Lost Creek Wilderness

Someone in our hiking group was asking me about Lost Park. I told her it was a beautiful spot, although a longer drive from Denver than most people want to make. It's worth every minute of hassle on the drive, even when you include the 20 miles on a gravel road.

Hiking and reading

On our hike the other day, we walked out on this high ridge about a hundred feet or so from the trail to enjoy the view of Denver. It was a clear day and we could see downtown and the entire city.

On the shelves of my den I have the complete works of Dickens, Victor Hugo, Herman Melville, Balzac, and almost all the other great writers. You would think... When we got back to the trail we realized that all of us flunked reading in school.

Hiking and deer

We went hiking yesterday in Roxborough Park near our house. The weather turned nice and the snow started to melt. We hiked the South Trail and saw probably 20+ deer or more along the trail and the road driving up to the park. I suppose if you're a deer, this is the place to be during hunting season! We liked it too.

The rocks in the park were still outlined with a layer of snow and ice from Wednesday's snow. It made for some special scenery.

I saw this fine looking, big buck on the hike. Personally, I could never shoot Bambi's mommy. But her dad, well maybe so. Lucky for this buck to be in the State Park during hunting season. I used to wonder why people go hunting. Then I remembered my last trip. I went hunting with my friend Drew who came fully equipped and brought a half-dozen bottles of bourbon for snakebite. He also took two snakes.

Dogs

On our last hike Chris and Jim brought their dogs. They're cow dogs, really well behaved and fun to have along. Even when we stopped to have lunch the dogs were obedient and didn't try to eat my ham sandwich. It reminded me of a couple of old rhymes. There was a dog named Lassie who went to Denmark and came back a cat. Then there was this Pekingese who married a tomcat. Now they have a Peking tom!

If I ever get another dog again, I think I'll get a watchdog. I'll name him Seiko.

If dumb doesn't cover it

On our hike up St. Mary's Glacier some guy decided he wanted to ski down it. Now what you have to understand is, the glacier is very icy and full of moguls all at very odd angles and very featured. The section he decided to go down was very steep with rocks at the bottom. We talked with his wife who was very nervous. Thankfully, he went very slowly and took a sharp angle to the right instead of going straight down (which would not have been pretty).

Fancy Lake

Fancy Lake in the Holy Cross Wilderness is one beautiful place. However, there are these things called Camp Robbers living here. They are actually a gray jay. They'll swoop down when you're not looking and steal the sandwich right out of your hand. And they're very good at it, so look out. They aren't like the pigeon's in City Park who stand around and eat so many bread crumbs they'll lay a roll. These birds are militant. Whatever you do, don't feed them!

Marmots

Hiking in Maroon Bells I came across this little fellow... the dreaded Marmot. They are dreaded by those of us who spend time in the mountains. Marmots are like one year old dogs. They eat everything including your food, your packs, your hat, your shoes, everything. I used to leave my tent door open when I was gone so they wouldn't eat a hole in it to get in. Why the company Marmot Clothing and Equipment named their company after this beast is a mystery to me.

St. Mary's Glacier

I hiked up St. Mary's Glacier yesterday with our hiking group to the flanks of James Peak. On the way we enjoyed stunning views of the aspen leaves changing and felt winter in the air. When we stopped for lunch it began to snow a little on us - small pea snow pelted us for a few minutes.

The hike back was beautiful and mostly sunny. I was glad to get back home in time to shower and go pick up Nancy at the airport. Then my world was even sunnier!

Morning light

The morning light at Wellington Lake brings a calm surprise. It looked smoother than my coffee table. To wake in the morning and see this out your front door is something special! Pascal wrote, "By space the universe embraces me and swallows me up like an atom, by thought I embrace the universe."

Look another direction and a few minutes later and everything changes. In the words of Leo Tolstoy, "I thought and thought, and came to no conclusion."

Camp Grandparents

Saturday morning we drove into the mountains looking for a place to call "Camp Grandparents." We had some ideas where to go but weren't exactly sure. However, the location had to meet certain requirements. It had to be: 1. Somewhat remote, 2. Close enough to Denver to be reasonably accessible, 3. Really nice views, 4. Not too many bears, and 5. A good place for Grand kids to play and goof off. Good fishing wouldn't hurt either. Hmmm... let's try this road... the leaves are changing...

There! That's it. The lake in the distance. Let's try that place and spend the night. We'll see just how good it is.

Of course we had other motives for making this trip. The aspens are changing color! We wanted to see lots of good color and beautiful scenery. We were slightly early, but we definitely found the leaves changing.

We found a nice camping site too, right on the lake. That's Nancy in the chair down by the lake. No bears, but during the night we heard some raccoons around the camp making a nuisance of themselves and waking us up.

In the morning the lake was smooth as glass and all was quiet. We enjoyed several cups of coffee, a fire, a nice breakfast with eggs, sausage, muffins, etc. and watched the ducks swim across the lake to come visit us. Maybe they wanted to talk to me?

We rode our bikes all around the area and then hiked up this little canyon with a creek that fed the lake. A small trail led us just a quarter mile from our campsite. It was absolutely beautiful - full of color and life. There were changing leaves, a quiet brook tumbling over the rocks, a small waterfall, ferns, aspen, pine, fir, and spruce trees sheltering the hot September sun. I think we found Camp Grandparents.

Hanging Lake, Spouting Rock

Our friends took this photo of us near Hanging Lake last week. Just above the lake is this place called "Spouting Rock," where the water just squirts out of the side of a cliff into a waterfall and then eventually flows into Hanging Lake. You can walk behind the waterfall without getting wet.

