Mountain Biking Documentary

I am rather excited about this project I did at NAU in their documentary film making class I attended over the summer. I decided to to a project on mountain biking. I thought I could interview people in the parking lot of a popular local trail. I also thought I could strap a camera on to my helmet and ride the trail. So I did. I composed most of my own music and edited it in Final Cut Studio on my Mac. Let me know what you think.

Colorado Vacation- The Videos

The next morning we got on the trail to find the hot springs. When I say find, it is because the description of the trail was not easy to follow. We ended up hiking four miles extra, having passed the actual springs. I didn't take any photos, dumb me. We sat in small pools that were carved out by spring flooding. Rumors had it there was a bear in residence, at the nearby bridge. We drove to Durango, went to a parts store, and within 20 minutes had a new fuel filter installed. The remainder of the trip was driving through the Indian Reservation toward home.

These are some of the videos from the trip.

This first one is of upper Elk Creek on the Colorado Trail.




This next one is a Pan of the top of the Pass (Day 2) Colorado Trail.

Colorado Vacation- Creede

The next morning we enjoyed the scenery once again. There was a little dock at the lake that went to an island. After I used the facilities at the dock I walked around to check it out. I could see spending more time there, maybe in the future. We had only three days left until we had to be back home. When I'm on vacation, I can't help auditioning other towns to move to. Not like I would actually move there, but you can't help thinking "I could live here." A lot of Colorado is like that, especially the little towns in the mountains. Lake City and Creede are towns we could at least spend summers at. Just beautiful. The drive over the pass from Lake City was beautiful. We passed an interpretive sign. There was as turn-off to an historic site. Apparently there was a massacre there. Evidently there was a party that had been stranded in the snow, and some party members were killed to feed other party members. Similar to the Donner party of Donner pass fame, but the Donner party, some had died from exposure. Not so here. They were murdered then eaten. We kept driving because neither of us were hungry... We chugged over the pass with ease. We stopped at the top at a view point. More prettyness. As we were coming down the other side we came upon a waterfall. We let the dogs out and took some pictures. Another interpretive sign described ruins found here from an ancient indian culture. This was the site of the oldest culture at the highest altitude. They were hunting giant buffalo. Next on the road was a sea of RV parks. I have never seen so many RV parks so close together. It was RV park after RV park. Motor homes stacked so close together they looked like Legos. I can't understand why people would buy these huge motor coaches, then park it 5 feet away from a sea of other ones. I do understand that there is probably a community feeling, especially one that incorporates members from the same age bracket and economic background, but geeze. I wouldn't like being packed together like sardines surrounded by a vast wilderness. I have always been an escapist though, and Kristi is one too. Maybe that is one reason we get along so well together. Enough of my rambling. We arrive at Creede and at first sight there were a mess of run down trailers. But once we arrived downtown, we discovered how cute the town is. The town was situated next to a canyon, with a little river running through it. We found a parking place off the main drag. We thought we would only have lunch here, but once we started walking around we discovered Creede Repertory Theatre. They had six shows running through-out the whole summer. After reviewing the shows, we decided which show we hadn't seen, and wanted to. It so happened they were playing that particular show at the matinee. It was a fantasy called "To Fool an Eye." It was about a delusional prince and his muse, who had died. He had built a replica of the town where he had spent 3 days with her. The prince's mother discovered a girl that looked like the muse. They had to re-create the entire encounter completely. The girl had to play the part of the muse to his satisfaction. Anyway the Prince becomes less delusional, and the girl falls in love yada yada yada. Happily ever after. I was rather amazed that this theatre would survive so far away from any major city. Especially six shows per season. The reason the the converted movie theatre was still in existence was probably because of all the summer vacationers, ie. RV park campers. So, all those RV parks surrounding the town of Creede were responsible for perpetuating this special little theatre in the Colorado mountains. This theatre was professional, and of course underwritten by several large national corporations like Pfizer. Amazing that Flagstaff can be so deprived, and a remote puny town could have so much culture. After the show we pushed on toward Pagosa Springs. We passed another waterfall off the side of the road then over Wolf Creek pass. Our destination was on the far side of Pagosa Springs where there was supposed to be a natural hot pool in the Piedra River. Passing through town with ponderosa pines, and a Farfield resort probably reminded me the most of Flagstaff than any town so far. Just outside of Pagosa the Bus died. It sputtered, chugged, and we coasted to a stop. I knew what was wrong. VW in their infinite wisdom tried to protect the metal in the fuel tank with a protective coating. This protective coating ends up serving no purpose but to flake off and plug up the fuel filter. We got the bus started and sputtered back to Pagosa to find a parts store. They were closed, since it was late. I rapped on the fuel filter and shook it. Somehow I dis-lodged the debris, and it started running fine again. We continued to the trail head down a washboard road. It was pretty dark when we arrived, and seeing all the people camping in the parking lot we kept driving a little bit and found a level spot to sleep.

