Saturday, August 31, 2019

Camping


--- Camping ---

Friends and family

Eight of us camped at the South Meadows Campgrounds west of Pike's Peak - five miles north of Woodland Park, Colorado at 8000 feet elevation in a stand of Ponderosa Pines. It is a developed campground with water, bathroom facilities and a friendly camp host, just fine for kicking back around the campfire and telling stories, which is a major activity for us.

There are three developed campgrounds in the area - South Meadows, Painted Rocks, and Manitou Lake - and two group campgrounds - Red Rocks and Pike Community, all managed by the Pike and San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands.

In the middle of the Rocky Mountains, this region is surprisingly non-mountainous in appearance. There are several named mountains in sight, notably Pikes Peak, the second highest mountain in the Front Range, and Mount Deception. But South Meadows, and the other nearby campgrounds are in a ... well, meadow.

Mountain meadows aren't new to me. They're back east in the Appalachians, too. Subalpine meadows are fairly common in mountain systems as relatively flat area just below the tree line.

Pikes Peak is prominent on the horizon here. At 14,115 feet elevation with a prominence of 5,530 feet it is Colorado's 20th highest peak although it is the highest peak in the southern Front Range. It was a major landmark for pioneers heading west. I remember books that I read as a child that called it the highest peak in the United States (It is not. That honor goes to McKinley (Denali) in Alaska or, in the lower 48 states, Mount Whitney in California. The highest mountain in Colorado is nearby Mount Elbert at 14,439 - it's the highest peak in the North American Rockies.

South Meadows is connected to the other nearby campgrounds, Manitou Lake, and Trout Creek by the 4.2 mile Centennial Trail. There is an abundance of wildflowers and wildlife. We only saw some of the smaller denizens - chipmunks, black and brown squirrels, wrens, hummingbirds, stellar jays, and hawks, but I'm sure larger animals wonder in occasionally. It's probably too active for bear.

There is still a good bit of light pollution here but the sky watching is better than where I live in Denver.

Here are some photos.

                                                                       [Chipmunk]


                                                                         [Mullein]


                                                         [Huge puff of I-don't-know]



                                                             [Butter 'n' eggs flower]


                                                                          [Anemones]


                                                                       [Bellflowers]


                                                                  [Paintbrush plants]


                                                                  [Fairy trumpets]


                                                    [Penstemon and white asters - I think]


                                                         [The marsh at Manitou Lake]


                                                                [Manitou Lake]



                                                              [Some kind of willow?]


                                                                       [Duck!]


                                                                     [Blue flax]



         [These bird were all around Lake Manitou - I'll have to ask my bird watcher friends for an                                                                                identification]
                                      [My bird watching friends concur - it's a waterthrush!]


                                                                  [Manitou Lake]


                                                                 [Virginia bluebells]


                                                                             [Grass]
There is a great variety of grasses in Denver and I don't have a good identification guide yet so I don't know what this is.


                                                                   [Pikes Peak]

Note: My first go-to for wildflower identification here in Colorado is:

http://www.wildflowersofcolorado.com/index.html


Friday, August 30, 2019


--- Trail temperature vs. air temperature ---

Heat and temperature provide somewhat of a mental challenge to many people. They are different things and it's sorta difficult to wrap one's brain around what they actually are. In addition, they can refer to physically precise qualities, or to sensory experiences. If you say, "Wow! I'm hot!", it means that you feel hot - the opposite of cold. (But don't say, "Ich bin heiss!" in German unless you really mean it - that's something very different.) When a physicist says that something is hot, they have a very precise thing in mind.

Heat is the flow of energy from one place to another. If energy isn't moving, there is no heat. Temperature, on the other hand, is the amount of energy inside an object - it's the total amount of molecular motion in an object.

Heat is measured in units like BTU, calories, joules, or newtons. These are units of work. Work is the amount of energy expended when you move something from point A to point B. Well, everything is moving down to a point that there is no molecular motion at all and, on earth, it is very rare for there to be no motion.

