TexasAg1969

If I have to filter out radiation too then fuck it. I'll sip on my .357. I hate cold and if we are filtering radiation then nuclear winter is here to stay.

That Lifestraw looks kind of neat. May have to add it to my backpack though I've never had any problems drinking water straight from Rocky Mountain streams that have a good cleansing run over the rocks. Best during the spring and early summer snowmelt. Aeration does wonders. But a little insurance can't hurt any and should not affect that great mountain water taste any. if it does I'll go back to drinking it straight again. I'm so toxic from running behind mosquito smogging machines as a kid that I think I kill of the bad stuff naturally.

On a bit more serious side. Found these on the web. The second one has related articles worth clicking on. http://survivenature.com/island.php http://traveltips.usatoday.com/survival-guide-deserted-island-62359.html

OK-their granddaughters.

I'd take MaryAnn AND Ginger.

One of the things I've always loved to do in Colorado is go "off trail" just using my compass and a very good contour map of the area. Sometimes makes for difficult going, but I always take a "survival" backpack prepared for all kinds of weather and duration "just in case" something goes wrong. If all else fails you just follow the streams downhill and eventually you'll get out. Fortunately sense of direction has been an innate ability all my life and it adapted well to Army map navigation training.

Sprague Lake which you pass on the road to Bear Lake is completely wheelchair accessible and has nice areas for picnics and great views. Had a big blowdown though a couple of years back and lost a lot of the big Ponderosa pines. I've been to Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Yosemite and others, but RMNP is still my favorite place. Recently I have even spotted moose on the eastern slope that were reintroduced to the western slope a few years ago. I thought it was a large black bear in a remote lake until I got closer since I had only seen them on the other side of the divide in the Park. https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/WildlifeSpecies/Mammals/MooseReintroductionFactSheet.pdf

My parents bought a home in Estes Park outside of Rocky Mountain N.P. Colo. in 1976 and we lived near there for another 7 years before eventually coming back to Texas. We sold the place after they both had died, but my older brother and a sister bought homes there, so I have been walking those trails almost every year for over 40 years. There are two walks that are my favorites. One I take flatlanders on is to park at Bear Lake @ 9,450 feet and trek mostly downhill, after about a 2/3 mi. upward trail, down to Bierstadt Lake very early in the morning before the wind gets up. On the far side of that lake you can often catch a perfect reflection of the up close Rockies including Long's Peak. Absolutely stunning panorama of the whole range from there. Then it's an easy walk from there down to the main road to a shuttle bus pickup point where you can ride free back up to Bear Lake to get your car. Easy walk for the tourists with great views, especially in the fall when the aspen are turning and the elk are in rut. Bugling can be heard for miles during that time. The harder walk has to be in August and early Sept. depending upon how long it takes for the snowmelt to open the trail. The Glacier Falls Trail near Bear Lake goes past those falls, up past Mills Lake and on to Black Lake where you can look strait up a stone facing about as high as Stone Mountain Ga. and watch the snowmelt tumble down off that facing strait into the lake. It's a daylong round trip so take plenty of water, energy bars plus raingear because often you get thunderstorms that are coming over the Rockies there from about noon on that time of year. If you are on a hike with me in the Park and I tell you we need to turn and run back downhill to the car, then you just have to trust I know how to read those clouds after so many years learning the hard way what they mean when they first start to build before tumbling over the mountains with a lot of lightning and heavy rain. A friend I took had a hard time believing me and kept slowing us down to watch. So the last 400 yds we sprinted with lightning, small hail and rain. Sometimes you just have to trust someone else's experience.

Erin Burnett of CNN-did not know that before looking it up-knew there was a reason I like watching her show.

I totally agree on both Maui and St. John. Great view from up there and also some excellent snorkeling places, though a couple of people were killed by sharks on Maui just before we got there. St. John is just one of a kind. Bucket List stuff. Favorite hiking zone for me is trails throughout Rocky Mountain National Park just outside Estes Park. I'm getting a bit old now for the really long 12-15 milers I used to do in my 30s and 40s. I always spend the first week taking the relatively shorter and lower altitude ones before taking on a few 10 milers (round trip). For a fall trip I tell people drive to western Mass and drive up through Vermont (Woodstock is as you said) and on to the White Mountains of N.H. There is a very excellent art gallery in Williamstown, Mass. that is worth spending a few hours in before taking the drive further on. Unbelievable collection that most are unaware even exists there. Take a look at their permanent collection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_Art_Institute

Miles are only (no comma) a state of mind. (period) LOL! from #2.

Yeah but did you hide in the fog of the mosquito spraying machines as they drove down the street? One of our favorite games growing up.

Born in the home town of brothers Edgar and Johnny Winter and The Big Bopper (JP Richardson) Beaumont, Texas. Left mosquitoland at age 12 and never looked back.