Colorado Vacation- Gunnison

We left camp early, and arrived at Gunnison at about 5 minutes to 8. We dropped off Max and they advised us that the injury would require surgery and anesthesia. We would have to leave him the whole day. I could think of better places to have a down day, but this would be the first day we didn't hike, bike or drive all day. We were shopping while the vet called. The branch pulled a huge portion of skin away from the body wall, called de-gloving. The vet said an incision would have to be made much larger than the original torn skin. All the torn skin was devitalized and had to be removed. The remaining skin was stretched and stitched. Two drainage tubes were installed and would have to be removed after a week or so. Total Price = $560.00. And I couldn't pick him up until 5 pm. So, we just went to the river to hang out for the rest of the day. We had some beers, read some magazines, then went to a pizza parlour. At 5 we picked up Max. Boy, was he glad to see me. He jumped up and licked my face, like he was feeling no pain. Dogs sure are resilient. They gave me some dressing to tend to his wound on the road, and bid me farewell. We continued on our way. Back to Lake City. The real lake at Lake City was our destination. We had to drive through town to get to it. Boy was it beautiful. There were dispersed campers camped all around the lake. Apparently there was a campground, but we took the road less traveled as usual, and sure enough there was a dirt road that went up hill to access some power lines. It had a beautiful view of the lake and the surrounding mountains. It even had a fire ring. Best of all it was free. We had some more beers, left over pizza and watched the sunset. Our trip was winding down, and now we had a gimp dog. So we were lamenting having to return home. We thought of all the things we could have done for $560. We could have stayed in 5 hotel rooms, had 5 gourmet meals, bought 5 pieces of Patagonia clothing, rented a Jeep for 5 days etc... Oh well, at least Max was going to be okay. It would have been horrible if it were a life threatening injury. Especially since I lost Gina just a month ago. Not a good year for my dogs.

Colorado Vacation- Lake City

We left our campsite late. The coffee was so good, and we were still tired from having so much fun. We were headed to Lake City, twenty miles away. The drive was beautiful. The road narrowed to a canyon, and we followed the river passing some really cool properties. At Lake City, we went to the tourist office to see what there was to do. We started looking at some maps, and inquired about a trail we could bike without fear of being run over by the many Jeeps that use this area. We were on the other side of the San Juan mountain range now. Lucky for us the trails so far were absent of the ever-present ATV and jeep traffic that was now going to be prevalent on this side. The person at the desk gave us a pamphlet that described the different trails, and what would be allowed on them. We arrived at what appeared to be a bike trail to an alpine lake. Krisiti inquired an older couple as to whether this trail was actually bikable. They said they allow bikes on the trail, but it was not bikable. Oh well, we would just hike it. The trail started a half mile from the parking lot. It was not recommended to drive to the actual trail head, through the cemetery. The road was steep but we tried it. We failed. I had to back down after 2 tries. Oh, well. The rest of the trail was steep, as well. It gained about 3000 feet over 5 miles. We were tuckered out by the time we got to Crystal Lake. It was a nice lake, with a little island, and a decrepit old cabin with the roof falling in. Someone had left some fishing gear unattended, but we couldn't see anybody around. Just as we sat down to have a Cliff bar, we let the dogs off leash. Suddenly the dogs bolted after a squirrel, then YELP! I saw Max recoil. I thought he either got shot or... that low lying branch has fir on it. It was an awfully pointed branch. I grabbed Max and looked. There was a 4x4" gash in the size of an "L." It had torn his skin and we could see the underlying fat. There were no other puncture holes into his abdomen. Phew. He would definitely need stitches. Luckily I brought a first aid kit, and a handkerchief. We bandaged him up and tied the handkerchief around him. Time to get back to town. Max trooped all the way back on the trail, with out so much of as a whimper. Back at Lake City I went into a restaurant looking for a phone book and a Vet. There was no vet. Just a clinic, and the doctor went home already. The closest vet was in Gunnison (Gunny). I called the clinic that the restaurant manager recommended, she used to be a Vet Tech. The on call doc called me back, and having described the injury, suggested we wait until 8 the next morning to bring him in. We thought that since it was about an hour away we would try to get half-way. At least we knew a good camping spot. We returned to the same place from the night before.

