Gashouse Gulch-Baldy Trail Loop

Distance: 7.7 miles round trip
Elevation: 7,500 ft - 8,100 ft
Elevation Gain: 600 ft

Verdant green grasses disguise the horror of the fire that blazed through the Buffalo Creek area

In 2004, I went camping over the Memorial Day weekend in the Buffalo Campground near Buffalo Creek. A friend and I went hiking on several of the trails in the area. One day we took a long hike that was a loop through the charred remains of a forest. I have had pictures from this hike sitting in an archive not knowing what to do with them. Our route was lost in the sands of time, ground into the soles of my boots.

Then, the other night I bought a topo map of the area for a hike we were planning for Thanksgiving day and I started studying it. I realized the trail we did that weekend was the Gashouse Gulch-Baldy Trail Loop. We walked the loop counterclockwise starting at the Gashouse Gulch trail head.

A distant rock formation. Would you have known it was there?

Mostly listed in mountain biking books, this trail is also accessible to hikers, in fact we saw many while there. Its topography changes from a Martian burnt-out landscape to lush Aspens forest. Throughout are the sandstone rock formations characteristic of the Lost Creek Wilderness Area (just to the southwest).

A trail segment

By far the most interesting aspect of this hike is the burn zone. Huge piles of rocks that would have been hidden by trees were suddenly visible through the burned out stumps. I felt like a voyeur, peeking into Mother Nature's lingerie drawer. Somehow I could tell that this geology was never meant to be seen so openly by human eyes. The weather that day was characteristically schizophrenic. We put on layers, we took them off, we put them on and took them off again in an endless cycle. Was this Mother Nature sighing at our intrusion and the folly of man that lade bear her secret places?

Map showing the extent of the Buffalo Creek Fire (1996) and the High Meadows Fire (2000). Click on the image for a larger view. You can also see this loop and other trails in the area.

The Buffalo Creek fire occurred in 1996 and burned 12,000 acres. It burned very hot and most of the trees were totally destroyed. While grasses returned within six years, it will take a century or more for the trees to return.

A hidden knoll. Hmmm, does Mother Nature have cellulite?

I took these photos long before I started blogging and they do not represent a complete picture of the route. In fact they only represent the first couple of miles that are within the burn zone. Still, since it may be a very long time indeed before I ever retrace my steps and this trail is not well known, I decided to post them anyway.

If you decide to camp near Buffalo Creek, give this trail a try. Just bring plenty of water. There was none in the campground despite advertising to the contrary and the camp hosts were making a killing selling jugs of the stuff. Folly of man indeed.

Miss Earth 2009 : Larissa Ramos

 

 

 

 

 

Larissa Ramos 178 cm tall, 19 yr old Brazilian born in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. She is the reigning Beleza Brasil 2008 who represented Brazil in Miss Earth 2009 in the Philippines where she was later crowned Miss Earth 2009 on November 22nd 2009, becoming the 2nd Brazilian to won the title. She beated about eighty contestants to win this title.

She is currently studying Biology in Universidade Federal do Amazonas. She will now and become the spokesperson for the Miss Earth Foundation, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and other environmental groups.

Other Winners:
Miss Philippines, Sandra Seifert was Miss Earth Air (1st runner-up)
Miss Venezuela, Jessica Barboza was Miss Earth Water (2nd runner-up)
Miss Spain Alejandra Echevarria won Miss Earth Fire (3rd runner-up)

22 yr old Shriya Kishore was representing India.

Eliza Dushku

 

Eliza Patricia Dushku (born December 30, 1980) is an American actress who has appeared in several Hollywood movies such as True Lies, The New Guy, Bring It On, Wrong Turn and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

She is also well known for her acting on television, such as her recurring appearances as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin off series Angel, as well as the main character, Tru Davies, in the short-lived Fox series Tru Calling. She currently produces and stars in the series Dollhouse as Echo, created by Buffy and Angel creator Joss Whedon.

Random Post-Thanksgiving Spam

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Mine was pretty good.

I'm still working on a ton of stuff, but I'm not 100% finished with any of it... So how about some completely random spam until I have time to sit down and do a 'real' post? :)

Sally Hansen Endless Night

Revlon Ornate Ore

Orly Close Your Eyes

OPI I Only Drink Champagne

MAC Beyond Jealous

Essie Cocktail Party

Color Club Too Violet

CND Dark Secret

China Glaze Barefoot In The Park

Claire's Slime

One of my favorites: Pure Ice Strapless

You know what I love? Drugstore polish. I do. A lot. Especially Pure Ice, because it makes me all nostalgic and stuff. Here's one of my top favorites:


Pure Ice Strapless. This is a very fine blue glitter in a clear base. Sometimes the most simple things are the most beautiful. I mean.... just look at it! It's amazing! It sparkles like crazy, even in low light like indoors. The color is rich and beautiful. There's not much for me to say about it because I think the picture speaks for itself.

