So first order of business is to catch up with some pictures from our trip out to Denver to visit Kate's family in July. It was great to visit Colorado in the summer, as much of our past visiting has been over the Christmas holidays. While the skiing is better in January than July, we got to take advantage of a lot more of the great Colorado outdoors during this trip, including:
- Hiking along a creek in Morrison (above)
- Swimming and sailing in Bow Mar Lake
- Mountain biking amongst the flatirons in Deer Creek Canyon
- Fun family soccer and wiffleball games in the backyard
- Camping out in the backyard with the nieces and nephews after having s'mores and a campfire
- Climbing Longs Peak!
I had previously attempted Longs with reader Marc and his friend from Longmont, but we were turned back about 2/3 of the way by snow and ice on the some of the more treacherous terrain. Fortunately this time the weather was perfect, and I got to summit a Colorado 14'er! It's a great hike if anyone ever has the opportunity to do it. Despite being pretty strenuous and requiring a super-early start to avoid thunderstorms that often roll in after noon, it's one of the most (if not the most) climbed peaks in Colorado (however that's measured). We hiked on a Friday and were joined by Anonymous, which was fun. There are 4 distinct portions to the "standard" Longs hike: 1) The early hike through the woods following a creek, 2) Alpine zone where the trees give way to the rocky mountainside, 3) the boulderfield leading up to the keyhole, and 4) after the keyhole the majorly exposed spiraling traverse/climb up the rocky flanks of Longs to the summit. This last portion is commonly subdivided into aptly named sections such as "the ledges," "the narrows," "the trough," and "the homestretch." Instead of dumping a whole lot of pictures here, you can watch this slideshow with captions if you'd like, or you can see the pictures on my Picasa page (if you haven't already seen them).
In addition to family, we got to spend a couple fun nights with Erin and Anonymous. Was great to see you guys. Anon even gave us the grand tour of his castle, which was very nice. We are jealous of your status as a homeowner. Glad the smell is gone, though.
Stay tuned for more posts about our visit to the industrial yet entertaining (and surprisingly generous) Coors Brewery in Golden and an impromptu sub-trip during our Denver visit north to Cheyenne, Wyoming to go to Cheyenne Frontier Days (rodeo) - "The Daddy of 'Em All" as they call it...
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