After completing my climb of Mount of the Holy Cross last fall, I noted that I’d climbed all 15 of the Sawatch 14ers, putting my total number of 14ers climbed at 26. A milestone, of sorts.
Continue readingMaybe I should stick to riding bikes
wildlife
Cottonwood Loop
It’s summer, and that means it’s time to do one of my favorite in-town rides, the Cottonwood Loop. The Cottonwood Loop is in the Arkansas Hills north of Salida. From town it’s a 20-mile round trip involving an eight-mile gravel ride up to the trailhead, followed by a twelve-mile single-track descent.
Continue readingThe age-old dance
Mid-November. Still too early to ski. And while the higher-altitude trails are beginning to be snowed in, here in town the riding is great.
Continue readingIt’s a Quandary
Is it possible for people to love the outdoors too much? Studies have shown that getting out in nature is one of the best things you can do for both mind and body. But is it good for nature? How many people can nature sustain before it stops being nature?
Continue readingWhat I love most about living in Colorado
A Massive Day
Mt. Massive is the second highest mountain in Colorado, only 11 feet shorter than its neighbor across the valley, Mt. Elbert. It makes up for those 11 feet by being the mountain with the most area over 14,000 feet in the contiguous 48 states. With a summit and four sub-summits over 14,000 feet and a three-mile-long summit ridge Mt. Massive is truly massive. If you’ve been to Leadville, you’ve seen Mt. Massive and you may have mistaken it for a whole mountain range. Massive doesn’t so much dominate Leadville’s western skyline as it IS Leadville’s western skyline.
Continue readingHumble Humboldt
Most of our mountain climbing to this point has been in our local range, the Sawatch, or near Fairplay in the Mosquitoes. Looking for a change of scenery I wanted to try something in the Sangre de Cristos south of Salida. The problem is, most of the Sangre peaks are above my pay grade in terms of climbability.
Continue readingZen and the art of moose tracking
Gravel riding is the zen of cycling. Mountain biking gives you that hyper-alert, most awake you’ve been in your life, double espresso chased with a Mountain Dew feeling. And road, while it can be meditative if you find a quiet stretch of pavement, generally ends up being done in traffic, which means staying constantly alert to the large metal boxes hurtling past you.
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