Photos from the glacier snowshoe hike and notes on altitude

Frozen lake at the base of St. Mary's Glacier

Spot the skier! It must take some kinda passion to hike, with your skis, an hour up a mountain just to get one run down it, but this guy and his friend did just that. 

Super old pine trees. 

Pine pine pine oh how I love pine.

Rona heading up the glacier. We got to about 10,900 feet. 

The glacier lake. The filter is funny on this one as I instagrammed it. 

A few days ago Rona wanted to go snow shoeing up St. Mary's Glacier. It took us about a half hour to drive there, and then another 8 hours for me to figure out how to put my snow shoes on. (It was my first time snowshoeing!)   

We hiked up a while, and for the first half an hour or so I secretly rejoiced every time she admitted she needed to catch her breath. We were at over 10,000 feet - higher than I'd ever been - and even after a good few days in Evergreen (7,220 feet), adjusting to the altitude here, I was getting quite short of breath. It just felt like I couldn't get enough oxygen into me. My legs even felt tired - after only 5 minutes of hiking! So, we just took it easy, took lots of breaks, drank water regularly, and finally made it up to the base of the glacier, which is (thank you Google!) 10,848 feet. 

Ah, so, while I'm here: Notes on adjusting to altitude.

Denver is the ''Mile High City'' because ''its official elevation is exactly one mile or 5,280 feet (1,609.3 m) above sea level'' (thank you Wikipedia!) My first day here what I noticed more than anything was the dryness of the air. It was like the air was a vacuum and just sucked all the moisture out of my skin, my mouth, my throat, my nose. My sinuses were screaming for snot, every inhalation through the nose was painful, and I had a kind of low grade, dull, headache. Nuala and Dad suggested lots of water and the odd aspirin, and those, coupled with a humidifier in my room at night, have dramatically eased these symptoms, although my sinuses are still uncomfortable. (Apparently this is not something that goes away - you just get used to it.) I haven't really felt the breathless thing too much - I mean, the spectacular views take my breath away (ho ho!) - but unless I'm doing strenuous things I have felt ok in that department for the most part. Because we're so high up - in Evergreen we're about a mile and a half closer to the sky - the sky seems bluer (is it because there's less atmosphere?) and the sun seems brighter (same reason?) - and, as I discovered my first day working outside, one can burn much quicker up here! (I have a proper red neck burn.) So I added sunscreen, a borrowed cowgirl hat, and shades to my altitude survival kit. It's kinda hard to go outside without shades. You're squinting a LOT. 

(I will post photos of me in my cowgirl hat at some point. There are a lot. I really like my cowgirl hat. I think I might be a cowgirl. No shit..)

Yes yes, if you're in survival mode you should never drink snow-water. But if you're just on a snowshoe hike and a bit thirsty, it's ok to stick some in there with your spiralina water and let it melt. 

Driftwood (wrong name probably!) at the base of the glacier

Snow crystals at the edge of the lake

Some beautiful trees at the side of the lake, which Rona said are hundreds of years old.

Lunar Eclipse

Last night was the ''blood moon'' - a full lunar eclipse. 

I wasn't intending, necessarily, to stay up to watch it. But then I got caught in a netflix rabbit hole of Drop Dead Diva episodes (no judging! I'm aware it's awful… but I like it, dammit ) and realized after the third episode it was nearly 1am - the perfect time to check out the moon. I went half way up the stairs and then my fear kicked in: "Rona (the lady who I'm staying with / working for) will wake up and be mad at you for waking her up in the middle of the night. Go back to your room." So I did. 

And then I thought ''Fuck you fear! I have a chance to see a LUNAR ECLIPSE!" and put on my boots, my scarf, my hat, and my gloves, went back upstairs, and outside into the darkness. It was windy, and the wind was blowing icy blasts of the previous day's snow off the pine branches and into my face. And I remembered a day, not two months ago, when I was in a cab with four heavy pots of coffee and a backpack full of supplies, on my way to the Upper East Side to complete what was to be my last coffee demo. It had been a rough morning - it was snowing, I was tired, and the shoes I had to wear to work leaked. I had decided, on the way from the subway to stock up my demo stuff, to just embrace the snow whacking me on the face, and pretend that every snow flake was actually a blessing, and that I was just being showered in blessings-flakes. Anyway, an hour later I was in the cab to the demo, and the cab driver asked if he could read my palm. Always up for anything, if somewhat skeptical, I showed him my right hand, and he proceeded to read it whenever we stopped at traffic lights. One thing I remember him saying was ''You need nature. You have a connection with nature. As we all do… but… like, when the rain falls, you should embrace it, when the sun shines, embrace it… take it all in. Feel the rain on your face. Feel the wind. For you, this is especially important. This is one way that the Universe will be able to support you, if you embrace nature." I told him excitedly that, just an hour before, I had decided to do just that, and that I was quitting my job to come to places where I could be closer to nature. He nodded sagely, as taxi driver palm readers are want to do. 

So I tried to embrace the blasts of tree-snow in my face last night, and looked up into the sky for the eclipse. It took me a while to find the moon because the eclipse was nearly full, but I found it, and gazed in total wonder at the sliver of moon I could still see. 

And then a branch snapped somewhere behind me in the dark and I freaked out. 

So I asked my guardians to come down (I have four - I don't know where they came from or who they are - they're the silent type - but about 7 years ago they appeared beside me after a meditation and ever since then when I'm outside alone and feeling afraid I ask for them, and they come straight down, fully armored, one in front, one behind, one to my left and one to my right) and so they did, and then I asked Granny and Grandpop and Nana and PopPop to come too, and soon I could feel them and a whole party of spirits all around me, and we all watched the moon with so much excitement. I could feel them hugging me, and I had tears in my eyes. 

It was truly a special moment. I managed a full 15 minutes of watching the eclipse before the cold forced me inside again, but I realized, more fully than before, that I'm not alone on this trip. I may have been feeling alone, and isolated, so far, and physically I'm basically alone apart from the people I'm working for, but I'm not. I have this whole contingent of ancestors and friends on the other side of the veil who are totally with me, supporting me, and sending me love. And I have you guys, you who are reading this and who every now and then text or call or e-mail with a little smile or a line to say I Love You, I Support You. 

So, that was my eclipse. I felt more connection with Spirit and with myself than I have done in quite a while. It felt like a turning point: a spiritual, emotional, and physical leap. 

I'm still going to finish this season of Drop Dead Diva. 

LGA - DEN

On Monday April 8th 2014 I flew from La Guardia, New York City to Denver airport.

This was my view out of the window as I left NYC. It corresponded nicely with the tears I was dropping down my sweater, in sadness at leaving Stef for goodness-knows-how-long.

As we reached our flying altitude, this was my view for much of the trip. It corresponded nicely with my internal feelings of tumbling headfirst into the void, accompanied by thoughts of ''What the hell are you doing, Rachel? Leaving your job, leaving your home, just to go exploring on a zero budget?" (The mind can be a hater, yes.)

As we approached Denver airport, this was the view. I had taken some time on the flight to get out of that awful mind chatter and into gratitude, and set some intentions for my adventure, so this view corresponded nicely with my thoughts of ''This is a new beginning!"

Hello

Stef and I in Costa Rica, 2014

Hello

I'm tired of New York City. I'm going exploring. 

I have a finite and low budget to do this, so I'll mostly be staying with friendly people or doing Help Exchange work. 

This is my blog. 

RPW