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.

Nebraska Hill

Today was a fun day of hiking in the snow with Tim. We started southwest of Tolland up a long 4-wheel drive road. On the way to the end of the road/trailhead we saw a lot of hunters and wished we had orange vests or hats or something. Our plan was to try to find an old road/trail and hike up Nebraska Hill at 11,500 or so.

Unfortunately, with all the snow (just a ground covering in some places to up to a foot and a half in others) we were not able to find any trail. The day ended up being all off trail and a good practice of our navigation skills.

On the way up, we saw many elk tracks (hence all the hunters) and a snowshoe hare in its white winter clothes. It was very cool! When we got about 500 feet from the summit the weather took a turn for the worse. Most of our morning was under blue, warm, sunny skies. However, at around 11:00 the wind was really starting to blow and we got up high enough to see big clouds forming to the west and coming our way. At 11:20 we made the call to turn around.

Ten minutes later it was really snowy and another 10 minutes down the mountain it started thundering. Yes, that's right, thunder snow! Luckily, we were back in the trees at that time and were somewhat protected. We saw the hare again and then by the time we were back at the car it was sunny and warm again. A very strange weather day, but a fun one nevertheless.

First and Second Pinnacles

It got up to 75 degrees today! Blue skies, no wind, perfect for climbing.

We went to the Gregory Amphitheater and started out on the Southwest face route of the Second Pinnacle. It was a fun and easy route. After spending some time on the summit we rapped down and then hiked around to the interior of the amphitheater.

Instead of running the first pitch up to the top of the East Bench, I led up to the eyebolt just below the bench. It was a somewhat awkward place to belay, but we managed to get up to the summit of the First Pinnacle.

Walker Ranch

Dan and I went trail running up at Walker Ranch. It was an 8-mile loop and the weather was absolutely gorgeous--sunny and in the 70s.

Happy Halloween!

Bear Peak

We decided to do a local hike today, so Dan picked out a route up Bear Peak. We started at Shanahan Ridge, a nice neighborhood trailhead, and then took a connecting trail to Fern Canyon. On the way, we discovered the base of "The Slab," a huge piece of rock with very little pro. As we got closer to the summit ridge, the wind really picked up and the temperature dropped 15 degrees. We were glad to have our windbreakers, hats, and gloves!

On the summit we were hanging out and two scantily-clad runners popped up from the trail. After a couple of stolen glances, I recognized one as ultra-runner Tony Krupicka. A little star-struck, I couldn't think of anything to start up a conversation about and just climbed past him.

Dan and I continued to South Boulder Peak and then descended Shadow Canyon. Later in the day, Dan found Tony's blog and confirmed that it was him. He's run up Green Mountain 282 times this year and run up Bear Peak 25 times. I, in contrast, have run up Green 5 times and Bear once.

Heil Ranch

On Saturday I went trail running up at Heil Ranch for almost 2.5 hours. It was beautiful morning with barely anybody out in the foggy morning. Then Dan and I went for a bike ride.

St. Mary's Glacier

Today we hiked up to St. Mary's Glacier. With skis.

Call us crazy but we weren't the only ones getting a head start on the season. What we intended to ski was a lot like the trail: dirt and rocks. But there was enough snow, ice, and water to make it feel a little like east-coast skiing -- just kidding :) :)

First though we hiked to the top of the "glacier" to a point where we could check out James Peak. Beautiful day, as you can see.

I nearly did a cartwheel on my first run down, when one of my ski tips caught under a flake of ice. Somehow I caught myself and made it to the bottom without falling. Laurel had a good a run down the slope, then I did a few more runs.



It's not quite backcountry skiing but we're getting there.

Elk Rut

We saw elk fighting and heard them bugling! Sorry, this is a much delayed follow-up from Dan's post last week. After our adventures on Mount Wuh we drove back through Rocky Mountain and into Estes Park. There were maybe three dozen elk on the golf course in the middle of town! As the sun was quickly setting behind the mountains, we were able to see two 8-pointers fighting for a female's affections near the putting green. Then, we were able to listen to many eerie calls as darkness fell. At first, we thought we heard a kid crying/screaming. But then, as we got further away from the small crowd, we realized the sound was actually the elk. You would think these animals would have a low, raspy grunt. But alas, their high-pitched cries would confuse even the smartest of my Kindergartners. For such a large animal, they sure do sound strange. Nevertheless, it was very exciting. We've heard about the elk rut for two years now, and it was awesome to actually see and hear it!



