Geocaches and Mountain Lions

The Geocache called Georgetown View is near here. The drop off is just ahead!
I walked alone on the mountain trail to find it.
Later, I was told there were mountain lions there!

A lake on the way to Georgetown. There are geocaches here, but not the ones I wanted to discover today.

While there are many geocaches near the mountain camp, and I've found several with hubby before camp started, I took a couple hours this afternoon to find a few more.

   To be clear, there are more geocaches up here than I could EVER find! Enough so that I can be selective and just go after the big ones close to the road.  But, today I went a little further than expected!

   I've been hearing about a town close by called Georgetown that I always expected to be a ski area metro!  It's about five miles from camp, so the Saturn and I headed toward Georgetown. 

  For the record,  it appears to be a quaint little old village with Clear Creek flowing through the center of town in its rush to the east!  Right after I passed the last house in Georgetown with it's one gas station, a bike shop, an art store, a motel, and a formal sign pointing to the entrance onto I-70, the road entered a little park and petered out to become a wide paved bike trail - and my Geocache still lay ahead somewhere down that bike path.

The road becomes a bike path running under the old railroad tracks!
I got out of the car to find my geocache on foot!

   Feeling somewhat apprehensive way out here without a soul in sight, I put my valuables in the trunk, locked the car and headed down (UP) the bike path toward my geocache!  I kept a lookout for large sticks I could use to defend myself should a 'stranger' come along!

   My GPS indicated I was at an altitude of 8,815 feet above sea level.  The path dropped off hundreds of feet to Clear Creek below and the winding road I had come up to this point on. My lungs agreed that I was much higher than my body was accustomed to.  

   But I'm stubborn, you know.  Now I'm watching for big stones I could throw at anyone who came after me. It was an eerie feeling that I had, but I didn't see or hear anyone.  I even figured if I was attacked, I'd take a picture of the person on my iPhone and then throw the phone down the mountain so when its GPS led people to it, they would know what became of me.  But I pushed on up the hill to where the geocache was suppose to be under a big rock.

  I was actually kindof glad to step off the bike path onto a 'grass path' toward an abandoned house all boarded up.  (I'll bet it's haunted.)  According to the GPS, I was very close to my geocache under a rock and extremely close to the edge of the embankment where I could fall to my death if I went to far. (Photos -  No, not of me falling, but of the embankment.)

 I sat on a big rock just to take in and enjoy the breathtaking, majestic, inspiring, view before and all around me!  Looking up, I even saw a thin ribbon of a long, flowing, waterfall ahead! 
The thin waterfall is top center and looks like it's dropping down behind the tall pine tree. I edited it hoping to make it easier to see if you click on the photo. It was grandiose to me! The blue sign is I-70.

The small Rubbermaid Geocache is in here someplace.

The creek I didn't want to fall down in to!  Very cold! That's the road I came up.

The cliff I didn't want to fall off of. That's Georgetown down below (slightly left center)

The path I didn't like, but it lead to the Geocache!
The sunset on the far mountain was beautiful!

Geocache area. The GPS led me right to it.

Whoa!  There it was. I glimpsed the edge of the plastic Rubbermaid container under the rock and pulled it out hoping there were no snakes under there~

 I even found one of Mondou2's white and blue whistles!  (I took it and left other swag.) 

I added a photo of Sandy's buster, and a gold Oak Coin. Buster lives on!!!!
I took a whistle of my favorite geocacher, Mondou2!
He leaves them everywhere all over the world!


On the Georgetown View Geocaching log I wrote, 
"Starcatcher55. I'm 61-years old, and I found this alone!"

Savoring the beauty of the mountains, the old rail road tracks, and enormous boulders scattered around, I started back taking more photos along the way just in case I ran into somebody not nice. It was still hauntingly impressive all around me.

Downhill toward the Saturn is around the last corner!
The car never looked so good!

Headed back to camp.


Arriving back at camp the Camp Director told me that Georgetown has mountain lions.
 Maybe that's why I felt like someone or something was following me.
Georgetown may have mountain lions, but I have guardian angels!

And no. I probably won't do that again.
Right Hubby?
Take Care on the Journey,
~Linda

Swimming Day Snow

Ready for any weather! Monday, it was 80 and sunshine!

