Biblers' Index

Since July 1, 2012:

Miles driven: 8061

Dollars spent on gas: 1443

Dollars spent on rent: 0

US states seen: 16 (1)

States to go: 7 (2)

US National Parks visited: 6 (3)

Nights spent inside: 42

Nights spent outside: 40

Nights spent on airplanes: 1

Miles hiked: 177

Miles biked: 90

Miles paddled: 80

Bears seen: 9

Moose seen: 15

Deer seen: too numerous to count

Deer hit: 1 (4)

1: NH, VT, NY, PA, OH, IN, IL, IA, NE, CO, WY, MT, ID, WA, AK, NM
2: TX, UT, AZ, NV, CA, OR, HI
3: Grand Teton, Kenai Fjords, Gates of the Arctic, Denali, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Mesa Verde
4: oops

Telluride -Durango

Click here for our latest photo album!

As the rain/snow was rolling into Ouray we traveled over the mountains to the sunny, sleepy little town of Telluride. As we had been camping for six nights in a row, we treated ourselves to a cozy hotel room, beer at one of the local brew pubs, Monday night football and the hot tubs on the roof of the hotel. The next day was an awesome multisport day. We loaded our bikes on the free gondola and rode it to the top of the mountain. From there we rode 10 miles on the singletrack Prospect Trail to the Mountain Village. We found the local disc golf course and boulder to get an upper body workout and round out the day. We were exhausted but content.

 

We found a nice campground south of Telluride called Matterhorn (and a bonus was it had a shower!). On our second day we started the day visiting Alta Lakes, window shopped in the town of Telluride, grabbed a delicious Detroit style Pizza at the Brown Dog, took in views of Bridal Veil Falls, and sampled the brews at the Telluride Brewery before heading back to camp.

Ryan once again found a great long day hike for the next day on the Lizard Head trail. It was a gorgeous 9 mile hike through aspen groves, up some steep switch backs, before we were up on the ridge. From the ridge the 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains were breathtaking. When we stopped for lunch just below tree line we had four elk walk right past us. The trail took us just below the rock formation called the Lizard Head and past Wilson Mountain (the mountain that is on the Coors beer can).

The nights were cold camping at about 9600 feet – we woke up to frost a couple times - but as soon as the sun covered our campsite and lit up the golden aspens surrounding us we didn’t want to leave. We packed up camp after four nights and headed up and over Ophir Pass (a short cut to Durango). It was quite the adventure. The views were stunning; however, the road was quite scary in Lisa’s opinion. Our car makes a few new noises but we made it.

In Durango we took one day to regroup (we call it an admin day): doing laundry, groceries, and finding internet for a few moments to reconnect us to the world. The next day we visited the ancient Indian ruins at Mesa Verde National Park, enjoying another beautiful fall day in southern Colorado. The next morning we rode our bikes out the back of our campground on the Colorado Trail for a few miles and hiked a six mile loop on Animas Mountain with sweeping views of Durango and the surrounding area. We were lucky to catch up with family, Steven and Rosalba Paulick for a delicious dinner in Durango.

We are now in Santa Fe for four nights, taking in the sights and eating lots of delicious southwestern food. After Santa Fe we are going to visit our friends who are living in El Paso Texas before heading back up to southern Colorado. It’s amazing how much of the west we have explored in just a month!

Fall in Colorado

Click here for our latest photo album of the Black Canyon and Ouray.

September is the best month of the year to be out and about – we still have warm and sunny days, and the crowds are gone for the summer. After we drove south from Glenwood Springs, we took in the beautiful scenery over McClure pass and through the farm lands around Paonia. Our first stop was the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  At the Black we were greeted by dark clouds and thunderstorms sweeping across the area. We kept dry during our first big storm all summer (at least in the lower 48). We can’t believe how lucky we have been with the weather! We camped on the much less-visited North Rim for two nights. We took a short hike out to Exclamation Point, likely the best view of the Canyon. We also biked along the north rim road, which was a great way to see the views. On our last day we drove a long way around the Canyon to get to the south rim, but oh darn, another scenic drive on another perfect blue sky day.

