More hiking and Estes Park, Colorado

Hehe, again, we woke up early to catch the sunrise but as you can see, it is pretty bright out already but not as late as the day before.

Instead of taking the shuttle to trails further away, we went to one that is about 3 mi from where we stayed. As we were hiking, we came across this herd of elk. It was a nice surprise since we were not expecting to bump into them. They were definitely much closer than the day before.

The mountain trail we went to is called the Deer Mountain. It is also a very enjoyable climb up to the top of about 10,000 ft, another 3 mile to the peak.

View from the peak...

It was also nice that there is another trail that led us back to the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center to catch the shuttle that brought us to downtown Estes Park. Although I wished that we had more time to go hiking around lakes and waterfalls, I was glad that we made a trip to downtown. It is a very cute town with lots of interesting shops that sell all kinds of stuff, like this bookstore.

Downtown is actually only 2 miles away from where we stayed but after all that hiking (about a total of 9 miles), we didn't feel like walking all the way to downtown, especially since we might have to walk back if we missed the last shuttle at 7.30pm.

As we arrived downtown, we saw a few more elks! Better still, they were right in front of us!

They doesn't seem to be bothered by the cars passing by or the bunch of people (like me) standing around them watching them eat the fresh looking grass.

We had an early dinner at an Italian restaurant - Mama Rose's, where we ordered their veal parmesan. Can't remember when was the last time I had veal but this is really good! The texture is just nice and the lack of breading enhance the taste of the meat. The picture below is half of the entree portion. It is huge! Lucky thing we didn't order two different entree! Not only that, the entree also come with garlic bread and a huge plate of salad! Wonder if people actually order entree and finish it.

Since we had plenty of time to walk around after that, we managed to catch the last shuttle back (with a little bit of power walk as we went to get ice-cream 30 minutes before the last shuttle). I was soooo tired that night that I crashed until the alarm ring the next morning at 5.45am. Yes, we did get to see the sunrises this time! Hehe...mission accomplished!

Bear Lake and Rocky Mountain wildlife

On Friday morning, we woke up right about sunrise time but it was already pretty bright outside...I learned that the sunrise time reported on weather.com is actually when the Sun is already completely up.

The first place we went, which is also my favorite place this trip, is Bear Lake. I passed by the lake on the way up to Flattop Mountain the day before but didn't get the chance to stop by and enjoy it or take photos. So was glad that John enjoyed it because I get to walk around it and take a bunch of photos.

To get to Bear Lake, we had to hike for 2 miles to get to one of the park information center - Moraine Park - to catch a shuttle that took us to a park-n-ride area to catch another shuttle that took us to Bear Lake.

The view of the mountains and the desert from Moraine Park.

What is so special about Bear Lake? It has awesome reflections and it is sooo clear that you can see the bottom of the lake! It is also surrounded by colorful pine (the green ones) and don't know what yellow-leaf trees. I like how there are also the 'red' colored pines but sadly, those are actually dead pine trees due to infection by mountain pine beetle. Poor trees...

After walking around the lake, we hike another mile to get to a waterfall, Alberta Falls. It is not a very big one but definitely not one that you can go near (like the one at Titi Kerawang) because it is very rocky and it does not end in a pool but keep going down a rocky path.

The hike to the waterfall is very enjoyable as it is a very relaxing trail with lots of colorful plants and cute little squirrels. Even though they are wild, they 'boh kia lang' as they will come very close to us.

We spent the rest of the afternoon looking out for wildlife as the wildlife guide point out to us and at the same time, get to go all the way up to the highest visitor center - Alpine Visitor Center. The wildlife at the higher altitude are all small rodent type animals like the marmot and the pika, which I think looks like Pikachu!! Hehe, although I don't think that is where the character Pikachu originated from.

Since it is the elk season, of course we have to see some elk! Only a few elk photos that I took came out nice but am still waiting to get the raw files so I can edit it. John took lots of awesome shots of the elk, and he got one when the male elk was bugling! The elks are always in a group of females with only one male. Their social life basically revolves around how many females the male can gather and mate with.

I did get a shot of this deer because we were much closer to it. This is the baby one. We kept 'bumping' into a mum deer with her two kids. I think that it is the same family! :P

There are lots more photos that John took during our trip.

