The Last of Colorado: Aug 21-25

Hey Y'all!! It's been a coon's age. How have you been? 

As if you hadn't guessed, I took a little break. 

When we came home from Colorado, I had a ton of yard/garden work to do. It was like a jungle. It's amazing how much out of control things can get in a month. I'm all caught up now...well, I've been caught up for a while, but I've just been feeling a little lazy when it comes to blogging. I guess we all need time away sometimes, don't we?

I have about three days worth of pictures I want to show you to wrap up our Colorado trip.....so let's get to it.

August 21.....     Hike up Black Powder Pass (Elevation - 12,159')

3.14 miles  -  1:04 hours  -  705' elevation gain

 

 

 Mountain goats

 

 I'm guessing this is why it's called Black Powder Pass

**********

August 23.....     Cliff's birthday and our 36th wedding anniversary

                     (yep, we got married on his birthday)

We spent it sailing on Lake Dillon..... Our first time ever on a sailboat.

 (L to R) Boat owner, Whitney, Jason, Cliff

 Cliff and me on our 36th wedding anniversary. 

I would marry him all over again!

**********

August 25.....     A Plane Ride and Pike's Peak 

Early morning, Whitney took Cliff on a plane ride with her instructor. 

They flew from Denver to the mountains and back. I'm sure this was one of the highlights of the trip for him. 

Later that day....

When I was a little girl, my family lived in Colorado Springs. Daddy was in the army and stationed at Ft. Carson. We lived near the foot of Pike's Peak Mountain. I wanted to go visit the apartment that we lived in....so while we were visiting Colorado Springs, we took the opportunity to drive up Pike's Peak. It's elevation is a little more than 14,000 feet and as you can imagine, the weather up there can be totally different than at the foot. And it sure was....it began snowing while we were on the summit. As you can see below, the views were limited.

 Driving through the clouds was scary.

 Katherine Lee Bates was inspired to write the song

"America The Beautiful" the day after visiting Pike's Peak in 1893.

 August 25th and there's snow on the mountain. 

So, that's it. Our trip to Colorado. 

August 26.....    Home! 

**********

 

Tomorrow, it's on to new stuff to talk about. 

As a matter of fact, you might gag. 

HaHa!! 

Laurie

Colorado: Sapphire Trail Hike - August 2

 

"Oh boy, Sunflower seeds, num, num, num, num! Thank you, Lidia"

 

The Sapphire Trail was Lidia and Sawyer's favorite hike to date. Why? Because of all the chipmunks and squirrels to feed. Food of choice, sunflower seeds. And, all the rocks to climb. It was a short hike and the vistas were gorgeous. We even saw wooden teepees, no doubt made from the Pine Beetle Kill Trees.

Since this was a short hike and right off the bike path in Dillon, we had plenty of energy for more activities during the day.

 

Total Miles Hiked: 1.12

Cliff 's bike ride: 19 miles 

My bike ride: 8.63 miles

Lidia's swim in the pool: 40 laps

Photo Montage of the Sapphire Trail

Trail and Vista

Heading down the rocky overlook to feed the critters.

Rock Boy

Watching and Waiting

Buffalo Mountain

Lunch Lady

Now that the rock climbing and feeding is done, it's time for the HIKING.

 

Hmmm, have the Indians been here?

 

Oh, No...it's just my beautiful and sweet Carolina Babes.

 

View from the other side of the Sapphire Trail

And last, but certainly not least....Wildflowers along the way.

 

 

More to come,

Laurie

 

 

 



Colorado: Dillon Reservoir Ridge Trail Hike - July 26th

The next few weeks are going to be action packed. My posts may get a little long at times and most definitely picture heavy. But, you want to see what Colorado adventures and explorations we get ourselves into, right? I thought so. Let me start by saying that the altitude sickness is milder this time than two years ago, when we made this same trip. But, I am still having some issues. Right now, I feel like I could puke. I haven't let it stop me though....I take it easy and drink lots of water, when I feel like that. It passes quickly enough and then we are on to our next adventure.

The following is day three, after arriving in Dillon, CO. Granted, the past couple of days were active, too. I just didn't get any photos.

The hike today was at the Dillon Reservoir Ridge Trail. Lake Dillon is situated at roughly 9000 ft. It is surround by an 18-19 mile bike/walk/running trail, which we will be using daily. Right across the lake from us is the hiking trail highlighted in this post.

The trail begins in a meadow filled with wildflowers.....which will be in tomorrow's post....and, then after a mile or so up the trail we head into the tree line and ridge. It was hot, but not too bad in the shade. Lidia was ready to go home about half way. She was having difficulties breathing, but after passing the half-way mark, we proceeded on down the other side. We stopped often to catch our breath and to seek out the shade and have a drink. Sawyer wore an old pair of Lidia's hiking boots that ended up being too big. He slopped up and down in them kicking up dust like Pigpen in a Charlie Brown cartoon. LOL!! He stuck by my side all day..."so he could take care of me". This is the reason you may see a few more pictures of him today than Lidia. Lidia, despite having a little trouble breathing, stayed by Cliff's side. They left Sawyer and me, regularly. Ha! When we were almost to the end of the hike, Sawyer told me that his whole body hurt. That didn't stop him, though, when he saw a pile of rocks. He jumped on them with the tenacity of a Colorado rock climber. 

Total miles hiked: 3.78 miles in 1:18 hours



 Starting our hike in this pretty meadow.

 Heading for the tree line.

Passing through gates....

 One of the first overlooks.

 Lidia, resting....

Cliff, waiting on us to finish resting...

 Rocky ledge overlooking Lake Dillon.

Sawyer was trying to scare me by pretending to go over the side.

Sawyer, me and Lidia at another overlook.

Lidia needed to rest, while we went up the last overlook.

Bless it, I know how she feels. But, she was a trooper and

stayed with Cliff, step for step, until near the end.

Another overlook of Lake Dillon.

Sawyer found sticks...he has one there sticking out of his backpack....

...and, he found rocks. These two made the shape of an arrow and the number "4".

We are staying in one of those condos across the lake.

More rock climbing....

And then, we came to the end of the trail.

One more rest before....

...heading home.

Fun! Fun! Fun!

See you tomorrow with more,

Laurie