Merry Christmas

We got nostalgic and splurged on a real, cut, Christmas tree from a nifty tree lot nearby. It was a flat rate for any tree; of course we got the tallest one they had. Even at 8ft, it felt tiny amidst the 14ft ceiling in our place so we mounted it atop a speaker cabinet to get it up to 11ft. Homemade decorations and a robot angel on top. Tis the season!

Rocky Mt NP- Deer Mountain

Itching to get out of town, I drove up to Rocky Mt Natl Park for a quiet solo hike up Deer Mountain. Not much snow on the Front Range yet, so no need for the snowshoes I brought along. Blustery snow front blew in as I reached the summit, snapped a couple quick shots and jammed back down. Nice hike, nice workout, nice Saturday afternoon.

Chili Fest birthday party

Back in Boulder, each year for my birthday I hosted 'Chili Fest' where my friends and I each make a batch of homemade chili, potluck style. It's been a few years since I've done it, but finally threw down for Denver's first Chili Fest. It's not a contest or cook-off, just a celebration of good chili and creative cooks. We had 7 batches this time, including traditional red, vegan red, pork & veggie greens, a white chicken chili and veggie chili casserole. And a keg of local Hibernation Ale beer from Great Divide to keep it jolly.

I forgot to snap photos of the party, but documented my zero emission beer transport:

Buena Vista / Mt Princeton Hotsprings birthday weekend

April surprised me with a couple nights at the amazing Bunny Lane Cabins outside Buena Vista for my birthday! Fun times indeed- a large one room cabin with a pingpong table, vintage stereo system replete with a classic rock cassette library, and a toasty wood stove. Low key and rustic, just how we like it. Good homemade food, goofy fun times. Happy birthday to me!

"Rabbit Den" cabin

The cabin is just up the road from Mt. Princeton Hotsprings resort and we enjoyed a long afternoon soak (and another later at night) along the Chalk Creek. Natural hot water seeps up from the earth right next to the river, and rocks are arranged to form small pools of varying temps depending how much chilly riverwater mingles.

Mt. Princeton Hot Springs alongside Chalk Creek

We drove up to Saint Elmo, a preserved 'ghost town' up towards Mt. Princeton. Most of these buildings are now privately owned and restored, originally built in the mid 1880's.

St. Elmo ghost town

Hiked along the base of the Chalk Cliffs- a unique rock feature resulting from the effects of underground hot water chemically transforming the rock before it uplifted into the peaks we see now.

the Chalk Cliffs

Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO

 We thought camping might be finished for the year, but caught a good autumn weather weekend and packed up for the Dunes. Took off Friday after work and showed up really late to the campground, so it was another fun surprise to wake up to our surroundings.

Such a bizarre geology here, sand dunes like I grew up with on the Lake Michigan shores, yet nestled alongside the Sangre de Cristo range in the Rockies. Really beautiful, stark contrasts of sand and rock. They say these dunes are a deposit from wind currents carrying ancient desert sands across the San Louis Valley, then dropping the particles as the air stalls up against the Cristos.

Fun times slinging the Frisbee and running around the slopes.

Took the scenic route home, including tossing a couple rounds at the alley in Alamosa. 

 Safety first!

Miner's Cabin / Mohawk Lakes - outside Breckenridge, CO

We heard a tale of this refurbished miner's cabin up outside of Breck / Blue River from our neighbors and wanted to check it out for ourselves. Evidently this old, abandoned mining shack had been fixed up at some point and was now open to whomever stumbled across it, wood stove and all. We headed up after work on Friday, and it was plenty dark before we actually arrived to the trailhead.

But it was only a couple of miles on a well established trail to the cabin, but in case we didn't find it we brought tent and supplies to camp on our own. And plenty of headlamps. After an ultra-quiet, moonlit walk in the woods, we found the cabin and to our luck it was unoccupied. We poked around with limited light, sparked a fire in the stove and settled into the cozy sleeping loft.

It wasn't 'til the morning light that we even grasped where we were at:

1883 miner's cabin we stayed in

Not a bad scene to wake up to, that's for sure! But we also quickly discovered that this cabin is along a very very popular hiking trail in Summit County. Cooking up some eggs for breakfast outside rendered us the de-facto tour guides for dozens of hikers, kids, dogs, etc. It wasn't anticipated, although it wasn't surprising either given the novelty and location. They all asked the same innocent and curious questions, but it got old fast. Most of these folks would have passed on by had a couple of morons (us) not been fixing breakfast and coffee here.

We were staying a second night, so we cleaned up and headed uphill as soon as possible to avert the prying crowds. Joining the day-trip masses on the trail, we came to some great features:

Upper Mohawk Lake

This alpine lake lies a couple miles above the cabin in a historically rich mining area. Lots of pits and mines and rail tracks and trailings litter the hillside.

Further up around treeline another alpine lake hangs within the glaciated bowl. Looking west:

After hiking back to the cabin, the daytime crowds meandered off downhill in the afternoon and it was back to just us. So quiet and pleasant, and just a tad spooky... knowing that tough miners had erected this place for shelter and rest and their toil of riches ~130 years ago.

