Abbey's Road

I had been looking forward to spending time in Colorado in the winter so I could go skiing, snowshoeing and winter hiking, but one thing I really had on my list was doing a winter hut trip. Tracy and I put that high on our list of things to do this winter. I am learning to telemark ski and have been several times. We have been snowshoeing and hikng several times and, in the end of January, I did my first hut trip. We went to a hut in the 10th Mountain Hut system called Polar Star. Tracy said it wasn't one of the nicer huts, but since I don't know the difference yet it was great to me. Hut is a bit of an understatement. Even cabin sells it a bit short. It sleeps 17 and has a large kitchen and eating area complete with wood and propane stoves. Since we went during the week, we only had to share it with 4 other guys who turned out to be great hut-mates with real good food which they willingly shared. Though we certainly didn't go hungry with all the food we brought. The only thing we wished we had brought was another bottle of wine!

The ski in was tough. You're really not skiing, but "skinning" up the trail. (With backcountry skiing, you can use either telemark or randonee, aka AT skis, with climbing skins attached to the bottom.) And I do mean up. The trail gained 2000 ft. in elevation in 6 miles. We got a late start so we didn't stop a whole lot and my legs were about to fall off when it was getting to be about 4PM. I thought we still had a little ways to go, but since Tracy had been there before she knew we'd see the hut any minute. So she slyly let me go first and, sure enough, around the next bend there was the hut. I don't think I could've gone another 1/2 mile so I was real happy. The next day we skinned further up the mountain with our hutmates and climbed up a ridge. We decided that was high enough and it was time for me to make my first backcountry turns on telemark skis. It was also time for me to make my first backcountry faceplants, but amazingly enough I actually did manage to make some real telemark turns. The open area was shortlived as we headed back into the trees. Which meant going back to snowplowing a lot and occasionally trying to do a real turn.

The first two days had been perfect, beautiful blue-sky days and the temps were in the mid- to upper-20s. Not bad for the mountains. The second night we got a minor blizzard. It only dumped about 4-6" of new snow, but it was enough to give us fresh trackless powder to ski out on. It started out in the low teens, but by the time we were well on our way out, things warmed up real nice. I'd highly recommend it to anyone, but I would also recommend being in pretty good shape. I wished I had been in better shape, but I survived and had a great time in the process. Here are some pictures, but to see them all you can go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/23798449@N04/sets/

Posted by Ed at 10:34 PM | Permalink

It's hard to believe another year has gone by. It was a different year for me, but a really good one all the same. I was off the road quite a bit living in an apartment in Boulder for the summer. And now, I have moved back to Colorado, this time in a city called Lakewood just outside of Denver. I have rented a 2 BR townhouse, so I have room for guests. It might not be luxurious, but my door will always be open to all of you, especially to those of you who have "put me up" for a few days, or a few weeks, over the past 2 1/2 years. I can't thank you enough for your hospitality. Now it's my turn to be the host. There is so much to do here - hiking, biking, climbing in the summer and skiing, skating, snowboarding and snowshoeing in the winter. Please come out and visit!

I also have a new person in my life. Her name is Tracy and I met her in a hiking group this summer. We love to do a lot of the same things and she was also brave enough to volunteer to teach me how to telemark ski this winter.

Abbey is still going strong at 14. She did a 2 1/2 hour snowshoe with us last weekend and had a great time in the snow. I think she's going to love it out here. She's also going to love living in one place for more than a few days or a few weeks. I think all the moving around was wearing on her and she really enjoyed staying put this summer. The same goes for me. I had a great time traveling around the country, but I had grown tired of all the travel. I still plan to take some trips, but I'll have a homebase now. I'm really looking forward to it.

I hope this holiday season finds you and your families all well. I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!

Ed

Posted by Ed at 11:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

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)

My upstairs neighbor is a pilot for United, but he also has his own plane. He had told me it's a biplane because he does aerobatics. I had pictured a WWII-era vintage plane, but when he invited me out a few weeks ago, I was surprised to see this brand-new looking plane.
He promised not to do any loops or rolls, which was good, because I have to admit my stomach was a little queasy at first. The open cockpit was actually better, though, because I had plenty of fresh air.

For this picture I actually had to do some work, as opposed to going up in a plane. Right near my house are the beautiful Flatirons (some day I'll get a picture). One of my hiking groups finally had to schedule a hike that started 5 minutes from the house in order for me to climb to the top of them. It's that old story of never doing the things right in your own backyard. It was definitely a workout. On the hike was one guy from Nebraska who had only been in Colorado 2-3 weeks and had never done a serious hike before....in his life! It was 3.4 miles, but it climbed 2900 ft. in those short miles. I guess you might as well dive right in to the tough stuff. Here's a view of the City of Boulder from the top of Bear Mt. If I had a better camera I could point out my house.

In Colorado they are fiercely proud of their 14ers. These are mountains that exceed 14,000 ft. It's kind of amazing, but of the 68 or so 14ers in the Lower 48, there are 54 (or 58 depending on who's counting) in Colorado. And there are a ton of freaks who feel that it is their destiny to climb every single one of them. Fortunately, or unfortunately, one of these freaks happens to lead the hiking group that I go with the most. Luckily, she doesn't exclusively do 14ers, but she certainly has a strong affinity for pain and punishment of the vertical variety. Well, I finally did my first one a few weeks ago with Mike, the pilot, and Gwen. To me, the best thing about going up high on these peaks is the view. It also is a great sense of accomplishment, or is that feeling overwhelming relief, when you finally get to the top.
OK, so Mt. Bierstadt is probably one of the easiest 14ers in the state, but its name notwithstanding, which means "beer city" in German, it is still a good workout. We lingered for a while on the top until we saw the ubiquitous afternoon thunder clouds rolling in. I was trying to be optimistic and kept saying we're not going to get hit before reaching the parking lot, but we not only got dumped on, we got hailed on too. Being good Coloradoans we were well-prepared with our rain gear. In this state you don't go to the store in the mountains in the afternoon without it. No, Mike and I did not coordinate our attired. I had actually seen him before we left, but I had on my last clean hiking shirt. So we just had to pretend that was the uniform of our hiking club.