Hopefully, you can click on the photo and see the snow coming down.

More snow in the high country. Who wants to go skiing?

Parker enjoys the new snowfall at camp this morning!
Notice the camp flag on the hillside and the dinner bell behind him?

Snow-capped peaks three days ago....

Same peaks this morning. Sorry, it's grainy from the zoom on my iPhone.

Ha ha.  They had swimming tests scheduled here at camp and actually thought they would get the kids and counselors in the swimming pool for transfer training.  Guess they figured a cold dip would give everybody a lot of energy! A counselor told me they refused to get into the frigid water, so they rescheduled that.  LOL


The two-day campers left at noon, so the camp is back to a quiet interval until we get about 50 campers with disabilities on Sunday at noon. It's "clean-up camp" activities this afternoon (nurses not included), but we're very busy with complaints of sore throats and requests to 'rest in our sick room". A good excuse to stay warm and get out of work.  LOL on that one too!  Ha ha ha  Our sick beds are full. We can't help it if the young counselors have a sore throat or cough.  :)


Tonight the other nurse is going back to Boulder early as her cousin is flying in to visit, so I'll be by myself tonight until time to HEAD HOME on Friday. 


Here are photos of the before and after today's snow in the high mountain peaks. Both taken from the same spot in the dining hall.


Take Care on the Journey,
~Linda

From Sunshine to Brrrrr

Today was a typical top-of-the-mountain, shivering cold, drippy wet, rain mixed with sleet, clouds in the parking lot - day!


It must have gone from 80 degrees and sunny to 20 degrees and sleeting overnight.  I got to drive the golf cart today, but every time I turned a little, all the icy water from the roof of the cart poured onto my legs and into my lap.  I finally got a big plastic garbage bag and covered myself.  LOL  That would have made the BEST photo.


The first campers arrived at 11 a.m. for "Practice Camp".  It took two of us nurses more than two hours to sort and set up meds for 15 campers.. I can't imagine how long it will take on Sunday when we sign in at least 50 campers.  We're doing what we can on pre-paperwork and Medication Records for next week's campers..


As I drove the buggy from cabin to cabin today, I took a few photos of the clouds hovering over our camp. Maybe you can feel the cold and rain.  In a way, it's pretty if it just wasn't so cold, but I have a warm coat and raincoat that keeps me fairly toasty.  Next week, I bring my gloves and wool scarf!  But soon tonight, I'm crawling into my queen size bed with a warm electric blanket.


Enjoy the photos... Click on them to enlarge them.

The lodge isn't sinking into the earth. It's an illusion.

Clouds hiding the mountains. It brought in bitter cold and rain.

Take Care on the Journey,
~Linda

The Cabin

I have about 20 minutes for an early morning "Good Morning". Everybody gets up by about 7 a.m. here and breakfast is always at 8:30 a.m.  Today is our first camper sign-in, so we're in high spirits. We set up all the meds for the week during check-in, so we'll be really busy making sure we don't miss (or drop) a pill.


On the way back from breakfast, I got a few photos of the medical cabin where I live and sleep and stay on call.  Look at those big boulders (right behind me as I take a photo of the Health Lodge)!  Inside the cracked open door is the door to our "living room" and the view from the main desk in the living room.  (I write from my computer in my bedroom.)


Enjoy your day, and think of the silent, stately, relaxing, Rocky Mountains waiting for your arrival someday.  (Smile)

No privacy here. The door is always "open".

Just outside the front door. Must have rolled down the mountainside!

THIS is how I "hike" around here..
Here comes Nurse Linda!

Come on in...The couch is soft!

That's my angel lamp always a light in the window.


Take Care on the Journey,
~Linda

Breakfast Views!

It's a balmy, sunny, day here at Mountain Camp (as I call it). Everyone says it feels like the tropics, but it's 8,613 feet above sea level.  No campers are here yet, but we're having a two-day Practice Camp with 15 campers with disabilities here on Wednesday and Thursday.  
THEN IT WILL BE FRIDAY, AND I CAN GO HOME FOR 32 HOURS. (Yes, I was shouting that.)
Not that I'm not loving it here, but I get just as homesick as those counselors from the UK.  One hour away from home is just about as far when you can't get there, as it is for an 18-hour trip back home. 
Today I was comforting a young counselor from the UK who thought there would be a dozen or so from her country and she is the only one. But, she will be fine and even better when we get extremely busy with 50-75 campers whom we are responsible for 24/7.
This morning I enjoyed blueberry pancakes and cantelope for breakfast. As I sat there, I took a quick photo of the breath-taking view of the mountains from our dining hall.  Right? How would you like this view from your kitchen table.  The building in the foreground are some Arts & Crafts buildings, and the barn where we have some horses and two donkeys.