Which brings me to temperature. Temperature is measured in degrees and measuring temperature is a bit more complicated than measuring length. To measure length, you just set a ruler along side the length your measuring and compare the lengths. You can't measure temperature directly. You have to measure the effects it has on things. The classical measurement is the mercury (or, since the demise of mercury thermometers, since mercury has been found to be poisonous, the alcohol) thermometer. Things usually expand when they get hotter (water is weird like that - it expands when it freezes) and you can measure temperature by the amount of expansion. Mercury and alcohol expand predictably when they warm up. Today, we have electronic thermometers that measure temperature by the effect it has on electronic components.

There are three common scales for measuring temperature. In the United States, people are very used to the very weird Fahrenheit scale. Mr. Fahrenheit was interested in things like weather and body temperature, so his scale located things like common air temperatures and normal body temperature on an expanding column of mercury in a glass column. Subsequent researchers modified the scale until normal body temperature today is 98.2 degrees Fahrenheit. Go figure.

The rest of the world? Well, I have friends in Canada and I once was exclaiming about the brutal 25 degree temperatures at a camp out in northern Alabama. He wasn't impressed and I was confused until I realized that Canada, like most of the world, uses the Celsius (or centigrade) scale. You see, on the Fahrenheit scale, water freezes at 32 degrees. On the Celsius scale, it freezes at 0 degrees. That's the nice thing about the Celsius scale - water freezes at 0 degrees and it boils at 100 degrees (at sea level atmospheric pressure). Between and beyond, the scale is broken up into intervals of 10, 100, etc.

To convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius, you subtract 32 degrees and multiply by 5/9. To convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit, you multiply by 9/5 and add 32 degrees. Celsius is the metric version of Fahrenheit.

There is another important temperature scale and it's the one used by scientists because it has an absolute bottom. On the Kelvin (or absolute) temperature scale, 0 degrees is where all molecular motion stops. You can't go below zero on this scale (that isn't exactly true because there's still some atomic motion at 0 K, but for our use, let's say 0 K is the absolute bottom.) On the Kelvin scale, water freezes at 273.15 degrees Kelvin. To convert from Kelvin to Celsius, you just add 273.15 degrees.

A good way to grasp the difference between temperature and heat is to see them in action. Sometimes, when your camping out, take a paper cup (not a foam cup!), fill it with water, and set it in the fire. Don't worry, your fire will be safe. The cup will sit there with the water happily boiling away and the only part of the cup that will burn will be the part above the water. Once the water starts boiling, you will still be pumping heat into it (the heat will be increasing in the water) but it will not get any hotter (the temperature will not increase until the water has boiled away).

Actually, if you set a pot of ice on your stove and begin measuring it's temperature as you start heating it up, you will find that the temperature will increase until the ice starts to melt and them the temperature will stick at that point until all the ice is melted, then it will start to rise again until the water starts boiling. Then the temperature will stay around 100 degrees Celsius (or 212 degrees Fahrenheit) until all the water boils away. Then your pot will start getting hotter and you should probably take it off the heat.

Last year, while walking on the Highline Canal in the summer, I noticed that my feet were getting uncomfortably hot, so this year I wondered just how hot the pavement actually gets.

There are three types of material used on the trail - a black paving, a white paving, and crushed granite.

                  [Thermometers: left infrared thermometer, right Sensor portable weather station]

I use two types of thermometer on the trail. Glass thermometers break too easily so I avoid them. I have a weather instrument that I bought from the National Geographic products catalog which has served me well over the years. It's made and sold by the Dakota Watch Company and it's called the Sensor Technology Barometer Thermometer Hygrometer. It's a portable weather station and, as parts of it's duties, it will keep track of air temperatures. (and, yes, it's still available on line for around $40 from various vendors).

