Mesa Verde

Ever since we moved here I have wanted to got to Mesa Verde National Park. Today I finally got to go! It is a long haul from anywhere (except Cortez--luck us!) and once you get into the park, it's like 30 miles to the actual sites.

We drove to the visitor's center just in time to go on the first tour to the only site that's open in the winter. Lucky for us, the ranger decided to just open the gates and let people come and go as they please. It was really neat seeing the Spruce House from the opposite mesa from afar and then to get to see it up close.

We even got to climb into a Kiva (5-foot deep round ceremonial/winter home). It was much warmer down there.

We then drove down one of the park loops and saw ancient Puebloan homes dating back more than a thousand years. The Cliff Palace was awesome, even if we didn't get to walk around in them.

We then drove to Durango and walked around the cool Victorian-era downtown. Then it was off to Alamosa to try to get in front of the storm.

Utah

We left Fruita this morning and headed west. The first hour or so we drove through a lot of dense fog. It was strange how we could see the clouds as we entered and exited them. Once we got off the interstate and headed more south towards Moab, the fog disappeared and the huge canyon walls appeared. We felt like we were in a small Grand Canyon for much of the drive--especially since we were driving along the Colorado River.

We stopped at Fisher Tower, a very famous (and super hard!) rock climbing area. The spires were incredible.

After many photos, we hit the road for Moab. We passed the area where we camped in 2007 when we visited Arches. Today, though, we kept driving to Canyonlands National Park.

The canyons carved by the Green and Colorado Rivers were very impressive and incredibly expansive. The camera can hardly do it justice.

All day we were intrigued by some snow-capped mountains to the east. We're still debating if they were Utah's LaSal Mountains or Colorado's San Juans.

As the sun was setting, we drove back to Moab but decided to keep going all the way to Cortez, Colorado. Unfortunately, it seems that we are going to have to cut our trip short as another winter storm is on its way. Though it would be nice to be stuck in the mountains (say at Telluride :-) for a few days, we do need to get back to Boulder so Dan is ready to start his new job on Monday. Plus, driving through two feet of snow doesn't sound like that much fun anyway.

Colorado National Monument

After another waffle breakfast we left Gunnison and headed west. The road travels along a river that is dammed in two places, forming the huge Blue Mesa Reservoir and the Morrow Point Reservoir.

We stopped at the second dam near the town of Cimarron to check out the part of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison -- a different part than when we were there in 2007. It was still cold in the morning (not yet the predicted 45 degrees), so our hike turned into a bit of a trail run.

We continued through Montrose towards Grand Junction, and turned off towards Colorado National Monument for some more hiking. Just inside the south entrance to the park we took a trail to the Devil's Kitchen and played on the rocks for a while.

Our next stop was the Ute Canyon trail. This is considered a "backcountry" trail within the park, but it was no problem to follow. The entire trail is 7 miles one way, so our intent was not to round-trip it (since it was already 1:30pm). Instead our goal was to just get into the valley, check out what the bottom of Colorado National Monument looks like, and check out the Fallen Rock that we had seen on our previous trip.

We ended up going about 3 miles and got just about to the mouth of the canyon. Unfortunately we didn't have a topo map with us, so we didn't know how close we were. It would have been neat to get to that point and look down another 500 vertical feet to the next level.

The weather was not sunny and 40s as forecast. Instead it was snowy, humid, and cold. Tomorrow should be better.

Ski Crested Butte

Christmas morning we got up, made yummy waffles at the hotel, and then drove north to Crested Butte.

We skied all day on groomed trails. We tried hard to find bumps and powder, with some success, but we learned quickly why this was the "Corduroy Capital of Colorado."

It was another fun, sunny day, but we both preferred skiing at Monarch. We drove back to Gunnison for another night.

Ski Monarch

Friday morning we left Boulder headed for Gunnison and Crested Butte. However, on the way we realized that we would pass the Monarch Ski Area. We skied Monarch back in February 2007 on our way back from ice climbing in Ouray.

Anyway, we skied Monarch all day Friday. It was awesome! I spent most of the time on black diamonds! Woohoo! Then we drove to Gunnison and had a nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant.

Wonderland Lake walk

We went for a walk near Wonderland Lake today. While still on the main trail, we saw a coyote prowling about, probably in search of a prairie dog lunch.

An unnamed trail headed up the hogback. It looked like a traveled trail and had no closure signs, so we took it through the golden grasses. After forking off that trail and then another, we were high up on the ridge. We saw a bunch of deer sitting in the grass; two of the males sparred briefly.

We continued on trails heading north and downhill as much as possible to complete our loop, but after some time the trails either turned uphill or petered out. We weren't far from the Old Kiln trail so we cut a few hundred yards through the grass to connect with it. In total we covered just over 3 miles in about an hour.

