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.

I almost have all my gear!

I did it. I can't believe I did it. Maybe I'm in denial and I'll accept that I did it tomorrow. I bought a backpack. (Here is why I needed a new pack.) I got a tip from my backpacking buddy about a place in Eagle River that sells backpacking and camping gear, and the knowledge to go with the advice about the various products. I spent a good hour and a half trying two backpacks.

Yeah. A long time for so few packs, but you can't really tell how a pack fits unless you wear it for a while with some weight in it. So while I waited for the pack to settle, the shop owner and I talked about reducing weight and some tips about other gear. I'm going to use the gear I already have since I've already spent the money on it, but he did have some good tips. And there are several places I can cut down, even a little, on what I took.

A couple of them were in regard to food and meal times. I can implement those. I took a lot of food that has water in it already: cheese, pitas, tuna. That was my lunch food. But what he does is he sits down and cooks a meal for each meal, so that all of his meals are dry weight. That way the food takes up less space and weighs less and you are already stopping to take a break for lunch so why not cook a meal? I don't want to cook at each meal, I want my fuel canister to last as long as possible. There is the cold cook option for lunch though. Something like cold oatmeal you can just pour water over, hike a bit more, and by the time you are ready to eat you have fully "cooked" oatmeal (with or without fruit) without having to boil water. I could try some of that, I've seen several recipes for meals similar to cold cooked oatmeal.

He also said he has no problem hiking for a couple hours before having breakfast, then stopping to make a meal. If I don't eat before I start moving, I will be crabby and I will have a blood sugar problem, I know this about myself, so I will still be taking something I can just grab, go and eat breakfast on the trail. But he also will stop, make supper, and then keep hiking for another couple hours until either he can't see anymore or until he is done for the day. He has set up his camp so many times that he can do it pretty much by feel and doesn't need good light. Right now I'd rather get my camp set up when there is still daylight, but I can see the benefit in hiking as long as you have daylight.

They were also having a deal. If you bought a pack bigger than 30L, you'd get a water reservoir free (while supplies lasted). So now I have my tent, backpack, water bladder, sleeping bag and pad, and all those other little things to live on the trail... Except shoes. I still haven't found a good pair of hiking shoes that fit me. I've tried on several, men's and women's, different sizes and brands. Only one pair even came remotely close to feeling good, and it was the first pair I tried on more than a month ago. When I tried those, I thought, "I'm going to end up just getting these." And I think I'm going to go back and get those.

Musings

It's been a while. Sorry.

I think I have been trying to play catch up in my day to day life. I honestly don't know all that I have done in the last two weeks. I did get a bisque firing done with all the work from demonstrating at the faire, and it took me three days to glaze all that work. I didn't get to do a glaze firing until this Monday and I unloaded Tuesday and took pictures today.

One of the pieces that came out of my glaze firing this week.

I did a show in Waupaca. A fall festival type thing, I'm not sure I'll be able to go it next year because the organizers of the Renaissance Faire are talking about changing the weekend, and I'd rather do the Renaissance Faire.

At the end of the festival, tired, a bit sunburned and ready for bed. We didn't get there for another 2 hours and then had to change rooms at the hotel because our toilet wouldn't flush.

This weekend I went to the big Renaissance Festival at Shakopee with my sister-in-law. We had fun, but it was very overwhelming and we got stuck in the parking lot for an hour and a half after the faire was done because of a train. We decided not to go back for the second day and instead visited the biggest candy store in America and we went to an REI store. The candy store was awesome, every type of candy you can think of and other things as well. Including a tardis, yes, we were geeks for a bit and played in the tardis. I think it is required when you come across one.

So yellow! Everything outside was yellow. 

I had hoped to get a backpack while at REI. But the first woman who helped us spent more time lecturing me on tents, pots, stoves, and planning ahead of time (unlike her nephew). And then we had very little time to look at and try on backpacks, and the guy that ended up helping me there didn't offer up any information. I had no idea what to ask in regard to picking out a backpack and he wasn't very helpful in offering me tips. I left without buying anything. Yesterday I got a notice about a sale on the tents that the woman had been suggesting through a different company and it was a bigger sale than what I would have gotten at REI so I bought a tent from there. But not the exact one she had recommended. I went with a one-person instead of the two-person in order to save on weight and some money. It is bigger than the one I borrowed, so I hope I don't feel too cramped.

Playing in the Police box. 

I don't know how much of my inner thoughts I should share on here. I've spent the better part of the last six years focused on getting property and starting a farm. I haven't done that. And because it has taken so long to get there, I'm not sure that is what I want anymore. I have no idea what I really want out of my life. When I become so focused on one thing, everything else stops existing for me. I'm so focused on my hike next year that I've forgotten about finding property, a farm, for a while I forgot about pottery. Instead of going out to the studio, I would research gear and food. I would read blogs and peruse Pinterest. I wasn't making any work. Now I have many of the things I need for a hike so I have started making work again, including my crocheted animals which need some restocking desperately.

But I'm still unsure. I don't want to decide on my life because I don't know what I want. I feel like I am in school again and my teachers expect me to pick a field of study, except that was easy for me, back then I knew I wanted to be in art. I can't change careers even if I wanted to, there isn't anything else I am interested in doing. And I don't want to go back to school. What I really want is to not have to make a decision, ever. Maybe I can just not decide until after my hike next spring. Maybe I'll figure out what's next while I'm hiking.

Porcupine Mountain Adventure

My gear. Several things are going to get the ax!

The last week has been busy. Starting about ten days ago I began firing my kiln to have all the pieces I wanted for my big art show. While I was firing and glazing I was also trying to prep for a backpacking trip to the Porcupine Mountains.

