COVID-19 Affecting Your Plans?

My wife and I have worked out a system, that if kept in place might keep us safe. We have limited or eliminated close contact with other people, including our 29 year old son, who understands and supports us. I, like @Yvonne, have chronic lung issues, and it would be most unfortunate if I contracted this disease and got pneumonia again.
I work in an architects office, with the guy I am a consultant with, along with 2 other people running their own businesses. They are able to work from home, and we use Go To Meeting and other apps to meet with consultants. I have not seen my boss in almost 2 weeks. I am the only person using the office, as It is easier for me to stay there, as everyone is working from home. My hours have been greatly reduced due to the current situation. My wife works in a garden center doing inventory, and she has cut down her hours and works early in the morning to avoid people. So, the only time we have to be around other people (some of whom are acting like nothing is happening in the world) is going to the grocery store, which we are doing once a week, and the pharmacy which I only need to visit every 2 weeks. Luckily we have our savings, so we can survive for quite a while, a luxury most people do not have. I thought I could not stop working due to paying the bills, but we have worked it out mainly through sacrifices. Wine is not one of the things we have cut down on, as we have our priorities. We have a dog park below our house where we can walk our dog Cato, as well as numerous trails in and around the community. We are going to Dominguez Canyon in a couple of weeks, as I am working on a collaboration with another artist in town on a gallery proposal about "Stone", how some cultures felt that stones were once people and acted as interpreters, communicators from the past, a function of time. An interesting yet challenging concept.
From Norman Maclean:
“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
I am haunted by waters.”

BCP has been a good outlet, and an essential part of the day that I look forward to. Everyone stay safe. Cheers.
 
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I had to bail on a long-distance hike a week back. The resupply situation was just getting too tenuous in those tiny towns at the end of long and fraying supply lines. And if my resupply goes sideways, the alternative involves impossible hitchhikes and lots of contact with other people - and that's just not responsible right now.
 
After talking to friends in Moab and who work at the Sand Flats, I think I'm going to just stay put here in W. Colorado. They say the tourists in Moab are/were unbelievably not taking anything seriously.

I just got an order of dog/cat food from Chewy.com and the FEDEX delivery guy said he's normally in Aspen and everyone there's in panic mode. They don't even want him bringing deliveries. Aspen's getting hit hard, though. He did say they had plenty of food in the stores there, but most of the other businesses are closed (which is why he was down my way doing home deliveries).

@Outdoor_Fool - would train hopping be a good idea right now - there's a line not far from my house and I have cabin fever really bad. I could hop a freight to SLC and back just for something to do. Probably pretty low contact... :)
 
After talking to friends in Moab and who work at the Sand Flats, I think I'm going to just stay put here in W. Colorado. They say the tourists in Moab are/were unbelievably not taking anything seriously.

I just got an order of dog/cat food from Chewy.com and the FEDEX delivery guy said he's normally in Aspen and everyone there's in panic mode. They don't even want him bringing deliveries. Aspen's getting hit hard, though. He did say they had plenty of food in the stores there, but most of the other businesses are closed (which is why he was down my way doing home deliveries).

@Outdoor_Fool - would train hopping be a good idea right now - there's a line not far from my house and I have cabin fever really bad. I could hop a freight to SLC and back just for something to do. Probably pretty low contact... :)

If you hop that freight to SLC, you better damn sure stop by and say "Hi" to the Scatman! I'd be glad to pick you up at the Union Pacific's Northern Yard when you get here. I've got no toilet paper, but plenty of beer. :D
 
I am encouraged by the abundance of critical thinkers here that are thinking of everyone instead of their own inconveniences; something that cannot be said of many folks on several facebook hiking groups.. Yellowstone and Grand Teton finally shut down today. This is a wonderful community and I might just try and do some some reflection by posting some stuff about years gone by. We are going to get through this because we are stronger together. Keep your sticks on the ice and when its time the trail will be there, rising to meet us! "Up the Rebels!"
 
I am encouraged by the abundance of critical thinkers here that are thinking of everyone instead of their own inconveniences; something that cannot be said of many folks on several facebook hiking groups.. Yellowstone and Grand Teton finally shut down today. This is a wonderful community and I might just try and do some some reflection by posting some stuff about years gone by. We are going to get through this because we are stronger together. Keep your sticks on the ice and when its time the trail will be there, rising to meet us! "Up the Rebels!"
This x1000000000000000000000
 
I am encouraged by the abundance of critical thinkers here that are thinking of everyone instead of their own inconveniences; something that cannot be said of many folks on several facebook hiking groups.. Yellowstone and Grand Teton finally shut down today. This is a wonderful community and I might just try and do some some reflection by posting some stuff about years gone by. We are going to get through this because we are stronger together. Keep your sticks on the ice and when its time the trail will be there, rising to meet us! "Up the Rebels!"

I still have high hopes that it will be open in July and August as it is my escape from dusty and unbearable Southern Utah.
I hope I can get up to the area and breathe, so I'm holding on to that stick for now. If not it will mean I have to stay inside for 2+ months which would be horrible.

Zion, unfortunately, stays open and if it goes the same way as it did last weekend, it will be overcrowded to the brim and not helping contain the virus. Definitely no social distancing at all
 
Apparently Emery, Grand, and San Juan counties are on lockdown. No out of county people can stay the night, including camping. You can pass through, but you cannot stay. Canyonlands person told me out of respect to those counties wishes, they cancelled the backcountry permits for virus fears, but day hiking is still ok. For now.