On an unrelated note, I went for a quick run after school today on a new trail halfway between school and home. The trail was adjacent to cattle grazing lands and this afternoon I saw three cowboys (really!) riding their horses and round up the cattle to move them to the next field. One of the cowboys was even texting while he was working.

Mount Wuh

We decided to climb Mount Wuh just because it had a funny name. It turned out to be a great hike. (See our route.)

Starting at the Bierstadt Lake trailhead, we hiked up switchbacks to the top of the moraine, then west towards Bear Lake. The aspen along this stretch of trail were beautiful. Some were just starting to turn, others were completely yellow, and a few had bright orange leaves like I've never seen on an aspen.

After a mile and a half we headed off trail through thick forest towards Wuh's southeast ridge. In the swampy terrain on the other side of Mill Creek I found a single Hi-Tec hiking boot that looked brand new aside from being aged in the muck. How did someone lose one boot?

As we scrambled up the ridge, we stopped at a few places that we thought were the summit. Wuh was much bigger than we expected! At one of the false summits we were pretty sure the next peak to the west was Joe Mills Mountain, but after checking the map we realized it was probably the true summit of Wuh, and Joe Mills was the one even further in the distance.

The rock scrambling was tough because there was about a quarter inch of snow covering everything -- just enough snow to make that crunch sound under our boots. And more was coming as we hiked. We were in and out of the clouds all afternoon.

At 2pm we summited Wuh and began heading down the west side. It was getting too late to ascend Joe Mills Mountain, so we set our sights for Round Pond instead. This tiny lake is buried in the forest between the two mountains. We didn't have the GPS with us, so our hopes were not high of actually finding it, but somehow we did!

After stopping at the pond for a snack we headed south and reached the trail at around 4pm. In 5.5 hours of off-trail hiking, we probably only covered about 3 miles. Back on the trail we were able to pick up the pace. We hiked back to the Bierstadt lake trail system and decided to go around the lake before returning to the trailhead.

We probably covered over 9 miles with the zig-zagging we must have done while off-trail. Not bad for a 8.5 hour day! What came next is a whole other story that I will let Laurel tell...

Quiet Boulder Weekend

It's been a quiet weekend for us. I ran up Green Mountain on Saturday and then we rode bikes to the farmer's market. Did some other errands on the bike and hung out with the neighbors.

Sunday we volunteered at the Boulder Marathon. It was really fun running our own aid station and cheering the runners on. We so appreciate all the people who have helped us in our races, it was time to give back a bit!

La Plata Peak

Ann and I had a great time in the mountains yesterday. I invited her to try La Plata Peak with me because the drive and the hike seemed pretty straight-forward. It was also in the neighborhood of other Sawatches, which I had climbed this summer.

We got off to an early start. At 7am it was probably 30 degrees at the trailhead, especially since we saw frost on the ground. Early on we also saw a huge bull elk munching on breakfast. The changing aspen were beautiful and we loved seeing the sun hit the golden trees more and more as the day went on.

We were told by other people and guidebooks that the ridge is longer than you think. They were all right. The ridge went on FOREVER. Plus, we got into snow at 12,500. Not a lot of snow, but enough that it made things slick.

We made it to the top at 11:15, had a beautiful, sunny, windless lunch and then headed back. The hike down was long, but uneventful. We got back to the car around 2:30 and through we’d make it back home before dinner. Ha! We got stuck in tons of traffic and didn’t make it home until 7:00. Even so, it was still a great day.

33% Complete!

Today I summited my 18th fourteener, La Plata Peak, with Ann.  It was a gorgeous day and we had a great time.  More tomorrow...

Yay! Climbing!

I got to climb today!  Yay!  I haven't climbed since my accident in June, so it was so much fun to get on the Second Flatiron today.  It was very chilly this morning, so we had a late start.  It wasn't a problem, though, as the temps warmed up to over 90 degrees today and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Before we even started the climb, we saw a busy woodpecker right next to the trail and we saw a humming bird at the base of the rock.  The route we were attempting today was called the South Sneak, as we were sneaking around the South Block formation.

The first two pitches were pretty straight forward, but then we were supposed to somehow get on the face of the South Block.  We didn't.   Dan led us through weaknesses in the rock on the third pitch, but we couldn't find a way to the summit.

We ended up scrambling back up to the trail and then hiked back to the car.  My shoulder feels tired, but good.  Hopefully more climbing is in my future!