My tent at the Renaissance Festival

Having never been on this type of trip I ended up taking more than I needed for the length of trip we had planned and way more than the amount of gear and supplies for the length it ended up being.

Some of the brushed design pieces I'm enjoying making.

Back to the Renaissance Festival though. I enjoy making creatures and dragons. I enjoy the highly involved style of pottery that I have started doing with the brushed on designs. I think I may need to try some more Renaissance Festivals in other parts of the state, at least, and maybe eventually work up to one of the bigger faires. At the very least I am going to look into the smaller faires and see if I can get them into my regular show schedule.

A carved stein that I really like.

The faire last weekend ended up being quiet with bad show weather and road construction messing up the highway. Attendance was down from last year. But the organizers have plans and are taking suggestions from the vendors and exhibitors as to what can change for next year.

The map of the Porkies. We started out from Presque Isle on the Lake Superior Trail and were going to take Cross Trail to Little Carp, but ended up coming out on Pinkerton Trail and then taking the road back.

The faire was done on Sunday evening and Monday morning I immediately began preparing for three days and two nights in the backcountry wilderness of the Porcupine Mountains. We were going to leave Monday afternoon and head out on the trail Tuesday morning. Come back Thursday afternoon. It took me most of the day to get my gear into my pack. My pack was not designed to hold 40 pounds of gear and it ripped before I even left the driveway. I ended up using my friend's extra pack and wishing I could drop 10 or 20 pounds of gear.

We slept in her camper van Monday night and left Tuesday morning as planned. The hike was hilly and very boggy. A lot of rain this year meant anywhere that could hold water was holding water. And anywhere that was a steep hill, was suddenly a mudslide with a clay based mud making the downhills fairly treacherous.

On the boardwalk overlooking the falls before we really got into the hike.

About 5 miles in at the most soggy place we had seen so far, my friend fell from a log we were going to use to cross over the water and sprained her ankle. We had one more mile to the campsites and she trekked on. We decided to head out the next day on an easy trail that would take us back to the road and try to hitch a ride back to her van.

Lots of really awesome mushrooms, good inspiration for my pottery.

I tried for over an hour to get and keep a fire going at our campsite, but things were just too wet and it was just too windy. So we missed out on having some awesome looking burritos that another friend had made for us. But the sunset that night was gorgeous, the waves huge and the night, thankfully quiet except for the sound of the waves. No wildlife trying to get in our tents or in our food bags. Those were secured in a bear pole down away from our site.

At the two mile mark we had already seen plenty of mud.

We headed out in the morning, after using some of the tape in my first aid kit to wrap the sprained ankle. For a while we went one behind the other and after a quick rest I suggested I take one pack up ahead, drop it off then go back for the other pack and play leap frog with them while my friend could just go on at a comfortable pace without the extra weight. We did this for a while and thankfully the trail was fairly level and the paths did have boardwalks over the muddiest and wettest areas making the hike much easier for both of us. Eventually she took her pack again and we finished up the last mile or so, got to the parking lot and road and started back toward the van. We were only walking a short time when a truck came along and we got a ride.

I scrubbed off the day in the lake with a handkerchief.

It was only a short drive back to my house and we were there well before noon. We of course have plans to try another hike in the future. But even the two days we were out there I learned a few things: I must reduce my pack weight, I don't think I will be able to manage 2 months with a 40 pound pack if I was that tired after 2 days; I need a better padded pack, more lightweight and yet able to handle all the gear I need (need not want); I think I took enough food for 5 days instead of the 2.5 plus one that I needed, so there is something I can adjust there; I definitely need better shoes; and a different water system, I took two Nalgene bottles and I could reduce some weight by getting a water bladder. I'm already trying to think what clothes I can get rid of, I didn't have that many to begin with and if I can find an even more lightweight tent than the one I borrowed. I am very glad I got trekking poles, I would have fallen many times without those to stabilize myself.

The view out my tent.

I think I am ready for some changes in my life. I don't know what they all are yet, but even that day and a half on the trail made me think I can do anything. I can go where I need to go and not feel guilty about the changes. And I shouldn't fear those changes. That doesn't mean I won't fear them, just that it isn't a bad thing to change when it comes time to.

Sunset over the lake was gorgeous, so many colors. I'm glad there were clouds to catch the pinks.

Still afraid, and somewhat overwhelmed.

I've got most of my gear for my hikes. I have a practice trip planned for a little later this month (with a friend) and another one for in October (in another state, but it is with another friend who backpacks.) I haven't taken the tags off of any of the gear I have gotten.

I am still afraid.

My gear thus far. The big white bag is my sleeping bag (it does have a stuff sack for packing away.) The box is my random food stuff that I have gathered thus far, I still have a few more things I need there. I also have some items I will be collecting from my car and bedroom and I still need a first aid kit.

I'm worried that something might happen and I won't be able to go. I'm worried about going alone, but that is what I want to do. I'm worried I'll have the wrong gear or not enough gear (or too much gear).

I've only taken the tags off of my clothing because I know I will always need clothes.

Somehow this month has come so fast. I have less than four days to get my pottery done for the Renaissance Faire. I'm not sure I'm going to get that done on time. Then after four days at the Renaissance Faire, I have part of one day to make sure I am ready to go on a multi day hike, four days in the Porcupine Mountains and one day to get ready for a fall art fair. Then almost a week and I will be going to a Renaissance Faire to have fun with my sister-in-law. So many things happening all in a row. Usually I have a week between events in my life. Not this month though. This month I am planning and getting ready for four events all at the same time.