Mountain Hiking

After the conference, I stayed back for a few days to explore the Rockies. I had all day Thursday with no plans since John will only be arriving later that evening. I decided to join two people I met at the conference (they are actually from KBS but I just didn't bump into them at KBS) to go hiking. Guess what, they are actually pretty hard core hikers who have climbed tundras and all kinds of huge mountains before. My experience - "pek sua" with gee ku and gee kim. That is barely Penang Hill height, which is ONLY about 3000 ft! Haha, but now, Penang Hill will be sub sub water for me ler! :P Will definitely want to do that when I go back next year...and now we have Aun Aun as the guide too since he has done it all the way.

Since we could not check into our respective hotels until after 3pm, we left our bags at the YMCA and walked about 1 mile to get a shuttle bus that took us to Bear Lake. From there (which is at 9400 ft), we hiked up to Flattop Mountain of 12300 ft, which is a 4 mile hike. While 4 mi is typically not a big deal for me but going up hill on a rocky trail with sneakers - Ping wasn't doing too well. What more, hiking with two hard core hikers who have hiking boots and longer legs. At one point, I told them that I'll meet them at the top and took my time hiking up. But every once in a while when I look up at the sceneries (instead of looking down at my feet and where to step next), it sure is worth it to make the hike. This is definitely a popular trail because there were tons of people...mostly passing by me. :P

View from my first rest stop, about 50 minutes into the hike.

Halfway to the top, when the plant community has changed to a more shrubbery ones.

View of Lake Emerald... from 3/4 way.

Phew! Finally at the top! The plants on the mountain peak are mostly grasses. Plant density is also very low as there are more rocks than plants.

It was freezing cold up there! We passed by a few glaciers and came to one, the Tyndall Glacier, where we saw a guy preparing to ski down the steep glacier.

Can you imagine hiking all the way up to the top with your ski, ski down the glacier (which only took like 1 min) and then have to climb up the glacier to get back on the trail to hike down. Gila! But here he goes...

Wow, he made it through the rocks! (A bunch of people watching with us was cheering him at this point.)

And he made it all the way down.

View of Emerald Lake from the top.

One of the reward being up there is I get to see this marmot sun-tanning itself. :P

Another 500 ft elevation/0.6 mi hike, it will be the Hallett Peak but I have had enough rock trails for that day. If it wasn't that rocky, or if I had better shoes, I would have done since it is only 500 ft.

When you are up there, it feels like the clouds are so close. This is my favorite shot from Flattop Mountain. Too bad a lot of the photos came out looking washed out due to increased UV intensity from the top.

The view of Longs Peak right at the back with the clouds. It is the tallest mountain in the Rocky Mountain National Park with an elevation of 14300 ft. If the weather is great, the hike up to the top, which is an 8 miles trail and 5000 ft of elevation, it takes approximately 12-14 hours for a hard core hiker. But the scary thing is, because of the rocky surface close to the top, people have died when the weather is not as pleasant, especially when it snows or when there is a thunderstorm. But, I would still like to climb Mt. Kota Kinabalu of 13,400 ft someday. That was last years vacation the Sunway gang did that I missed. :( I never seem to go back at the right time. Hehe.

Hiking in the YMCA

On the last day of conference, I only had morning workshops to attend. I had a few hours after lunch to spare before the closing dinner/dance. The YMCA is very helpful with recommending hiking trails both within the YMCA property and at the Rocky Mountain National Park. In fact, they have tons of facilities that one would not get bored when staying at the YMCA. I told them that I would like to go hiking but only have about 3 hours. They suggested the Bible Point.

To get to the trail head of the Bible Point, I have to walk through a horse stable where you can go for horse-riding. They also have ponies for kids such as these two horses with science-themed names - Nitro and Glycerin.

The view of Rocky Mountain from the starting point.

It wasn't a very clear day but the sky is still pretty blue and the clouds are not as dull and depressing as it has been in East Lansing the past week. *bleh* The temperature that day was also just nice because it wasn't very hot or freezing cold.

The trail...love the dirt road trails! Haven't done such hiking for a really long time...the last I can remember is the trip to Woldumar Nature Center with the girls before ah Pei left for M'sia. Pei, 好想念你們喔!! 現在沒有人陪我去外面走走了.

View of YMCA from the peak of Bible Point.

Right at the top of Bible Point is the grave of a young boy who used to be very active at the YMCA. His parents buried him there because it is his favorite place in the world.

There is also a cross and a mailbox near the grave. Inside the mailbox is a bible and a guest logbook.

