Colorado Continued

Climb time. Bike time. Hike time. Climb time. Bike time.  Hike time. It's a beautiful thing!

That being said. today is a rest day for me and so I have retired to a cozy sofa to catch you up on what's been happening on the CO side of things.

We have been so lucky and have had some amazing weather over the past few weeks.  We have been snowed on once so far (now that I'm typing this we are going to have nothing but snow for days now I can feel it).  We have gotten to climb in some amazing places that I didn't even know existed (Boulder Canyon is endless and the Flatirons are in a category all their own).

We've camped out at nearly 9,500ft elevation and woken up to a dusting of snow over everything.  We've been fortunate enough to hike around a small lake in Rocky Mountain National Park now that it is open and soak up the mountain air into our bodies over the past week and a half.  Colorado is quite a gem.

We are now in Breckenridge for a week in the "high country" (it all seems high to me still- we're staying at 10,300ft) and then heading down to the southwestern corner of the state for some hiking and hopefully climbing and biking.  We've been hiking, gotten some snow and today went out to find some frozen waterfalls with some new friends.  Such a treat.

We've made some great friends out here who have taken us under their wing and shown us some incredible areas full of some of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen.  Instead of talking about it, please enjoy the photos below...

It is already mid-October.  We've been on this adventure for 3 weeks already.  Time continues to fly by no matter what you're up to apparently.  We are starting our "boomerang" back toward California at this point in time with Gunnison, Durango, Indian Creek, Moab, Salt Lake City and finally Tahoe still to go.

Until next time,
M.

~"There is nothing better than making new friends...except making new friends who have chocolate."
-anonymous

Our camp out and breakfast in Nederland- doing it right. 

Secret overlook somewhere outside of Ned and Estes Park

The locals at Rocky Mountain National Park

Nik made a friend

A blurry, but beautiful start to the day as the moon sets over Mt. Quandary

Mt. Quandary (the 14er outside our window in Breckenridge) at sunset

A lot of frozen water

Guess who tried his hand at ice climbing and rocked it

And yes we did finally traverse across the river for a lil climb time

Official photographer hard at work

Climbing in the aspens aspens aspens outside Frisco

Lenticular clouds!!! 

Colorado Part 2

With the generosity of a new friend, we have retired from the truck nook for the past 5 days and have been staying in Westminster… in a house!  

We drove in through a place called Clearwater Canyon into the little town of Golden, Colorado.  As we drove through we were greeted by a meandering creek on the right hand side, steep canyon walls on both sides and trails that lead straight up.  As we continued our way through we see climbers popping up everywhere, people driving creek boats up to a put in, mountain bikers heading up the steep cliffs and countless hikers….we’re IN Colorado now.  This is what we both thought it was going to be like- outdoorsy people everywhere.  It took some self control on the driver’s part to not pull the car over and dash for his bike immediately.  J

After a bike ride we thought was going to be much mellower than it actually was and a pint of local beer later, we’re at Radical Reels in Golden, CO to see this year’s international tour of outdoor films from around the world.  It didn’t disappoint. And yes we planned that.

We found a place to have my bike repaired, yussss, and while we waited climbed our first route in Colorado- a place called Castle Rock, kind of funny and ironic, coming from Santa Cruz.  Up in Boulder Canyon (having just opened up the day prior to us climbing due to horrible flood damage) we found about 1500 routes on these beautiful granite spires and cliff sides strewn all the way up at about 6,500ft elevation- beautiful.  In some spots it’s necessary to cross over a river to reach the base of these cliffs, so being the adventurous folks that Coloradans are, there are fixed pully lines in some spots where people  traverse across (we haven’t done this yet, but I’m sure sometime soon).

We ended up doing some more biking in Nederland, which is just like the little Colorado town I pictured in my mind.  It had a main little street, people walking everywhere and saying hello to one another and a little corner market where people bought fresh produce…you know, the “Murphys of Colorado.”

With adventure on the mind and the beautiful rock formations outside of Boulder taunting us, we wound up climbing one the classic Flatirons that line the “foothills” of the Eastern Rockies.  Beautiful rocks with incredible formations and holds all the way up.  Run out (thankful I wasn’t leading), chicken heads galore, perfect little pockets and some of the grippiest rock I’ve ever climbed on.  It also happened to be my longest climb yet- 7 pitches, 1000ft followed by some awesome rappels off the back to our hike out about 1/3 of the way down.  It was incredible to see out into flatness as we looked due east from the top.  (see the video below of our summit point...I was remembering I was a little afraid of heights at the time...)

I topped the week off with a leisurely mountain bike ride to Red Rocks Amphitheatre and back.  What an amazing venue.  They were mid-set up for a Saturday night show so I didn’t stay long, but long enough to relish in the memories of listening to John Butler Trio and Mumford and Sons performing live at this very spot...online…

We’re having fun, making new friends, living in the moment and trying not to spend every penny we’ve got on Italian Deli sandwiches and guide books…trying.

The adventure continues with friends coming into town, some climbing and some camping up in the mountains.

Be well wherever you are. 

-M.

