Month: September 2020

Hidden Gem

/ Seeking

Under the category of ‘it’s a small world’, the lady that we adopted one of our dogs from in Houston just so happens to also have a place near Salida.  She and her husband split their time between Texas and Colorado and we’ve stayed in contact with them over the years since we met.  They were in town last week and they invited us for a hike up by their place to participate in the time-honored CO tradition of viewing the changing aspens.  

The objective for the day was a hike up the little-known (at least to me) Pass Creek trail to Pass Creek lake.  It was an eight-mile round trip on a glorious fall day in the mountains.  

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Somewhere over the burning Rainbow

/ Seeking

Our house is on Methodist mountain, the northern most peak in the Sangre de Cristo range.  Methodist is more of a big green lump than something spectacular like the Sawatch range across the valley or the Sangres further south.  Most of the peaks around here are named after Native American chiefs or ivy league colleges so I was curious how Methodist got its name.  I did some research (ok, I Googled for 30 minutes) but didn’t turn up anything definitive on the name origin.  I like to think that it had something to do with Methodist pioneers who lived in the area performing long-forgotten rituals in the woods, druid pot luck dinners, bingo games and such.  But I digress.

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The Big Kahuna

/ Seeking

It had been over a year since our last 14er climb and I was starting to crave altitude again so Ms. Seeking and I began laying plans for our next hike.  The early snow delayed us but after a week of bright sunshine on the Sawatch conditions looked good enough for an attempt on Colorado’s highest peak, the Big Kahuna, Mt. Elbert.

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Relative Badassedness

/ Seeking / 1 Comment

In riding, hiking, and skiing around Colorado one of the things that strikes me about the people here is the all-around level of fitness you see on any given day.  No matter how strong you think you are, I guarantee you there’s someone in Colorado who can go faster or longer.  I’ve met trail runners who can knock off a 10-mile 14er in under three hours.  I’ve talked to unicyclists at the top of the Monarch Crest trail.  I’ve chatted up hikers on month-long treks on the Colorado Trail.  Colorado, the land of the FKT (Fastest Known Time).  It’s very motivating and very humbling at the same time.

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