I also have an infrared thermometer that came in a child's science kit called ScienceWiz Heat and Temperature. This series of kits are designed by science popularizer Penny Norman Ph.D. and, although they are definitely for young children (the illustrations in the manuals are muy hokey) they are surprisingly deep and always have at least one really cool demonstration - in this case, an IR thermometer.

You see, if something is vibrating, it's giving off radiations. Molecular vibrations will give off radiation in the infrared and visual ranges of light. Small vibrations give off light in the infrared ranges and as a body gets hotter it glows red, then yellow, then blue or white. So you can measure the temperature of a substance by measuring the wavelength of the light it gives off. That's what an infrared thermometer does. It's very portable and easy to use (just one button).

So, when I started from home the air temperature was 74 degrees F. My comfort range is between 40 and 60 degrees so I expected it to become way too hot and I was not disappointed. When I got of the bus and onto the trail at 11:00, the air temperature had risen to 81.7 degrees and, according to the infrared thermometer, the trail was at 115.6 degrees. Surprisingly, the ground around the trail was hotter at 116.7 degrees. Here's a photograph of the pavement at this point and the ground around it.


                                               [Pavement and shoulder at the Iliff trailhead]

Dark substances absorb light and reradiate it as infrared heat. Light substances tend to reflect light.

To give you an idea of what was going on, keep in mind that heat always(!) flows from hotter to cooler regions (you might wonder about air conditioning and refrigeration - heat has to be actively pumped out of an area in those cases and it's not just simply flowing. It takes work!) Body temperature is 98.2 degrees so, as cooler temperatures rise from cooler temperatures toward normal body temperature, heat flows slower and slower out of the body. As it gets hotter than 98.2 (or whatever your body temperature is at the moment), it becomes harder and harder for your body to get rid of the excess heat. One way it does that is through the evaporation of sweat. As a fluid evaporates, it has to take in heat and sweat is in contact with the skin so it sucks heat out of your skin, cooling you off. That's why sweat is dangerous in cold temperatures. Or even in very hot climates like Arizona in the summer. Hypothermia (too much cold) is very dangerous in Arizona when sweat (or pool water) suddenly dries off peoples' skin and draws too much heat out of their bodies.

Outhouses and Porto Potties on the trail can be sweltering in the summer because they convert sunlight to heat and trap the heat. The restroom at the South Quebec Way trailhead was at 91.9 degrees. I didn't stay in there very long.

At 12:23 air temperature was at 98.1 degrees and the trail was at 142.2 degrees. My feet were feeling it.

Remember that shady bench from the last blog? Here it is again.

                                                                [Shady bench]

                                                              [Pavement at bench]

It was 1:05 and the air temperature was at 98.1 degrees. The trail temperature was only 79.3 degrees. Just outside the shade, the air temperature was 98.6 and the trail temperature was 116.7 degrees.

Colorado has dry air and humid, heavy air buffers changes - it resists changes because the air molecules are more closely packed and can't move as easily and they bump into the heavier water molecules. It can be felt!

In Alabama, water is being pumped into the near sea level atmosphere from the Gulf of Mexico and the air is usually much heavier (in terms of atmospheric pressure and water vapor content) than in Colorado. If you step out of the sun on a hot day into the shade, you will get a little relief because your body is no longer converting the direct sunlight into heat, but the air won't be any cooler and the pavement will take a long time to cool off. In Colorado, you get immediate and significant relief because the air can take more heat into itself and things cool off more quickly.

The conclusion to all this is that, from now on I plan to keep my summer hiking short, and, if possible, in the mountains where it's cooler.

Where you live, pay attention to how atmospheric conditions (especially humidity), color of pavement and clothes, air temperature, and how hot you feel relate. When you're swimming, how cold are you when you come out of the water?


Thursday, August 29, 2019


--- Highline Canal: Summer ---

Monday the 9th, I hiked about 5 miles of the Highline Canal Trail from Iliff to Alameda. The sundial said 9:40 (I think).


