Two Summit Volunteers Reflect…

2006-06-27 10:28:14.000 – Leslie Adler and Judy Richardi,  Summit Volunteers

Has it only been a week that we’ve been at the summit? Somehow we feel like we were born here. The two of us – Judy Richardi and Leslie Adler – have been treated to a week of beautiful weather, including two days of brilliant sunshine and two amazing sunsets – the sky lit with shades of pinks, oranges and purples as the sun receded behind cascading ridges of mountains. Observer Jim Salge kindly arranged for Leslie to take the cog railway down to the valley so she could hike up the Jewel Trail to the Gulfside Trail back to the summit. That was a longer but easier hike than the previous day’s trek down Huntington Ravine to the Alpine Garden Trail and then back up Lion’s Head to Tuckerman Ravine. Judy, meanwhile, baked enough pizza and calzone to get her name inscribed on a gold plaque in the observatory kitchen.

We also got a taste of the summit’s legendary fog and winds . Although the weather never rivaled any of the extreme record-setting conditions, heavy rains one afternoon forced the closing of the auto road. It’s been largely in the 50’s during the day, while in the valley right now it’s a balmy 76 degrees – a full 20 degrees warmer than at the summit.

Judy, while organizing the supply closet, found the week’s greatest treasure – a book on homesteading written decades ago by a woman in Idaho. There is nothing that we haven’t learned – and it has provided great inspiration of what could be done at the observatory. There’s advice on not just raising animals, but how to buy cows, not mention details on how to castrate a bull. And in case you’re thinking of raising rabbits, remember this: You only need to start with two; they do indeed multiply like, well, rabbits. There are also great recipes that we hope future volunteers will follow. The best, written by a 6-year-old on how to make macaroni and cheese: Set the table, wait for the Dad to come home, eat the macaroni and cheese.

We did make macaroni and cheese with ham one night for dinner, even though no Dad was here. There was also meatloaf, stir-fry chicken, the cutest little banana breads using the kitchen’s miniature loaf pans, two corn breads, three pizzas, four calzones and a partridge in a pear tree.

Yes, the air is a little thin here at 6,288 feet. We blame everything on the altitude.

Leslie Adler and Judy Richardi,  Summit Volunteers