Alpine+Guard+Station+blog

[|Pioneer Life...]
The world is a cruel place. I have always thought the contrary, but now I know the truth; it's a cruel place indeed. You see, when you're taking a shower in the middle of a wide open valley at 10,000 feet, and you have no shelter what-so-ever, and the wind begins to blow.....it is excruciating. After a long, hot, dirty day of hard work, the one thing I look forward to the most is a nice warm shower. Aaaahhh, the warm water cleansing the filth from my body...oh, but no, don't, AAAHHH the WIND, STOP!! It's soooo c-c-cold!

Don't get me wrong, I am VERY grateful for our solar shower. That's how we bathe. We have a 5 gallon bag that we fill with water each morning, then it sits in the sun all day to heat up the water. We hang it on something, usually the top of the work truck, and gravity does the work. It's so nice to have this I must admit. But seriously, when you're completely naked and wet in the middle of an open field, I curse the wind like you wouldn't believe. Once you get it through it though, it feels amazing to be nice and clean....well for about 15 minutes before you kick up enough dirt to get dirty again. But still, it's better than nothing. There is a creek about 30 yards from the cabin. On a super hot day I will bathe in the creek, but wow it's still pretty cold. I just like the idea really. It seems so 'in-touch' with nature to bathe in a creek. Usually though I'll stick with the bag, the water gets surprisingly warm. So life goes off the grid. Let's talk about the rest of the day, just like the pioneers may have done it. (Well, modern day pioneers that is....)

I have to say I have a ton of respect for true pioneers and the way they survived life off the land 100 years ago. Those were tough dudes, more power to them. I'm accustomed to the luxuries of the modern day; like pressurized water and indoor heating. This makes me feel pretty weak when I realize exactly what life is like without all these luxuries. This goes far beyond life in the Wild West 100 years ago. Just look up the statistics of the World Health Organization and you'll see astounding facts about people all over the world without access to clean drinking water, sanitary bathing waters, indoor plumbing, electricity etc. So I have nothing to complain about at all. Camping off the grid for three months is a bit of challenge for me though, which just points to the expectations Americans have in the 21st Century.

The day usually begins around 7a.m. I may wake up a little earlier than that, but the sun does not see over the ridge of the mountain immediately to our East until 7:15, and it is still really cold in the morning. (When you can scrape the frost off your car windows, I consider that cold). So I usually lay in my truck until I can see the sun, then I know it's a bit more tolerable to open the topper and climb out. By the way, this is what my sleeping arrangements look like for the summer. I built a platform in my truck bed and put a futon mattress on the top. You see underneath I have space for storage- everything is under there, all of my clothes, gear, food, stove etc. The topper is lined with carpet, and my Mom helped me make some curtains for the windows from wool blankets so it stays relatively warm at night. It's not a bad alternative to a tent, and way warmer.

So after I climb out of my home, I walk the 80 or so yards to the vault toilet, kicking up lots of dirt along my way. The toilet is one of those Forest Service huts that you see at the beginning of trailheads, which this is at the beginning of trail so there you go. It's not the most pleasant place to be first thing in the morning, but it's better than a tree with scattered pine needles everywhere. Then I walk back to camp and attempt to wash my hands and face. This consists of pumping water from a nearby spring. This is about the best water I've ever tasted, and also freezing cold. Most of the time I resort to baby wipes for cleaning in the morning, it's just too cold for this business. The pump is pretty cool, it takes about 10 pumps to get it going, then about 10 more to fill say a medium size saucepan. After filling the shower, washing my hands many times, filling water bottles, washing dishes, cooking, etc, I'd say I pump this about 300 times a day, maybe more. It's sooo much better than say, hauling water from the creek! After pulling out my stove and cooking up some oatmeal or the like, we head straight to work. (This morning ritual takes way longer than it should. In the modern world I can be out the door in 35 minutes, shower, breakfast and all. In the mountains I don't pick up the first hammer of the day until about 8:15 or 8:30, how is that?)