Posted by Ed at 10:40 PM | Permalink

I've been doing more hiking lately and even remembered to bring my camera. I convinced Mike to join my on one of the group hikes last weekend, but we were both sorry we went. Actually, the hike was a real nice hike and we enjoyed most of the people, but the organizer was not, well....organized. Not only did half the group not show up, but it was very spread out and she lost complete track of her dog. Some other couple found him and brought him along on their hike. She was really pissed at them, but we were thinking that he'd be better off with the new couple. Then on Thursday both Gwen and Mike had off, so we went again. I actually had planned to work (OK, volunteer) at Engineers Without Borders, but decided to play hooky and go hiking instead. Good thing I'm not getting paid for that job or I might feel guilty.

Yesterday, I went with the other group that I've done most of my group hiking with. There usually is a pretty big group, but this time there were only 4 of us. I half expected the leader to call me in the morning telling me she was going to bag it, but it wasn't the case. In fact, one of her friends decided to go at the last minute, otherwise there would only have been 3. On the drive up, the weather didn't look too promising and I was beginning to think I should've cancelled, but I kept driving anyways. It actually turned out to be a great hike. The weather held out. It was cloudy, but because of that it wasn't hot at all. Despite the clouds, they were high enough so that we still had good views. The four of us yacked the whole way up and back down and we still managed to keep a pretty quick pace. Scott, the other guy, was a newcomer to the group and he was a wealth of information, a walking encyclopedia of backpacking, hiking and gear-related tips and tricks. The women, believe it or not, were so excited. They were also excited to have 2 guys along that would actually talk on the trail. Of course, I did have trouble getting a word in edgewise at times, but kept up my end whenever I could.

Mike and Gwen at Blue Lake
Wildflowers on Blue Lake Trail

Lake Dorothy Pictures

Near top of Twin Sisters
Longs Peak

Posted by Ed at 2:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

And it's even in my neighborhood!

Posted by Ed at 1:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A friend told me I can’t stop writing my blog. And yesterday, for some reason, I got the urge to write some of what I’ve been doing. So, no one, besides the friend who told me I can’t stop writing (you know who you are!) has to read it, but I’m going to write it anyways.

My Boulder experience hasn’t turned out to be too different from what I expected. I probably haven’t gone out to as many restaurants as I expected, but I’ve been able to listen to a fair amount of live music (Lyle Lovett, the Neville Brothers, the Colorado Symphony, Bob Dylan, free concerts, and more to come) and I’ve checked out a fair number of restaurants and bars/pubs. I’ve had a few visitors, which has been fun. I’m happy with the great selection of organic and natural food stores despite the fact that there is no Trader Joe’s. I have managed to get TJ’s care packages from 2 of my visitors, though! I’ve taken a number of miscellaneous classes and met some interesting people. I have some great neighbors, actually they live in my house. Mike, a pilot for United, lives above me. He is single, though he had a friend, Gwen, living with him for a few weeks while she found her own place. She just moved out from Chicago and also works for United. I have been doing a lot with them including hiking, biking and just hanging out. They’ve been great to have around. Doss and Susan live upstairs, but they use the garage as their factory. They make and sell hemp ice cream. It’s really not that bad, though I’ve only tried the cookie ice cream sandwiches. They sell them at various places including Red Rocks Amphitheater, a great place to see a concert. It’s an outdoor amphitheater built among these natural red rock (of course) formations. The other night Mike and I volunteered to help them so we could see Bob Dylan for free. They originally thought they were going to be shorthanded, but it turned out they didn’t need much help. We stayed for about 45 minutes of Dylan, but he turned out to be a bit disappointing. At least when he dies, we both can say that we have seen him. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to wear the hemp hats and walk through the crowd. Maybe next time. Speaking of concerts, this area has a TON in the summer. I’m in heaven. I saw Lyle Lovett with k.d. lang at Red Rocks last week. I became a big Lyle fan when I was in Austin. I just love his quirky style and something about his voice…. I usually say that about female singers. He’s the only male singer that I feel that way about. He put on a great show. Then I went to the historic Chautauqua Auditorium right here in Boulder and saw the Neville Brothers. It was hotter than hell in there, but they’re from New Orleans so it wasn’t humid enough for them, but they still managed to bring down the house. I have tickets to a few more shows (I’m killing my budget while I’m here), so I’m pretty excited music-wise.

I’ve met a decent number of people here, but besides Mike and Gwen I don’t feel like I’ve made any friends that I’ll keep in touch with. But there’s still time, so who knows. I found a website called meetup.com which sponsors groups for anything from hiking groups to singles groups to single mothers with 3 or more children. I stay away from the latter. Anyways, I’ve found a couple of good hiking groups that I’ve done outings with and also a climbing group. I’ve been wanting to do more climbing, but unfortunately I’ve only been once. Part of that has been the lack of confidence I have in my back. I found, through my friend Bonnie Gibbons, a new chiropractor here that I really like. He has a slightly different focus than most other chiropractors I’ve been to, and he also doesn’t have you come in 3 times a week for umpteen weeks. He’s given me a number or exercises to do and they seem to be helping so far. I think it’s a good start, at least. How far it goes is up to me.

