san isabel national forest
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Colorado 14ers #10-13: Decalibron
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
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Colorado Hikes: Hartenstein Lake
I’m not going to sugar coat it: this was not an overly enjoyable hike. It was a combination of factors. The snow conditions were terrible; it was soft and squishy and slippery, and at times it felt like we were walking on sand in our snowshoes. We also hadn’t been at such high elevation in… Continue reading
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Colorado Destinations: Mount Princeton Hot Springs
Until I moved to Colorado, I wasn’t aware of its plethora of hot springs. But if you spend any amount of time in the state – or do a google search of ‘best things to do in Colorado’ – you will quickly discover the popularity of the state’s many hot springs. While there are a… Continue reading
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Colorado Destinations: Chalk Creek Canyon, St. Elmo, & Salida
I’m trying something new this year, which is to do a little less research related to our travels. I’m still doing some; I like to know at least vaguely what’s going on and be educated enough to ensure we aren’t going to find ourselves in a situation we’re not prepared for. But I’m learning it’s… Continue reading
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Colorado Destinations: Cottonwood Pass & Buena Vista
Memorial Day weekend in Colorado is a total crapshoot, weather wise. Some years it’s cold and rainy. Some years it’s warm and sunny. Some years it snows. And some years it does all of these things and then some… which, to be honest, is kind of what happened this year. But I digress. Despite the… Continue reading
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A weekend in Twin Lakes, Colorado
The combination of living in Colorado and having a winter anniversary always makes it difficult to figure out how we’re going to celebrate. You just never know what the weather has in store, especially in the mountains. This year we actually had the opposite problem from what we expected: it was going to be too… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Hope Pass
This one is being filed in the category of hikes I will probably never do again. It was pretty. It was definitely really pretty once we emerged from the trees. But it was also brutally steep and, frankly, there are less challenging hikes that will get you above tree line. There are two ways to… Continue reading
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Colorado Hikes: Timberline Lake
As is often the case, I mistakenly assumed that because this hike was only 5.5 miles (8.9 km) round trip, it probably wasn’t going to be that great. And, as is often the case, I was wrong. Timberline Lake is beautiful! In mid-July, we headed off for a weekend camping adventure near Leadville, Colorado with… Continue reading
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Colorado Backpacking: Browns Creek Falls
Last summer, my mom and I were lucky enough to snag spaces on an overnight backpacking trip in Rocky Mountain National Park with a local hiking group. She’d already purchased her plane ticket to come visit me for the week, so it worked out perfectly when this hike was scheduled for the very weekend she’d… Continue reading
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Riding the Royal Gorge Railroad
For people who like to celebrate by doing something outdoorsy, winter isn’t the optimal time of year to have an anniversary. Sure, we could have gone skiing… if we felt like dropping $200+ for a single day and spending hours sitting in traffic. (We didn’t.) So instead, we settled on a scenic train ride through… Continue reading