For such a fine textured glitter, it's also pretty dense and easily buildable. I'm pretty sure this is four coats? Might have been three. Since it's only glitter in a clear base, it dries very fast and doing multiple coats doesn't give you trouble with drying or getting lumpy. It does dry gritty, so a coat or two of thick topcoat are a must.

And for under $3! Might even be under $2, I can't remember if these are $1.97 or $2.97. It also seems like it would be a good glitter to mix with other polishes, too.

The only downside is that it's only sold at Wal-Mart. I go there two or three times a year just to stock up on Pure Ice and Petites polish, and they're really worth the trip. Petites... that reminds me.... I have a whole ton of those I want to post. Cheap polish rocks!

Monument Valley

The world fameous view of the approach to Monument Valley. Everyone stops and takes pictures from the center of the road.

The drive into Monument Valley is one of the iconic images of the American Southwest. I journeyed there a couple of years ago on the way to the Grand Canyon. Not really a valley, the area is really a broad, flat plane out of which rises red wind-carved buttes of astounding beauty.

Looking at the Mittens from the road

The "Mittens" are the most recognizable images from Monument Valley.

The entire valley is on a Navajo Indian Reservation and to see it properly, you need to get off the road, pay the 5 bucks and drive the 17-mile dirt valley drive. This drive winds through towering cliffs, yucca, and red-blown sand. Periodically, you'll come across locals selling hand-made jewelry.

Yucca in bloom

This spot had been particularly photographed. You can tell by all the foot prints in the red dust.

There is one short 3.2 mile hike in the area, but since we were in transit, we did not take it. The drive itself has 11 stops and takes a couple of hours. It is rough but was passable by my sedan. Several of my fellow travelers got up before dawn to hit the area at sunrise. Alas, no astounding pictures resulted from their sleep deprivation.

The Valley Drive enables you to see many of the same formations from different angles.

Even in the desert, flowers bloom

Essie Winter / Holiday 2009

I know, I'm late to the party on these.... But... here goes!

Lolipop. Bright candy red creme. This has a very jelly-like quality to it. I'm going to call it a jelly. It has a really candy-like translucent squishy look to it that makes it different. It's a bright red with a bit of coral, not as deep or as blue-toned as a lot of the other holiday reds we've seen so far this year. I've been wearing this on my toes for about a week and I have grown very, very fond of it.


Mint Candy Apple. Pastel aqua creme. Green! Well, a little green at least. It's a very blue-y green if it's green at all. Maybe light turquoise? Aqua perhaps. Has a very vintage feel to it, like a lot of the bakeware and acrylic jewelry I've been seeing while out antique shopping lately. This isn't a duplicate of any of the other light pastel green/blues I have in my collection- it's pretty unique. Also: Am I the only one who thinks that a mint candy apple doesn't sound particularly appetizing?


Rock Candy. Sheer nude pink. Ah, this is embarrassing. Look how bad my stained nails look through this sheer polish. Eeeeek. So gross. Anyway! I do kinda like the squishy look of this... it looks like it would be soft if you touched it. Reminds me a little of the other Essie sheer I found myself liking recently- Luscious Lips from the summer collection. At one coat, this is a very natural, streak-free gloss, not much of a tint at all. This is four coats.


The formula on these was excellent. I had no problems at all. I've heard some people experienced streaking problems with Mint Candy Apple, but I didn't have any streaking problems with any of the shades. Drying time was fast and they all dried to a glossy finish without topcoat. The brushes in these are also back to their normal size- the brushes in the fall collection were incredibly skinny and I was afraid they switched permanently!

These have been out for a while now, and I also saw these in mini form at Ulta, in case you like minis!

OPI Holiday 2009 Ulta Exclusives

OPI's holiday Ulta exclusives did not disappoint me this year... In fact... I think these are the best so far!


Dazzled By Gold. Super-sparkly gold glitter. This is a mixture of yellowy-gold, medium gold and champagne metallic fine glitter flakes. Not traditional round glitter particles. Little broken metal flecks. It's very opaque so it can be worn alone easily. In fact, the glitter is so dense it even has a foil-finish effect at three coats like pictured here. I think it's too dense to make a good topcoat, though. It looks a little warmer in real life than my picture shows. It is incredibly sparkly. Might be my new favorite gold glitter!

Dreaming of Red. Glowy metallic red. This is a really gorgeous red. It's rich and deep and glowing. It kinda has that velvety 'dark around the edges' look. It's a shimmer finish, bordering on frost, but it has kind of a metallic effect. The one word that keeps coming to mind is "glowy" and it really is super glowy. Reminds me a little of that one OPI Valentine's Day red that was so glowy it looked radioactive. Can't think of the name. May have been Red Like Roses? This would also make a really great Valentine's day color, by the way.