                                                          [Newman Center Sundial]

Earlier this year, I took a much longer stretch of the Highline and decided to avoid any more long hikes during the summer. I'm literally getting too old for that, and I moved away from Alabama to get away from summer heat. I guess global warming is catching up with me.

This stretch of trail is flat out urban. There are urban greenways but I never felt "Wow! It's almost as if  were not in the middle of Denver!" There are some nice distant views of the mountains occasionally. It is pretty obvious that I was putting some distance between me and the Rockies from where I started at Waterton Canyon back in February.

                                                               [Rockies from Iliff]

                                                   [Highline Canal trailhead at Iliff]

This hike had a dual focus. In addition to seeing the trail in summer, I wanted to explore heat on the trail and the next blog will tell you what I found. The trail itself was predominantly green and a little dusty. Most of the flowering plants had gone to seed.

                                                       [The Highline Canal Trail]

The canal itself was dry, as I expected in the middle of summer.

                                                            [The Highline Canal]

Here's the first milepost I came to. The park below offered a much needed rest and toilet.

                                                                     [Milepost 46]

There were a few plants still blooming. Here is a favorite of mine, the prickly poppy. It is prickly, the leaves look like a prickly lettuce, but the blooms look like something else, only bearing a slight resemblance to a poppy.

                                                                [Prickly poppy]

Here's that trailhead at South Quebec. Don't park there overnight, cause the sign.....

                                                         [South Quebec Way Trailhead]

Most of the blooms were bindweed (they are forever), tiny white yarrows, and these golden asters.

                                                                  [Golden Asters]

This section carried me through the monumental (literally) Fairmount Cemetery. Fairmount has beautiful architecture and lots and lots of graves and mausoleums. Some famous people are buried there. Funerary architecture wasn't my focus then but I'll likely want to go back some day when I look at graveyards.


                                                            [Fairmount Cemetery]

Burdocks are the kind of plant that florists prefer when they are dead and dry and there was a considerable number on the Highline.

                                                                  [Line of burdocks]

Colorado, for some reason, doesn't like shade, but there were two of the many benches along this stretch of the Highline that was in the shade. Here's one.

                                                                 [Shady bench]

Despite the recent thinning of the goose population in Denver, there were geese out in Expo Park, which borders Alameda and has two lakes.


                                                        [Geese at Expo Park]

There was a snazzy looking grasshopper on the pavement.


                                                          [Two-striped grasshopper]

Expo Park is near milepost 50 and was my last stop on the Highline Canal. A bus stop was convenient so I took a bus down to the Alameda Station - I had some shopping to do at the Englewood Walmart - and took a train to Englewood Station. The fountains at the Art Walk were inviting, but I passed, wanting to be home at this point. After picking up a few items I took the light rail to University Station and a bus home.

You may or may not prefer urban trails to country hiking but all trails have their charm in every season. It's fun to compare the two - their wildlife and plants, their landscapes, geology, and the people that frequent them.


Thursday, August 8, 2019


--- News From Denver ---

The title references "News From Lake Wobegon", Lake Wobegon being the mythical town in Wisconsin popularized by Garrison Keillor in the radio show, Prairie Home Companion. In an episode where Keillor angsted about lying on a public broadcast, he intimated to his audience the surprising secret that, in fact, Wisconsin is also mythological.

And, on point all places are mythological. Denver is a myth. If you live in the east, you may think that you know that Denver is a large city in the Rocky Mountains. The truth is that Denver is situated on the plains and the land around it is relatively flat. To the east, all the way to the Mississippi River, the ground slopes gently away. Yes, there are only 27 mountain summits east of the Mississippi River that are above Denver's elevation and the highest is only 1402 feet higher (Mount Mitchell in North Carolina reaches 6684 feet), but Denver is flat land.