I’ve also been doing some volunteer work for an organization called Engineers without Borders. One of my favorite organizations has always been Doctors without Borders. Since I’m not a doctor, or even in a medical field, I found the next best thing. Actually, though, there’s not much I can do for them in the way of field work. They mostly need civil, mechanical or traditional electrical engineers. They do engineering projects in developing countries and work with the locals to get them involved. I found out their main office is in Longmont, which is less than a ½ hours from me, so I asked them if they need any work done in the office. So far I’ve done a little work for them, and hopefully they’ll be more during the rest of the summer. The office is nearly all women, except for one of the summer interns, and now me. So, as you can imagine, they ask me to do all the computer-related stuff that noone else wants to touch. It’s a rough job, but someone’s got to do it. I’m just doing my part!

One of the things I’ve been doing a lot of here is getting good exercise. Besides hiking and walking Abbey every day, I’ve been going to yoga class. I’ve been trying to go twice a week and have hopes of bumping that up to 3 times. I first signed up for a 10 week class at the rec center. It’s a good class, but I’m the only guy (not so unusual for yoga) and I’m the only one under 50. If it weren’t for one woman, I’d be the only one under 60! I should’ve known signing up for a weekday class that starts at 9:15AM. I also go to another place that has a better mix of students, at least as far as age is concerned, and I’m not the only guy that goes. Luckily, there’s only one other guy. Wouldn’t want to make the ratio too even. So, between the chiro, hiking and yoga, I’m hoping my back and the rest of my body is in pretty good shape by the end of the summer. It is feeling better for the most part, but it still needs more work.

Well, that’s about all for now. Here are some hiking pictures. One of these days I want to get out and take pictures of Boulder and it’s crazy inhabitants. I’ve got to get a picture of the Hippo House. It’s right in my neighborhood. The crazy inhabitants are what gives Boulder it’s charm in my view. Yes, it has grown a lot, but it is still a fairly unique place once you look past all the touristy and gentrified places. It reminds me a bit of Austin, though on a smaller, and much more compact scale. In Austin you’ll see people wearing “Keep Austin Weird” shirts, or their cars sporting bumper stickers of the same ilk. In Boulder, you won’t see that (though you’ll see a million other bumper stickers), but I think it’s because they don’t need it. Despite the influx of yuppies and chi-chi stores, and, gasp, a mall, I think Boulder will always have its weird side. That’s what makes it interesting to me. I mostly sit on the outside and look in, but it’s usually with a smile on my face.

Posted by Ed at 12:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well I did manage to stay in Ruidoso for 2 nights before heading north. Ruidoso is a nice area with some good hiking, but the town is a bit touristy. Abbey and I got in one good hike before we moved on to Santa Fe. We got into Santa Fe late in the afternoon but with enough time to hit Trader Joe’s and stock up on our supplies. If you’ve never been to Trader Joe’s you don’t know what you’re missing. It has all kinds of good food and it also has wine at reasonable prices and I’m not talking about 2 Buck Chuck either. After loading up there I think my RV was probably over its weight limit, but luckily noone ever checks. When I got back to the RV park after Trader Joe’s I found that my camp chair, electric and TV cable that I had left at my site had been taken. I was pretty bummed because I wanted to watch TV that night, but I figured one of the workers must have picked them up figuring I had left it behind. When I asked the next morning, however, the guy said nothing had been turned in. Then I was really bummed. It was the first time I had ever had anything stolen. Guess I won’t stay at that park again.

On Saturday the whole Gibbons clan, Ryan’s friend, AJ, and I drove up to Frisco where we had rented a condo for 3 nights. Poor Abbey and their dog Lydee had to go to the kennel. It was Lydee’s first time, but at least she had Abbey with her. Abbey gave me that deer-in-the-headlights look when I turned to leave and told her I’d be back. It killed me, but skiing helped me get over it. We skied 2 days at A-Basin (Arapohoe Basin for the uninitiated) and 1 day at Copper Mtn. A-Basin is more of a locals hangout and a lot less crowded. It was my first real time skiing in about 13 years. Needless to say I was a bit rusty, but I escaped the 3 days without injury and I skied fairly well all things considered. So, I was usually the last one down the hill, but I was also usually one of the last ones to come in or take a break. It was a lot of fun getting back on skis again and it was a real bonus to come back all in one piece. I didn’t want to think about driving the RV with a broken leg or worse.

While I was in Colorado I took Abbey to the vets again for some more testing. It turns out they are pretty sure she has Lyme disease even though she’s not showing any symptoms. So they have her on antibiotics for a month and we’ll have to see how things go from there. I’m trying to cut down on her hiking as she seems to get tired more easily these days. Of course, she is getting up there in age too. She’s 12 now so I can’t expect her to do as much as she used to anyways.

View from the Top of A-Basin
Ed and the Kids
The Gibbons Clan

Posted by Ed at 5:55 PM | Permalink

After taking a day to restock the RV in Loveland, Dan and I took the dogs, Abbey and their dog Lydia, for a hike to a place called Grey Rocks Peak (or something like that). Well, it felt like I hadn't been hiking in months. Abbey must have felt the same because she was sluggish all day, though I think part of it was from the sun and somewhat warm weather. It actually was a gorgeous day for hiking, but there wasn't much shade and her black coat gets real hot in the sun. Towards the top of the peak we had to scramble up a bunch of boulder fields. Poor Abbey was really showing her age and the fact that she was tired. I even had to carry her up a few hairy spots but we finally made it and the dogs were rewarded with a shallow lake to splash around in at the top. Lydia still had tons of energy being a puppy and she wouldn't stop climbing up the rocks and running around. The rest of us ate lunch and rested. On the way down my knees got really tight, but I think it was from the rafting trip. To keep from falling out of the boat I had jammed my feet so far under the cross tubes that my knees ached quite a bit by the end of the trip. They still hadn't quite recovered and now they were aching again. Guess I'm getting old.

