Crosier Mountain

It was a strange day for a hike. It was 30 degrees when I left the house. I dressed warmly: long underwear, fleece, 2 layers of gloves, gator, and hat. I didn't check the temperature when I got out of the car but assumed it would be much colder than at my house. I hiked about a quarter of a mile before I was badly needing to disrobe. Granted I was partly hot due to the steep incline of the trail, however, I was waaaayyyy over dressed. Turns out when I got back to the car it was 56 degrees! I believe that you would call this type of weather an inversion. But don't be fooled, just because it was warm doesn't mean it was fantastic weather. The wind was blowing 30 mph the whole time!

Overall, it was a pleasant trail. It was completely uphill to the top. I thought I was in pretty good shape before doing this trail but have now realized that I'm not or my little bit of sickness that I have slowed me down. I'm going to believe that it was sickness! I didn't see much for wildlife this outing but did see this neat seed on this shrub.
This is a view towards Drake, CO where it was 16 degrees cooler and only 5 miles east.
There was interesting weather to be seen throughout the hike. Mountains were encased in clouds or were to be seen peaking out above the clouds.
The views at the top of the trial of the Long's Peak mountain range were fabulous!

Crosier Mountain Trail
Trails Used: Crosier Mountain
Distance: 7.86 Miles
Difficulty: Difficult
Moving average: 3.3 mph
Overall average: 2.6 mph
Moving Time: 2 hrs, 24 min
Stopped Time: 37 min, 58 sec
Total Ascent: 2568 ft.
Maximum elevation: 9234 ft.

Picture Rock Trail (Heil Valley Ranch)

This post took almost a month to get around to so it was an October hike not November. It was an overcast fall day. The scenery was still pretty with much to be seen. This ranch is old farm property that still has a silo,
farm equipment,
automobiles (albeit not functional),

and even some old masonry work w/ flagstones. However, I didn't get a picture of this. The views were long and unobstructed. The trail itself was very quiet that day. I saw a couple of mountain bikers near the end but that was it. I guess people don't like hiking when the weather isn't warm and beautiful!
I was able to see quite a few mule deer who were very unconcerned w/ me.
and some far off turkeys!
The best part of the day was the 90 minute massage following the hike. If only I could get one of those every time I went hiking. I would be in the best shape of my life! :)

Picture Rock Trail (Heil Valley Ranch)
Trails Used: Pronghorn Loop Starting at far Entrance Gate
Distance: 10.6 Miles
Difficulty: Easy
Moving average: 3.5 mph
Overall average: 3.3 mph
Moving Time: 3 hrs, 02 min
Stopped Time: 12 min, 47 sec
Total Ascent: 759 ft.
Maximum elevation: 6377 ft.

Molly Lake

I went for a hike up at Red Feather Lakes this weekend. I was hoping to redo the Lone Pine Trail but ended up not having enough time to do that. I went closer to where the family was and hiked to Molly Lake (this was not that far) and then down the road past there to where it connects up w/ another road. The wildflowers were beautiful. The lake itself was nice but there was no access to it due to the wetland like area surrounding it.

Time:	02:18:24
Distance:	7.82 mi
Elevation Gain:	662 ft

Time:	02:18:24
Moving Time:	02:14:03
Elapsed Time:	02:18:24

Avg Speed:	3.4 mph
Avg Moving Speed:	3.5 mph
Max Speed:	17.1 mph

Avg Pace:	17:41 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace:	17:08 min/mi
Best Pace:	03:31 min/mi

Elevation Gain:	662 ft
Elevation Loss:	688 ft
Min Elevation:	8,368 ft
Max Elevation:	8,661 ft

