Random Thoughts

Well, with almost 1000 miles on the bike since June, I finally got to change a tire today. Yup, riding on 27 1/2 Road and "swishhh" - my front tire blows. I changed it in short order; struggled with the bike air pump, which wasn't screwed in tightly enough, but I survived the ordeal and managed to get in a 24 mile ride. :-)

Today I rode in a "half-century" - road biking's equivalent of a Half-Marathon. I rode with Pakky Gerkin and his girlfriend Lauren. We started in town at the Doubletree Hotel; then headed out to Palisade, over East Orchard Mesa, Orchard Mesa to Eagle Rim Park, then crossed the river onto the bike trail, which we rode to 24 road. From there it was north to G Road, then up to I Road, and back to the Doubletree. 52 miles in 3:17, with a 15.9mph pace. It was a great ride. Perfect weather, lots of fun. Over 1000 riders participated in the Tour of the Valley, all a fund-raiser for Community Hospital.

What the ride did was get me excited to aim for the ultimate prize - the Century Ride. Yup, 100 miles; the Marathon of Biking. I am not ready for it yet, but by next summer, for sure! The 100 mile ride in the Tour is brutal; it includes the first 40 miles of the half-century, then heads OVER the Colorado National Monument, riding the "Tour of the Moon," then out to Fruita and back to the Doubletree. The 1500 ft of gain 40 miles into the ride is quite intimidating, but it makes for one heck of a goal!

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Well the blog has a lot of photos now - but not much text to go with it. I finally setup the archive, so the page does not take forever to load. I will try to publish to the blog more frequently.

This was the last week of summer before school starts on Monday. I am excited for the new semester, but have enjoyed all the hiking and biking this summer - particularly the biking. I have ridden 617 miles since July 2; plus another 250 or so in June. Its great exercise and just a lot of fun. I did a 41 mile ride this week in preparation for the 50 mile half-century Tour of the Valley on the 27th. That should be a blast.

Another cool shot from the summit of Mt. Garfield. 

Don't walk in the wrong spot, its a LONG way down! Pretty neat shot from the top of Garfield. 

About a third of the way up Mt. Garfield, looking towards Palisade. 

July 29.

That horse needs some dental work!!!

On the top of Horsetooth Rock.

Here I am on top of Horsetooth Rock; with the Reservoir in the background. 

After three trips to Fort Collins, I finally got to climb Horsetooth Rock on Sunday July 29th, after Lauren's baptism. It was very hot out, making the climb much harder that it would normally be, but it was an awesome hike with Rene, Robert, and Denis. 

Here we are all at Lauren's baptism. Me, Julie, Nicholas, Robert, Val, Lauren, Rene, Drea, and Denis. The baptism went very well and Lauren was the perfect angel. We were at John XXIII University Parish in Fort Collins; on July 29th.  

July 27th. Rocky Mountain National Park.

Here we are at 12,005 ft at the Trail Ridge Road Visitor Center. It was kind of windy, but the views were spectacular.

This is Glenwood Canyon at the Hanging Lake trailhead. Nick and I spent a day in mid-July biking in the canyon, then did a brief hike (it was kind of hot so we did not do Hanging Lake like we planned) and then we went to the Glenwood Hot Springs Pool. It was fun. Notice Nicholas' swim shirt - it seems to appear in lots of photos this summer; I think the shirt is glued to him! 

July 28, 2006.

Julie and Robert on Greyrock Trail. It was a tough day for Julie; she was not feeling well, but she survived!

This gives a little perspective on the scramble up Greyrock. Not sure who the guy is on the top, but it gives a bit of scale. 

The summit of Greyrock. This is a great shot. I loved the climb up to Greyrock. Its amazing how much the Fort Collins area has to offer. 

July 28th. Greyrock. This is a shot of my brother-in-law Robert Couture, on the summit of Greyrock. This was a great hike, with an awesome scramble at the top. Bae looks like he is ready for an REI commercial.

Mt. McConnell, in the Cache La Poudre Wilderness.
July 24th. This was a few weeks ago, Rene and I hiked the Mt. McConnell National Recreation Trail. It wwas a great day, and a good hike. About 1500 ft of gain to the summit. The Mummy Range of Rocky Mountain National Park is in the background.  

August 19, 2006.

Nicholas and I hiked Mt. Garfield this morning. 2000 ft of gain in 2 miles. Quite the hike. Nick was a trooper though, and did great on the hike. This photo is looking west towards the Book Cliffs from the summit.

Hiking in the Colorado National Monument
A few weeks ago we did a 6.4 mile hike through Monument Canyon in the Colorado National Monument. It was a hot morning, but the views were gorgeous. Most people only see the Monument from the Rim Rock Drive, but when you descend into the canyons, it is a different world. 

Grand Teton is in its majesty this morning, as we begin our hike on the String Lake Trail. Grand Teton National Park is considerably smaller than Yellowstone, but the Tetons are a sight to see. We only were able to hike about 8 miles (5 on the Taggart Lake / Bradley Lake trail on our first day, and 3 on the String Lake trail to Paintbush Divide on our last). I absolutely loved the trails in GTNP; they were well marked, and were the perfect picture of an alpine hiking adventure. 

Notice the elk swimming across the Yellowstone River in the Hayden Valley. It was about 8am, and the valley was filled with wildlife. If you look carefully, you can spot the bison on the hill.

This was taken on our way out of the park; an amazing scene of wildlife all over the place.

I just wish I had a real telephoto lens when I was taking this picture. 

The amazing lower falls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. 

The earth is alive! You are looking into the mouth of a growler - a mudpot found in the backcountry, off the Clear Lake Trail in the Canyon area of Yellowstone. The hole was making noises like there was a monster growling under the ground. It was spitting mud - and it had a strong sulphur smell. A truly amazing scene, that pictures can't really capture adequately. 

Here are the Tetons, 100 miles south, from the peak of Mt. Washburn, which sits at the northern edge of the Yellowstone Caldera, the supervolcano that fuels all of Yellowstone's incredible geo-thermal features. 

Here we are, half-way up Mt. Washburn, the third largest mountain in Yellowstone. While the peak is only at 10,230 feet, it feels like you are on top of the world when you make it there. We had perfect weather, with temps in the 60s and totally clear skies. You could see more than 100 miles in any direction . 

Pretty cool! An elk I encountered during our trip to Yellowstone National Park. I found Yellowstone to be the most intriguing of the many national parks I have visited. The vast scale of the park, and the incredible diversity of wildlife and ecosystems make it one of a kind. 

Another great shot of the amazing landscape. Photos hardly capture this place. It is so worth the time to visit. AND if you go... get off the road, and on the dirt!

We are finally at the bottom. Look at the wall going up - that is where we started from. 

Now we have to get down this
slickrock. It was much steeper
than it looks here; but the
next photo was illustrate it well. 

From here... 

We have to hike up that? 

Welcome to the strange and alien landscape of the Primitve Devil's Garden Trail.

Two unsubs (unknown subjects) are emerging from the trail. This is just at the beginning of the trail, after Double O Arch. 

We went to Arches National Park on
Sunday May 29, 2006 for a day of hiking. We had not hiked the whole Landscape Arch - Double O arch trail in all of our visits to Arches.

This is a photo of Nicholas photographing Double O arch. Kind of hard to tell, but there are two arches forming a double O.

The trail got much more interesting - and much less crowded - after this Arch. The next photos show some of the amazing beauties of Arches.