a former gymnast with a neverending case of wanderlust
I hike nearly every weekend in Colorado… this subcategory will detail these adventures!
After somewhat of a lull in hiking in the latter portion of 2023, my 2024 hiking pursuits began just three days into the new year when Savannah invited me on a snowshoeing excursion to Forest Lakes. These lakes had been on my to-do list for a while but never seemed to make it close enough… Continue reading Colorado Day Hikes: Forest Lakes
(This post was originally published back in 2019.) Bear Lake Trailhead to Nymph, Dream, and Emerald Lakes is one of the first hikes Pat and I ever did in Rocky, way back when we were barely acclimated and still so new to exploring the park. It's a hike we've repeated at least half a dozen… Continue reading Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Nymph, Dream, and Emerald Lakes
I've hiked in Glacier Gorge in the summer. I've also hiked in Glacier Gorge in the winter. A lot, in fact. Winter in Glacier Gorge is one of my favorite things in Rocky. And while I've published posts on Sky Pond in summer and Sky Pond in winter and Black Lake in summer and Black… Continue reading Rocky Mountain National Park: winter hiking in Glacier Gorge
From 1952 to 1994, Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant was home to manufacturing facilities for both nuclear and non-nuclear weapons, including triggers manufactured from the highly radioactive elements uranium and plutonium. After a series of issues (the plant was actually raided by the FBI in 1989 after claims of environmental crimes) followed by permanent ceasing… Continue reading Colorado Destinations: Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge
In 1907, the US Forest Service – which was a brand new agency at the time – planned to build seven lookouts along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains from Wyoming to New Mexico. Only four of these lookouts were ever actually built; one on Medicine Bow Peak in Wyoming, and three in Colorado… Continue reading Colorado Day Hikes: Devil’s Head Lookout
This happens to everyone, right: you do something wrong and you get corrected and then you can never remember which version is wrong and which one is correct? As a kid I attended a school named for Chief Joseph and, in one of the more embarrassing moments of my time there, I misspelled the word… Continue reading Colorado Summits: Chief Mountain
There are many Lost Lakes in Colorado. Apparently. I didn’t realize this until I just googled “Lost Lake” in an attempt to verify the mileage of this hike and a whole bunch of options came up. Turns out there are at least 7 or 8 of them. Back in the day, people must not have been very good at keeping track of all the lakes. Anyway, on an unseasonably warm February day Pat and I headed out with our friends Kaylyn and Holden to snowshoe to the Lost Lake that’s just outside of Nederland, Colorado, a small town about an hour west of Boulder.
If a two-for-one is called a twofer, does that make a four-for-one a fourfer? If so, this was a fourfer. Specifically, four 14er summits for the effort of one. Or maybe slightly more than one. Either way, the Decalibron trail is probably the most bang for your buck of all the Colorado 14ers. Hiking Decalibron… Continue reading Colorado 14ers #10-13: Decalibron
In the years since we moved to Colorado, more than one person has told me that Lawn Lake is their favorite hike in Rocky. Obviously, I couldn’t ignore a recommendation of that caliber. And while it’s not #1 on my Rocky hikes list – Chasm Lake retains that designation – I can see why people… Continue reading Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Lawn and Crystal Lakes
Just seven days after waving goodbye to my mom as we began the drive back to Colorado, I was saying hello to her once again at the Denver airport. Just as our mother-daughter Montana roadtrip has become an annual tradition, so has our mother-daughter overnight backpacking trip in Rocky. This year, we had a permit… Continue reading Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Finch and Pear Lakes
Handstands Around the World 