Abbey's Road

Well, I’m way behind in getting this posted but I’m finally trying to catch up now. For one of my last trips in Colorado the week after Labor Day I went up to Crested Butte with Tracy, Gwen and Mike. Mike and Gwen had been talking about hiking from Crested Butte to Aspen and back for quite some time and they finally got all the plans worked out. Luckily, Tracy and I were able to join them for at least part of it. Poor Abbey got left in the kennel back in Denver. I drove the RV up Friday afternoon and we found a great spot to park on the way to the trailhead. Mike and Gwen decided not to rough it the first night and stayed in town, but they came out to join us for a kickoff dinner. Mike, Gwen and Tracy all work for United, but I made them promise not to talk shop and on the whole they were pretty good about it. We got up early the next morning and drove to the trailhead. Mike and Gwen had planned to camp out on the way back from Aspen to Crested Butte so they had to carry their packs with all their gear the whole way.

Tracy had to be back to work and I had to get back because my brother, John, and his wife, Patty, were coming to Denver for the week so we were spared the heavy packs. We had an absolutely perfect fall day for hiking. The aspens hadn’t quite started to turn yet, but it was still beautiful. The West Maroon Pass trail passes through the Maroon Bell Wilderness and skirts around Maroon and North Maroon Peaks. It’s normally a very popular trail but it actually wasn’t that crowded. It’s the shortest distance between Crested Butte and Aspen – about 10.5 miles on foot, and then a 15 minute bus ride into town. By car the shortest drive is over 100 miles and takes 3-4 hours, and the scenery just isn’t quite the same.

We didn’t exactly rough it, though, as we stayed in a nice little hotel in Aspen. I was a bit worried given the price seemed way too affordable for Aspen, but the hotel turned out to be really nice.

The next morning Mike and Gwen took a different trail and headed to Conundrum Hot Springs and an overnight campout. After carrying those packs I’m sure the hot springs felt great. Meanwhile, Tracy and I caught a cab back to the trailhead and headed back the way we came. This time we got to see the Maroon Bells in the morning light, which was pretty spectacular. The hike didn’t take as long the second time around, and the weather was just as gorgeous. Funny thing was that we saw a rainbow leaving Crested Butte just before we made the long drive back to Denver.

John and Patty flew in on Sunday afternoon, but I didn’t see them until Monday. They made the trip because Patty had a conference to go to and John just came along for the ride. Unfortunately, I kept forgetting my camera so I didn’t get any pictures of them or the sights we saw. I did get to take them to Boulder, Breckenridge, Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs and a few other places. I think they’d agree that the Garden of the Gods was the highlight as far as scenery is concerned. I hadn’t seen them in nearly 2 years so just spending time with them was the highlight for me. I think they liked the area enough that they might even come back to visit me once I move back in the winter. They left on Friday morning and I hung out a little while longer before heading up to Jackson on Sunday. More on that later.

Posted by Ed at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Last Friday I moved most of my stuff out of my Boulder apartment and camped out in preparation for attempting my second 14er, Torreys Peak. We got a late start, but Walter, Kendra, Tracy and I finally got up to the trailhead around 9PM and set our stuff up in the dark. Tracy and I slept under the stars but it wasn’t such a bright idea, because the moon was way too bright. I think I got a whole hour’s sleep. Christie and her cousin, David, joined us at the trailhead the next morning. Despite us only having to walk several yards from the tents and them having to drive a couple of hours, they still managed to be there and ready before us. In any case we started off before 7 along with at least a hundred other people. This is one of the more popular 14ers to do, but fortunately we had picked a route that most people don’t take – hiking up Kelso Ridge. After a couple of miles we turned off the main trail and left the crowds behind. We had to do a bit of scrambling though most of it wasn’t that tough. There were a few hairy spots like a “knife edge” and the White Tower. I’ll let the pictures do the talking here. Suffice it to say that with one slip we would've been a goner in some places. By the time I got to the top, I was in heaven. That’s the kind of hike that I’ve always wanted to do. I have a feeling I’m going to do a lot more hiking with this group. I’ll still do the normal trail hikes, but they won’t be quite the same. At the top we surprised Walter with a birthday celebration. I’m sure we thoroughly embarrassed him. The way back down was pretty anticlimactic. I was pretty exhausted, mostly from the lack of sleep. After stopping at the apartment and showering, I drove up to Dan & Bonnie’s because they were taking Andrea out to dinner for her birthday. I somehow managed to make it through dinner without falling asleep, but not long after I got in the car, I crashed.

On Tuesday I finally got back on the road and headed up to Leadville where Jim and Patricia are staying. They are friends that I worked with twice up in Jackson. Jim was my roofing partner for a good part of both builds. Jim’s an electrician and he’s been working on a huge hotel up in Vail for the past year or so. For the past month they’ve been living in their fifth wheel up in Leadville. I was here 2 years ago and it seems to me that they have fixed up even more of the town since then. They took me out to dinner and we reminisced about our good times in Jackson. Unfortunately, they aren’t going to be able to make the next build up there which starts in a couple of weeks. I’m going for the three-peat and looking forward to it.

I really enjoyed my summer in Boulder, but, believe it or not, there were times when I was itching to get on the road, if even for a short roadtrip. But I met a number of people, got to do a lot of yoga and see some great live shows including Lyle Lovett, kd lang, the Subdudes, Amos Lee, John Hiatt, Shawn Colvin and the Neville Brothers. You can’t beat that. The last show, Amos Lee and the Subdudes was free. Well, for us it was. I went with Steve Kupec, who was visiting on business for the week, and Bonnie (Dan was out of town). If you know Steve, you know he loves to eat. He stopped at Whole Foods on his way back from a meeting and went crazy. He bought so much food he even invited the cashier to join us. She politely declined. She gave some excuse about having to work a double shift. The concert was at Chautauqua, a very cool, historic auditorium about 5 minutes from the apartment. The really cool thing about it is that you can “poach” seats on the outside of the theatre and they don’t care. They open up these big sliding doors and you can hear almost as well as inside. Our view wasn’t great, but we were rookies when it came to seat selection. Now we know where to go next time. But the other great thing is that you can eat and drink (and boy did we eat!) as much as you want. Inside they don’t allow food or drinks. I don’t think I’ll ever pay for tickets there again. I had a good week with Steve though it started out kind of rough. Before he showed up I picked up some kind of stomach virus. By his second day I was finally eating solid foods again which was good since he was on expense account. If you know Steve, it won’t surprise you that he knew more places to go in Boulder than I did.

Three or four weeks ago I was getting bored with Boulder and was ready to leave, but my time there ended with a flurry of activity. I was happy it ended on such a good note, and I still have some great things to look forward to in the next month or so. I’ve also decided that I want to come back to the area in the winter, though it might not necessarily be Boulder. It will all depend on where I can find a place. And this time I’ll already know a bunch of people so I’m really looking forward to it.

Posted by Ed at 12:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)