The room was noisy with all the counselors just waking up for breakfast, but the chairs are ready for the campers next week. This is the view from the dining hall of the camp.

Still in the dining room, I walked over to the window and took the picture.
Can't beat a view like that!

Take Care on the Journey,

~Linda

Monday Week One of 13

Clear Creek EMS came here today to refresh everyone on CPR

A view of the dining hall.

Young counselors work hard to remove equipment from behind the cabin.

At least it wasn't hot. All done in quick time!

I'm finally typing on my own laptop here in the cabin. I got one of the guys to carry it from the car because I still can't breathe well in this air carrying heavy things for long distances. But I'm doing better, and my 02 sats are in the high 90's.  (That's good). Now my mouse won't work.


It was the first full day with the second nurse here. She was a camp nurse at this location last year, so she's the 'main nurse'. She's young with a few years of nursing under her belt, but she knows camp protocol better than I do.


For those of you who know what I'm talking about, this is shades of Laurelbrook.  Today, the future counselors were broken up into groups and assigned work tasks for the better part of the day. We, for instance, had a bunch of broken wheelchairs, beds, commodes, rails, high chairs, walkers, and more, stacked at the back of our cabin. No way was I going to 'clean that up'. But the 15 or so work crew members made fast work of all that in about 15 minutes! (photo)

Everyone gathers to eat in the dining room. The Camp Director, Program Director, and other main staff people actually live up here year-round. And, I suspect, some positions do change rather often.  It would be difficult to live isolated up here when you have little kids, I think. 


When camp is in session, all those kids have a different babysitter every day.


Today a staff member (young summer counselor) 'rolled her ankle' while she was on a little hike up the mountain behind us. (You start up the trail from the back door!)  We had to send her to the ER about 25 minutes away from here near Silverthorn, Colorado where everybody skies.  She was in a lot of pain and crying. We haven't heard word of what she actually did to her ankle!


The other nurse and I also spent some time today sorting through the many boxes of donations that have collected in the Medical Cabin all winter. Whew! You would NOT believe so much donations of things identifiable and things non-identifiable!  A work crew came by and picked up several pick-up truck loads of items we had to toss out due to outdated or non-usable. I think we have a semi-truck load of CHUX. We put them in every closet, under the beds and out in the storage units!


It actually got sunny and warm today. We opened the windows and propped the cabin doors open. Oh, I turned off the heat when I discovered we had the heat on and the doors open. lol. I think the nurses cabin is the only place with air condition, and I hear that people come in just to sit on our soft couch and cool off in the summer time.


Hubby has things under control at home. Fresh water for the pets, and feeding dishes full. The only sad part is that he says that Little Paws has not slept on his pillow on my side of the bed. I do hope he isn't waiting for me to come to bed, but I think he is.


Time for evening activities, so hope this finds everyone letting go of any 'stuff' in your life, and that you are enjoying the fleeting moments in time.


I'll try to upload better camp, mountain, and sunset pictures soon.


Take Care on the Journey
~Linda

Day Three - Going on 353

For whatever reason, even though it's only Sunday night, and I got to camp on Friday at noon, it does seen like an eternity since I was at home scooting Caesar off my chair, signing on to my very own computer, listening to the purr of the dishwasher, and chatting happily with hubby.

Today, hubby drove up to camp for a little tour of my room before we took off for a small getaway and nice meal in a noisy mountain restaurant. We chatted about the pets and the kids, both of which are very important to our hearts, you know. Hugs and kisses and he was gone again. Homesick all over again too!!!!!!

Already, the counselors (about 50 of them - all about 20 years-old) are checking in with the nurses on a regular basis!  I'm trying to learn all their names!  Most of them know mine, of course!  Each person is unique and a special part of camp. Several have sinus troubles, a broken fingernail, or whatever excuse can bring them to the Medical Cabin. We have an excess of supplies because everyone like to donate to Easter Seals!