Saturday morning Abbey and I finally headed out for Montana. The drive was pretty uneventful since most of it was through the middle of Wyoming. Other than the strong winds that nearly blew me off the road a number of times it was pretty dull. We arrived in Billings, MT in the evening and found a pretty nice RV park, as far as RV parks go. It was only the second one that I had been to up 'til now. I justified the extra expense and the stigma that goes along with it by taking a nice hot shower, dumping my tanks, filling up with water and doing my laundry there as well. I drove around Billings a little bit to get my bearings. From the highway it is pretty ugly '? very industrial with a few refineries on the outskirts. The Montana Women's Prison is even on one of the main thoroughfares going into town. Once you get downtown though it isn't too bad. Sunday afternoon I picked up Chris Sereduke at the airport and we headed straight to Yellowstone, about 3 hours away. I hadn't seen him in a while so we talked the whole way. We were joking later that we weren't sure how the week would go since we had never spent more than a few days together before and not in more than 20 years. Anyways, we found a decent campground at Mammoth Hot Springs and settled in for the night pretty early. We were both pretty tired.

Posted by Ed at 8:55 PM | Permalink

That's what they call the highway between Durango and Ouray because of the gold ore in its base. I couldn't tell it had ore in it, but it sure is scenic and a bit hairy going over 3 mountain passes. I don't remember seeing many, if any, guardrails and the drop was quie precipitous in many places. Avalanches are quite common in winter if the road itself isn't enough excitement for you. On Sunday I took my time getting up and drove west to Montrose (not at all exciting) and then south towards Ouray. This area is much drier and desert-like than Crested Butte or the ski areas up north. It starts to feel more like the desert southwest, but not completely barren. Ouray calls itself the 'switzerland of America' though I don't know if I'd go that far. Switzerland is so green, and Ouray is not. However, it is situated in a deep valley surrounded on 2 sides by sheer mountain walls and another side by the steep climb up to a pass which is the only way out going south. It's yet another one of these old towns from the mining days which has turned to tourism. I don't think I'd want to live there, but it isn't a bad stopover. I got Abbey out for a walk around the town. She gets restless if we ride for too long. This area is much warmer than Crested Butte where it was in the 60's and 70's most days we were there. In Ouray, Silverton and Durango it has been in the 80's and 90's. Even high up it's been close to 80 or more. On my way to check out a campground just north of Silverton, I found an area for dispersed camping (not much in the way of services '? only toilets '? but free!). I found a real nice spot and got settled in just before a hailstorm rolled in.

The hail and the thunder were enough to keep Abbey on edge for the rest of the day. I felt pretty wiped out from the drive and my cold, so I just read and ate dinner the rest of the day.

Monday morning I didn't feel up to a big hike but I didn't want to sit in the RV all day either. So I picked a short hike with little elevation gain to Potato Lake, affectionately referred to as Spud Lake by the locals.

Mary Beth and I had gone to the Durango area a number of times before we left Austin for Germany, but I didn't remember doing this trail. And I didn't remember the killer road on the way to the trail. It was one of the rockiest roads I've been on so far, but thankfully it wasn't that long '? a little less than 3 miles. I got a few looks of surprise from people on the way up, including a couple who were packing with llamas. I'm sure they've gotten some surprised looks themselves. Once I got to the trailhead, though, I recognized it as one we had done before. I asked Abbey if she remembered it, but she didn't seem to. It was only a mile to the lake which was about all I wanted to do anyways. On the way up we saw some great views of Engineer Mountain, which Mary Beth, Buster, Abbey and I had climbed a couple of times, though we never made it to the top.

We spent a bit of time up there and I let Abbey go in the lake a bunch. I just tried to keep her from disturbing the fishermen. Now that I know how much concentration fishing demands, I try to be more careful when we're around them ;)

We got done early so I decided to head to Durango. It was one of Mary Beth's favorite areas to go to. She even talked about moving there for a time, so I wanted to see if it still felt the same. It has grown a lot since we were last there 7 years ago. It was always more than just a mountain town, but it seems a bit more hectic and definitely more built up than it was. I'm not sure I like it as much, but the area still has enough outdoor activities to make me want to go again. On the drive back to Switzerland (I mean Ouray), I got a different viewpoint going north into town. The setting did look more spectacular from that vantage point so I guess I can't make fun of them too much for their description. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any good pictures because there really weren't any places to stop on the road. I don't think pictures could have done it justice anyways. When we finally got back to Silverton our camping spot was still there waiting for us.

This morning I still felt like I didn't have enough energy for a hike, but Abbey and I went for a walk down the forest service road near our campsite. The morning seems to be Abbey's best time. She likes to explore a lot and check out all the smells. Since it wasn't a well-traveled road and I didn't want to chase her through the fields and brush, I let her run off leash. We ended up walking about 2 miles before turning back. We were both pretty tired. Later on I drove onto Telluride, which is a really nice little town. It's smack dab right up against the mountains. Like a lot of the Colorado mountain and ski towns it has really been growing. I think I could live here, but I'm not sure I could afford it. I saw an ad for a 1300 sq. ft. condo in town for only $650,000. What a bargain! It is a nice place to visit though. Tonight I'm staying in a state park a little ways north and I'm actually plugged in to 'shore power' for only about the 5th time. And, I'm watching Late Night with David Letterman, which is a first for me in the RV.

