For day 2 of the weekend in Vegas, we did the Calico Tanks hike in Red Rocks Park. The hike is fairly mellow, ascending a few hundred feet to a pretty overlook and the very empty Calico Tanks. The cavernous rock pits generally store water through-out the year, but there was just a puddle at the bottom. How odd! (more…)
In order to acclimate Emma to CO, we decided to take her on a nice little day hike around Golden Gate Canyon State Park. Thanks to a blog by Fun Colorado Hikes, I located some information about Golden Gate Canyon State Park.
The blog recommended the Mountain Lion Trail, and the Burro Trail. SO, we decided we’d do a little bit of both! (more…)
My back was still not recovered from the injury, so I decided to spend one more weekend above treeline, bagging peaks. Kris mentioned Mt. Princeton, and I thought, “Why not, we were just up Columbia and Harvard!”.
As Gerry Roach says, “Princeton is the southernmost and most visible of the Collegiate fourteeners. As you descend west into the Arkansas River Valley, on U.S. 285, Princeton stares you smack in the face for many miles. You cannot ignore its gaze.”
Princeton stared us smack in the face and then delivered a sly & wicked lovetap. It passively allowed us access to the summit, then aggressively spit us out on the opposite end from whence we came. Beware the subtle, twisted, and tangled nature of the many high ridges of Princeton! (more…)
On August 10th, I met with Kris and Brian to attempt Mt. Columbia and Mt. Harvard (14,073′ and 14,420′, respectively) the following day. The plan was to drive up to Buena Vista, have dinner, and then bivy until o-dark-thirty, and head for the high points.
Before I get into the details about Harvard & Columbia, I must rewind to ealier on Saturday.
Dennis & I had so much fun Mountain Biking in Canada, that we decided to give it a whirl locally. As luck would have it, a co-worker of mine, Dan, was happy to show us around. So, on Saturday,we went for a nice little ~10 mile single track bike ride around Bear Creek Lake Park.
After the bike ride, Dennis dropped me off at Kris’ house, so that I could go climb mountains. What a hectic 36 hours, for me!!! (more…)
Our last day full day in Canada was celebrated by a lovely hike up Mt. Fairview from the Chateau Lake Louise. The hike climbs just over 3,400 ft to the summit, over 9 km. We followed the Saddleback Pass Trail to the Pass (at around 7, 700 ft) and then made the final summit bid up scree to the top.
I decided to do the hike in my new VFF (Vibram Five Finger) shoes, it was an experiment in foot dexterity & toughness!
Our stats:
Start Time: 12:35 pm
Saddleback Pass: 1:50 pm
Mt. Fairview Summit: 2:40pm
Finish Time: 4:30pm
For More Pictures of the hike, (more…)