Hanging lake

We hiked up a steep mile up to hanging lake with our friends over the weekend. Being really brave, we decided to walk out on this fallen tree. Since the water was icy cold, one slip would've meant an unhappy ending to our hike. The water was very clear and well over our heads, maybe 8 to 10 feet deep.

Hmm... where did they go? Fortunately, we just walked off. The lake sits perched on a high cliff overlooking a long canyon above Glenwood Canyon. It's a spectacular place.

Aspen near Aspen

The hike up to Crater Lake involves hiking through thick aspen groves. This is what will be so stunning in a few weeks when the leaves change colors. Each elevation will have unique colors and hues based on temperature, tree health, and even the movement of colder air. Hopefully, we'll be back up for that spectacle.

Maroon Bells on 9/11/11

Nancy and I went hiking with our friends up at Maroon Bells near Aspen, over the weekend. The weather was a little "iffy" in the morning but by afternoon it was beautiful. Actually the morning clouds provided some cool temperatures for the climb up to Crater Lake, pictured below...

After getting up to Crater Lake we decided to hike on up Maroon Creek for a few miles to look for moose and bear. Of course, you can never see any wildlife if you're specifically looking for them. They usually only surprise you.

Rock Creek to Boulder Lake

The goal yesterday was to find our way to Boulder Lake in Gore Range. Mark and Teena's map was very helpful because we had to find our way on three different intersecting trails. On the way we saw a bald eagle and a moose.

Below is Boulder Lake and where we had our lunch together. We found it to be stunningly beautiful with the peaks all around, still covered in snow. The moose sighting was a little unusual because we had stopped to take a rest on the trail hiking up. I went into the woods to "find a tree" and during my time alone with said tree, there he was, only 20 yards away! I tried to get my camera but there was too much to do at the time. When I did finally get the camera out of my pack, it was set wrong and the moose moved further into the trees

Jim and Chris were on the hike with us and fortunately Jim took a photo of him from the trail after I tried to alert them to what I'd seen. I'll try to get it to you later. When we got to the lake we all had lunch together and stuck our feet in the icy cold water. Oooh, it felt good.

Boulder Lake is a place I'd recommend. The flowers were all out and it was like walking through a garden. The trail was moderate and only about 4 miles or so from the car.

Cataract Lake

On Saturday we went with Craig and Kathy up to Cataract Lake. We took the trail which goes to the waterfall on the other side and then loops around the lake.

The flowers were stunning on this hike. In fact, the columbine were out in full force and covered field after field with that beautiful white and purple color.

I took this photo down by the lake. They're almost a magical flower and of course remind us of the terrible tragedy at Columbine High School so many years ago.

Boulder Mountain Hike

Nancy and I hiked up Towhee Trail and then Shadow Canyon yesterday and climbed Boulder Mountain, enshrouded in clouds. A few miles up the road there were 50,000 people running in the Bolder Boulder race. As a result, we had the trail pretty much to ourselves going up.

Eldorado Creek is starting swell up so I took this photo from the foot bridge that goes over it. The water was really cold from all the snow melt.

As we approached our destination we could see the flatirons a few times, but after a while they were totally obscured by clouds and we could barely see 100 feet ahead of us.

At the top (three hours later) I took this photo of the blue sky above. We sat on the summit, warmed up under the sun, and at our apples and snacks. We got back to the car at 2:00p and drove to Cantina Laredo for Mexican food. Our favorite place in Boulder.

Lost Creek

Nancy and I went hiking with our little group yesterday. The weather finally improved so we drive up to Lost Creek Wilderness and hiked the Goose Creek Trail.

We enjoyed lunch on the rock outcropping near the old shaft house. I think the sign said it was built in 1891. We had a great time and ran into Bruce and Sharon up there who were hiking with the Colorado Mountain Club. They were surprised.

A very interesting hike

I never ceased to be amazed at the things you can discover by wandering around Colorado a little. Nancy and I went for a hike today with some friends in Roxborough State Park. However, instead of taking the popular trails around the center of the park, we took off on the Elk Meadow trail and found all kinds of interesting things. Normally you don't see wood carved eagles out in the forest. This one was at the entrance to some private property.

These nice, but very old stables were interesting since they used the rock as the back wall. Why not? It saves lumber I suppose.

Then, as we were hiking along the road (at least a mile from the visitor center) we noticed a couple of rock patio's perched high up in the red rock formation. Being the curious hikers we are, we decided to try them on for size. They fit really well and the scenery from up there was magnificent.

Not too far from the patio was this marble chair sitting in the middle of the forest. She was so fancy sitting in her chair that the water in her bottle turned into Perrier!

A little further away we found this! I have to say this was a very strange place. These lions were carved out of wood and placed on the edge of the rock sneaking up and looking at their prey standing below.

On the trail we found this track. We then debated on whether it was a bear track or a mountain lion track. It seemed too big to be a mountain lion, however bears can't retract their claws like cats. There are no claws marks in front of this one. Hmmmm... One big lion?

This fox let us get pretty close up. At first, I thought he was asleep. Then we realized he was just trying to fool a mouse. We watched him catch the mouse and enjoy him for lunch. No really, that's true!

Before we left, Nancy had to enjoy the patio one more time. It's not surprising that women live longer than men. Look at how long they're girls. Now that I've learned to live life, most of it is gone!

Hike in the wind

Nancy and I had a nice hike today in Deer Creek Canyon. It was 77 degrees but the wind was blowing about 30 miles an hour! I have no idea why I even bothered to wear a hat! If it weren't for the warm temperature, we would've been miserable. Let's hope it starts to calm down soon.