Posted by Ed at 12:30 PM | Permalink

Normally in the mountains the thunderstorms come in the afternoon, but we woke up Friday morning to some nasty ones. I figured the day was going to be shot and I was planning on doing laundry. Even if the weather cleared I didn't think I'd get Abbey out after those storms. By the time I drove into town and found the laundromat the sky was perfectly clear and blue. I decided Abbey, or not, I was going to take advantage of the day and take a hike. Surprisingly by the time I got to the trailhead, about 6 miles outside of Mt. Crested Butte on a dirt road, Abbey seemed anxious to get out of the RV. She was a little slow at first but she did pretty well. I picked the Copper Creek Trail which goes up to Copper Lake and up to East Maroon Pass in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness. Eventually you can make it all the way to Aspen from there. While I was filling out a permit at the wilderness boundary two ladies caught up to me and we started talking. One thanked me for having Abbey on a leash. I haven't seen it as much lately, but apparently it is quite common for people to hike with their dogs off-leash, even in wilderness areas where leashes are required. We then got to talking about other wilderness policies. One of the women had apparently been involved on the political end of the Wilderness Act or, at least, the local ramifications thereof, and she started walking a lot faster. It was obvious she wasn't really interested in engaging in the conversation, especially after I made a comment about grazing rights in wilderness areas. The other woman did have some good points about the grazing situation I have to admit so I quickly tempered my comments. I don't think it bothered them, but I probably should've just kept my mouth shut. They were cordial enough the rest of the way though, as we ended up passing each other a few times. The hike was supposed to be 4.5 miles to the lake but it sure seemed longer to me. We finally made it to the lake and I tried to enjoy my lunch while I tried to keep Abbey in one spot. She seemed restless for some reason. When I was just about finished I noticed the two women had passed by the lake and headed up the trail to the pass. I had thought I wouldn't try the pass so as not to push Abbey, but when I saw the actual trail they were taking it didn't seem too bad. So I managed to get Abbey to go on up to the pass and we were rewarded with some real nice views into the Aspen side of the wilderness and the wildflowers were great. I can't believe how many places I've still seen wildflowers this late in the summer. At lower elevations they are definitely on their way out, but at the top of Maroon Pass they were still in full bloom. On the way down I actually met up with 2 more women who had started at the trailhead in Aspen that morning. They were going to stay the night in a hotel in Crested Butte. It sounded like a real nice trip to me. It's funny but the first 3 groups I met on that trail were all groups of 2 middle-aged women. I was beginning to wonder what was up with this trail when I finally met some groups of couples and families. I did manage to get my laundry done when we got back to town, but not until after I had a great hike on a beautiful day. Luckily, there were no more storms that day. At least not any that we could hear which is all that counted.
View from Copper Creek Trail
Copper Lake
On top of Maroon Pass
I really like the mountains around Crested Butte, and the town itself too. It is surrounded by wilderness so there is a lot of hiking, and there are also a lot of mountain biking trails. There must also be good dirt bike and ATV trails too. I think I was there during dirt bike week or something, because they were everywhere. Luckily they weren't near any of the trails I was on. I only saw them going into and out of town.

I thought I'd better give Abbey a rest on Saturday as she was real tired after Friday's hike and I worry about her leg. I was originally planning on doing a hike near where we went the day before, but I got up a little late and didn't really feel like making that long drive into and through town on some long, bumpy dirt roads. So, I found a trail right near the campground and tried that. After a short while it was obvious that it wasn't really going in the direction I wanted, but I kept on it anyways. I didn't make it to the pass I was hoping to, but the trail did surprise me with some nice views of the mountains in the Raggeds Wilderness. Plus I got to eat my lunch in peace and relax as long as I wanted since I didn't have Abbey there pushing to go. Later I got something to eat in town because I was too tired to cook and felt like I was coming down with a cold. I went to bed early, but the next morning when I woke up I realized I did have a cold. I really hate summer colds because unlike winter it's so nice out I never want to sit inside and rest. Besides, I don't want to sit in the RV all day. So I drove on to Ouray and Silverton hoping I would feel better soon.
Lake Irwin - next to campground
West Elk Wilderness in background
View of the Raggeds Wilderness
Pinnacle Peak (I think)

Posted by Ed at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In Frisco, I found a forest service campground that was on Dillon Lake and also close to town, though it wasn't anything super. Tuesday morning I took Abbey on a hike up Meadow Creek. Much of the way was along the creek so she got to get in a lot and it also meant I didn't have to carry water for her, which is a bit of a pain. It wasn't steep at all until the very end when the trail went up to Eccles Pass. The trail led further on to Vail, but the top of the pass was far enough for us. It ended up being over 9 miles round trip. The views from the top of the pass were real nice and we also managed to get down before the thunderstorms started. Have I mentioned that they're pretty much a regular afternoon occurrence out here? One thing about trails in this area, a lot of them are noisy because they aren't far from I-70. Plus, since Colorado is pretty much in the center of the US and this area is central to Colorado, airplanes seemed to fly over us every few minutes. It seemed like it was non-stop at some points. It got a little annoying for me personally, but because of Abbey it can be a real pain. She has gotten better about not getting too nervous from the plane noise, but sometimes it just really bothers her. For Wednesday I had a bright idea. I thought I'd give Abbey a rest day and go mountain biking. I got a late start because I needed to find a bike helmet, but I took the free Summit Stage bus from Frisco up to Breckenridge. There's another free bus that takes you up to the ski area and close to the beginning of the trail. I had a little time to kill before it came so I checked out Breckenridge on my bike. For a ski area, it's probably really nice. It's fairly commercialized and touristy, but at least it seems like there are a lot of diversions for people who don't want to ski all the time. And, it doesn't look too tacky even though most buildings are quite new. Well, the trail looked great, but I didn't get very far. I only got 100 yards down the trail before my front tire went flat. I had thought about bringing a spare the night before, but somehow didn't think about it that morning. I was really bummed, but I couldn't do anything else but walk back down to town. While waiting for the bus back to Frisco I tried to cheer up a little by treating myself to a coffee toffee milkshake. I took Abbey on a short hike, but it wasn't that great and didn't really make up for the aborted bike ride. To cheer us up we went to Abbey's Coffee and Abbey actually got to go inside. One of the girls working there fawned all over her and gave her a biscuit so she was happy. I did find an RV dump station nearby that only charged $2, plus it had drinking water so the day had some good points.

