It feels like coming home.

When I come up into the mountains.

These trees, the peaks.

It's quiet.

It's peaceful.

It's awe-inspiring.

My role as the snow ambassador for San Juan Mountains Association is to come up here to 11,000ft to our most popular winter recreation trailhead.

We're really not that far from Durango or Silverton, but you really feel like you're way out in the mountains.

On an average weekend, I'm seeing over 300 people in and out of this parking lot, and probably 30 to 50 dogs.

I don't know how many times I've talked about doggie poop bags.

That's a lot of dogs pooping in this forest and spreading E.coli into our alpine lakes and rivers.

So it's really important to be up here and try to catch as many of those people.

And that's also a lot of people to empower.

That's a lot of people to educate on how to best fit their snowshoes so that they have a really awesome hike out in the forest, because if they have a great time out in the mountains, they're more likely to want to protect them and learn about ways to preserve these beautiful places that we get to recreate.

When I come out onto these trails and kind of do a little patrol, main thing I'm looking for is trash that fell out of someone's pocket.

Foods scraps that got left behind.

Dog poop.

Dog poop bags.

These are not marked trails.

They're just wherever people decide to go.

And so the first person out after a storm is who decides where the trail is going to start, and then it just forks from there with people going up.

It is surprisingly easy to get turned around in this forest, so sometimes I'm out on the trails and people like, how do I get back to the parking lot?

I had a woman last winter who was pretty badly stuck in her cross-country skis.

She'd gotten into a really deep spot she should not have been in.

I've got medical training and a first aid kit to be able to help people out if they're in a pickle.

I love being in the mountains.

It's my happy place up here to try to protect them and educate people on the things they can do to help keep this place beautiful forever.

Keeps me coming back.