Finally back on the road again almost a year to the date since my last entry. After 2 weeks in North Carolina we skipped thru rainy Arkansas and Oklahoma to get some time in the mountains before it gets to cold and snowy. Echo, who has been my "latch key dog" for most of the last year is as happy as I am to be traveling again. The Colorado mountains with the first snow of the season are unbelievable. The trade off is some very cold nights in the teens. I'll spend another week or two in Colorado then head into [View Full Entry]

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Wow- after getting back from 3 days in the Rocky Mountains, I was blown away by how pretty they are, and the variety of flora & fauna. Every 30 mins the scenery changes, and you enter a different climate with new animals. It's really amazing, and you get really entranced by driving through it or hiking. Becca & I left Boulder after the triathlon on the 22nd (or rather after our nap after the triathlon), and headed to Estes Park, on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park. The drive there was really nice, but we were both really tired, [View Full Entry]

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Distance: 9 miles Rating: Difficult For my third (and what proved to be my final) trip to Rocky Mountain National Park this season, I wanted to attempt a long and relatively difficult hike. The trail to Sky Pond takes hikers past three beautiful lakes, two impressive waterfalls, and passes through some of the best scenery that the eastern part of the park has to offer. This was easily one of the best and most rewarding hikes that I’ve been on this entire season. I was particularly proud of myself for making the short but very steep scramble up Timberline Falls to [View Full Entry]

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August 9, 2007 Today, we hung by the camper until noon. We had an “open house”, where other campers came and saw the inside of our camper. So many people seem to be interested in the fact that we are pulling the camper with a mini-van. Now that I think of it, we really haven’t seen any mini-vans pulling campers….hmmmmm. We met some cool people named Alyssa and Andrew, and their son Max, from the Bronx. Alyssa is doing her Ph.D. in Social Work, and was pregnant, so we chatted about parenthood and academia. We learned today that a tornado hit [View Full Entry]

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August 8, 2007 Today was a beautiful, clear, sunny day in the Mountains. This is what I remember of Colorado from when I was in college. The sky was a beautiful blue, with fluffy white clouds. Joe got up early with Ethan and Elise to take them fishing at Sprague Lake. We are determined to have them catch something. They all bounced out of bed at 6:30 am and ran out to fish. Ethan ended up catching a 1-pound Rainbow Trout but neither Elise nor Joe were so lucky. Next, onto sight seeing. We drove the Trail Ridge Road and stopped [View Full Entry]

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Today was a rainy day at Rocky Mountain National Park. We were able to get some time in doing some things around the campsite. Then, we went into Estes Park to use the internet. Estes Park is a fairly touristy town but the McDonalds has internet access. Back to the campsite for movies in the afternoon. We have been so lucky with weather it is hard to complain. We’ve been on the road for over 2 weeks now and this is our first day where we want to stay insides. Once the rain ended, we went for a hike to go [View Full Entry]

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I participated in the Ridin’ the Rockies HOG Touring Rally that was held June 25-28, 2007. The plan for the week was to spend some time with my cousins before the rally started then take the long way home after the rally. I rode my 2005 833 Sportster from KC to the rally and back home. The following is a ride report of the ride. It is divided in to parts because of the pictures. Tuesday 26 June 2007 Up at 5:30am, I am packed and on the road by 6am. The rally is moving from Ft. Collins to Breckenridge CO. [View Full Entry]

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Lindsey and I got up and hung out at Jai's house for a relaxing morning. When we finally got our stuff together we headed for Estes Park. Estes Park was a beautiful mountain town at Rocky Mountain National Park. We went to the Visitor's Center when we got there to check out what the town had to offer. Lindsey found a brochure for an American Wilderness Tour so that we could REALLY see the Rockies, off the beaten path. Well that was an understatement. We got into the truck, which was HUGE, and proceeded to climb a mountain in it, [View Full Entry]

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Distance: Mills Lake - 5.35 miles, Black Lake - 9.8 miles Rating: to Mills Lake - moderate Despite what I’ve said earlier about snow in the high country, I couldn’t resist heading back up to Rocky Mountain National Park again. Since it was still only mid June, I knew there would be snow on the ground. What I didn’t anticipate was just how much snow would still be around. For this hike, my dad and I had planned to make the long trek to Black Lake in the glacial cirque below the jagged peaks of the Continental Divide. Unfortunately, there was [View Full Entry]

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Distance: 7.7 miles Rating: moderate It’s generally safe to say that if you head up to the high country prior to July, you’re still going to see a fair amount of snow. I was aware of this, but I decided that I’d had enough of hiking around the foothills. So, my dad and I headed up for our first hike of the year in Rocky Mountain National Park. Unlike previous years, I actually had a National Parks pass, so we were able to venture into the park rather than search for hikes around the perimeter. At this point, the temperature down [View Full Entry]

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