Thursday morning we headed out for Crested Butte. I had heard of Crested Butte a lot, but had never been there. It's pretty isolated and not so easy to get to from I-70, but it still seems to get a fair amount of traffic. On the way there I drove through Leadville, Buena Vista, and Salida. I think these are all old mining towns that have remade themselves into tourist areas with access to all kinds of outdoor activities nearby. Leadville didn't look too bad. It even had 3 coffee shops (they seem to be the guage of a small town's status in Colorado much like the way a Dairy Queen does in a small Texas town), which was a little surprising because it didn't at all have the touristy atmosphere of Frisco or Breckenridge. Salida also had a lot of shops, restaurants and outdoor stuff, but Buena Vista was pretty dull. The ski area, Mt. Crested Butte, is not what I expected. I don't know how it is as a ski area, but aesthetically it is pretty ugly '? some big, ugly hotels and tons of non-descript condo complexes. The village of Crested Butte is much better. It is similar in style to the old mining towns of Leadville and Salida, but a little nicer. It isn't all gentrified BS as my brother would say, like a lot of the ski area towns. They seemed to have kept a lot of the authentic flavor of the town. A word on dogs in Colorado '? the state seems to be real dog-friendly as a whole. In Boulder, you can actually get fined for leaving your dog in your car on even a mildly warm day. In Crested Butte, there are signs that say 'it is unlawful to leave your dog tied up on the public right-of-way (meaning the sidewalk in front of stores)'. Some people would say this is dog-friendly in that it is a safety measure for the dog, but as a single person with a dog, it makes it a little difficult for me. Like when I want to go in a coffee shop, for instance, I have to put Abbey in the RV. Which I don't think is very dog-friendly, but I guess Crested Butte wouldn't agree with me. OK, I'll get off my soapbox.

I did manage to find a real scenic campground on Lake Irwin outside of town a ways. The only problem with it is that the road from town quickly turns to dirt and it is quite bumpy. Pretty soon just about everything in my RV will be rattling. I guess that's the price I pay for not staying in RV parks right off the main road. Well I sure managed to fill up a lot of space for not having done much the last few days. More on hiking in Crested Butte in my next update.

Views from Eccles Pass

Posted by Ed at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ever since I started out on this adventure I've been attracted to small, independent coffee shops, partly because of the crowd that hangs out in them and partly because they often have free wireless internet access. I guess I just like the atmosphere. I saw this place in Frisco (CO not CA) and couldn't resist. So I bought it! Abbey doesn't think the sign does her justice, though. OK, I only bought a cup of tea, not the place, but if it was for sale it might be tempting. Maybe I'll come back next year and see if they want to sell.

On Saturday morning Abbey and I headed up to Columbine Lake. The road up is pretty bad so I took Jim and Jeri's car, which they graciously offered. When I went to Snow Mtn. Ranch last year with my brother's family and my parents we did this trail. It was such a nice trail, and not too long, so I decided to do it again. Believe it or not, my mother hiked it with us last year and she was 75 then. It's about 3 miles long with around 1100 ft. of elevation gain. The lake is beautiful and the views from the trail aren't bad either on the way back down.


We got done early so I headed into the town of Grand Lake for a while. I was hoping to find wireless internet access somewhere, but it's not to be found in Grand Lake. I could have gotten on the internet at a coffee shop, but they wanted $15/hr! I've paid $2/hr before, but even that bothered me. Wireless access should be free if you ask me. So I said, 'No thanks!' Other than that drawback, Grand Lake isn't a bad little town, with the emphasis on little. Though I think it's pretty dead in winter, which lasts until June. Jim and Jeri seem to like it there, though. The scenery is gorgeous.

Sunday didn't start off too well. I had wanted to do a hike that actually started in the NP, but was mostly in the National Forest in the Never Summer Wilderness. It was one that Jeri suggested. Normally you can't take dogs on the NP trails, but she thought it wouldn't be a problem because you are only in the park for ' mile. Well, when I got to the trailhead, not only were there signs prohibiting dogs, but there were a bunch of Park Service workers across the meadow right where I had to go. So I decided it wasn't worth it since the weather looked iffy anyways and headed off down towards Winter Park. I figured I would spend some time catching up on updating my blog online. I found a place in Fraser that supposedly had wireless access but it didn't work. This has been one of the harder areas I've found to get wireless access, especially free. After getting frustrated with the internet situation I decided I would try another trail. I probably should've turned back when the sign said it was 14 miles to the trailhead on the dirt road I was driving on. Well, the road soon got pretty bad (made yesterday's look pretty good) and it took me over an hour to get to the top. But I made it and the views were great and I got a lot of smiles and laughs from people on the way up who must have thought I was crazy to drive an RV up there. Of course, a lot of things in the RV got pretty shaken up, and Abbey did too when the thunder started. Needless to say, I did the hike by myself. It wasn't a long one, but it was still pretty nice, starting out on the Continental Divide and passing 3 lakes.
King Lake

