Ear to the ground

“It’s where everyone in Durango goes to be famous.”

-A local woman after viewing yet another Durango contribution to www.youtube.com

High water

High water is coming, and it’s going to be gamble for many locals. The Durango Discovery Museum at the Powerhouse has kicked off the “High Water” fund-raising contest, where Durangoans can guess the date and volume of high water on the Animas River for a chance to win big prizes.

Markers can be purchased for $5 each or $20 for five and are available at Carvers and local riversports shops. The guesses are then deposited into “mini-groovers,” complete with toilet seats. The contest runs through June 1 (hint, hint), and winners will be announced at the Who’s Your Daddy street festival June 14.

The prizes include a Necky Vibe Kayak, Aire Tomcat Inflatable Kayak, Animas Raft Tour with Powerhouse Lunch catered by Norton’s, Nintendo Wii, iPod Shuffle and more. The local with the best flow will get his/her choice of prizes and the runners-up choose from the remainder.

All proceeds will benefit the Durango Discovery Museum at the Powerhouse, an expansion project of the Children’s Museum of Durango. When it opens, the museum will include an interactive science/energy center for all ages, sustainability labs, restaurant and museum shop, and an outdoor science park and sound garden. For more information on the museum or “High Water,” visit www.durangodiscovery.org.

Big wheel

Some people just like it the hard way. Jonathan Summerfield, “although everyone calls me Joff,” passed through Durango this week on a two-year, round-the-world bike ride. Unlike most global pedalers, “Joff” is riding an old-school, high-wheeled Penny-Farthing.

Summerfield started the journey in London before heading out to the subcontinent. His big wheel traversed Europe, has left tracks in Turkey and has covered ground in Pakistan, India and Nepal, where he paid a visit to Everest base camp. He dropped through Laos and Vietnam before skipping the Pacific and landing on the West Coast.

Early this week, Summerfield’s travels brought him to La Plata County, where he briefly stopped over before pedaling out of town and pointing his Penny-Farthing for Wolf Creek Pass.

“That is truly hard-core riding,” an onlooker observed.

For more on the high-wheeled adventure, visit www.pennyfarthing worldtour.com.

Editors note:
Speaking of London, the Bachelor has taken a week off to prepare for sweeps week and get some much-needed R&R before the final rose drops. Check-in next week for the Telegraph’s final Bachelor update.