Pony Express Rides Again
Oh, for a good internet connection. My kingdom for a good internet connection!
The performance of the internet connection that we use at the General Store about 100 yards away has been steadily declining. We have several power outages a day and I think it is beginning to take its toll on unprotected electronics. It was never anything worth writing home about to begin with, data transmission speeds rarely were above 200 kbps (about 1/5th what you need to stream a news video). But the last few days, after hours of just trying to establish a connection, the transmission speeds have been averaging 6 kbps. You can't do anything with 6 kbps. The old pony express could move information faster.
So now we are schlepping our equipment over to the park service admin building to get a connection. It means loading the backpack with all electronic devices that need access to the net (two computers, two Kindles, an iPad and two phones) and since it is a several hour endeavor, water bottles, and apples or oranges. If we walk it takes about a half hour, if we take Big Gulp it takes almost as long. The drive is only two minutes but getting the traps out of Big Gulp (I'll explain later) and loading and unloading takes almost as long. But frequent, heavy downpours have been limiting the walks.
Okay, not whining, just laying out what is going on and why so long between posts. Plenty of neat stuff going on here at the North Rim to make you forget about maintaining contact with the outside world.
I think I mentioned in an earlier post that we had met one of the year 'round maintenance guys, John. He is the one that hooked us up with the paint and equipment that Cyndee wanted to do her art project on the boarded up cabin across the street from us. From our perspective, John is a bit of a legend. He has been working on the North Rim as a full time employee for 26 years. That means he spends about seven months a year snowed in up here. Every fall he, and the other year 'round employees take their vehicles to Jacob Lake, 42 miles away and park them. Jacob Lake is as far as the winter road maintenance equipment goes. The 42 miles of highway 67 that runs through the valley and out to the rim closes and is buried in the 12 feet of annual snowfall this part of the plateau gets. In the winter, any needs that require a trip to "town" (Kanab 85 miles, St. George 150 miles) such as groceries or a doctor, begin with a 42 mile snow machine ride.
With that kind of isolation a guy has to have a hobby, right? Well, John does. It seems that this part of the country has its share of old vehicles. Some abandoned, some, rotting hulks sitting in the back corner of their property. John has taken to collecting these bits and pieces and assembling them into a single, fully functioning ride of one kind or another. In talking to him over the past month I have heard him mention a good half-dozen projects involving one form of transportation or another. But a few days ago, on his day off he swung by in one of his nearly complete (these kind of projects are rarely ever finished) trucks. What a sight!
Now that I have put a little something in the blog for my gear-head buddies I'll return to the natural wonders of the North Rim. One of the wonders of course is the wild life. But of late some of that wildlife has been dealing me some grief. With Big Gulp sitting for long periods of time some of the critters from the rodent family have decided that they can move in. A week or so ago I popped the hood to check the oil before making a run to Jacob Lake. Much to my surprise there were large "caches" of mouse poop sitting atop both the batteries. On closer inspection I could see where one of the battery terminal covers had been gnawed all around the edges. Bummer! This could get expensive in a hurry, something has to be done.
The rain has been nearly non-stop since the day after I washed my truck a week ago. We have gotten pretty good at getting the things we need to get done, done between downpours. I was relaying my rodent problem to one of our Volunteer Victor Units (they do search and rescue, traffic control, drive the ambulance, etc.), yet another John. He was on patrol and had stopped by to check in on us. It was a soft rain but the more I got into the rodent story the more it started coming down. John told me to get in the truck and come with him, he had just the thing for me. So now it was a heavy rain accompanied by a thick fog and we were bouncing down the service road past the law enforcement horse corral and out towards the helipad where the Victor Units have hook ups for their RVs. John ignored the downpour and ran inside his 5th wheel. In a few moments he reappeared with a package in his hand, two old-fashioned spring loaded mouse traps. Well alright!
A little bit of 2% "light" string cheese (wouldn't want those mice to get unhealthy portions of fat) and careful lowering of those finger-eating contraptions and I was all set to literally have some traps to run.