The entire trip only took me about 2 hours and I stopped quite a bit to look around and take photos. It is a very nice and relaxing hike.

Later that night is the final dinner and dance. I had planned to just go for the dinner and then take off. Instead, I end up staying until way past midnight! Hehe, they had someone to teach us various country and line dancing. It was lots of fun! Definitely a work out since all the songs are super long and we sure move around a lot. (Steph, are you giving me the forbidden look?)

LTER ASM at Estes Park, CO

As most of you already know, I attended a conference at Estes Park, Colorado early last week. The conference is for all the scientists who works at the Long Term Ecological Research sites all over the world. This is the first time I attended a conference on my own (the PI doesn't count since I only saw him twice the entire conference, once when I had to present my poster). I was nervous about being alone before the conference but I get to meet with a bunch of people who are also from KBS on the plane ride to Denver, CO. We figured each other out since we all have our poster tubes to carry.

The trip from East Lansing, MI to Estes Park, CO is the longest trip I have ever had within the US. I left home around 7.30am (ah boy have to be at work at 8am so we have to leave a little early) to catch the 8.30am shuttle (Michigan Flyer) that will take me to Detroit airport. We arrived Detroit at about 10.30am and hang out at the airport for another two hours until our plane to Denver at 12.30pm. The plane ride is only 3 hours. I love direct flights! No changing gates/terminal hassle! We arrived Denver at about 2pm (Denver is 2 hours earlier than MI) and we had to wait for another 2 hours before our scheduled shuttle to Estes Park at 4pm. Luckily I have already get to know a few people by then so it doesn't feel that long. The shuttle to Estes Park is another 2 hours. I was pretty excited to be in Colorado but the bus ride was no fun at all because I started to get dizzy when we were close to Estes Park. All those winding roads!! All the car rides to our house back in Batu Feringghi sure did no help at all! We finally arrived at theYMCA at 6.30pm. That is exactly 13 hours since I left my apartment in East Lansing! This is more than halfway back to M'sia! Hehe, can't help wishing that I am going home to Penang every time I fly.

When we get there, I felt much better because we have to check-in and rush to get dinner which was served only until 7pm. After dinner was the graduate student social so it distracted me from thinking about being dizzy. The food there is definitely great! We have some kind of potato dish every meal and I definitely had ate tons of sweet potatoes!! They also serve pineapple and oatmeal for breakfast, which are two of my favorite food! They definitely serve us tons here. We get three full meals a day and then there are snacks between the workgroups sessions and during the poster sessions at night. For snacks, they serve popcorn, chips and salsa or cookies. When we check-in, we were given a coffee mug and the program book. I thought that the coffee mug is a really good idea because it sure help reduce washing cups during the three main meals and cut down on the use of disposable cups during snack times and mixers.

Leila and I stayed at the Rainbow Lodge. We got a room that has two double-decker bunk beds and a queen size bed. Can you imagine 6 girls staying in this room with only one bathroom? Disaster! Especially since we all have to get up at the same time for breakfast and morning talks and then probably go to bed at about the same time too! Thankfully, it was just the two of us.

The first few days were pretty intense as I have workshops back to back with plenary talks. All in all, I was glad to be part of the conference. I definitely do learn way more from this meeting than the super huge American Society of Microbiology annual general meeting. This conference is much more interactive and allow graduate students the opportunity to be part of the discussions. The most beneficial part is to be able to interact with the graduate students from the labs that publishes the papers that I always read about.

It almost feels like I was back at Marine Biological Laboratories at Woods Hole, MA. The environment is great! The blue skies and nice cooling weather is definitely brings the mood up! I get to see awesome blue skies while walking to the main auditorium area from the Rainbow Lodge and lovely skies full of stars at night while walking back. Yup, definitely made me think of MBL days.

Soooo unlike MI. Ever since I got back, I have been greeted with blah cloudy grey skies. Boo! I know, I know, grass is always greener on the other side. But, but, I wanna see more blue skies! :P

Overwhelmed!!

There are so many things to tell you all!! Hehe. It is great out here! The environment is lovely, the conference is so much fun and there are sooo many things to learn! Today is only the first day of the conference and I am already overwhelmed with all the science that I can learn and be part of. The atmosphere is very laid back and everyone, including the professors, are very friendly and is very helpful and encouraging.