Curt Gowdy State Park

My mom and I went hiking at Curt Gowdy State Park outside of Laramie, WY this weekend. We started early to beat the heat but most of the morning was overcast so it wasn't too bad. We saw lots of cows who wouldn't move,
hummingbirds that were constantly chirping at one another,
bunnies running around,
the pretty waterfall that we climbed to the top of (even though they removed the rope to aid in this endeavor)
and pretty wildflowers.
I didn't take too many pictures due to the dreary weather. It definitely makes for a faster hike! The large granite boulders are what makes this hike interesting. They are throughout the park balanced one on top of the other. It's always cool to see a tree somehow sticking out of one of these rocks too!
Curt Gowdy State Park
Trails Used: Stone Temple Circuit, Igneoramus, Rock N' Roller, 2%, Stone Temple Circuit, Albert's Alley, El Alto, Overlook, Albert's Alley, Crow Creek Trail, Hidden Falls, Mo' Rocka, Crow Creek Trail, Pinball, Stone Temple Circuit
Distance: ~10 Miles (forgot the GPS)
Difficulty: Moderate, nice rolling hills throughout
Moving average: ? mph
Overall average: ? mph
Moving Time: 4 hrs, 40 min
Stopped Time: ? hrs, ? min
Total Ascent: ? ft.
Maximum elevation: ? ft.

Girl's Weekend in Steamboat!!! Day 3

We had a little later start and a more relaxed pace today. We went to the Art in the Park downtown on our bikes. Then we tubed the Yampa River w/ the help of Backdoor Sports. I really wish we had gotten pictures of this but seeing as how Heather got completely dunked I think it was good we didn't have any cameras w/ us. We headed home in the afternoon through Walden, up to Laramie, and over to Cheyenne, and then down to Ft. Collins. The highlight of the evening was the bear Heather spotted out the window right before we crossed into Wyoming! It made up for us not seeing any moose on Friday!

I can't wait to do this again next year! We couldn't have picked a better location for activities, scenic beauty, and relaxation. (Yeah, yeah, there wasn't much relaxation we were too busy!)

Girl's Weekend in Steamboat!!! Day 2

Since we made it to bed so early I was up (really I was up all night...I couldn't sleep) and rearing to go at 6:10 a.m. I tried to see if Heather was going to go w/ me but she thought sleeping in would better prepare her for the day's activities. I headed out on my bike to go see the Hot Air Balloon Rodeo just outside of the town. It was a beautiful morning (crisp, I should have brought gloves) to see the balloons.


Hot Air Balloon Rodeo (Bike)
Trails Used: Trail along Yampa River
Distance: 8.23 Miles
Difficulty: Easy
Moving average: 8.1 mph
Overall average: 4.7 mph
Moving Time: 1 hrs, 0 min
Stopped Time: 44 min, 39 sec
Total Ascent: 333 ft.
Maximum elevation: 6913 ft.

After a quick breakfast we headed out to Fish Creek Falls. It drops 280 feet and is most impressive to view.


We decided to hike to the upper falls as well.
It was a grueling uphill but was great coming down. The area was like a tropical mountain valley. It was so lush and even humid that it didn't feel like you were in the mountains at times. At least until you had one of these views:
The whole hike up was a constant series of waterfalls and wildflowers. We had a great lunch at the top (our top, we could have gone to Lost Lake but that was another 2 miles at least and we had many things to do still). Our hostess had given us the name of another sandwich shop in town that was fabulous. Back Country Provisions gave us each a nice sized sandwich neatly wrapped for hiking that was yummy!
We ate here and had the sound of water all around us. We even gave our feet some relief and dipped them in the cold water.

The aspen along this hike were big, white, and beautiful. I'd love to do this hike in the fall and see them change color.
Fish Creek Falls (Hike)
Trails Used: Fish Creek Falls Trail
Distance: 6.46 Miles
Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult
Moving average: 2.5 mph
Overall average: 1.7 mph
Moving Time: 2 hrs, 32 min
Stopped Time: 1 hrs, 17 min
Total Ascent: 1468 ft.
Maximum elevation: 9119 ft.

We ended our day (I guess I should say the afternoon) at the Strawberry Park Hot Springs. It was another beautiful place that had a couple of different pools w/ different temperatures. It was nice going from the hot pool into the main river. We even saw some rainbow trout swimming around. The only thing that could have made it better was a cold, frosty beer!
We were going to try to attend the Steamboat Pro Rodeo Series but by the time showers and dinner were done the rodeo wasn't as high on our list. We walked by and the place was empty. Friday night it was packed so we were very surprised to see it so empty! We ate at Mambo Italiano and had a good appetizer and pizza. We were glad to see the size of their dishes (huge) so we split a pizza. We headed to the Rio for margarita's (they weren't as good as the ones in Ft. Collins) and then to Sun Pie's for the rest of the evening. All in all it was a great day out!