Hiking At Windy Saddle

This afternoon the kids and I made the twenty minute or so drive to Windy Saddle, overlooking Golden. We hiked about an hour or so and were rewarded with some great views! It was a beautiful day, about 45 degrees. It was sunny to the east over Denver but to the west the mountains were shrouded by clouds that were hiding a snowstorm.

Just some pics and news...

We are getting pretty well settled in here and finding our way into the swing of things. Both the kids recently finished their XC seasons. Coop finished 30th in his conference meet with Monmouth College with an 8K PR of 27:10 and Claire ran varsity as a freshman for Arvada West in the regional meet (5K PR of 22:13) and was the alternate for the team at the 5A state meet. So super proud and happy that they have both found something they enjoy and are good at! Cooper is home for the Thanksgiving break and he, Claire, and I ran a Turkey Chase on Thansgiving morning and had a lot of fun.

Here are a few pics i had rotting away in my phone...

Me, Coop, and Claire at the Turkey Chase in Arvada

View from near Windy Saddle outside of Golden

Near trail running mecca of Leadville

View of Red Rocks from Mathews/Winters Park

Colorado Sunset

Valley at White Ranch Open Space Park

Some early observations trail running in Colorado

Some early observations from my trail running and hiking here in Colorado so far...

1. I actually do run into other runners on the trails here, though not as many as I thought I would. In Illinois I believe I saw exactly one runner my whole life aside from the Rockford area parks.

2. Even in Colorado the trail runners are regarded as slightly nuts. One lady who clearly underestimated my hearing commented after I bombed by her and her friend "that is dangerous!" I am choosing to believe she was concerned for MY safety and not afraid I might careen out of control and somehow injure her!

3. Sharing the trails with mountain bikers is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. In the Midwest it's rare that this happens but here it is the case more often than not. In fact they often outnumber those on foot by quite a lot. However, the bikers are very good about calling out when they are coming up from behind and are really generally super friendly people.

4. The trails here are SO relentlessly technical! Rarely do you get a chance to stride out easy for any amount of time and the downhills take quite a bit of concentration. Running on trails with jagged rocks that are sometimes the size of basketballs takes some getting used to for sure. It's a ton of fun but also pretty mentally exhausting. I have managed to not fall yet, though my toes have taken a pretty good beating.

5. Hydration is very important here. The air is so dry you do not realize how much you are actually sweating because it evaporates so quickly. After my first couple runs here my pee was just about the color off honey. Not good. You really have to drink even if you don't feel thirsty.

6. Be prepared to go up for a long period of time. You can get some pretty good climbing in some Illinois and Wisconsin parks but it's more of an "up for a couple minutes then down for a couple minutes" type thing. Here you can go up for what seems like an eternity. On one of my first runs I went up switchbacks for the first 1.8 miles. It never leveled of once until then. I like hills but, oh boy. Let's just say I have been working on my power hiking during my trail runs here.

7. I have been doing a lot of hiking since I have been here and making sure when I am running that I stop and take in the scenery once in a while. I have always made an effort to do this, since trail running requires that you look down most of the time and it's easy to miss most of the scenery. It's important to stop or walk here and there and appreciate your surroundings. It's a huge part of the experience of running in nature, especially somewhere as stunning as this.

Afternoon Trip to the Flatirons near Boulder, Colorado

Pic of the Flatirons from Chautauqua Park

After watching the toxic sludge that was the Bears game today, my wife and I decided to clear our heads and go for a afternoon hike up to the the Flatirons. I was particularly excited about this since I am a big ultra-running fan and Boulder is home to several well-known pro ultra-runners such as legend Scott Jurek. So to hike their stomping grounds is pretty cool for me.

View from near trailhead looking roughly northward

We headed up the trail, which unsuprisingly headed upwards pretty steeply and at a trail junction we had a choice of heading on a loop around or heading upwards some more toward the peak of one of the Flatirons. We actually wanted to go around but misread the post and headed up. I was thankful for the mistake! the trail we chose ended high up on the Flatirons where it appeared only the rock climbers could continue and came with some great views of the flatlands below. The last couple hundred feet were actually more of an all fours scramble in the general direction of a trail. After a couple pics and shooting the bull with a pair of rock climbers we headed back down in a light rain.

Looking straight up the second Flatiron

Mount Falcon Hike

Last weekend me and Gina went to Mt. Falcon for a afternoon hike. This park is probably about 20 minutes or so from the house so it is another nice location for a day hike without to much car travel. It was actually a pretty strenuous hike. It basically switchbacks up the mountain from the parking area and is relentlessly upwards to the top via Castle Trail. We went up until we reached the ruins of the home at the top (the "castle") then went back down. About 6.5 miles altogether but with what I guess was about 1,500 feet of elevation gain or so, it felt like a lot more!

A View of Red Rocks from near the Castle Trailhead

Mule deer we ran across. They are very comfortable around people here

The castle ruins we really cool. It must have been an amazing home in that location. Burned down around a hundred years ago I believe.

Just an example of the type of trail that is common here in Colorado. Lots of rocks/boulders, pretty technical and fun hiking.

Hello, Colorado!

Pretty much anybody that reads this blog knows me and knows by now that earlier this month I moved from Illinois to the Denver area. The suburb Arvada, to be more specific. I won't go into a bunch of detail about why because it is boring, but now that we have gotten a bit settled I have been doing a decent amount of exploring in the foothills of the Rockies. Unfortunately, a lot of pics I took were lost when I switched phones and stupidly did not send my photos to my computer first so I will just start out with today's adventure, White Ranch Open Space Park.

White Ranch is about a twenty minute drive into the foothills(if you park on the east end of the park. I had been there earlier this week so this time I headed farther west to the other entrance which was about a half hour drive and significantly higher elevation, a little over 7,000 feet. Essentially I was starting at the top of the park from this west parking entrance.

I began from the parking lot on Belcher Hill Trail for a almost a mile and then jumped off that where it ends and at a T, where I went left on Rawhide Trail. Essentially I followed Rawhide in a loop for another four miles or so and linked up with Belcher again then headed back to where I parked, crossed the lot and did another mile or so in an out-and-back on Belcher. Like every trail I have been on since I have been here there are basically two directions: up and down. And sometimes it's a pretty damn steep up or down (plus the trails are generally very technical), which comes as no real surprise. It is the Rocky Mountains after all!

The most notable happening during the run was actually when I stopped for a picture and rest break and was walked up on by what I assume was a Red Fox. He was just strolling up the trail and looking off to his left and didn't see me leaning up against the rock wall. I let him come for a bit before I became a bit uncomfortable (he was a good-sized fox) and said "Hey!" and he turned around and headed up the hillside. He seemed annoyed he was going to have to take the long way around. It was pretty amazing!

I don't have the words to do Colorado justice so here are some pics from today. They at least come somewhat close.

This is right where the fox came up the trail to me

Oh, how I missed the dirt!

Got in the first trail run of the year today at The White Pines! Should have been out there earlier, the trails were in great shape. Not much snow or mud for this early in the spring. Ran a hard seven and then got the phone and my Xero Shoes (also known in my house as the "Jesus Sandals", see pic below) and took some pics while run/hiking another 4 miles or so...