Colorado Vacation - Silverton

The next day was also sunny and beautiful. We slept in a little and ate breakfast in camp. We then got on our bikes and decided to tour downtown Silverton. This time I brought my camera. There were cool buildings and train implements all around. There was even one house that was both. We went into some shops and tried on some gear clothing, but didn't buy anything. We then went grocery shopping, and filled up the gas tank. The RV park owner recommended that we go to the local BBQ place, and that we would get 10 percent off. We did for lunch. The BBQ was okay, it wasn't as good as the place we went the night before. I don't think the meat was smoked long enough. They had really good pickled jalapeno peppers though. Anyway, we were ready to get on the road again. We drove over the pass headed to Ouray. The surrounding mountains were stained red and yellow from the mine tailings all around. We passed a number of mining areas. The road had plenty of pull-outs with interpretive signs about all the mining that was being done, and what environmental restoration the companies are having to do. The damage is done, though. The river that runs there is dead from all the metals that is washed into it. I could go off on my leftist soap box now but I digress. We normally like to go to hot pools, but the one in Ouray was public, and not free. Since we aren't big shoppers we decided to pass through Ouray, even though it was a really cute town. As we were going down the mountain we realized that it was starting to get hotter and drier. We stopped at a train museum and decided we wanted to get back to the mountains. We decided to loop around and see the other side of the San Juan mountain range. We were headed to Lake City. We passed a giant reservoir outside of Gunnison, and arrived at some public land 20 miles away. I always find it amazing the way Kristi can find a free camping spot. She must have some kind of radar. She can spot a forest service road from 100 ft at 30 mph. As a general rule, since we have a camper van, we prefer to camp in more secluded areas. It's not just that were cheap. Well, we are cheap, but that's not the only reason. We like to take the road less traveled. We like the solitude. We dislike generators, yee-haws and kids. All good reasons to not camp in designated campgrounds. The interesting thing is that there is usually free camping right after a fee campground. If you have patience and a hawk for a co-pilot you're good to go. This particular spot before Lake City was one of those spots. We passed a road, turned around and discovered a small fee campground near the river. We passed the campground, and went over the river. A few bumps later we came upon a campsite. This site would be our home for the few nights to come, little did we know.

Colorado Vacation- Colorado Trail- Day 3

We woke up late the next morning, and leisurely made breakfast. We drank a few extra cups of coffee, with our neat coffee press that fits inside a Nalgene bottle. Since we only had to hike 8 miles that day we just hung out at the campsite. The weather was nice, the view spectacular. A little creek dribbled by. The dogs were entertained by ground squirrels. We didn't want to leave. Food was running low, and we were out of dog food too, although they would have loved squirrel fricassee. Oh well. All good things must come to an end. Slowly packing, we bid farewell to our base camp. We hiked to the train crossing again, calves sore from the previous 12 mile day. It was lunch time, and starting to rain. Just as we got grumpy about having to eat lunch in the pouring rain, we discovered a huge spruce tree. It made a perfect shelter. We watched the train pass by again, with the little chase cars behind (I'll fill you in later). The camping party with the horses passed by. Now for the 4 mile climb up the switchbacks. We didn't count the switchbacks this time. We did pass by some campers with a 2 way radio. They had two parties of parading ponchos. Must have been a sale on ponchos. It never quit raining. It was pouring buckets by the time we got to the van. We were ready to get dry by this time. Off to Silverton. As were were driving down the hill we could see a campground. That's where we would be headed. As we pulled in, the sign said no vacancy. Kristi went inside, and no one came to help her. We left, and pulled around the corner to find 3 more campgrounds. We chose the farthest one away. It was the emptiest. I went to the mobile home office and inquired within. They were practically empty and I chose a spot with a great view, and no campers blocking it. They had a jacuzzi, showers, and a sauna. And the sun came out. With our site secured, we drove to the brewery to get dinner. It was closed. So we went next door. They had a nicer place than the brewery, it looked like an old time bar. I ordered an interesting looking taco. It had home smoked pork, smoked on the premises by the proprietor, using apple wood. It was so yummy. We returned to our site, with beer in hand. We laid out our gear to dry, showered and relaxed in the jacuzzi, then dried off in the sauna. Then we snoozed.