We left the Blank Gulch Trailhead (TH) at 5am, summited Shavano at 8:45am, topped Tabeguache at 9:40am, back to Shavano at 11:30am, and back to TH at 2:30pm. Excellent hiking by the CMC team; James, Rick, myself, Josh, and Rich. (Order from L to R for picture above).

The Blank Gulch TH is a large cow paddie laden field. Not the nicest smelling place, but plenty of room for tents & vehicles. I slept in my bivy which I placed strategically under a very large pine tree. I’m glad I did so because it rained & displayed flashes of lightning throughout the night. The tree provided some shelter…

We left the TH at 5am, and hiked fairly continuosly until about 6:40am. I couldn’t help but take the following picture, it was such a *beautiful* alpine morning!

The Group Climbing the East Slope at 7am:

Climbergirl at the saddle, 700 feet or so below the summit of Shavano. Notice the Fog (still lifting!)

Climbergirl Nearing the Summit of Shavano (You can see the saddle behind me…where I was when I took the photo above)

Rich (Our Fearless Leader!) Near Summit of Shavano

Clare on the Summit of Shavano at 8:45am

Pretty View from the Summit of Shavano

The Summit of Tabeguache

Clare on Top of Tabeguache at 9:40am (Antero in the Background!)

View of Shavano from Summit of Tabeguache

Wild Mushrooms

After we got back to the TH, we stopped in Buena Vista for lunch. We had a great time stuffing our faces and visiting with each other. What a wonderful trip, I’m so happy I got to go climb some 14′ers with such fun and competent folks!

With Pedal Bike Tours, we experienced a buffet of Portland, on their “Bites by Bike” tour. What fun! I just loved the concept-ride around Portland on a bike at a leisurely pace while our guide Scott explained a bit about the town and showed us all the best local food!

First we stopped at World Cup Coffee & Tea

Next Up was Elephant’s Delicatessen (Yummy!)

For a bit of sassy sweetness, Two Tarts Bakery:

Then Over to Hotlips for Pizza & Homemade Berry Soda Pop

We then visited the Farmer’s Market (just wonderful!). I bought some locally grown hazelnuts.

Finally, we stopped at Cacao, where we were given a short lesson in how chocolate is harvested and we got to drink some liquid chocolate. Wow, it was strong!

This concluded the 3.5 hour bike tour, so we went back to the bike shop and headed out to explore the Portland International Rose Garden!

Dennis at the Rose Garden:

The Rose Garden Map!

Roses

Non-Roses (At least I don’t think these are roses!)

Tim O’Brien Band

Wyatt Rice, Josh Williams, Rob Ickes, Bryan Davies, and David Grisman

The music got better as day turned to night. We missed the last band, we had to head home to get ready for the workweek. We were treated to this beautiful moonrise as we left Lyons.

Nice way to spend the afternoon!

We got to the trail head around 9am, and headed off for our ride. We rode for about 4 hours and then headed back to Denver.

I forgot the camera, so no pictures! I also forgot my water bladder, so I lugged the Nalgene. A bit uncomfortable, but at least I wasn’t dehydrated.

There is a 5 dollar fee to park here, so remember exact change…or park on the service road! There is a bathroom facility at the pullout, as well as picnic tables. Nice!

Enjoying the Ride

Dennis at the Junction of Colorado Trail & Green Mountain Trail

Overall, the CO trail ride was quite enjoyable. It was tricky, and in several spots, I had to get off the bike and walk. The roots were the biggest challenge, I don’t yet know how to pull the front tire off the ground. So, sometimes, if there is a large step up or a root, I have to walk it. Dennis fared better than I, but he still thought it was challenging.

Beautiful ride, though! I would recommend this to the intermediate rider looking for a good workout & a bit of challenge.

The ride starts up a singletrack trail, climbing steeply upward. It passes the old remains of a dance hall, and then curves around into a road. If one has enough time, one can go up to a mine (at the end). We turned around after 3 hours of riding, and didn’t make it to the mine. The ride was probably around 8 miles total.

We left Denver at 7:30am.

The pullout at the Trail Head, in Silver Plume:

Lynn Working Hard Up the Steep Trail

Peter Pushing Upwards

Dan Making It Look Easy

Climbergirl Struggling To Stay in Control Up Rocky Trail

Moments Later…

The Ruins of an OLD Dance Hall (I can’t imagine having the lungs to dance at 10K feet with a corset on…!)

Dennis Having Fun on the Descent

We ended the day by having lunch at the Bakery in Silver Plume, food was yummy. We also bought a loaf of their cheese bread..highly recommend!

Later in the afternoon, I went to see the Rockies with Dennis. The game was not as exciting as the last year, but they still ended up winning. Woo-hoo! Oh, and the seats we had were awesome.

I refuse to take credit for the “discovery” as it was mostly the mad map reading and interpretive skills of Jen and the patience of Jenny who got us there.

I will, however, take credit for galavanting into the woods and pitching a mean fit in search of THE fastest way back to the car. I am slightly embarassed to report just how mean I was, but at least I was able to find the right way back! I later apologized to the girls for my selfish & pissy bossiness, I just *really* did not want to spend another hour being eaten by bugs and out in the relentless heat. I was determined to learn the proper way to the crag without having to take a third trip there!

If you are in need of some Beta for Plum Line &/or Citadel, I would suggest using a GPS Receiver with full batteries. Mine did not work because some silly girl forgot to bring spare AAAs.

If you do not have a GPS, you can try and use this blog entry, but no guarantees!!!
1. Follow the guidance in print to park your ride.

2.When you see the branch in the road (see picture above), walk a few hundred feet past it.

3. When you see these Rocks to your left, do a 180 degree turn, and walk the other way…it should look something like the picture next.

4. Walk into the woods. Search around for a faint trail. There is one, trust me. It peters out about 400 feet before it reaches the road (for some reason…?) Maybe it’s an animal trail. Who knows!

5. Walk west & south until you reach a wide marshy gully. Follow this Southward until you get to the crag. It will be on your left, and if you walk parallel to the marsh, on more dry elevated land, you’ll be able to see it.

6. There are some climber’s Trails which head uphill on the east side of the marsh, so follow these to climb up to the crag. If you know where it is it should not take more than 20 minutes from your vehicle.

Here are some pics of the moderates we climbed at Brown’s Landing:

Here are some fun pics of us bouldering:

And a nice Dude who was riding from Texas to Alaska to fight against Cancer. He had a really cool cape! We ran into him at the Lincoln Highway Musuem, just outside of Vedauwoo. What an awesome adventure he was having!

On Saturday, we headed to Jurassic Park for some fun single pitch climbing. I was excited to go back to the wall and try some of the climbs for a second time.

Unfortunately, when we got there, I got sick. The upset stomach caused me to become very friendly with a certain unspecified bush. I don’t remember the last time I was caught being this sick at a climbing wall…oh wait…that’s cause I haven’t been!

Bottom Line (pun intended) is that we ended up just doing two pitches: Prologue Variation Led by Jen! (5.4-with a 5.6 lower crux) and A Lawyer on the Toilet (Top Roped by Jen & Jenny). I must admit, I was really jealous of that lawyer!