From Estes Park to the Red Feather Lakes

I began my internship with the American Conservation Corps on a little over a week ago in Estes Park, CO. We stayed in the only Victorian style house in Estes Park during our first four days of training. During that time we learned a lot about the area's history as well as took a course on basic wilderness first aid and learned about trail construction. In our free time, we (interns) cooked, ran and hiked together.

I few things that I found interesting while learning about the area are that many of the mountain names are the translations of what they were called by the Arapahoe, Estes Park was actually a recreational destination for about 50 years before Rocky Mountain National Park was established, and hiking did not become a recreational activity in the United States until the end of World War II.

Up here at 8200 feet in elevation, I live in a log cabin with 3 other girls and two guys who are all a part of the same crew as me. Over the past few days we've been on a few hikes together exploring the area, examining beetle-kill and trail maintenance that we will need to do. Yesterday, the girls and I went hiking at 10,900 feet and were wading through snow somtimes almost waist-deep. It snowed on us the whole time and continued to be windy and snowy off and on throughout the rest of the day after we returned to our cabin.

Today's weather is beautiful and we've seen several mountain blue birds.

Here are some pictures to show you a bit of the area:

blessings of this past semester

This last semester flew by. Sometimes it felt like I had so much to do that I didn't know how I would get it all done, but somehow I managed to get my work done, play, run, and relax. I was blessed to get to spend the semester teaching English as a Foreign Language to an adult beginners class. I thoroughly enjoyed this job.

I didn't run the kinds of times I would have liked to during this past track season, but I enjoyed practices and had fun during some of the races. I finished up the season at conference on May 7th and ran a full marathon on May 14th in Brookings, SD. I ran with my cousin Katie and had a great time!

Now I have a week to relax at home and then I'll be off to Colorado for my internship with the American Conservation Corps. I'm looking forward to a summer outside. Have a great summer!