Visions of Sugarplum. Shimmery blackened purple with iridescent flecks. Since I couldn't hold my hands still enough to get a clear picture, how about two kinda crappy pictures instead? This first one shows the depth and darkness of the color. The second one shows the base color and all the sparkly iridescent pearls. This polish is insane. I love it. It sparkles like crazy and it's purple, with little glints of other colors flashing at you. This seems really similar to the new Finger Paints Icy Iris, but I haven't done a side by side comparison to be sure.

The formula was perfect. Zero problems. Smooth, even, very fast drying. Nothing really worth noting. I did do three coats of each color, but they really only needed two. They're very opaque and pigmented.

Overall, I'm completely crazy in love with these. Even the red. OPI didn't wuss out and do plain red creme! I'm so proud of them!! I love the purple sparkles, I love the gold insane glitter and I love the glowy electric red. The only way I could have been happier is if they did a Christmas tree green- either glitter, creme or shimmer.... But you knew I was going to say that, didn't you?

China Glaze Wizard of Ooh Ahz Returns!

China Glaze has heard our pleas to bring back a classic collection... The Wizard of Ooh Ahz is back!

According to China Glaze, the original collection was released in 2001, so it's been quite a while. They've planned the (re)release to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz movie... A movie that scared the crap out of me as a child... And still does, actually. >.>;;

Anyway... on to the important part. The pictures! They're a little blurry, so enlarge them to view as much detail as possible.

C-C-Courage. A frosty blue-purple shimmer base with pinkish-purple and silvery-purple microglitter. My picture isn't accurate- it's not as blue as this in real life. That whole 'cameras hate purple' thing. But it's not entirely off, either. This new version seems a lot more dense, glittery and opaque than the original, but the color is the same. This is one of the two originals I have, so I did a comparison:

The original C-C-Courage in sunlight and indoors.

Index and ring finger: C-C-Courage 2009
Middle and pinkie: C-C-Courage 2001

The original is more sheer and has a little bit of pink frost to it. The new version is much more dense compared to the original.


Cowardly Lyin'. A soft yellowy gold frost with tiny gold microglitter. Really soft looking- the combination of light, airy gold with tiny, tiny gold glitter gives it a delicate look. I also have the original Cowardly Lyin' and they're pretty close:


Cowardly Lyin' in the sunlight. Sun pulls all the warm tones out and makes it look kind of orangey, but indoors it looks less warm and a little more yellow.
Index and ring finger: Cowardly Lyin' 2009
Middle and pinkie: Cowardly Lyin' 2001.

The shades aren't entirely 100% exact matches, one is lighter than the other, but close enough that I wouldn't notice unless I knew they were different editions.

Dorothy Who? Medium blue jelly base with blue and silver glitter. Whoa. That's all I can say. Speechless. Too beautiful for words.

Good Witch? Soft, light pink frost with tiny light pink microglitter. Very girly, very soft. Not really my thing, but I can appreciate a pretty polish when I see one.

Ruby Pumps. Red jelly with sparkly red glitter. I've covered this one a few times before, but it's as lovely as ever. A classic.

The Ten Man. Light white-silver frost with silver microglitter. I'm not sure I get the name... Ten man... It's silver... is it dimes? Dimes are silver and they're ten cents? Ten fingers? Ten toes? No idea. This actually reminds me of the new Zoya Astra ultraglitter... or should I say Astra reminds me of this? The glitter in The Ten Man is smaller and there's less of it, though.
(Edit: Yes, I know that the Tin Man is one of the characters, I'm not that lame! Hahaha! But that's why I don't get the name! Ten Man? Some sort of play on words I'm not understanding?)


The formula was a little tricky- runny but thick. It takes a little care to apply these nicely. Since they're sort of frosty, you have to be careful with your brush strokes as well. I'd recommend letting them dry at least a minute or two in between coats so they'll apply more smoothly. Also, the glitter in the frosty base can look kinda bumpy, so these really benefit from a thick glossy topcoat.

I think it's awesome that China Glaze listened to all the polish fans and brought back this collection. I love Dorothy Who and I'm so happy that I can actually own what was once an unattainable wish... But I do have to say that while the polishes are very pretty, I'm not totally head over heels in love with them. I don't care for frost-finish polishes, though the glitter in these does make them wearable. I only wish that these were all jelly bases like Dorothy Who and Ruby Pumps instead of frosts.

Really, though... it's crazy awesome that China Glaze brought back a discontinued collection just because we told them we wanted it. That's an exciting thought. Companies who listen to their fans! Old polish being re-released! So cool!!