~Today was good.  Today was fun.  Tomorrow is another one.  -Dr. Seuss

Over Vail Pass

Dusting of snow

Breckenridge...we'll be back for you

Unknown snowy place

Signage posted everywhere

Second pitch of the Flatirons, just hanging out

Nik rappeling our final rappel off the back of the Flatiron

Red Rocks!

 

Photographic Evidence

Here's some photos from the trip so far:

The Narrows of Pine Creek- my first canyon

Nik rappelling 

Me starting the 100ft rappel in the Narrows

Subway Canyon Selfie

Submerging in cold cold water

Driver!!!

Hiking through Subway Canyon

Dinner done right

Dinosaur tracks in our hike out of Subway- preserved for millions of years!!! Wow!!

First mountain bike ride in Moab and this is what we find! 

Nik in Fruita. 

Gemini bridges, Utah

Tailgate Kitchen 

Colorado Or Bust

"Okay."

"Do we have everything?"

"Yup."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup."

"Okay then, here we go."

Driving out of the little not-so-quiet-anymore town of Murphys up Highway 4 toward Ebbetts Pass with our entire lives in the back of a truck.  We've got our bags packed, gear stowed, sleeping nook made up in the truck bed (with too many blankets...or so we thought) and some yummy snacks for the way.  We're leaving familiar territory and heading out toward the grand state of Colorado for a 5 week long adventure to explore, have some adventures, meet new people and scope out some new places.  

Why you ask? (we've been getting this question a lot, from a lot of different people) 

The answer is pretty simple actually: there's no time but the present. 

We are both twenty four years old, do not have many major responsibilities (ie mortgages, kids, pets, businesses, etc), are able-bodied, adventurous and are itching to explore the world around us.   

We've taken leaves from work or quit jobs altogether, saved up and geared up for what will prove to be one of the best adventures so far in my life.  Who's excited?  Meggan is!!  

Now that you've got some background as to what we're up to, back to the story....

As we drove up and over the pass, I was surprised to see the aspens had not quite turned colors yet (this was Sept. 28th), another week and they would have been perfect.  With a bald eagle soaring overhead ('Merica!), we continued our journey east into a land of straight roads...Nevada did not win me over on this one and extra terrestrial highways where nothing outlandish happened...I was hoping for some bright lights, or flying cows or something to get my blood pumping, but nay.  We slept our first night somewhere out of Alamo (not THE Alamo, but Alamo, NV) (I'm as surprised as you are) and continued on to Zion National Park (pre gov't fit) to explore some canyons and red rocks.

And let me just take a second to tell you, canyons, wow.  I have never canyoneered before.  I've been into canyons in California and even in Utah before, but I have never been IN canyons where my only way out was rappeling down slick faces, through waterfalls (minor waterfalls this time of year), and wading through ice cold water through narrow canals of carved stone.  We were fully committed to these canyons once we decided to descend our first rope.
We ended up running two canyons in Zion- the Narrows of Pine Creek was my first canyon and Subway Canyon the next day.  The longest rappel was 100ft and what an experience- I felt like a little spider on a web descending into a whole new world (queue Aladdin music) where time was going by but I was just there, fully, in the moment.  It was incredible.

Before everyone gets on the horn and yells at me for being reckless-know there were permits required, we weren't just jumping into a gully somewhere without anyone knowing about it, there were time limits, emergency contacts listed and lots of gear involved that made the trips run smoothly and successfully...aside from my boots which gave me blisters the size of small station wagons.
We were fortunate enough to stumble upon the Zion Canyon Music Festival, were granted free entrance (I'm still not sure how this happened) and drank wine while listening to great live music from multiple great bands-all within a hop, skip and a jump from our home away from home...ie up the road on a level plot of dirt.  We were out of Zion the night before the gov't shut down, so we were not affected by closures yet.

Next to Moab, Utah!  

We ended up staying three days in Moab mountain biking all three days- Kane Creek, Slickrock (crikey!) and Gemini Bridges (where I proceeded to blow out the rear shock on my bike half way through a 14 mile ride...for the win).  G9, the Moab Mamma, was our amazing local guide who chatted with us about the Moab happenings, shuttled us to Gemini Bridges (what a lady!) and was a friendly face who gave us fresh tomatoes and many laughs!  What a cool town!  We'll definitely be back sometime soon!  We were unable to jump into Arches National Park due to closures, but will definitely go back sometime to experience the gorgeous rock.
After our stint in Moab we headed out toward the Colorado state line.  We were greeted by torrential downpours, low temperatures and lightning!  Luckily the storm passed through the night and the trails were surprisingly dry the next day for our rides in Fruita.  A film screening of Bicycling Dreams in Grand Junction the next day (all about people who race across America on bicycles in under 12 days....!) and a day of trails in Grand Junction to follow.
The adventure continues to Westminster and Boulder to hopefully do some climbing, make some new friends, explore some new places and get my bike fixed.
Happy times from Colorado!
To be continued....

-M.

~Life is like riding a bicycle.  To keep your balance, you must keep moving."- Albert Einstein

Take off from Murphys- the set up

View from our sleeping spot in Zion

More pictures to come...