Another myth I had to disabuse myself of when I moved to Denver was that Denver is cool year round. I don't understand why I am so intolerant of heat. I was born in Southern Florida and grew up in Georgia and Alabama, not cool climates, but temperatures above 90 degrees hurt me. About three months out of the year here torment me.

Furries....do you know what a furry is? If you have watched documentaries on the furry community, you probably don't. The documentaries are all hype and sensationalism. But, if you live in Denver, you should. I've never seen a city with so large a furry population. You can't drive through town without spotting several vehicles with Colorado Furry stickers.

One of my housemates was hosting a panel at the annual Denfur Furry Convention last weekend and I bought a ticket to provide support (I operated the video camera.) There is a considerable overlap between the furry and therian communities and the panel was there to explain therianthropy to the furries in attendance. I'm also a therian, so I had other reasons to be there.

But I'm not a furry and tend to boredom at other peoples' conventions. Furry is basically a hobby - a fandom, not a lot different from, say, a convention of model railroad enthusiasts. There are some differences, but they aren't huge and, except for the furry suits and lack of model trains, they are not that obvious to the onlooker. Furries like anthropomorphic art. An anthropomorphic animal is a nonhuman that stands on two legs, talks, and wears clothes like a human. They used to be called funny animals. And they like dressing up as anthropomorphic animals. Many of the costumed mascots for sports teams and theme parks are, in fact, furries.

I have attended one other furry con, the Memphit Fur Meet at Olive Branch, Mississippi, near Memphis, Tennessee. I did not stay at the hotel. Instead, I camped at Mississippi's Wall Doxie State Park in the northern part of the state. It is one of the most beautiful state parks I have visited, situated in a cypress and pine forest surrounding an incredibly blue lake.



                                                           [Wall Doxie State Park]

I went to the conference, again, to take part in a therian panel. I also wanted to see some friends who had stopped coming to the annual campout I hosted. That was while I lived in Selma, Alabama, before I had to take an early retirement. I enjoyed hanging out with friends, but three days there was too long and I spent most of the time wandering the grounds of the hotel. I planned to volunteer in later years but life intervened. Within a year, I knew that I would be moving soon.

After close to two hours of bus travel to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Aurora, and after checking in at the registration desk, my first order of business was to find a restroom. Then, I went to see the art show.

Many furries have an exquisite sense for art, not just visual art, but also music, athletics, and acting. A person dressed as a wolf was at the lobby piano pounding out a very decent Rhapsody in Blue.

Appreciating the art took about ten minutes and I met my housemate, who is quite accomplished and in demand for setting up art displays. After exchanging greetings with a couple other familiar therians, I headed to the restaurant for a light lunch.

The Prosciutto Margherita Flatbread was very tasty and hit the right spot.

When I finished eating, it was about a half hour to the panel so I went there and waited. About a dozen people attended the panel of three presenters.

Instead of taking the two hour bus ride back home, I spent a couple hours with my housemate and two out-of-town therians, mostly in the vendors room. There were a lot of vendors this year, a sign of a healthy con. This is the second Denfur and it was well attended.

It was also well managed, with Safety Wolf threading through the crowds making sure everyone was well hydrated and not too alcoholized. Two of my companions obtained approved status and one got an unapproved ribbon, of which he was very proud. I think he might have drunk more than Safety Wolf approved. I'm quite uncomfortable in crowds and was being invisible. There was also a big black wolf with a leaf blower keeping the fursuited furries cool.

Kids love costumed mascots, so there were crowds of them milling about the furries. Everyone seemed to be having a good day. I left the con with my three companions and headed back home for a meal. They hung out with the House for awhile before going back to the hotel for one last day of Denfur.

Both the furry and therian communities are fairly new and offer sociologist the opportunity to observe the inception and growth of societies.

Since furries are so prevalent here and there are so many horrible misrepresentations in the media, perhaps you will be interested in finding out who they really are. The International Anthropomorphic Research Project collects data on the community and you can find all kinds of information on their site at https://furscience.com