We cooked dinner, as they had, although we are lazy westerners who bought fun food & wine at the supermarket and hiked it in a couple miles from the car. They did not even conceive of such luxuries, I'm sure.

A huge thank you to whomever the ambitious folks were that restored this cabin to an 'inhabitable' state in 1989. I imagine you guys are long gone from the regular scene, and I figure this trail was a lonesome hike back in your day, a quiet place mostly of your own... 21 years has brought a lot of development and visitors to Summit County. Ourselves included. Thank you for sharing, all the same:

photo of the original visitor's log, mounted and weathered on the cabin wall, 1989

An uneventful hike back to the car and a stop for coffee and made-to-order donuts in Breckenridge before heading north over Berthoud Pass and through Winter Park, Frasier & Granby. We drove through Rocky Mt. Natl Park, eastward over Trail Ridge Road for some spectacular motorized views.

I had to work in the Boulder office on Monday, so we made it back to Camp Dick near Peaceful Valley (along the Peak to Peak Highway) just as darkness arrived on Sunday night. An easy night of car camping before heading down the mountain in the early morning, and I arrived back to work just in time for a day in the office!

UT/CO Day 9: Colorado Natl Monument - 34mi

During the past week cruising around Utah, I've been looking forward to my encore of sorts: stopping at the Colorado National Monument to ride around Rim Rock Road, the 'Tour of the Moon' stage of the old Coor's Classic Bike Race (later elevated to infamy by Kevin Bacon in the American Flyers movie.)

overlooking the Coke Ovens Formation

It was a fun loop ride, and felt wonderful to leave all the panniers and gear in the car. The Monument is pretty, but it ain't no Zion!

After a couple hours, it's time to get back on I-70 and pick up a case of fresh peaches in Palisades, and then the real treat of my encore day... a long hot soak in Glenwood Hotsprings!

Utah Day 8: Bryce back to Bicknell - 104mi

Another cold night back up at 7800ft, basically laying awake waiting for the sunrise. Daylight finally broke and I packed up and made a beeline for the next gas station and a hot coffee. Two routing options before me today- an easy ride 45mi north on HW22 to Otter Creek Reservoir Campground, or see if I can push further on towards my car in Bicknell, guerrilla camping when it gets dark. 

sunrise with nothing but Lucky 7's

 HW22 runs north from Bryce Canyon's bustle and is one of the loneliest stretches of road I've pedaled in Utah.

Aside from a couple empty ranch structures and a passing pickup, this heffer is the only traffic I encounter for the first 30miles:

Kept up a fantastic pace from the start- nice steady tailwinds and dropping down to the Res at 6400ft had me to the Reservoir Campground just in time for lunch! I'd already made 45mi by 1pm so no question I was going to keep rolling north, now on HW62. The fast progress and favorable winds kept me energized and challenging myself to make it all the way to Bicknell in a single day. The gradual, rolling ascent back up from the reservoir retained the wind and things were sailing along to Koosharem.

lonesome HW62 between Otter Creek Res and Koosharem

On the way my rear tire's threads finally succumbed to the pannier load, same as the front tire failure on Day 2. I'm thanking my lucky stars that I grabbed that spare tire from Ken back at Zion, as it's still 30+ miles to the car, and further yet to any bicycle tires for sale.

After getting fixed up, I cut across the across valley to join HW24 and tackle the final pass of my trip. This one was a doozy, as the road turned back into the wind for the 1500ft ascent... I hit the summit 83miles into the day:

 It was a real triumph of satisfaction, and now dropping down to the the old agricultural valley surrounding the town of Loa as the sun fell low on the horizon

Had a tire puncture that unfortunately took two attempts to repair properly, which delayed me past sunset. My journey came to its conclusion a bit after dark, with a daytime total of 104miles! Not to shabby to ride a full century while lugging 60lbs of gear with about 2500ft of elevation gain.

back at my car in Bicknell

These moments of return to real life (or at least the means that are getting me back to real life) are both satisfying and sad. 8 days of beautiful terrain, nice people, amazing views & gigantic skies, physical exertion & perseverance, nice weather and good livin'. I'm ready for a rest, but even more ready to keep on going. Each time I finish a journey, I know next time will be longer and more ambitious, bringing new adventures. The times of cursing the winds, damning the climbs, nursing soreness, shivering at night... they've all melted away by now, adding to the charm and the reasons to keep at it. Time to think about the next adventure!

Utah Day 7: Zion N.P. back to Bryce Canyon- 58mi

One of my main regrets about visiting a place like Zion for only a few days and with limited equipment is not being able to get back into the more remote areas of the park. It's the broader problem with road touring while on a limited schedule... stuck to the roads. While I'm blown away by what I've seen here, it's been a jet-set of highlights within a dayhike of the roads. I'd love to invent a bike pannier that doubled as an overnight hiking backpack so I could drop the crowds of people who are often more interested in the tamed squirrels than the unreal geology surrounding them. But alas, with a schedule to keep and a few days of riding to get back to my start/finish point, it is sadly time to raise the anchor and set sail (literally, in a sense, as today will be my first with tailwind so far!)

