We decided to take a long weekend and head to Columbus, Ohio. Our friends, Justin and Crystal, moved back there after a stint in Denver. We were psyched to visit with them, tool around Columbus, and see OSU play UW. Since Red is my favorite color, I was excited to see over 100K people all dressed in Red! (more…)
DeCaLiBron Loop Hike Topo, Via North Ridge of Mt. Democrat
The North Ridge of Mt. Democrat, oh that it were longer! 0.5 miles of fun scrambling does not make up for the 6+ mile boggy approach.
This elevation profile is not quite accurate. 4900 ft is in the right ballpark, for the elevation gain, but the distance is short by about a mile!
Doug and I decided to squeeze in a few more 14’ers before winter and so we aim for DeCaLiBron (De=Democrat, Ca=Cameron, Li=Lincoln, and Br=Bross). I’m not sure why it’s called DeCaLiBron and not DeCaLiBross, but that’s a topic for some other time.
To make it more interesting, we decide to climb the north ridge of Democrat, then climb Cameron, Bross, and Lincoln. Ending the day by descending the Lincoln Amphitheater, to get back to the truck above Montgomery Reservoir.
Launch: 5:50am
Begin Mt. Democrat North Ridge Scramble: 9:40am
Summit Mt. Democrat: 10:40am (We take a short lunch break on the summit).
Summit Mt. Cameron: 11:40am
Summit Mt. Bross: 12:20pm
Summit Mt. Lincoln: 1:12pm
Begin Descent of Mt. Lincoln via the Amphitheater: 1:25pm
Finish: 4:15pm
My colleague Cliff, got married in Beaver Creek and we were lucky enough to get an invite. Beaver Creek is a super nice place to go for a weekend get-a-way! In any event, there was a schedule of events for the wedding weekend, so we were excited.
Dennis and I spent a couple hours riding our mountain bikes around the gravel roads of Shrine Pass. We actually never made it to the single track, since we just had a couple of hours. It was a pleasant place to ride due to the sweeping views. And, since we got there in the middle of the day (right before thunderstorms started up!) the roads were not totally crowded with 4wd’ers.
Sometime, I’d like to ride the single track into the back bowls of Vail, but that will have to wait until next summer!
The day after getting back from the whirlwind trip up Blanca and Ellingwood, I joined Dennis for a half day of mountain biking around Buffalo Creek. My legs were totally trashed, but I still had a good time.
Or, at least until the last 30 minutes, when I totally wiped out going down a steep section of trail. There was a girl riding right behind me, so I tried to pull the bike over and hit a soft patch of sand. My bike came to a sudden stop and I kept moving…Not good! A relatively minor accident, but I was totally steaming…I shouted a bunch of bad words and then walked my bike down the rest of the steep hill.
It took me a while to calm down, but I still feel like griping. Why do people ride their bikes inches from my back tire? It’s not like we have airbags and anti-lock breaks! Geez Louise!