Sept 29

The day after the Geology Museum, it got cold. It got so cold that the next morning we woke to find that the Flatirons had been blanketed with snow. So we went hiking. We hiked up and up.

We hiked to the top of Green Mountain where we were completely socked in and could not see a thing of the beautiful view. The snow was starting to melt making a soft, pleasant drip and the fog dampened all the sounds. It felt like we were in Narnia.

That afternoon, we picked up Craig’s brother Cameron at the Denver airport. We got a fantastic dinner at Bastian’s Steak House.

The next day we had quite an adventure driving the Peak to Peak Highway through the Rockies and then climbing Mt. Evans in our car. You can drive to the top for a short period in the summer but the road was only open up to Summit Lake, a beautiful spot at 12,900 feet.

That night we helped the Gators beat Kentucky by eating lots of hamburger and drinking lots of beer.

The next day we took a ride through Boulder during an event called Cyclovia where they close some roads to cars. We biked over to Valmont Bike Park where they were having a cyclocross race. We, of course, dominated by taking first, second, AND third place.

Just before Cameron left, we caught a Rockies game at Coors Field. So awesome to have Cameron visit!!

Here are some other things we’ve been up to!

Craig took me on this mountain bike trail in Heil Ranch. This trail was rated as a medium-ish trail but it cooked me to somewhere between medium-well and well-done. It seemed like the sort of trail where you are kindly offered the opportunity to think deeply about whether mountain biking is a pleasant experience for you. I have not done a lot of mountain biking but this trail was a learning experience. All the obstacles and the constant jiggling brought me to realize that mountain biking is not about views or beauty but rather it is about intense concentration and keeping yourself upright when you’re going over this stuff.

We were sad when we left Boulder but were lucky to be temporarily adopted by George and Natasha in Arvada outside of Denver. They were incredible hosts!

The first day, George took us on a serious two hour bike ride followed by a food feast.

We camped in Rocky Mountain National Forest, checked out the GORGEOUS aspen foliage, and hiked up to Chasm Lake which looks up to Longs Peak.

We decided to try another attempt at 14,000 feet. This time, we were prepared and planned better so as not too feel so crappy afterwards. We made the ascent of Pikes Peak into a two-day affair. The first day we hiked six miles up Barr Trail to a magnificent campsite where Craig brought out his homo erectus skills and made fire, fire, heh, heh, fire!

A view of our little spot from the rocky formation nearby.

The next day, we climbed six miles to the top of Pikes Peak and then we hiked the whole twelve miles back down. It was exhausting! Altogether, we hiked twenty four miles (twenty six by other trail information) and gained and lost 7,400 feet in elevation in two days.

After resting some, we finally bade farewell to George and Natasha and went on our merry way!

Sept 11

After recovering from 14,065 feet, George and Natasha invited us on an epic journey of a different sort — the Tour de Fat. On Saturday, we hit the road in Denver at City Park with our bikes, George, Natasha, their friends, and costumes supplied by George and Natasha’s beauty bins. Here are the results.

Getting ourselves together…

Lining up for the ride…

Craig and George on their way…

And they’re off…

We rode with 10,000 others to promote cycling and beer (separately, of course) in Denver and to be a part of this festival that has made Fat Tire beer so popular. After the ride around City Park and some Denver neighborhoods, we tied all 8 bikes together in a pile and went to drink some beer. There was music, food, performers, sponsors, bike nonprofits, games. There was a dance-off competition to win a cruiser. There was a fenced pen in the middle of the festival with all kinds of weird bikes. There were big huge bikes, tiny bikes, bikes with tires made out of shoes, bikes made from John Deere tractors, bicycle merry-go-rounds, tricycles, tandem bikes with the two seats facing opposite directions. Here’s an example of some of the bikes.

Post-festival with George tipping his hat…

The next day, we took our bikes to meet my cousin Chase at the local bike park in Boulder. He showed us around the park and told us all about his two-wheeled exploits. He took us to this part of the park called a pump track which is supposed to be traveled entirely without pedaling or breaking. We spent a lot of time on the pump track and not of a lot of time taking pictures but here’s one of Chase and one of Craig.

Later in the week, we went to El Dorado Canyon to hike and see the sights Momma Nature had to offer over there.

Craig does his best Lewis and Clark.

In this one, you can see the Rockies in the distance.

We got to the South Boulder Creek where Katie found her inner yogi on a rock in the water.

