like to hike

American Lake on the last day American debt is AAA-rated

One of the many perks of having a furry child is that you have a hiking partner who is stoked and ready to go every minute of the day. Lucy is the rare breed who enjoys her sleep and sleeping in, but even so I could wake her up at 4am say the word "hike" (it's maybe once a year I actually wake up that early for a hike...) and she'd jump out of bed and be seated at the door ready to roll.

Yesterday my little hiking fiend and I went up to American Lake. The trailhead is about a 15min drive from my place in Aspen towards the ghost town of Ashcroft (where I biked to in my previous post). It starts at about 9,500ft and goes up to around 11,500ft. Aside from the awesome scenery at the top/the lake the route up makes you feel like you're on 3 separate hikes all at the same time.

You start in a huge grove of mature Aspen trees and switch-back and forth through them up a moderately steep face for about 2/5ths of the hike. Then, you hit this very short yet steep little section covered with exposed roots and BAM, you're now in an evergreen forest with a completely separate ground cover... it's pretty weird. You go through that type of terrain for another 2/5ths of the trail and the last 1/5th is a combination of a scree field (lots of loose, reasonably-sized rocks) and a few huge meadows brimming with wild flowers that inspired the puppy to frolic like a member of a certain singing Austrian family with a bunch of kids.

Lucy and I loved the hike and were pretty psyched that we were able to keep a very good pace over the entire 6 mile trail (3mi to the lake, 6mi roundtrip). One day I'd like to be able to run it... that one day may have to wait until next summer when I'm (hopefully) fitter though.

You know you want to frolic through this!

Bike to Ashcroft

History, endorphins AND mountains!

Yesterday I rode my newish road bike from my place in central Aspen to the ghost town of Ashcroft. It's one of the more popular places to bike to and is a good little workout.

The ride is beautiful (duh, it's the Rockies) and follows a creek through a valley that spits you out staring at a granite wall known as the Elk Mountain Range. It's here that back in the late 1800s miners thought it'd be a good idea to dig for silver and set up a once-booming mining town. The town booms no more. The only remnants are a few old cabins and mine dumps.

Ride Stats
Starting elevation: about 8000ft
Finishing elevation: about 9500ft
Miles (roundtrip): 22.5mi

no, i didn't dress like a ho

look mom, I'm a scarecrow (and not the ho version!)

Not a terrible costume for $3.55! Okay, so I had the clothes, hat and boots already- I just had to buy the face paint and leaves. (The straw is actually dead tall grass I got right outside my front door so that was free :) ) Originally, I had planned on being something else that required me having a big box but I never got my hands on a big enough box so I'll save that idea for next year.

first snow of the season

Lucy learning that she also loves snow!

We got the first storm of the season yesterday morning and though dark clouds loomed for most of today they didn't really open up. We have about 5" outside at my house but the top of Vail looks like it's about knee deep with a drift or two getting waist deep. Pumped!!! Tomorrow I'm thinking I'll take my snowshoes up the hill and scope out potential hike 'n' ski options :)

snow? yes, please!

This is awesome- we pretty much just skipped Fall :)

some of my favorite photos

Bovec, Slovenia: The view from our guest house room as the clouds break

Those of you with Facebook have likely already seen this little compilation of photos but since not everyone has FB I'm posting the link to the album here too.

click here to see album

I love to take pictures. I've taken a bunch of them in my day but these are a few of them that I'm particularly fond of. Maybe it's the lighting, colors, the place, the sense of awe or the chance to capture another person's thoughts/emotions at the time. They're all different but I like them all and hope you do too!

P.S. This is only a subset of my favorites. I'll add more as I go through more photos (like I said, I've got tons) and take more...

P.P.S. None of these have been Photoshop-ed or edited in any way other than maybe being cropped. I don't believe in altering photos after they've been taken, I feel like it's no longer a photo but computer art (just my personal opinion!). I feel like it also makes you that much more psyched when it comes out well :)

pict for today

storm rolls in, storm rolls out, storm leaves a rainbow

pict for today

looking up at the Aspens