After the first night I went out to see what had transpired. I popped the hood and you would have thought there was a party going on. The passenger side trap had done its business very well on a mouse and a fat golden mantle squirrel was perched up in the cowling eye-balling the mouse carcass, contemplating whether he should try being a carnivore. The squirrel froze, I looked at him and he looked at me. Then he decided that I was interrupting his morning and made some little barks while doing stiff-legged pounces at me. I clapped my hands and told him to beat it, which he did. That is when I noticed that the trap on the driver side battery was gone. No sight of it anywhere. I don't know what tripped it and it clamped onto, but it was big and mean enough to walk off with it. In the days that followed it has never showed up, no injured rodent has been observed and no trap, empty or otherwise has showed up in any of the surrounding campsites.
Since that time, more traps have been acquired and set each night. I need to get little symbols of a mouse with an 'X' over it to record the number of kills on the fender of Big Gulp. It is five and counting right now. Although, today is the first day I have run the traps to not only find nothing caught but not even disturbed.
Even though we are experiencing unprecedented rain, there are moments when it just gets crystal clear. One minute you can be in a fog and drizzle that limits your vision to ten feet and then all of a sudden, poof, it is all gone. I try not to let those moments get by without taking note. We had one of those moments the other night. There was a half-moon and the air was brilliantly clear. My camera and tripod are not even remotely configured for proper photography of night sky but I did it anyway.
We will be finishing up an eight-day run of being on duty. Our co-hosts should be returning from their six-day raft trip down the Colorado River, that is if the rains didn't flash flood them away. We'll have one day of rest and then we are off to Bryce Canyon for an overnight stay and horseback ride into the canyon.
The performance of the internet connection that we use at the General Store about 100 yards away has been steadily declining. We have several power outages a day and I think it is beginning to take its toll on unprotected electronics. It was never anything worth writing home about to begin with, data transmission speeds rarely were above 200 kbps (about 1/5th what you need to stream a news video). But the last few days, after hours of just trying to establish a connection, the transmission speeds have been averaging 6 kbps. You can't do anything with 6 kbps. The old pony express could move information faster.
So now we are schlepping our equipment over to the park service admin building to get a connection. It means loading the backpack with all electronic devices that need access to the net (two computers, two Kindles, an iPad and two phones) and since it is a several hour endeavor, water bottles, and apples or oranges. If we walk it takes about a half hour, if we take Big Gulp it takes almost as long. The drive is only two minutes but getting the traps out of Big Gulp (I'll explain later) and loading and unloading takes almost as long. But frequent, heavy downpours have been limiting the walks.
Okay, not whining, just laying out what is going on and why so long between posts. Plenty of neat stuff going on here at the North Rim to make you forget about maintaining contact with the outside world.
I think I mentioned in an earlier post that we had met one of the year 'round maintenance guys, John. He is the one that hooked us up with the paint and equipment that Cyndee wanted to do her art project on the boarded up cabin across the street from us. From our perspective, John is a bit of a legend. He has been working on the North Rim as a full time employee for 26 years. That means he spends about seven months a year snowed in up here. Every fall he, and the other year 'round employees take their vehicles to Jacob Lake, 42 miles away and park them. Jacob Lake is as far as the winter road maintenance equipment goes. The 42 miles of highway 67 that runs through the valley and out to the rim closes and is buried in the 12 feet of annual snowfall this part of the plateau gets. In the winter, any needs that require a trip to "town" (Kanab 85 miles, St. George 150 miles) such as groceries or a doctor, begin with a 42 mile snow machine ride.
With that kind of isolation a guy has to have a hobby, right? Well, John does. It seems that this part of the country has its share of old vehicles. Some abandoned, some, rotting hulks sitting in the back corner of their property. John has taken to collecting these bits and pieces and assembling them into a single, fully functioning ride of one kind or another. In talking to him over the past month I have heard him mention a good half-dozen projects involving one form of transportation or another. But a few days ago, on his day off he swung by in one of his nearly complete (these kind of projects are rarely ever finished) trucks. What a sight!