After several opening talks this morning, they have a panel discussion on how the LTER network influence their career paths. It is a good idea to have such discussions especially for graduate students who are close to the end of their graduate career or are unsure if they would like to go into non-academia or academia path. It also gives me an idea of the types of career I can have that still involves field work or that allow contribution to social sciences and decision makers.

After lunch, they break out into several working groups. The working group that I attended is on potential inter-site comparisons of carbon studies within the LTER network. It is definitely a great topic for workshop and we had a group with great dynamics. We are all interested in using soil respiration data to better understand the factors that drives differences in soil respiration we see from all the different environmental regimes at the LTER sites. So it gave me the opportunity to propose the incorporation of microbial growth efficiency into soil organic carbon model. Hehe, I know you all don't know what I'm talking about, but it is super exciting stuff!

The day ended with few more talks and poster session about all the LTER sites. I also met with a Singaporean who asked me if M'sia would be an interesting place to start an LTER. Hmmm...my opinion, I think it is an awesome idea! But starting an LTER requires tons of work and lots of connections. He seems pretty hype about it so maybe if he starts one, I can get a job in M'sia some day! M'sia will definitely have good representations of tropical forest ecosystem with high soil organic carbon turnover.

As I was walking back to the lodge, I looked up at the sky and wow!! I have never seen that many stars before! There are millions and millions of them! It is also sooo dark that I get to see a bunch of meteor shower. I was so mesmerized by it that I didn't make a wish until after I saw four or five of them. Hehe. Now I wish that I could go camping. Hehe...it is too much hassle though. Am just glad to be here. I could definitely see myself working out. :) Below is a picture of how dark the place is. The lights are along the sidewalks but it is so tiny and low that it is still dark enough to see all the tiny tiny stars that our eyes usually can't see when we're in the city.

Hehe, I am still so excited about this place that I am definitely not blogging coherently here. Will blog more about the place and post more photos when I calm down. All the interesting stuff that goes on in all these different LTER sites that I get to hear about is overwhelming too. Will have to digest them at some point this week. I also haven't taken as many photos since we are indoors most of the day. Will definitely have more photos when John gets here and we go out hiking.

Furry Ball

Came across this weird looking ball of fur on a tree that I walk by everyday. It doesn't look like it is some kind of flower/fruit for reproduction purpose since it is found randomly on the leaves of this particular tree. But I can't seem to find a head/eyes/mouth that I can call it type of insect for sure. Weird!

Guitar Hero 5

When I got my Wii console, one of the popular games was Guitar Hero World Tour. It was so popular that when I told my friends I got a Wii, they would ask me if I got the Guitar Hero too. But I didn't see how much fun it would be until I played it recently at John's place. Actually, I didn't like it very much when I first played it either. I kept missing all the notes and it just sounds crappy. But thanks to John's occasional nudge when we were at his place, I could actually play a couple songs (okay, not really, if you've seen John play). This game is similar to the Dance Dance Revolution games that ahboy and ahyong used to have for PS but instead of dancing on a mat, you play the guitar.

Earlier this week, they came out with a new version - Guitar Hero 5. Right about the same time, I received a package and guess what, it is a surprise gift from John containing the Guitar Hero 5! I have played it a few times since then and this game is actually lots of fun! It is also challenging because each song has different degree of energy even within the same level. Hehe. I could finally figure out what to do and play a decent song too!

有男朋友疼的感覺真甜蜜 :P 多十天我就能見到他!! 好期待喔!!

Bee 'shower'

Was waiting for the bus yesterday when this bee came by to entertain me. Actually, it was probably at that place for a while but I just didn't notice it until I sat down on the bench. What caught my attention was the way they clean up themselves. It is soooo cute. It is like a little kid rubbing their face with their tiny hands. In between cleaning up its face, it will put its two front legs together, like it is 'pai ang kong' (praying).

What fascinated me even more is the way they clean themselves. This video is a little long so you might get bored halfway through. Wanted to add background music but Windows Media Player on Vista still won't allow me to import mp3 format music files.

Happy September!

九月到了! There is a bunch of stuff to look forward to this month!! :D

Walked around campus this morning since the atmosphere is nice and quiet (but the weather was freezing cold!). 新鮮又平靜的空氣, just me and Mother Nature. 一邊走, 一邊聽杰倫不能說的秘密的soundtrack, 好輕鬆喔.

The leaves are also starting to change colors...

Ping have to start getting used to the cold again...boo!