Little trip to the Rocky Mountains National Park. Visitinha ao Parque das Montanhas Rochosas. [View Full Entry]

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Hiking the Colorado Trail, Segment 12 (and a quarter), Fall of 2009 This hike across one-and-a-quarter segments of the Colorado Trail (of the 28 segments between Denver & Durango) was done on Sept. 23-26, 2009. Distance covered was about 25 miles. Making up the expedition were John (or "JJ",) Terry & Nick, and Kevon, the author here. This was the first backpack by John in almost 7 years, and was the inaugural overnight bp for Terry & Nick, father and son. This hike was "Plan B" for the group. And a back-up plan is always an essential piece in planning any [View Full Entry]

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Props to Bubba Sparxxx & Ying Yang Twins for the title, well, with a little remix of my own obviously. Time at Shambhala has come to an end and I’m sitting in a Boulder bookstore doing a quick recount of the past weeks. The tent takedown continued as the days got colder, the Aspen trees began to golden and we sensed the imminent arrival of winter. Last week we awoke to a Colorado winter wonderland and spent the morning hiking around identifying animal tracks in the snow. Moose, deer, bear, bunnies, and birds were all happily sharing the land around our [View Full Entry]

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Today we took our last ride through the Rocky Mountains National Park on the Trail Ridge Road. This east west route through to the other side was constructed in 1931 and provides a panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains in all directions. It was a gorgeous day and the temp up at the peak was about 15 degrees warmer than yesterday and the winds were not as strong so it was a pleasant day. We stopped for lunch at the same spot as yesterday and even though it was a bit warmer today it was still too cool to have an [View Full Entry]

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The weather forecast for today is for very warm weather, so although we will be traveling on the Trail Ridge road across the park on Sunday, we decided to do part of the trail today and take time for photos. The day began with bright sunshine and temps in the high 60's in town. We headed out through the canyon and into Estes which is at the entrance to the park. When we reached the park gate we were told that it was some sort of National something day and that there was no entry fee. That fact, plus the nice [View Full Entry]

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What a difference the sunshine can make. The nasty weather has moved on and now the sun is shining once again. No more snow in the mountains. The skies were blue and the temp this morning was 52 degrees as we headed out for the day. We decided that even though the sun was shining here in Ft Collins and down in the valleys and canyons, that we would give the snowy mountain pass a day or two to clear before heading up there. The projected temp for the valley tomorrow is 80 so it will be in the 40's in [View Full Entry]

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This morning it was sunny and snowflakes were falling, but the sun was soon hidden by clouds. The road that travels around the higher locations of the park (Trail Ridge Road) from east to west, was still partially closed today. So we decided to do some hikes in the area. First stop was Sprague Lake which used to be a resort in the early 1900’s. It was a level half-mile walk around the lake. Snow was coming down steadily by then.(9:30). Next we went to the park and ride to take the shuttle bus to the Alberta Falls hike. Yesterday when [View Full Entry]

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The weather continues to be cloudy and either raining or snowing depending upon the elevation. This morning we checked the road conditions in Rocky Mountain National Park and found out that Ridge Trail, the main east west route was closed due to snow. The ranger suggested that we go to Bear Lake where there was a short trail and he said that the Aspens were in full colour. It was a one mile trail around the lake so I decided to take it. What an absolutely gorgeous walk. The air was very cool and fresh and silent and a very light [View Full Entry]

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Travels in the Cozy Turtle 2009 We weren’t sure we’d be able to take a trip this year because it’s difficult to leave my father now that he’s ninety and one of our dogs has been very sick for the last four months. But things worked out and we are taking about three weeks in mid September to early October to see the state of Colorado. We’re looking forward to seeing the fall color of the aspens, the beautiful Rocky Mountains and other geological wonders. [View Full Entry]

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We left home September 18th via York, PA. Frank had a short furniture making class he wanted to attend. After class on the 19th we drove west towards Pittsburg. The leaves were actually turning on the east side of the Allegany mountains. Red, orange and yellow color dotted the green mountainsides. On the western side the trees were still green. The PA farmland was a patchwork of dark brown plowed earth, light tan crops and yields of yellow goldenrod - - a pretty autumn scene. Cornfields were still standing green in Ohio. Made it 475 miles today. [View Full Entry]

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