And Craig found his on a rock on land.

After a bit of bathing in the water, we had lunch.

And then had to tear ourselves away.

Craig left his mark.

I loved these juniper bushes all around this hike. They remind me of growing up in California.

Katie goes for it on the boulder near where we parked. Skillzzzzzz.

Later in the week, we did an incredible bike ride from our apartment out to the Foothills and then over to the Boulder Valley Ranch. Here are a few frames.

We rode with the Flatirons behind us.

The trail we took is on Craig’s right.

Beautiful water!

A purple bouquet right in the middle of the path.

After awhile, the rain came and I put the camera away. We continued to bike around and through the Boulder Valley Ranch. On our way home, we stopped at the bike park to try out some of the features that we hadn’t tried.

The next day was rainy so we went to the Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum in Golden, CO. LOVE IT! This picture is a beautiful collection of rhodochrosite, the Colorado State Mineral.

Some watermelon tourmaline (elbaite) smack in the middle of this picture. This is so beautiful. This mineral grows with a green rind and a pinkish red core. Also in this pic, you can see on the left front and back right samples of a quartz called the Herkimer Diamond. This special quartz grows in a mountain in Herkimer, NY near where my parents live.

Craig inspects a calcite stalactite with a discerning eye.

The town of Golden is motherland of beer with the Coors Brewery, which was closed for tours. 😦 We still managed to get a burger and a beer downtown and enjoyed seeing the sights! 🙂

What a week!

Sept 8

Craig and I are still in our most excellent sublet in Boulder. Some extra roommates we’ve acquired since moving in include three used mountain bikes, a used bike rack for the car, two used bike helmets, and several free maps and magazine publications that tell us what to do here (and are strewn all over our casa). We’ve been exploring the goings on downtown, out of town, and in between. Some pictures of recent adventuring.

This is the outdoor amphitheater downtown near the biweekly farmers market. It seems they have quite a bit of music there. A regular group of hoola hoopers on the left are made possible by this woman with about 20 extra.

This is a really nice trail hike we did in Betasso 12 minutes outside of town. It is extremely popular for bikers who courteously thank you for letting them pass and tell you how many in their party.

Katie taking a breather and a gander at the view from a bench.

Craig taking a breather and a gander at the view from a bench. 😉

We saw this huge flock of turkeys who spread out everywhere when I tried to capture them (in a picture).

And we also saw this mama and two babes.

I only got this one picture of a lovely dinner we had with some family friends, George and Natasha Dunne. Ethiopian at Ras Kassa’s = YUMMY!

Here is the beginning of the beginning. After a two hour drive to the trailhead, we began our ascent of Mount Bierstadt in the wee hours of the morning as the sun was coming up over the peak. You can see the top of the peak in the background. It looks close. It is not.

These lakes are all around the mountains and they’re perfect.

Craig is warming up his legs. That peak on the right is Bierstadt. That ridge to the left of Bierstadt is the abominable SAWTOOTH RIDGE.

Somehow, buttercups, with such a sweet little name, are one of the heartiest flowers and thrive in high altitude conditions. They grow in abundance up here.

We hiked through mountain meadows like this for long stretches of time, floating our way upwards.

We’re getting closer!

And closer still! This is a picture of an ice flow! Yes, there was ice on this trail as we were hiking up it. And more ice the closer we got.

This is the final pitch. Nothing between us and the sun but a huge pile of loose boulders! You can see all our friends summiting with us. Just kidding! We don’t know those people.

We made it to the top of this mound of earth smaller than a bump on a basketball some 14,065 feet into the air!

Feels good at the top. A bit cold. Freezing, actually.

Mountains all around. You can’t tell from the pictures but the wind was drying out our faces and any other exposed skin it could zap.

This gorgeous lake sits between Bierstadt and its neighboring 14er, Mount Evans.

And HERE is the SAWTOOTH. I only took this picture of Craig so he would stop going down to SAWTOOTH and come back up to me.

Okay. We made it safely back down and we’re here to tell the story. It’s daytime now and all the ice from the morning melted in the bright sun. This is the point where full body circulation starts functioning properly again and I have the odd sensation that I have been steamed in a pressure cooker.

