a former gymnast with a neverending case of wanderlust
I was sorting through some old posts on here recently and stumbled across this one from a few years ago about my 2010 trip to Colorado National Monument. I imagine many of you can relate to the cringey feeling you get when you read something you wrote so many years ago. And, of course, the… Continue reading Colorado National Monument
Colorado has turned me into a winter person. I swore that would never happen, but it appears I was wrong. Growing up in Montana, I never liked winter. It's cold and dark and lasts way too long. Then I moved to Washington for college and, in addition to cold and dark, winters there are humid… Continue reading Colorado Day Hikes: Butler Gulch
There are numerous canyons extending into the Front Range of the Rockies. Some are the routes for major highways from the plains into the mountains, but others have been set aside for recreation. One of the latter is Eldorado Canyon, located just a few miles south of Boulder, Colorado. It’s a narrow canyon with tall… Continue reading Colorado State Parks: Eldorado Canyon
Lower Coney Lake, located in the Indian Peaks Wilderness of Colorado, is beautiful. Getting there was awful. This was partly due to weather and partly due to the fact that, all in all, this was not my best day on the trail. My friend Savannah, her husband Blake, and I arrived at Beaver Reservoir around… Continue reading Colorado Day Hikes: Lower Coney Lake
The Cub Lake trail is one we neglected for nearly four years. It wasn’t intentional. It just never seemed to be at the top of my list. In the summer, I prefer to take advantage of the nice weather and hike in the tundra. In the spring, this trail is a muddy mess. And shortly… Continue reading Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Cub Lake
Is it possible to hike a trail too many times? In some cases, the answer to that question might be ‘yes.’ When the hike in question is Sky Pond, though, and it’s wintertime, I would argue that the answer is very clearly ‘no.’ Back in December 2020, Pat and I hiked to Sky Pond with… Continue reading Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: winter at Sky Pond… again
Normally I’m excited for snowy mountains and frozen alpine lakes and snowshoeing, but this past winter I had trouble locating my enthusiasm. It might have been because winter took its sweet time arriving in Colorado. The mountains ended 2021 with snowpack that was far below normal, and it didn’t actually snow in Denver until December… Continue reading Rocky Mountain National Park Hikes: Wind River/Glacier Basin Loop
I’m not really into art. I can appreciate the time and effort and talent (the latter of which I very much lack; I tried to draw a banana the other day and it looked like a lopsided jalapeño) that goes into creating a piece of art. But you'd have to drag me to an art… Continue reading Visiting the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit in Denver
About a month after summiting three 13ers in one day, I found myself back in the very same area as I made my way toward the summit of the adjacent 13,294 foot (4052 m) mountain: James Peak. It’s one that I’d wanted to climb for a couple years now, although I don’t know why, out… Continue reading Colorado 13ers: James Peak
I debated with myself about whether to share this hike with all of you, because this wasn’t exactly a typical excursion. Reaching Harmonica Arch required quite a lot of navigation. We climbed very steep hills… and then had to hike back down them, which was extremely slippery. We walked across large rock slabs that were… Continue reading Colorado Day Hikes: Harmonica Arch
Handstands Around the World 