Eldora

Today we skied at Eldora. The original plan was to go to Winter Park, but the mountains have gotten so much snow in the last two days that the avalanche danger was high. So high, in fact, that they were closing route 40 to Winter Park intermittently for avalanche mitigation. We decided we didn't want to get caught in an avalanche, or mitigation traffic, so we opted for Eldora.

There was five fresh inches of heavy powder and it snowed the whole time we were there. The day was much warmer than we expected. The temps hovered around freezing and the snow got wetter as the day went on. Still, it was a great day and we had a lot of fun. Plus, we got home before it was dark!

Mount Sanitas and west

Last week I was looking at some of the OSMP maps, and I noticed that the trail going up Mt. Sanitas doesn't actually go all the way to the summit! It stops at a great vista that is 800' south of the true summit and one contour line (40') lower in elevation.

Our goal today was to find the real summit and explore some unofficial trails that also appeared on the OSMP maps. There's also a higher point marked 6979', aka "Upper West Point", aka "NW Sanitas" that we thought we might be able to reach. However, after hiking towards it for a while and leaving the OSMP boundary, it appeared that the 6979 summit (behind us in the photo below) was on private property and had at least one house on top.

The unofficial trails (perhaps soon to be designated trails) were really nice -- not at all crowded like the standard Sanitas trails, and not rocky. They'll be good to run someday. We had good views to the west of Sugarloaf Mountain, southwest to the Boulder Filtration Plant near Betasso, and south to Green Mountain.

We took a trail back down to Sunshine Drive and hiked down the road half a mile before picking up a trail that paralleled the road on the other side.

It was getting dark on the way back but we managed to get back to the car before nightfall. In all we covered about 6 miles in 3:15 this afternoon.

Caribou Ranch Open Space

We were going to go snowshoeing today at CROS, but once we got there and saw how little snow there was, we decided to leave the shoes in the car. It was a fun hike anyway.

Parts of the trail are along the old Switzerland Trail rail bed, so it was a pretty easy hike. We checked out an old homestead along the way that had a large meadow and barn nearby.

We continued on the loop and came to an old silver mine. There were a bunch of boarded up buildings -- a stone house for the owners, a bunkhouse for the miners, various outhouses and outbuildings. It was neat walking around the area and reading the interpretive signs.

Snowy Flatirons

Boulder finally got some snow this week. I went for a short hike around Chautauqua on Friday.

On the drive over, I stopped by to check out the sculpture that some mystery artist deposited on some lady's front lawn. For some background, see these Daily Camera articles.

Marshall Mesa December Run

It was 60 and sunny today so I met Laurel at Marshall Mesa for a trail run. Last time we saw lots of cows and a car accident -- I brought the camera today to ensure nothing that exciting would happen.

More Avalanche

So, today we were back for more....avalanche training, that is. As Dan mentioned, we enrolled in a CMC/National Ski Patrol Avalanche Level 1 class. We had two nights of 4-hour lectures, yesterday's field trip and then today's all-day outing.

We drove up past Berthoud Pass to Second Creek. Here we hiked up about a mile while spending an hour at different stations. There was backcountry travel, snow pits, decision making, beacon search, and simple and complex rescue simulations. Thankfully, it was much warmer than yesterday and the wind was not quite as bad. We still didn't see the sun, but I'll take 30 degrees with wind over 16 degrees with wind any day.

Overall, it was a good day and a great course. We learned a lot and hopefully we will never be caught in an avalanche or will never have to rescue anyone from one.

Avalanche!

Avalanche school, that is. We had two long nights of instruction this week, have been reading for homework, and today had our first field day at St. Mary's Glacier.

First, the weather. It was cold, windy, and snowing. At times visibility was less than 100'. The high was 16°F but with the wind chill was -8°F. In the morning it must have been even cooler.

We did some decision making exercises, practiced searching with beacons, dug snow pits to analyze the snowpack, and practiced probing and digging for victims. (The "victims" were buried pieces of clothing or 1'x1' plywood.)

Very enlightening. It's hard to imagine actually finding someone (in time) who was buried in an avalanche without a beacon. Even with beacons, you first have to find a signal, which could require scanning a large area depending on the size of the slide. Trying to track a signal, probe, or dig on a slope adds to the challenge.

Day two is tomorrow at Berthoud Pass... if the roads stay open. The avalanche report looks pretty bad given all the new snow.

Cross Country Skiing

I went skiing up at Brainard Lake today. I skied the South CMC Ski Trail to Brainard Lake. I picked up another trail south of the lake at the junction with the Little Raven Trail. At the Niwot Mountain picnic area I found the Niwot Cutoff Trail. I took it up to Long Lake where the wind really started to blow.