Betty Lake

Winter Park Area

It was a nice place to eat lunch at least. On the way down I missed a turn, but before I figured it out a huge bull moose jumped out in the road about 100 ft. in front of me. He wasn't too accommodating as he was trotting down the road and I had to try and take a picture out my window while I was driving to keep up with him.
Unfortunately, the pictures didn't come out at all. He did jump back down into the woods and when I stopped I could see that he was standing only 20 or 30 ft. in the woods. I thought about getting out to see if I could get a picture, but then thought better of it. Bull moose aren't really something you want to mess with. I could just see him banging into the RV as I ran back and hopped inside.

When I got back to town my luck changed in the internet arena. I found a Mexican restaurant that had wireless access. The wait staff didn't know it, but it was actually free. So I updated my blog for a few hours (yes, it takes a while to upload all this stuff) while I ate some real good fish tacos and drank a few Fat Tire Ales. (OK, it was 3.) Guess that's why I fell asleep early last night. Monday morning we headed off to the Frisco/Breckenridge area in Summit County, but not before doing one last hike in Grand County at the top of Berthoud Pass.
Indian Peaks Wilderness from Berthoud Pass
Frisco seems like a nice little town (as I mentioned above) and I'm anxious to check out the hiking here. Summit County is well-known for the great ski areas '? Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mountain and Vail among others. I've always heard of it, but never been here before so I'm looking forward to spending a few days here. Who knows, if I like it I can always make an offer for 'Abbey's Coffee'.

Posted by Ed at 5:22 PM | Permalink

It took me awhile to adjust to the time change. Usually flying west it is easier but not this time. On Wednesday Dan & Bonnie's oldest daughter, Laura, moved into her college dorm to start her freshman year at Colorado State. It's hard to believe that I saw her a few days after she came home from the hospital as a newborn and she's already starting college and I got to be there her first day. We went out to a good Mexican restaurant with real good margaritas in Ft. Collins to celebrate. I was real glad the next day that I didn't have a second margarita. They were pretty potent.

I finally got reacquainted with traveling in the RV on Thursday after not sleeping in it for a month. I was starting to get anxious to get back on the road, which I think is a good sign. I had to drop something off at the Moats in Grand Lake, though, so I wasn't exactly on my own yet. They talked me into staying the night, but I slept in the RV in their driveway. I wanted to feel like I was back on the road. I was going to take off the next morning, but their hospitality was too good to pass up. Jim and Jeri actually left for a short vacation, but they offered to let me stay there and use their car if I wanted. They also gave me some good hiking ideas in the area. Plus the possibility of still having a hot shower for a little longer was too enticing. So I am 'camping' in their driveway for a few nights. Since I am eating and sleeping in the RV I figure it's like being in a campground with showers, bathrooms and TV, if I want it.

On Friday Abbey and I took a hike for the first time in 3 weeks. We went farther than I planned on (about 9 miles), which is probably why we were both wiped out that night. We took a real nice hike on the Cascade Creek Trail into the Indian Peaks Wilderness. For some reason, I always feel more like a real outdoorsman if I go into a designated wilderness, even if it's just for a dayhike. In any case, it was a beautiful day and we didn't even get the customary afternoon thunderstorms that are so common in the Rockies. We saw a couple of nice waterfalls and had some real nice views along the way.
Cascade Creek Falls
Monarch Lake

Posted by Ed at 5:14 PM | Permalink

Sunday was pretty much a day of rest. We went to church, did some grocery shopping, and then we hung out by the pool and took it easy. I was too tired to do much of anything else. On Monday, after another cycling class (these guys are trying to whip me into shape) I packed up the RV and Abbey and I headed for Grand Lake, on the other side of Rocky Mtn. NP. I went to visit Jim and Jeri Moat, friends from Austin that I used to do medical missions to Mexico with.

I hadn't seen them in about 7 years so it was great to catch up with them. They have a beautiful house right outside the park on the north side of Grand Lake which they built themselves. With hiking, boating, skiing, and camping all right there, I think I could live in Grand Lake. The only thing is the winters are real long and the snow doesn't melt in your yard until the first week of June. That might be a little too much for me. But it sure is beautiful. They have bears, elk and moose right in their yard. Jeri fell asleep in the hammock one day only to wake up with an elk staring her in the face. Sounds a little like Northern Exposure to me. Maybe I could live there.

Anyways, we took a hike on Tuesday after driving what seemed like forever on a gravel forest service road. I was just glad I didn't have to drive the RV down that road for once. We managed to get caught in a couple of hailstorms, but no thunder (lucky for Abbey) or lightning and they didn't last long. Our lunch spot was overlooking the valley and beyond to the mountains in the park.

It doesn't get much better than that to me. Well, except maybe for the margaritas and nachos we had back in town later on. Grand Lake is a pretty tiny little town and Jim and Jeri seemed to know almost all of the locals. During the winter the population is only about 450.