Wayne County is not on lockdown at this time. I asked if I could camp on blm land there and he said probably, but it would be smart to call the blm first.

So, as of now, I plan to camp on BLM land in Wayne County as near where i want to go and I will drive into Canyonlands Maze area daily and hike as long as I don't stay the night in the park or one of those other counties.

If Wayne County locks down........
 
I am still hoping to backpack Dolly Sods and hike sections of Shenandoah, Seneca Rocks area mid-May. We might have to overnight in a motel, but should otherwise have low public exposure. SNP may present an issue as we still want to avoid most people so am busy researching less-traveled trails that still have scenic rewards. Will need to find alternatives to the bigger campgrounds as well. Hopefully most will be back at work so mid-week won't be bad.

Many people simply don't get it:
Zion:
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/national-parks-plea-social-distancing-busy-weekend/story?id=69746240
Shenandoah:
https://www.nationalparkstraveler.o...nal-park-and-national-mall-and-memorial-parks
 

Thanks for sharing.
Cuomo is very concerned about it and today shared that +6,000 Mental Health Professionals in NYS have signed up to volunteer help people. A helpline phone number was shared during the news conf and he encouraged to call.

(In addition 40,000 former Healthcare workers have already signed up as Reserve Healthcare workers, ready to help when needed).
 
Thanks for sharing.
Cuomo is very concerned about it and today shared that +6,000 Mental Health Professionals in NYS have signed up to volunteer help people. A helpline phone number was shared during the news conf and he encouraged to call.

(In addition 40,000 former Healthcare workers have already signed up as Reserve Healthcare workers, ready to help when needed).
Mental health is what may end up suffering more than we will ever know
 
Mental health is a big deal.

Trying to keep things light at home and mix things up where we can, but everything lately still adds up. The spring break trip for all the kids that was mostly in San Juan county Utah is canceled. I will stick to some more weekend overnighters nearby and maybe some backyard nights with the younger kids as I have been doing the past couple of weeks.

My daughter yesterday also said "I need the desert." She usually spends most of the time that she is not at school or playing soccer just doing whatever homework or teens do on their phones in their rooms, but not having our annual spring break trip to look forward to really has her down.
However, her saying that out of the blue was music to my ears. I think I actually succeeded at one aspect of parenting. Now maybe I can help her feel that way about snow camping.
 
Idaho is shutting down non essential businesses for 21 days by governor order.
 
Nice. You've done well.

I had an interesting conversation with my wife at lunch today. In a nutshell, she said: "I'm frustrated that they have closed our local parks. I wish I could hike in them, but too many people won't follow the common sense rules. So now none of can do that. I wish people weren't so irresponsible and careless."

And I started thinking about that. "Every law we have, from speed limits to murder, is because there are at least some people who won't follow common sense--they are careless and irresponsible. And because of them, we have rules against everything from violent crimes and grand theft to littering and...yes, failure to observe the shelter in place guidelines established by the medical offers."

Kinda sad.
 
They closed Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks today along with Great Smoky. The latter I can understand as it was ridiculously overcrowded with many violations of distancing. I thought Yellowstone and Grand Teton are quiet at this time. Plenty of room to spread out. Apparently it was due to pressure from the 2 governors. Maybe to stop tourism entirely?

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireS...on-join-national-parks-closing-gates-69774141
 
Henry Mountain BLM district says camping is fine on blm land. Just the usual pack it in, pack it out wording
 
I was hoping to head that direction this weekend, but now we are under a 'stay at home order' in Colorado...

So, while Grand County is basically saying "GTFO," Garfield County is saying "Please come here."

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And since my usual hiking buddy can't legally camp in Grand County like I can this weekend, guess where we're going? (Don't worry, we'll only have to stop in any town once and only for fuel, and we'll sanitize our hands before touching the pumps.)
 
They closed Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks today along with Great Smoky. The latter I can understand as it was ridiculously overcrowded with many violations of distancing. I thought Yellowstone and Grand Teton are quiet at this time. Plenty of room to spread out. Apparently it was due to pressure from the 2 governors. Maybe to stop tourism entirely?

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireS...on-join-national-parks-closing-gates-69774141

Should we start thinking about how many elderly live in the small town we pass or stop at? Or wonder how many ICU beds are available in that area for those people? Or how many Bisons we approach? It sucks not being able to do what we all love to do. Sometimes in life we need to suck it up. We would all flock to the few places still open.

Right now Rick and I gave up on any travel plans for the next many months and I 'm wondering what I can personally do to pressure officials to get a mass test developed, so we can test for antibodies in the blood. The peak is expected to be end of April in NYS. That's far away!!! Every state in the US has a different peak and different intensity of it all. But I know 1 thing for sure: Rick and I are not going anywhere, anytime soon.

Denmark quickly closed down 2 weeks ago. 76 people today required a ventilator, 34 has passed so far. They expect the need for a ventilator to peak at 991 people. They have 1060 beds with ventilators. They managed to flatten the curve, at least that's the projection. The discussion is now.... : how will we get everyone back to work? 2 weeks more,1 month, this summer? If it's this summer, then we can't all go to Spain and France on vacation, oh no.... So how can we safely start putting people back to work WITHOUT screwing up what we just accomplished by practicing social distance for 2 weeks?


 
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