I got back in the trees and took the Pawnee Pass Trail back to the parking lot/trailhead. I skied on the road for a bit and then made my way up to the cabin. Unfortunately, no one was up there, so no hot chocolate for me. I skied back on the Waldrop Trail for a 4-hour approximately 6 mile trip.

Huaraches

I made Laurel a pair of huaraches from materials she ordered from InvisibleShoe.com.

Using a drill instead of a hole punch didn't really work that well, but I managed with help from a pair of needle-nosed pliers.

Now she's gotta figure out how she wants to tie them.

Thanksgiving Break

First of all, we'd like to thank everyone who hosted us, drove to see us, or altered their schedules to make this week work. Thank you!

Our Thanksgiving week was a fun and very busy one. On Saturday, we did a short walk at Betasso in between packing, cleaning, and last-minute laundry. Sunday we drove to the airport, went through security unscathed, and flew to Boston. We arrived after a quick 3-hour flight and picked up our cool Hamster-Mobile rental car. En route to Dave and Melissa's we stopped in the North End for some delicious cannolis from Mike's. We got to Medford and had a fun night hanging out with Melissa, Dave, Sid, and Bella.

Monday we went for a long run in the Fells right in Melissa and Dave's neighborhood. It was fun running up and down the Skyline Trail to a 291' hill. After a quick wagon ride with the kids, we headed to Fugakyu. There, we had lunch with 30 of Dan's co-workers who came to bid him farewell. Then we went to Raytheon so Dan could do the last of his checking out paperwork. On the way to our hotel, we stopped by our old house (everything's really growing!), got some Patriots gear at the Reebok outlet, and drove through downtown Marlborough. For dinner, Rob and Lisa hosted a huge pizza party. It was awesome to see all our friends and meet their new babies!

On Tuesday we drove to Springfield to see Dan's grandparents. We got there on the early side so we drove and then walked around downtown Springfield for a bit. We got to see the Dr. Seuss sculpture garden. After a nice lunch and visit with the grandparents, we briefly saw one of Dan's aunts and uncles before taking his cousin Amanda to the Holyoke Mall. We had a good time munching on mall food and making fun of the latest trends. Then, it was off to Enfield for dinner with Jackie and Paul at a Mexican restaurant.

Wednesday it was off to Bristol to see my grandparents. We had a nice visit complete with delicious blueberry muffins, pierogies, and cheese cookies. Yum. Then we drove to Oakville to hang out with Diana and Tim and we met their two sons, Wyatt and Hunter. Very cute! Then it was off to Norwalk to see Donna and JJ. We went out to an Indian restaurant in SoNo for dinner and then we went to Stew Leonards. It was a fun night!

Thursday we drove back Enfield for a delicious turkey dinner and some Patriots football. Later in the afternoon Dan's extended family came by for dessert. After a jam-packed week we got up at 5am Friday and drove all the way back to the Boston airport. We touched down in Denver around 2pm and were grateful to be back home!

Glacier Gorge/Boulder Brook

Today I dragged Dan up to the mountains. Since last weekend, someone flipped the switch to winter. Last weekend we were climbing in 70+ degree weather, today we were freezing in 20 degrees, wind, and snow. It was gorgeous, though, to see winter settle in to Rocky Mountain National Park.

We parked at the Glacier Gorge Trail head with the intent of following the trail 4 miles to Black Lake, about a mile from the back side (west side) of Longs Peak. However, in our excitement we took the wrong trail. We kept waiting for the trail to turn to the right, but it never did. By the time we pulled out the map, we decided to just keep going and make a loop to the Glacier Gorge Trail.

We were breaking trail in anywhere from 2-12 inches of snow for the first 2.5 miles and also when we got to the Boulder Brook Trail (another 2 miles), and the North Longs Peak Trail (2 more miles). It was beautiful seeing the ice forming on the creeks and the snow coming down everywhere. We thought we might try to go off trail and summit Half Mountain, but by the time we got there, it was too late to attempt such a feat.

We finally got to the Glacier Gorge trail and decided to head down it a ways before going back to the car. We got to Mills Lake before turning around. It was very icy on the trail and Dan and I took turns falling. It didn't seem icy enough to warrant microspikes--just a few spots. We returned to the car nearly 7 hours after we started our 10.5 mile tour.

On the way home, we drove through Estes Park and noticed the elk were still on the golf course. We drove another half mile down the road and there were dozens and dozens of elk everywhere, probably at least a hundred. They were crossing the road, making squealing noises, and generally running and doing elk-type things (sniffing each other's bottoms and the like).

Mesa Trail Run

Yay! I ran 13.4 miles in 3 inches of snow this morning.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4151556

A classic Boulder trail running route. It only took me 3:25:00.