On Wednesday morning a friend of theirs called up and asked us if we wanted to join them for a boat ride around the lake. We headed over early to Shadow Mountain Lake and got in a decent paddle while checking out the million dollar mansions on the lake. A million bucks just doesn't go as far these days. Their friends showed up with their boat but unfortunately the battery had died. Luckily, they lived close enough that we only lost about 15-20 minutes. Later on we were happy for the delay because on the far end of Grand Lake we saw 3 big bull moose in the water. I had been telling Jim and Jeri that I would probably never see a moose in my life because I often came close but never hit the jackpot. Here were 3 bull moose just hanging out in the water, all with big racks.

It was hard to top that, but we found a nice island in the middle of another lake, Shadow Mountain, and we went ashore and had a picnic lunch, complete with red wine. It was hard to say goodbye, but I had to make it back to Loveland for an appt. with the podiatrist at 4:30PM. It was sunny and beautiful, so the ride back on Trail Ridge Road had nothing but spectacular views and slow cars.

Posted by Ed at 9:30 PM | Permalink

I took some time off from hiking this week to do some other things. I took a couple of biking classes at a local gym with Dan, Bonnie and the kids and ran some errands to catch up on things. They have a puppy, Lydee, who has been keeping Abbey real busy. Abbey hasn't played this much ever, I think. She wears out long before Lydee does. Bonnie and I did take the dogs on a moderate walk one day, but it has been so hot this week that I didn't miss hiking at all. 5 days in a row it was over 100. On Thursday night, Dan & I prepared ourselves for a short backpacking trip through Rocky Mountain National Park. We left at 6AM Friday morning and drove to Bear Lake, one of the most popular trailheads in the park. Since we were hiking through the park, we had to leave the dogs at home. The trail went up pretty steeply the whole way to Flattop Mountain, but it had great views at the top, especially of Longs Peak '? the highest in Colorado. A storm came in real early, even for the Rockies, but we were ahead of it and stayed out of the storms all day. We were above treeline for quite a while, but managed to get down to our campsite by 2:30 in the afternoon. We were both pretty beat so after we set up camp we took a short nap on our 'patio'. We had a great site fairly close to a really nice stream. There's nothing like falling asleep to the sound of a rushing stream in the wilderness. We had a wonderful meal of rehydrated sweet-n-sour pork and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Actually, it was pretty good.

Unfortunately, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep. So I wondered around under a nearly full moon for about an hour. I was just glad I didn't run into any bears or mountain lions. In the morning, we took a hike without our backpacks (much easier) to a nice alpine lake surrounded by steep walls. The hike out was fairly flat with just a gentle downhill slope most of the way. A few miles from the end, we saw these 2 young kids that were pretty weighted down with their packs. One of them had a pot tied onto his pack. We were wondering who they were with when 4 more kids came around the bend looking even worse than the first two. None of them looked happy to be there at all. We waited to see where the adults were, but finally put on our own packs and started down the trail. Just around the first bend we saw the parents/chaperones. They were easy to spot because they were packed the same way. The lady told us they were going to Bear Lake (where we came from the first day!), but they did have 2 days to do it. I don't think those kids could have lasted 2 more days. I sure hope they didn't get caught in a thunderstorm on top of the exposed areas up high. We felt pretty sorry for the kids.

After almost 22 miles of hiking (17+ with a heavy pack), we stumbled into Grand Lake and sacked out in the park until Bonnie showed up with Andrea and the car. Before heading back, we had some good Mexican food and best of all, some nice cold beers. The views along Trail Ridge Road on the ride back were spectacular '? at least the ones I saw when my eyes weren't closed.
At the start (Bear Lake)
Longs Peak
The Trail
Bridge over North Inlet Creek
Snoozing on the "Patio"
Our Camp Couch
Waterfall on North Inlet Creek
Lake Nonokino

Posted by Ed at 1:47 AM | Permalink

I left Idaho early Thursday morning and settled in for a long 2 days of driving. Driving through Ketchum/Sun Valley, Idaho there was a long line of cars going the other way, even at 7:30am. I felt like I was going the wrong way and I was missing something, but happy not to be in the traffic. I never did figure out what all those people were doing going to Ketchum that early in the morning on a weekday. The drive through eastern Idaho and northwestern Utah was pretty boring. I know 2 areas I don't want to live. Instead of taking the interstate through southern Wyoming, another one of those places not to live, I opted for the scenic route and headed to Park City, UT. I only stayed a few hours, long enough to get Abbey out a bit and to find a coffee shop with internet access to check email. It seemed pretty nice, though fairly touristy. I managed to find a state campground on a reservoir a few hours east, just before you get to Colorado. It was kind of a strange campground, but it was cheap and not an RV park, and I was tired of driving. Abbey got riled up by all the rabbits running around the grounds. She wasn't happy that I wouldn't let her chase them.

On Friday, we headed out again and got to drive through Dinosaur, CO, the gateway to Dinosaur National Monument. Sounds like a great place to take kids, but we didn't stop. We made it to Steamboat Springs by noon, another nice ski town. Unfortunately, it was mobbed with people but we still managed to do a short hike to a waterfall. We didn't go too far cause it was real hot. We eventually made it to the Gibbons' house in Loveland around 6 or so.

Dan and I got up early Sat. morning and headed up in the mountains. He chose a trail to the top of Signal Mt. Not a real popular trail, we were about the only ones on it, but it was pretty nice. It was long and steep and we were real tired by the time we finished, but the views from the top and along the way were worth it. It was also nice not to have any crowds. It was the longest hike (almost 12 miles) with the highest elevation gain (3300 ft.) I've done so far. Abbey stayed behind since it was so hot. Since tomorrow is Sunday, I think we'll rest and I'll take Abbey for a walk around the local lake.
Longs Peak - highest peak in Colorado
View of the Mummy Range

Posted by Ed at 4:00 PM | Permalink