Sept 3

Big news. Very big news. Craig and I are officially (drumroll…) 14ers!!!!!
But wait, what does that mean? What’s a 14er when you are used to living in a land of 4s and 5s and the occasional 6s? A 14er is the thing that makes you gasp for breath, clutch your chest, and stop every 20 steps to recover. Then, when you get to the top, you still can’t breathe because the Earth stretching out all around you is so utterly unreal that your lung can’t seem to find a molecule of oxygen that will make you realize you’re not dreaming. When you stand up, the wind knocks you down. And you’re standing on a pile of loose rocks that teeter precariously 300 feet above the sweet, solid ground underneath. But you are not on that solid ground. You are on the rocks and when you look out at the planet, you look down. It’s like you’re in an airplane without a pilot or windows or the appropriate air pressure. It’s disorienting, magical, and totally terrifying.

I was terrified. All valiance aside, I could barely look up. I have dreamt quietly about the Rockies for a lot of my life. The mountain range highest above all the rest in North America. The place where people come from all over the world to ski, climb, bike, and hike. The sharp ridges that jut vertically up from the center of the continent and split our country in two, the western water basin and the eastern water basin. Now, I was here in these beautiful purple mountains majesty and every time I looked up from my shoes I got dizzy. So much for the adventure.

Craig had a blast at the top. He was dancing over the rocks and looking down from each side of the mountain at the lakes and mountain meadows and cliffs and snow patches. The trail we came up continued down the other side of the mountain across this knife’s edge of rocks called Sawtooth, which leads to the summit of another 14er. We could see two people climbing across Sawtooth from our perch at 14,000 feet. They looked like ants. We watched them try to assault this rock-faced cliff and turn back. Sawtooth spoke to Craig. It said, “Craig, Craaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiigggggggg…… Come hike me!!!” Watch out, Sawtooth. Craig might be back one day.

It wasn’t until we got off the top that I began to feel great; Craig began to feel woozy. We both felt a tingling in our hands from bad circulation at elevation while descending. The sensation improved once we got to the bottom but Craig felt like a piece of pulverized beef jerky for the rest of the day. We realized we had climbed almost three miles higher than sea level. Not too bad for these two Brooklyn hipsters. 🙂

Pictures to follow soon… Love to all from 5,430 feet!

August 29

Much to catch up on! Too much!

Here’s the short version. We got an Airbnb room in Westminster, CO just outside of Denver with Karen. She’s awesome and gave us lots of tips. We found out that our schedule coincided with Jooin’s perfectly. We met up for a Boulder dinner, a Red Rocks Beatles tribute show, and a Denver dinner for a total of three meetings in three days! It’s amazing what spontaneity can accomplish.

Jooin was pivotal in our Craigslist process. After a week in Westminster, we secured a sublet right in the heart of Boulder! We are here for three weeks! Come visit!

Excuse the onslaught of pictures. Some of the things we’ve been doing so far…

Ice cream kids cone at Sweet Tomatoes.

Hanging with one of two lover cats at Karen’s Airbnb.

Enjoying the view of the foothills from the top of South Boulder Peak.

Picture time at the summit.

The plant that we were terrified was poison oak. Not so.

Squirrely in a tree on the sidewalk eating nut berries who didn’t mind us at all.

Jooin and her friend Amy who invited us to Red Rocks!

Dinner the next night on Colfax Ave.

Katie’s face after tweeking her ankle on those rocks up there at North Table Mountain.

Migmatitic gneiss. Nice.

Mapping the hike near Nederlands and Fourth of July Campground.

The corridor of adventure.

Craig making tracks.

Tracks to this beautiful Lost Pond.

The ducks came around.

And followed us around the lake.

See the white stuff? Unfortunately, it’s not marshmallow fluff.

Pretty dreamy.

We love you, Indian Peaks Wilderness!

August 18

This post is a bit late! After we left Oklahoma, we had a long drive through Texas and into New Mexico. When we hit Sandia, it was like another world. Sandia are the mountains east of Albuquerque. They stuck up like a big layer cake from the surrounding plains and, when we started climbing, my ear pressure told me we weren’t in Kansas anymore.

In Albuquerque, we got to see a family friend, Johnathan Hartzhorne. We talked all about life in the west and counseling as a career in Albuquerque. We spent two nights in Albuquerque.

Sunday morning we left and headed north straight to the Santa Fe Baking Company to visit my cousin Hillary Welles and her husband Eric Struck. We got the grand tour and caught up on family stuff.

Then we headed north.

Fun fact. Both Albuquerque and Santa Fe are higher than Denver. In the elevation sense only.

