My First 14er: Mt Bierstadt

There are 53 mountain peaks in the state of Colorado that are above 14,000 feet - the most of any other state in the continental US. This past Saturday Mr X and I climbed our first 14er. We meant to have a go at one last summer but somehow time got away from us. Our goal was to do one a year. This summer we need to do two to catch up. Some of these hikes can be pretty grueling so we chose the easiest one on which to start. Mt Bierstadt: 14,060 feet.  The trail head starts at 11,669 feet and so the elevation gain is only 2,850 feet - not bad at all.

This photo is from the parking lot. That rounded peak in the distance was our ultimate destination.

Me almost there!

Mr X at the top with a gorgeous view in the background.

This is a regular shot of one section of that panorama.



I took this picture just to show you how many other people were doing this climb as well. Way too many - that was the only crummy part of this hike.



This is the marker on at the highest point.

We started our hike at 6:30 in the morning, which was smart because we found out later that apparently that afternoon the weather got a bit crummy and a tornado was even spotted near one of the neighboring peaks (Mt Evans, also a 14er). I'm glad we weren't still up there to witness that but I also kind of wish we were, just to see it. But we might have been struck by lightening and killed so I'm more glad we weren't there. 90% glad, 10% bummed we missed it.

The Parental Visit: Denver Mint Tour

My parents whirled through my neck of the woods this week during a roughly 36 hour layover in Denver. The one full day that I had with them was spent taking a tour of the US Mint, checking out the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver, perusing the Bass Pro Shop east of Denver and catching up over dinner with us and my uncle (who just happened to be in town for the week as well). I failed to take any photos but I scavenged some from the interweb of the Denver Mint. The tour is too short to fully absorb everything, but still fascinating and very much worth the price tag of $0. You just have to make reservations in advance, that's all. Here are some pictures of the tour:

The Denver Mint was built in 1897. It's been expanded on since then, but this photo shows the original building. The original building has been left intact.



There are old fashioned scales all over the place on the tour route.



These are the coils of metal sheets from which pennies are punched during production.

It's not a guarantee that any coins will be in production during one's tour. We were lucky in that pennies were being produced during our tour.

At the end of the tour there is a display that shows what roughly 2 million dollars worth of gold looks like these days. A mere three bars of gold bullion.

4th of July Getaway: Strawberry Park Hot Springs

One evening during our trip we ventured out to Strawberry Park Hot Springs. We've taken to sampling the abundant springs of Colorado. This one rated pretty high with us. I want to come back here during the fall because the place is surrounded by Aspens and it would be lovely, I'm sure. I also want to come back in the winter and soak in these while surrounded by snow. (These photos are courtesy of the interweb. We didn't bother bringing our camera with us.) Each pool is a different temperature, ranging from slightly warmer than a swimming pool up to too-hot-for-me-to-get-more-than-a-toe-in. I don't know what temperature that is. Oh, and there wasn't a detectable sulfur smell, which was nice. It's clothing optional after dark. We went in the early evening when bathing suits were in full force.

4th of July Getaway: Fish Creek Falls

While away for the holiday we also hit up Fish Creek Falls. It's only about a mile to get there. It's beautiful and refreshing. We would have taken more photos but there were a lot of people enjoying the falls so we didn't take very many pictures. What we did do though was scramble up the rocks to get much closer to the roaring falls and then we found a nice relatively calm pool of water in which to soak our hot, tired feet. It was such a pleasant and relaxing time.

This picture is kind of out of order, but I thought I'd throw it in anyway. We went fishing in an alpine lake. We didn't have any luck, unfortunately. But in our defense, the weekend prior we also went fishing and we caught 4 fish! Mr X even caught 2 fish with his fly fishing pole - it was his first time to actually fish with it. I was very impressed with him.

July 4th Getaway Continued

These photos are from our way back down Hahn's Peak. Wildflowers literally covered the ground everywhere we looked.  (Except in this first picture because we were still up near the peak.)

