My feet still hurt after that hike, but it was so great. At the peak, I met a park employee who took my picture while I was poking around. She emailed it to me and I received it as I rolled into Alpine for the night. I spent last night in town because I had a video interview scheduled for this morning, so I needed good internet access. Also I desperately needed a real shower and guest laundry. Also a burger.
As I woke up to get ready, my contact emailed to reschedule. I realize, especially this time of year, how that happens, but it was disheartening. This was my last outstanding prospect from the round of applications I sent in early November. Everyone else either turned me down or ghosted. So it was a mixed bag that these folks rescheduled. It was a blow, but it also wasn’t a no. Maybe there’s still hope?
In the last 36 hours, I have also become entangled with a scammer who claims to represent the domain name tsmith.com and wants to sell it to me for an exorbitant fee. I’ve been stringing him along, trying to negotiate a lower price by email over what tiny bits of cell service I could find in the park. I discovered this morning that it is actually on a GoDaddy “expired inventory” auction. I’d imagine this individual was trying to sell it to me at a high price, then go win the auction behind my back. Some research indicated that his group does a lot of shady deals with GoDaddy that go down like this. But my myriad ethical issues with GoDaddy aside, they would not defraud me the money if I worked with them directly. Maybe I can outmaneuver this middleman.
Regardless, the word “creative” in tsmithcreative.com has an industry connotation of “graphic designer in advertising,” which no longer describes what I’m seeking. Also a 6-letter .com domain is rare and valuable these days. If I can swing it, this could be part of the “rebranding” work I’m doing to try and re-key my woefully neglected online professional presence. So I put in an anonymous bid.
I had another coffee, packed up, re-wrapped my hand, and left for the park. It’s looking a lot better, and it’s finally not sore anymore.
After Pinto Canyon Road and the Emory Peak hike, I felt like I’d done what I came here to do. It wasn’t “activity” that brought me out here, anyway. It’s been such a weird ride for the last couple weeks so I wanted something relaxed this afternoon.
I decided to head up Old Ore Road to Ernst Tinaja, my favorite find from the New Year’s trip last year.
The topo map of the area shows that the gap that forms Ernst Tinaja continues through the ridge to the other side, beyond the end of the trail. I decided to figure out where it went. It just opened up onto the flats on the other side but it was a nice view. And I had the whole trail to myself.
I also decided to retake my social media profile picture here, since the last one was taken at a corporate retreat a couple years ago and I was wearing a team shirt.
It pairs nicely with a photo Evan snapped of me last year on the Lost Mine Trail that I’ve decided to use as a “cover image.” I put it up after I got home. Thankfully, the new photos attracted enough attention that no one noticed the change in “current employer” status, or at least no one said anything.
I had some lunch and sat in the canyon a while.
When it started to get dark, I worked my way back down Old Ore Road to the nearby Rio Grande Village campground — the largest in the park, but sparsely populated this evening. I had a much more secluded site than in Chisos Basin, right next to a boardwalk into the a marsh leading to the river.
Though there weren’t many campers, a zoo’s worth of animals was on the move all evening making all kinds of sounds. I had some car-supper, went through photos, and read more of my book. Not a bar of cell service for miles.