I caught up with Ken & Rilla again for a final farewell, and lingered over an hour as new friends parted our ways. I took Ken up on his generous offer to lend me another spare tire (since I'd used my only one back on Day 2.) Better safe than sorry in these parts.

The road from the eastern entrance to the bottom of the canyon is being rebuilt, and I discovered after riding in that way that bikes are, in fact, prohibited in the construction zone. Which is alright I suppose, because while the descent was spectacular, the climb back out of the canyon could have taken almost half the day. So I thumbed it, and I waited... and waited, and waited a full hour as countless vehicles cruised by, either unable to fit my bike or unknowing/unwilling to lend a hand.

Eventually a nice fellow named Clarence stopped to ask my destination... of course I jumped at the opportunity. I only needed to hitch the 12mi to the east Zion park entrance, where the construction zone ended, but he decided to head all the way out to HW89 and then south. So, although I was bummed to miss some fun descents that I'd struggled up previously, after losing several hours to delays already it was wise to take the warp speed option. At HW89, I headed north with the winds, and Clarence headed south on his meandering journey. I tried to give him a few bucks for gas... he paused and said, "no, just wish me luck." 

 

Couldn't resist a pit stop at the ice cream parlor in the tiny town of Orderville...

Lots of open road, lots of sunshine. Making great time with the tailwind today. The red plateau in the distance where all the lines converge is the west side of the Bryce Canyon formation.

I got back to HW12 and headed uphill towards Bryce. Passing through Red Canyon campground about an hour before sunset, I chose to save the $15 site fee and instead just refilled my water and pushed onward up the canyon until dusk. I ended up sleeping on some BLM cow pasture a little off the main road, just a few miles before the Bryce turn-off. No glory here, just another cold night back up at 7800ft.

 

Utah Day 6: hiking in Zion

Another great night of warm sleep and hot breakfast before setting out in the park again today. My main agenda was to hike to the top of the famous Angel's Landing trail. I first checked out a few other easily accessible sights along the canyon shuttle, such as the Weeping Wall and the original visitor's center (now used as an artist-in-residence residence.) Angel's Landing is basically a 2.5mi, 1500ft climb to the very point of a massive vertical rock formation that juts out from the canyon floor.

It's a bit hard to sense the scale from this photo, but the trail ends at the highest point of the shear rock face:

After about 2mi, including the Walter's Wiggles section of 21 tight switchbacks, and Scouts Lookout, you find the last half mile up this tight ridge. There are crude steps carved into the rock at some spots, as well as heavy chains to grapple up. And signs warning of death from slipping. It's a bit unnerving

At the top, it's 1200ft straight down. Literally. You can see the river, road and two shuttle buses way down below. Up this high (at almost 5800ft) the winds were really kicking and swirling, with 30mph gusts making the already precarious ledge that much shakier.

The views were endless! This is looking south (downstream) at Zion Canyon and the Virgin River.

After soaking up the vastness of the surroundings and marveling at the nervy chipmunks who had absolutely no fear (or realistic awareness??) of the heights as they bounded and scampered, it was time to head back down. I think it was a little scarier climbing up, and a little more impressive heading down.

Utah Day 5: hiking in Zion

It was about 30'F warmer last night than in Bryce, what a comfortable sleep. Windy but warm. I'm settling into a couple days of exploring Zion primarily on foot. They have Disney-esque free shuttles servicing the canyon road (no cars allowed, hence no auto traffic) all of which equipped with bike racks up front. I chose to shuttle up to the end of the line, and ride back out at the end of the day. These are my rest days, after all. 

Zion Canyon was cut by the Virgin River, leaving striking vertical walls of Navajo Sandstone towering above the softer Kayenta Formation closer to the valley floor. It's an unreal spectacle. The paved road follows the river upstream ~14mi, til the canyon gets too narrow. Then there's a paved footpath for another mile, and eventually you are free to set out right into the river and hike through the water into "The Narrows" which gets down to 10ft wide at places. This, of course, I had to check out. The cool water was awfully refreshing on my tired legs & knees! Some sections had room to hike along the sandy/rocky banks, while others were just wall-to-wall agua beneath 1000ft vertical cliffs, wading thigh-deep in the river.

An interesting feature is water seeping from the canyon walls and cracks, creating a curious stereophonic array of drips, bloops, trickles & echoes as well as feeding lush ferns and mosses. There are many "hanging gardens" high up on the walls, the last place you'd expect to find lush rainforest vegetation. Rainwater soaks in to the porous rocks on the flat tops of the rock formations and over the course of literally hundreds of years, makes its way downward until it finds a way out. They've determined some of the water fell as rain over 1200 years ago and is just now percolating out of the rocks.

I hiked upstream several miles before turning around and emerging back into the afternoon openness:

One of the most luxurious aspects of camping at Zion is that the town of Springdale abuts the west park entrance. Although it's your standard fare tourist outcropping, having immediate access to a grocery store is a godsend for any cycle tourist. Instead of packing food for its weight-vs-energy/protein ratio, browsing a market for (questionably) fresh produce & meat was pure decadence. Pair a couple local beers with dinner and I may as well be dining at the French Laundry.