From the Black Canyon we headed south to Ouray, Colorado. Ouray is an old mining town surrounded by peaks of the San Juan Mountains. It has been dubbed “The Switzerland of America,” for good reason. We camped in the Amphitheater Campground for four nights just above town and were lucky to get site #34.  It was hands down the best site in the campground; it was empty because it was a tent only site and we had to carry our stuff up and down the stairs (it’s good for you), but the views were spectacular! We strolled around the shops, sampled the local brewery, hiked around Box Canyon (an area where Ryan has been to ice climb in the past and desperately wants to go back), drove over Red Mountain Pass to Silverton- part of the Million Dollar Highway, mountain biked near Ridgway, soaked in the hot springs, and hiked to Upper Cascade falls right from our campground.  Ryan pored over his maps and found us an awesome long (11 mile) day hike in the Uncompahgre Wilderness. We hiked up and over West Fork Pass (twice- out and back) to get to the Wetterhorn Basin. We had amazing views of the surrounding mountains – next time we will come back and spend a week up there!

We left Ouray as the clouds were rolling through and headed to Telluride.  We had been camping for six nights in a row, so we decided to treat ourselves to clean sheets and a shower at the New Sheridan Hotel.  From here we’ll probably be camping near Telluride for the next three nights, then to Durango for the weekend, then to Santa Fe next week.  We hope this fall never ends!

Pics

Whoops, sorry about the pictures not working.. Just click the Picasa link and we will fix them at some point

Colorado welcomes us back: Maroon Bells and more

Click here for our CO picture album!

We arrived back from Alaska to hot summer days in Denver, just what we wished for! We partied with our Denver friends from PT and med school and caught a Rockies baseball game. On Labor day we fought the front range traffic and headed up to Vail, stopping along the way to bike near Lake Dillon. We had a great time visiting with cousin Mike and his wife Chris in Vail. We all hiked to the top of Shrine Mountain and took in the majestic views of the Gore mountain range.

From there we were off to Aspen to hike the Four Pass Loop around the famous Maroon Bells. We had to quickly acclimatize to Colorado hiking, lots of steep grades, warm sunshine and altitude. The elevation of the trail ranged from 9500-12,500 feet over 26 miles.

The first night we camped in the valley just below West Maroon Pass. The next morning as we were trudging up and up, Ryan looked up at the ridge in front of us and said, “that can’t be our trail” speaking of the rock band way up in the distance, but it was! The great part of this hike was that we had new sweeping views over every pass. We camped in the Fravert basin on night two after climbing over the second pass of the day, Frigid Air pass.

The next day we hiked past King Falls then up and over Trail Rider Pass. At the top of Trail Rider pass we were greeted with the spectacular landscape of Snowmass Peak and the crystal clear deep blues of Snowmass Lake.

We spend the afternoon relaxing on the shores of the lake soaking up the sunshine. On our last day we celebrated completing our four passes after climbing Buckskin pass.

We did not see much wildlife along the way. However, at the trailhead we came across a bull moose and a cow eating vegetation in Maroon Lake, surrounded by tourists snapping pictures!

The Four Pass Loop was an awesome way to get back into Colorado hiking. Keeping with tradition we celebrated with beers and burgers in Aspen.
From Aspen we headed to New Castle to spend some wonderful family time Uncle Garry and Aunt Stacey Millard and their family. We had a blast exploring the area: cave exploring near Rifle Falls, biking the Glenwood Canyon and hiking to Hanging Lake, and enjoying a beautiful fall day in Vail. We can’t wait to see them again very soon! We feel so very lucky to have this time to catch up with everyone!

Our plan is to spend the rest of September exploring southern Colorado. We are headed to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison today then Ouray, Telluride, Durango, Santa Fe, The Great Sand Dunes, and climbing in Penitente canyon. We are meeting Julie in Steamboat Springs at the beginning of October before we head over to Salt Lake. Let the adventure continue!