ATDDTA(10) Will She Give A Lizard Head? [288]

Tue Jun 5 09:17:38 CDT 2007

The description of La Blanca continues. Bob Meldrum and his  
otherworldly 'wife' live together in a cabin near Tomboy, where, when  
not busy reppin' for Cap'n Wells, he serves as day guard for the  
mine, compensating for his impaired hearing with keen eyesight.  
Saloon talk says La Blanca is looking for some action, since she is  
rarely seen with Bob. Knowing such, Ellmore isn't too keen on seeing  
her alone at Lupita's. Too many junior Romeos hungry for the taste of  
fish taco if you know what I mean, and I suspect that you do. The  
page ends with Lupita spinning out tortillas.

------------------------------------

[288:1] "up in Montrose"

"The town of Montrose was founded in 1882, a short time after the Ute  
Indians left the Uncompahgre Valley. The founder, Joseph Selig, was  
reminded of the beautiful lake country of Scotland and named the new  
town after Sir Walter Scott's "Legend of Montrose". Early Montrose  
was a typical frontier freight center and cow town. It was the hub of  
the various mining camps of the San Juan Mountains, serving their  
many needs.
After the narrow gauge railroad advanced to the mining camps, the  
cattle and sheep empires came into being to satisfy the meat-hungry  
eastern markets, now that there was a rail transportation to the  
eastern area."
   http://tinyurl.com/27zvqe
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Legend_of_Montrose

------------------------------------

[288:1] "guttering like cold flames, in blizzards [etc etc]" "

Gutter
INTRANSITIVE VERB: 1. To flow in channels or rivulets. 2. To melt  
away through the side of the hollow formed by a burning wick. Used of  
a candle. 3. To burn low and unsteadily; flicker. [AHD]

Shit, she's a child of the storm, too. And her life as a fantasy  
princess pales in comparison to life in mining country.

------------------------------------

[288:5-6] "in a cabin uptrail from the mine tailings"

Tailings consist of ground rock and process effluents that are  
generated in a mine processing plant. Mechanical and chemical  
processes are used to extract the desired product from the run of the  
mine ore and produce a waste stream known as tailings. This process  
of product extraction is never 100% efficient, nor is it possible to  
reclaim all reusable and expended processing reagents and chemicals.  
The unrecoverable and uneconomic metals, minerals, chemicals,  
organics and process water are discharged, normally as slurry, to a  
final storage area commonly known as a Tailings Management Facility  
(TMF) or Tailings Storage Facility (TSF). Not surprisingly the  
physical and chemical characteristics of tailings and their ability  
to mobilise metal constituents are of great and growing concern  
(ICOLD and UNEP 2001).
   http://www.tailings.info/tailings.htm

Photos of mine tailings:
   http://www.mines.edu/fs_home/jhoran/ch126/tailings.htm

------------------------------------

[288:33] "Bear Creek"

Bear Creek Canyon
Easy to Moderate (Approximately 4 miles round trip from town to  
falls)- hiking, biking. This is an awesome hike, a favorite of locals  
and visitors alike, because Bear Creek's amazing serenity and beauty  
makes you feel like you're miles away from civilization. It's 2 miles  
one way to the waterfalls with a 1,040-foot elevation gain within  
this 325-acre mountain canyon that is secured for the public by the  
Telluride Land Trust. Enter the trail from the end of South Pine  
Street and follow Bear Creek up the canyon and enjoy views of jagged  
peaks on your way to the waterfalls. About .25 miles before the  
falls, watch for the sign on your right announcing the trailhead to  
the rugged and challenging Wasatch Trail.
   http://www.telluridetoday.com/hiking.htm

Photos of marmots and Wasatch Trail in Bear Creek Canyon
   http://www.run100s.com/hrphotos/ericjr.htm

------------------------------------

[288:39] "comal"

"A comal is a griddle or grill typically used for cooking foods based  
on a tortilla, including quesadillas, a folded tortilla filled with  
cheese and/or meat heated on the comal, or even the Arabic saj. The  
history of such cooking methods dates back to the Pre-Columbian era  
when corn was ground by stone, made into tortillas, then filled with  
whatever was available and heated over an open fire.
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comal_%28cookware%29

Photo:
   http://tinyurl.com/ypekpd

------------------------------------

[288:40] "Lizard Head Pass"

Lizard Head Pass, CO
Elevation 10,250  ft.
RGS Mile Post 52.6

A 400 feet tall rock pinnacle gave rise to the name Lizard Head. In  
the 1890's the peak apparently resembled a lizard. The RGS even chose  
this formation for its logo. One story goes that one night a loud  
rumble filled the area and local residents thought there had been an  
earthquake. However the next day it became apparent that there had  
been a large rock fall at the peak and it may have lost its lizard  
like appearance.
Located along the divide between the Dolores and San Miguel  
watersheds, the area at Lizard Head Pass is a large gently sloping  
meadow. It was heavily logged in the early days and became a favorite  
summer grazing spot for sheep ranchers. The open nature of the land  
led to cold winters and significant snow drifts.
   http://ghostdepot.com/rg/mainline/san%20juan%20branch/lizard% 
20head.htm

Lizard Head ... is the most difficult of Colorado summits to reach.  
In fact the rottenness of its 400' tower makes safety too much a  
matter of luck for comfort. Returning visitors have formed the  
opinion that the peak has become noticeably rottener and more  
dangerous. Our advice ... when you reach the base, take a picture and  
go home.
   http://www.geocities.com/gibell.geo/trip_reports/lizard_head.html

Lizard Head (often called Lizard Head Peak) is a mountain in  
Colorado, one of the 637 peaks above 13,000 feet in elevation in the  
state (see thirteeners). It is located in the San Juan Mountains on  
the border between San Miguel County and Dolores County, within the  
Lizard Head Wilderness and just southeast of a group of three  
Colorado fourteeners, Mount Wilson, Wilson Peak, and El Diente Peak.  
Lizard Head is only the 556th highest peak in Colorado by most  
standard definitions,[1] but its towering spire-like form makes it  
one of the most spectacular.

Lizard Head is an old eroded volcanic neck and is one of the most  
difficult summits in Colorado to climb. The story of the first ascent  
makes a memorable and harrowing tale.[2] In the words of Albert  
Ellingwood, "A rottener mass of rock is inconceivable. The core may  
still be solid but the 'surrounding tuffs' are seeking a lower level  
in large quantities. This far-advanced disintegration was our  
greatest obstacle. Absolutely the whole surface of the rock is loose  
and pebbles rain down from the sides as readily as needles from an  
aging Christmas tree. In many places one could with one hand pull  
down hundreds of pounds of fragments, and occasionally we could hear  
the crashing of small avalanches that fell without human prompting."  
Despite the serious and daunting objective hazards, the first ascent  
team completed the climb and descent safely in a feat of  
mountaineering skill that was far ahead of its time.
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizard_Head

1890 Photo:
   http://tinyurl.com/269ttn

Close-up Of the "lizard head":
   http://tinyurl.com/25vvr2

More info and photos:
   http://www.narrowgauge.org/ngc/html/excursion1/excursion1-lizard- 
head.html

------------------------------------