It's not been warm up here yet, but only a few minutes of ice and snow. Then the sun came out and made us forget all about the snow! Sunshine in the high mountains is clear, fresh, and pure!

Hubby worries that I'll not get enough to eat, but no worries, we have great meals cooked in the camp kitchen by "Dave", the cook. There's always cereal, juice and milk available day or night.  We get three hot meals and another snack every day at 3:15 whether we need it or not.  LOL

The view is breath-taking no matter which direction you look!  A high peaked, sloping mountain view to the north where you can glimpse a slow-flying eagle in the clouds. A snow-capped mountain peak to the west where the sun sends sparkling slivers of light every night. A jagged peak to the south where the mountain lion roams, and then downhill towards home to Denver in the east!

I have photos but the computer is too slow for uploading. I'm going to try my laptop when I can.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about the staff and people here at the Mountain Camp.

Take Care on the Journey,
~Linda

Day One and Day Two

Thank goodness, there's a Day Two at camp.

The first day, I should have been part of the 'older adults' standing in the back of room as they are prone to do at day-long meetings, but I was a 'newbie' to the program, so they expected me to sit in the circle on the floor and participate in the silly    "tell-me-your-name" fun and games.  I was bored and frustrated, but needed to put on a good show as the camp nurse who will get along with everyone and cheer on the team!

I more than once wondered just what I've gotten myself in to!!!!  I should be down at the nursing home dealing with short-staffing issues and a director of nursing with an attitude and bad- tempered toward me and every move I make.

Wait!  That's what started this new venture. No, lets push through the uncomfortableness and homesickness.  I miss the cats and Dee Dee. I miss hubby!!!  I miss sitting in front of the TV with my feet on a stool and hubby asking if there's anything I want. Did I get any mail today? Is the front door open so the sunshine can bring sunlight to my plants? How many roses bloomed today. (Oh, I'm going to miss the entire Rose-blooming season.) 

No stopping now. Back at the cabin at bedtime, all alone and feeling the emptiness like a glass jar closing in on me, I lock all the windows, check the doors and turn on the heat. It's almost more than I can handle, but I get busy with little things and even give hubby an early call. We've set 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. to catch up on our day by phone, but today needed a little extra.

I skip the skit put on by the counselors. (No campers here yet to be busy with.) I adjust the thermostat again and lay out my clothes in case there's an emergency in the night.

Just as I fall asleep, my iPhone rings. It's a child in trouble. I spend the next three hours talking him down and giving "mom advice".

Today is Day Two. I've had some down time, and even got a nap. The high altitude is quite an adjustment!  Hubby is taking care of things. The cats even reminded him of their treat time!.

Well, I just remembered that I forgot the radio I'm suppose to carry with me at all times. No one knows I'm on the computer room of the main cabin, so I'm off to to the Nurses' Cabin to pick up the medical radio and be back in compliance.

More tomorrow.

Take Care on the Journey,
~Linda

Linda Goes To Camp

All the bags, backpacks, suitcases, and  plastic containers are packed. Post-it noes are slowly being checked off. The last of the suitcases is pressed down and running over. The car is washed, filled with gas, and loaded with coats, boots, camera, bottled water, freshly washed bedding, and a new pillow. 


The cat  pretends to sleep on the suitcase expecting to follow his master - no questions asked.  Hubby's face is a combination of worry, sadness, and confidence that this is what wifey wants to do, and it will make her happy for the next 13 weeks. 


I'm setting off on a nursing adventure at a summer camp high in the Rocky Mountains. I'll be one of two camp nurses (RN's), and hopefully, I won't be the only "over 60" person there. Every camper will have a disability of some type, and every one of them will leave a lasting impact on those who help make their camping experience one of joy, excitement, goals achieved, and memories shared!


In the end, I actually gave up my current nursing job to accept this assignment, and the future is a solid unknown. 


This blog is created to bring life to my journey, and to share with hubby and others, my daily experiences at camp!


Come on...Enjoy the challenge and take a walk through Camp Mountain Village with me...

Sir Caesar guards the suitcase as Mama Linda prepares for camp!

Take Care on the Journey,
~Linda