Not too far from Red Rocks is a beautiful outcropping of rocks and golden grass called South Valley Park. There is a lovely little lake there also, but I didn't explore it much. I went down one evening after getting an itch to explore, but not having much time to get anywhere. I followed the trail down to these fantastic red rocks that you can climb up to the top. Careful not to slip as they can get quite slippery with dust.
Photography Date: 7-27-16
Writing Date: 2-23-18
Gearing up for more RMNP, Jesse and I decided it would cool to take an alternative route to the park. Rather than staying on highway 36, we headed west through Jamestown and Allenspark. This trip turned out to be more of a drive and explore outing rather than hiking. We would drive around and find something that looked interesting, get and explore for a bit, then head on to the next thing that caught our eye.
Once we got to RMNP, we checked out this massive wash from a lake busting out 10 or so miles up in the mountains. There's a pretty cool waterfall reasonably close, but it was a little too busy for our liking, so we went the opposite direction into the wash. We then continued to the gate for the Old Fall River Road. It's funny what you don't know until you know it. All we could see was an old dirt road that went up a mountain through the woods. We started to work ourselves up wondering if we could make it in my little truck, if we were prepared and all that kind of thing. Like we were about to go crazy off-road. We mustered our courage together and decided to push on.
We were immediately met with incredible views and minivans. Yeah, so the road is tame, and any stock minivan could get up it with ease. Once we made it to the top, we found ourselves at the Alpine Visitors Center, what a zoo. After a coffee, we headed back down by the Trail Ridge Road, stopping for anything that caught our fancy.
Photography Date: 7-24-16
Writing Date: 2-19-18
I finally decided to pull the trigger on getting a real pair of Birkenstocks. For years I've wanted a real pair, and the Walmart knockoffs aren't cutting it. I waited to get them for a trip back home. I decided that the to mile hike to the top of Spencer's Butte would be perfect for breaking them in... horrible decision. It's not that my feet weren't comfortable, it was that the top leather was still so stiff I gave myself gnarly blisters on the tops of my feet.
Photography Date: 7-15-16
Writing Date: 2-19-18
Just a simple summer time walk.
Photography Date: 7-13-16
Writing Date: 2-19-18
It's amazing what you don't know until you learn so. My buddy Jesse and I planned a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park for a hike and looked around. He had been there before but hadn't done much exploring either. We decided to hit up a place called Alberta Falls then continued to Mills Lake. Here is the thing, up to this point, being anything close to someone who hikes weren't me. The total hike was something like 5.5 miles, and it was in the middle of the day in the middle of summer. I didn't have any gear. I wore Vans shoes without socks, didn't have any water or snacks, no sunscreen, never hike much distance at altitude, and only brought camera gear in my backpack... yikes.
We started off our day way later than we should have, so parking was impossible. We had to take the bus into the trailhead. The trail to Alberta falls relatively short at around a mile, so it's pretty busy. There were quite a few people there, so we did our best to enjoy what we could then headed on towards Mills lake. We slowly made our way stopping more times than we would like to admit to catch our breath. The trail thinned out fairly quickly past the falls.
The lake was quite beautiful. I'd never seen a lake like that before, nestled in the mountains like that. At one point we were by the shore cooling off, and Jesse was throwing some rocks in the water. Some guy walked by at the perfect moment and thought Jesse was going to hit him(he wasn't) and freaked out on us acting like tossing rocks was as reckless as drunk driving.
After cooling off by the water and letting the sun get even higher and hotter, we decided to head back. It was at this point I started to realize how awesome Vans are for hiking... by the time we made it down, I had blisters the size of quarters. Despite all my ill-preparedness, I indeed was getting the bug for adventure. This was only the beginning and I would get smarter each time I went out, but I treasure these early memories.
Photography Date: 7-10-16
Writing Date: 2-19-18