It is a Chevy, sort of. Most of the sheet metal comes from Chevy trucks, years '54 through '57. But take a closer look at the grill. John has given it a set of "dentures" as well as a big 'ol bone to chew on. The 4-wheel drive, transfer case and other parts of the drive train are far more modern. The engine is old school, nothing but motor. You can see and get to everything on this baby. That is the way it should be.
Now that I have put a little something in the blog for my gear-head buddies I'll return to the natural wonders of the North Rim. One of the wonders of course is the wild life. But of late some of that wildlife has been dealing me some grief. With Big Gulp sitting for long periods of time some of the critters from the rodent family have decided that they can move in. A week or so ago I popped the hood to check the oil before making a run to Jacob Lake. Much to my surprise there were large "caches" of mouse poop sitting atop both the batteries. On closer inspection I could see where one of the battery terminal covers had been gnawed all around the edges. Bummer! This could get expensive in a hurry, something has to be done.
The rain has been nearly non-stop since the day after I washed my truck a week ago. We have gotten pretty good at getting the things we need to get done, done between downpours. I was relaying my rodent problem to one of our Volunteer Victor Units (they do search and rescue, traffic control, drive the ambulance, etc.), yet another John. He was on patrol and had stopped by to check in on us. It was a soft rain but the more I got into the rodent story the more it started coming down. John told me to get in the truck and come with him, he had just the thing for me. So now it was a heavy rain accompanied by a thick fog and we were bouncing down the service road past the law enforcement horse corral and out towards the helipad where the Victor Units have hook ups for their RVs. John ignored the downpour and ran inside his 5th wheel. In a few moments he reappeared with a package in his hand, two old-fashioned spring loaded mouse traps. Well alright!
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| Passenger side battery with trap in place. Notice the nice little "deposit" the mouse left between the battery caps. |
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| The driver side battery has damage to the terminal cover. Every edge had been gnawed. |
After the first night I went out to see what had transpired. I popped the hood and you would have thought there was a party going on. The passenger side trap had done its business very well on a mouse and a fat golden mantle squirrel was perched up in the cowling eye-balling the mouse carcass, contemplating whether he should try being a carnivore. The squirrel froze, I looked at him and he looked at me. Then he decided that I was interrupting his morning and made some little barks while doing stiff-legged pounces at me. I clapped my hands and told him to beat it, which he did. That is when I noticed that the trap on the driver side battery was gone. No sight of it anywhere. I don't know what tripped it and it clamped onto, but it was big and mean enough to walk off with it. In the days that followed it has never showed up, no injured rodent has been observed and no trap, empty or otherwise has showed up in any of the surrounding campsites.
Since that time, more traps have been acquired and set each night. I need to get little symbols of a mouse with an 'X' over it to record the number of kills on the fender of Big Gulp. It is five and counting right now. Although, today is the first day I have run the traps to not only find nothing caught but not even disturbed.
Even though we are experiencing unprecedented rain, there are moments when it just gets crystal clear. One minute you can be in a fog and drizzle that limits your vision to ten feet and then all of a sudden, poof, it is all gone. I try not to let those moments get by without taking note. We had one of those moments the other night. There was a half-moon and the air was brilliantly clear. My camera and tripod are not even remotely configured for proper photography of night sky but I did it anyway.
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| This is standing at the picnic table that is directly in front of our camper door, looking straight up through the trees that surround our campsite. These ancient ponderosa pines are impressive no matter how you look at them. |
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| My lens is good for shooting critters in the woods, in full light. Trying to get the moon in sharp detail is whole different ballgame. In the original photo the moon was barely bigger than the little focus ring. This is an enlargement of several hundred percent and heavily cropped. |
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| Night sky through the same trees in front of the camper. The milky way is up there but the moon, which was to my back in this shot, was too bright to let the spiral arm show itself. Click on this photo and get it to full screen to really see it. |
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