August 16

Wow, we just have just spend the last two nights in the most beautiful wilderness imaginable…

We left Memphis on Wednesday and started driving. We kept driving. We drove some more. We drove until we there was nothing and we had to stop to eat at this chicken buffet called Charlie’s Chicken. If you only ate the chicken at Charlie’s Chicken, no problem. But watch out for the sides, veggies, and desserts. They were dangerous. We spent a lot of time driving through a spread of tobacco farms and nothingness.

We kept driving. Finally, we got to this beautiful place in Southwest Oklahoma called the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge with Doris Campground, our destination for the evening. In total, our wildlife count included prairie dogs, longhorn Texas cattle, deer, squirrels, bison, a coyote that ran through the campground, wild turkeys, blue lizards, raccoons that came to visit us after dinner, huge unidentifiable spiders, lots of birds and insects (both biting and non-biting), and several swooping hawks. The mosquitos came after the sun went down. A herd of long-horns came through our campsite on the second night. The bison were mostly individuals but we saw a herd on the day we drove out. The prairie dogs weren’t shy. A few of them would just sit a few feet away from the road as you drove by. We intersected some wild turkeys crossing in front of us. We gobbled to them and they gobbled back. We climbed around the rocks on top of Mt. Scott and found a few trails to walk, one by a lake, and the other from our campsite.

It was maddeningly hot at night which made it tough to sleep. We learned that the refuge was 60,000 acres and was formed first as a Reserve in 1901 by McKinley and modified to a Preserve in 1905 by Roosevelt and then again in 1933 which made it the Refuge it is now. We learned that all the lakes in Oklahoma are man made. Not a single natural one exists. And we learned that bugs love Craig’s sweet blood.

Onward! Happy trails!

August 13

After Chattanooga, we headed for Nashville, TN. We stayed just outside of the city and made a stop at the local REI. The next day, we repacked our stuff and headed into Nashville.

In Nashville, we found a place to stay and got a shuttle into downtown which dropped us off at Broadway (not that one!). We spent Friday night in Nashville at the bars on the strip listening to cover bands of country songs. We found a woman’s wallet and returned it to her. We met up with Cameron’s friend John and friends and they told us all about how Nashville is booming and the real estate market is blowing up. We walked ALL over the place. Our favorite honky tonks were Robert’s (see pic) and Layla’s.

On Saturday, we headed to Memphis. On the way there, Craig sang Paul Simon’s Graceland and we wondered out loud how many people played that song coming into Memphis.

For a new experience, we stayed at the only hostel in whole town in the back of a church called Pilgrim House. We fell in love right away with the place and decided to stay for a little while. While there, we met many locals and travelers and exchanged stories. A lot of folks were touring music cities, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Austin, and Burning Man. We went to Graceland, home of Elvis Presley the King, because you must go Graceland and saw the Graceland Mansion and Elvis’ overwhelming award hallway. The Stax Museum in Soulsville told the history of soul music from Otis Reading to Aretha Franklin.

We wandered around Beale Street where you can get a beer and wander down the sidewalk. We saw the Peabody Hotel, famous for it’s Northern Mallard ducks which live on the roof and take the elevator down to the lobby to bathe in the fountain each day. We almost stayed a fifth night to see some cats in a window shop near the Pilgrim House. There were at least a hundred cats in the windows. But we decided that the West was calling! Onwards towards the setting sun! Happy trails!

August 8

After leaving Cameron, we headed north. Below is our first campsite on the path westwards.

The next day, we met up with Blake in Chattanooga. We rented bikes from the city bike share and wheeled up the river all afternoon. The next two nights we spent in a breathtaking camping spot off a trail on Signal Mountain. We swam in a creek that feeds into the Tennessee River and the fishies came up to see what we had to offer them. We got the best tour of Chattanooga you could ask for and got to meet and greet Blake’s grandparents, long-standing Chattanooga citizens.

On the way out of town, we stopped at Jim Oliver’s BBQ and had fried coconut pie for dessert. My lord, you oughta try it. On the road again!

Happy trails.

August 4

We’re on the road! We just spent two glorious weeks in South Carolina with the Leslies and a wonderful weekend with Cameron in Georgia and now we’re hitting the vehicular trail. We have a lot to see and experience. I’m excited to see parts of the country I’ve not seen before and see some parts for a second or third time. I’ll be posting here every now and then so feel free to enjoy the ride with us! Happy trails.