Mr X was chasing this little chicken towards me so I could snap a picture of it. Some older gentleman saw us and came over to tell us what we already suspected: it was a grouse. He also informed us that they were incredibly dumb creatures. To which I responded, "Yeah, but I bet they're delicious." He assured me that they were absolutely delicious. Where'd he get one? I want to eat one. I told Mr X  that if we saw another one we'd chase it and kill it and take it home with us for dinner. My vegetarian SIL might be rolling her eyes in disgust after reading this.

July 4th Getaway: Hahn's Peak

One of my goals during this weekend away was to hike to the top of Hahn's Peak. It's not a particularly high mountain - elevation 10,839 feet - but it just looked appealing and I was certain the view would be spectacular from the top. Besides, we could start the hike right from our cabin's front door. It added about 4 miles to our hike so I think we hiked a total of 8.4 miles that day.

The view of Hahn's Peak from the base.

We didn't stop at all on the way up, we wanted to get up quickly before other people. We took our time on the way down, photographing the views and flowers.

This is a panorama from the top. The recent fires, though not too close, caused a perpetual haze during our trip. You can really tell in these photos. The smoke also left both Mr X and I with irritated eyes, itchy throats and sneezy.

On the top of this peak sits an old shack. The story is that it was used as a lookout in "the olden days" to spot forest fires. It had to be rebuilt several times because of lightening strike destruction. I can't imagine being that person, cowering in the corner during an electrical storm. Also, if the person spotted a fire, how did he/she get word out? Run down the mountain really quickly?

The entire top cap of the mountain is just shale. Going down was worse than going up on this stuff. Slip-sliding rocks shifting all around each step. I was very happy to have my walking poles as they proved very useful on this stuff.

Quintessential Colorado: Columbines overlooking endless mountains.

4th of July Getaway: Clark CO

Mr X and I have been trying to really get to know our new state since our relocation here. We try to utilize any long weekends we're lucky enough to have together to explore yet another region of our little state. We're trying to find our favorite spot. This is proving to be quite difficult because I swear every time we go somewhere new, Mr X has to listen to me say the same things all over again:

"Oh my gosh! It's so beautiful I can hardly stand it!"

"I can't believe we don't live here!"

"Okay, for sure, THIS place is my number one!"

As usual, I said all of those same things about Clark and Steamboat. I suppose choosing my favorite place in Colorado, for me, is like trying to pick JUST ONE chocolate from a chocolate shop. An impossible task!

We stayed in a very rustic cabin (those are the only kind we can afford). There was no bathroom or shower. It did have a sink with running water and a bed. I didn't care - it seemed much more luxurious than camping. I thought of it as a more frugal version of "glamping". I liked this place and these cabins so much that I've been toying with them as an option for our upcoming family reunion. Though I'm not entirely sure that the whole crew will be down with Rustic.

This is the General Store and "Front Desk" for the collection of cabins.



This was our cabin. I think there's about a dozen or so of them, all different sizes. Some of the larger ones actually have bathrooms in them, but we were trying to keep things as inexpensive as possible. I think they're all adorable!

These old cabins used to be miner's cabins and they've all been converted into guest cabins. I wonder how many miners were crammed into each place.

We were surrounded by beautiful wildflowers. I think these might be Monkshead but I'm not entirely sure.

These are called Cow Parsnips.

I tried to zoom in on these birds the best I could, but I'm afraid it wasn't good enough. I'd never seen them before and I still have no idea what they were. I do know that the one with it's head down was gobbling up a fish. (We used Mr X's handy binoculars to spy on them.)

  

We saw deer almost every time we ventured out. I love when their antlers are still covered in velvet.

I've got more posts to come about this area so stay tuned...

Hanging Lake Hike

Mr X and I did a quick jaunt out to Glenwood Springs, Colorado a few weeks ago to do some exploring. Actually, the specific reason we wanted to go was so that we could do the Hanging Lake hike. We'd seen photos online of this place and it looked incredible so we had it on our hiking to-do list. I think it lived up to the hype - I would say that it was one of the top hikes we've done in Colorado in terms of beautiful scenery. The only disappointing part was that it's a rather short hike. 1.2 miles to the lake. I would have preferred it to be longer but to be fair, it was quite strenuous so that made up for it. Basically it was like doing the stairclimber at the gym the entire way. So that was nice. If you're ever driving across the country, this would be a great little diversion.