making the end of the drive perfect, a brilliant rainbow reached from one mountain to another in front of us.
We had planned on camping tonight, but given the rainy weather Zak booked a last minute hotel in Estes Park. It is just delightful. We found our way to downtown for dinner and back to The Wheel, a favorite hangout of ours from last summer. They don’t serve food, so the owner suggest gyros to be delivered right to the bar.. They hit the spot, as the did cold Coors Light. I’m thinking that we’ll just order in there every night we are in Estes.
