Colorado Adventure Recap Part 1

From our day hike at Greyrock. The snow covered mountains in the
background are a part of Rocky Mountain National Park.

My trip to Colorado was excellent. The area was beautiful, it was great seeing my friends, and it was an overall wonderful experience.

My car nest when I stopped at a rest area for the night. I can't be truly comfortable unless I know people can't see me.
Of course I wasn't truly comfortable anyway with the rather hard van floor.

Having said that, I did learn some things about myself: I'm not a huge fan of big elevation changes when I am carrying a 40 pound pack; hiking in the glaring sun of Colorado may be pleasant for some, but I'd much rather have cool temperatures and some cloud cover; I missed the trees and lakes of Wisconsin; I won't be moving to Colorado any time soon; if I am going to survive hiking the Ice Age Trail, I have to find an alternative to GORP/trail mix, Ramen and dehydrated foods. I also packed way more food than was necessary for me.

A prairie dog, I started calling them prairie puppies.

The drive there was uneventful, which I had hoped for. No flat tires this time. (Read about my last long distance trip here.) I stayed at a rest area along I-80 in Nebraska. It was too close to the interstate, there was some kind of refrigerator truck that kept running all night long, I got cold, and the back of my van is not designed for someone to sleep right on the floor, so my smart watch recorded "No Data" because I didn't fall asleep enough for it to record my sleep patterns. I'll need to work out some things there in the future for other road trips where I plan on sleeping in my van. (I had a similar experience on the way home at a different rest area.)

A sculpture that was reminiscent of me.

When I got to Colorado we had an afternoon with a walk where I was introduced to some of the flora and fauna of my home for the next week, including prairie dogs, cacti, yucca, and the Steller's Jay. The next day we went to a sculpture garden and drove to Fort Collins and wandered around some of the shops there. I found some pottery I had to have, I can't seem to help myself.

Greyrock Trail information. We made it to the little hook at the top of the map.

The next day we took a day hike in Poudre Canyon at Greyrock Trail. We had on day packs with water, food, and minimal gear so I could see what the terrain was like without my 40 pound pack I'd need for our long hike. We didn't make it to the top of Greyrock, I started to get nauseous and my legs started to shake from the hike at about 7300-7400 feet in elevation. The top of Greyrock is 7600 ft.

Greyrock from the trail below.

On Friday we took it easy, we packed our backpacks and then we walked into Loveland and wandered the shops there. We had lunch at a park where the ducks and squirrels expect you to share your food. The next morning we'd drop off my car at our end destination and be dropped off at the beginning of our hike...

One of the "HeArts" in Loveland, that is Art Hearts, each one is different.

My Past is Not Me

This is how my pottery season goes. In the spring I haul boxes and boxes of work up from the basement. My dad sets up shelves in the carport where my mom parks over the winter and I fill the shelves with what I have left from last season and made over the winter. I take stock and fill in any gaps. All summer I make work, pack up, go to shows, unpack, have open studios and it is a constant revolving set of work.

A box of my past.

In the fall, right about now, after the weather turns cold and I'm sure people won't want to stand in the unheated carport to look at pottery anymore, I pack up all my work, try to get organized or stay organized for the last couple shows of the year, and haul my work back to the basement so my mom can resume parking her car where it won't get frosty or snow covered.

I can't remember exactly what I ate from this one, but I loved this bowl when I made it.

The thing is, I have boxes of work and things from college in the basement that I don't look through until I have to start stacking the boxes of my current work back in the basement. I pulled up one of those boxes and went through it.

One of the few pieces that showed my more whimsical side, and it didn't do it very well.

I smiled as I went through this work and then I sighed and realized that this work looks nothing like me. I spent four years in college learning "how to be an artist." Learning the technical things about making art. And spent a lot of time losing myself. (See how I started finding myself again here.)

I remember drinking orange juice out of this one when I got sick.

I have a friend, a potter who has known me since I was in high school, and she has seen the way my work has changed over the years. The last couple of years she has told me on a couple of occasions that I'm finding the "Katlyn-ness" again, that it had been schooled out of me. She told me my work was quality work, but it wasn't me.

Blueberries and yogurt in this one.

I agree with her. Especially looking at these pieces. You can sometimes see a little bit of me trying to get out from the standard technical work I was doing, but nothing I did for 3 years really feels or looks like me. The last year of school I did try to find me again, and I'm still trying to find me.

I had pasta in this bowl many times.

I used these pieces from my first pottery class at college in my apartment. I didn't get to take pottery until I think my second semester sophomore year. And these were my breakfast yogurt bowl, pasta bowl, soup bowl, popcorn bowls, juice cup, and a little vase made from a baby bowl and a teapot spout. 

Popcorn bowl

Though I'm proud of the progress I've made since I began making pottery 16 years ago and these pieces are a step in that journey, I don't recognize the person who made these pieces. I'm not sure I know her. I don't see myself in any of these and I feel they would glaringly stand out in a line up of my pottery starting from my first little pot to my current work. I'll keep them, even if it is only an attempt to remember to be myself, and to not conform to other what other people think I should be making.

My favorite popcorn bowl, when I got down to the unpopped pieces I would trace the labyrinth with buttery fingers. 

My Next Great Adventure

My next great adventure is coming up in a week. This is going to be my biggest adventure since I drove to Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina in 2010 to attend a two week pottery class. I hope the trip this time is less eventful than that trip. I ended up with a flat tire on I-65 just south of Indianapolis and thought I had AAA coverage, but when I called for help they told me I didn't have any kind of coverage. I spent two hours on the side of the interstate while my parents talked to AAA and got me a second policy so someone would come help me. Not to mention the three or four police cars that went by and never stopped to see if I was ok. I also really REALLY needed the bathroom by the time I was done with the ordeal.

Anyways, this time I am going to Colorado to visit some friends who moved out there and to go hiking and backpacking. I also hope the hiking and backpacking go better than my last attempt. (Read about that trip here.) I am planning two days to travel since I will be going alone and don't want to drive through the night, and then because I have lived at 1670 feet above sea level my entire life, we will be spending a couple days taking it easy so I can adjust to 4980 feet above sea level. One day-hike to see what the terrain is like without a full pack, and then, hopefully, 4 days and 3 nights backpacking at one of my friend's favorite hiking trails. There are several intersecting trails, so if it is too much for either one of us, we will have the option to take a shorter route.

I have my pack, a different one than the pack I originally bought, which ended up being just a bit too big, so I called the store, went back and got a smaller torso size which they thankfully had just gotten in. This one is a silver-grey color with lilac accents, instead of the forest green of the other one that I was afraid I would lose if I set it down in the woods or grass. I will probably still tie a brightly colored bandanna to this one just to be safe. Now I have to worry about losing it in the snow if I ever take up winter camping or hiking.

I filled my pack and took it on a walk to make sure it fit right, then I unloaded it and sorted through my gear to try and get rid of some weight. By switching out my knife, water bottle, and cutting out extra supplies from my first aid kit, I still feel fully prepared but with almost 1.5 pounds less gear. I am sure there are still things I can cut out, but I will do that with time when I get more confident or realize I don't need certain items. I figured out with my pack filled as it is now and with my water containers filled and my food bag, I should still be below 40 pounds. Ultimately I'd like to be at or below 30 pounds, and I may get there, eventually.