Golden Gate Canyon State Park

Golden Gate Canyon State Park was a very nice hiking area.  Stopped at the Visitors Center to purchase a permit.  The rangers were happy to answer any questions and the restrooms were clean.

We had attempted this hike last May, but after several instances of rolling thunder we came back down.  By the time we got back to the car, snow was beginning to fall.  This was such a nice area we wanted to try it again.  We chose Horseshoe Trail again.  The water in the little creek along the trail had dried up quite a bit since May, but still plenty of water to keep the vegetation nice and green!  The hike starts at over 8,100 feet so we were not expecting any snakes, we saw 2 on the lower portions of the trail.  Just harmless garter snakes, nothing exotic.  

 

 

We continued on the trail to Greenfield and Frazer Meadows.  We made it to the backcountry campsites and found them unoccupied so we stopped for a snack.  Larry looks like he is imitating a chipmunk, but really I just snapped the picture when he was eating a banana.

We really did not have an endpoint in mind for this hike, but we went a little farther after our snack and decided that we probably needed to start down soon.

The aspen grove and the wildflowers were beautiful!  Glad we came back to try this one again!

The next stop was Panorama Point.  What a difference a few months made!  May was cold, windy, snowy and what a messy road!  By early August, perfect weather for sitting in the sun enjoying the view!

On the drive out of the park we looked for a trailhead at Starr Peak and Thorodin Mountain.  Did not find it, but think we need to save this hike for another day.

St. Mary's Glacier Hike

Yet another new hike!  We received a tip from a couple hiking the Beaver Brook Trail regarding the St. Mary's Glacier hike.  The name "glacier" seems to be a misnomer, it seems the glacier does not "move" and that changes it to a "permanent or semi-permanent snow field".  Signage still uses the word "glacier", I mean really how big would the sign be if "permanent or semi-permanent snow field" was added.  Anyway, no matter what it is called, we decided to add it to our list.

It was a beautiful drive up to the parking lot.  Before this hike I had no "glacier" experience.  I did take geology in college and I understood that moving ice can drag lots of stuff with it.  I guess I never thought about walking up all of those rocks!  Everything from gravel to boulders has been pulled down the mountain.

 

My feet were sore and I was tired from climbing uphill over rocks, rocks, and more rocks.  But it was well worth it!  This is my first look at the glacier lake.  So beautiful!

See what I mean, the glacier has made a beautiful landscape!  I could not stop taking pictures and I took way too many.  I try to only include a few pictures to illustrate this blog, not so many that my readers get bored.  But it was so spectacular!

One really fun aspect of this place was all the kids that hiked up to hang out around the lake.  They climbed around to the other side of the lake and jumped off a huge boulder.  By huge, I mean maybe 25 or 30 feet!  When they hit the freezing water they screamed wildly and swam like mad to get out of the freezing water.  The snow was still melting into the other end of the lake to keep it nice and cold.

We did not have time to hike to the other end of the lake and up the glacier, but it is a definite "must do" on our next trip.  We are planning to spend a lot more time at St. Mary's Glacier in the future!

The next thing was dinner.  We have a bad habit of getting back to civilization late and we need to eat!  So I took a shot at using the internet for a nearby dinner recommendation.  That seemed a little scary, but I70 is a huge highway and surely public opinion cannot be too far off??  We were pointed to Idaho Spring for BBQ at Smokin Yard's BBQ.  We knew we were in the right place when we saw two local sheriff cars!  What a perfectly run business!  Great service, friendly help, patio seating and food to die for!  Even had Boylan soda...they called it, "those sodas from back East"!!  It was a perfect end to a perfect day!
 

Hiking Genesee Park

Another new hike...we could spend the rest of our lives finding new hikes in Colorado.  Today's choice is in Genesee Park.  Just a short drive on Interstate 70, take the Chief Hosa exit to the right and right again onto a dirt/sand road to the trail head.  Just to remind us we are in the wild and large animals could join us on our hike, a bear left us a smelly "gift" right in front of the trail map at the trail head!  Yuck!

We decided to start with the Braille Trail.  This was a cool trail for the visually impaired.  Multiple signs along the trail explain the biology, geology and history of the trail.  All signs included a braille translation and the trail is fenced to allow safe travel for non-sighted persons.  It was quite pretty, including flowers, creeks, butterflies and birds!

 

 

The Braille Trail loops back to the parking lot, however, we choose to cross the wooden bridge and start the Beaver Brook Trail.

The trail was a bit rough and narrow.  We had a real sense of isolation, but other hikers would show up from time to time.  The trail seemed quite hilly as it went around the side of the mountain.  A lot of climbing up, then climbing down.  Really beautiful forests!  Eventually the creek started to flow much faster and the boulders got much larger.  This was the low point of the hike.  The hike continued on the other side of the creek and the trail appears to work its way up the next mountain and east towards Lookout Mountain.  This would be a long hike and it would be best if a car were left at the other end.  Since we only had one car, we opted to hike back to the parking lot from the low point.  You know those "ups" and "downs" I mentioned before, well somehow it seemed straight up as we came out.  I think we had a lot more "downs" than "ups" on the way to the low point...I just did not notice the "downs" as much as I was noticing the "ups" on the way back out!

Really liked this hike!  Would start earlier and might drop a car at the other end if I were going to attempt the longer hike.

 

Two Hikes and a Concert

We have finally found a day to hike Green Mountain!!  Back in the olden days, before little old me, Larry lived in Lakewood and ran from his apartment up Green Mountain each evening.  We have never made time to do this hike in modern days.  But, alas, the correct circumstance presented itself!  Because the hike is totally out in the sun and today arrived with a nice layer of clouds, we went hiking!  I did not get any pictures for some unknown reason(I think I had a segment failure on my card, formatting fixed that), but Larry snapped a couple of me.  Check out the pollution in downtown Denver!  Yuck!

This was a great multi-use trail right in a busy neighborhood.  How lucky to have such a great place to exercise.

Then off to try another new trail.  It was not far from Lakewood, so just a quick drive to the trail head.  Lair o' the Bear Park was an easy walk along a creek with lots of wild flowers. There is a second trail that connects to other parks for a more challenging hike.  For a weekday, this park was quite busy.  Weekends must be a mess!!  But it was nearby and we wanted to keep walking!  It looks like taking the longer trails would leave the crowds to picnic and fish in the creeks.

Enough of this hiking stuff!  It was time to go get ready for a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. We got tickets to see Florence and the Machine!!!!  Our seats were on Row 19, Seats 49 and 50!  Right in the middle, perfect!

Papa was the opening band.  Really liked their sound and they were so excited to be opening for Florence.  They are still very early in their music career...they drove in one vehicle from L.A. to Denver!  Hope this concert helps them get noticed.  We look forward to seeing them again sometime.

Next up, Florence and the Machine!  I see why they are called the Machine, "band" does not describe all the people who play one or more instruments and sing!  What band has a harp?  Or girls who play brass instruments and sing and sometime a little percussion, too!  Florence was way past cool!  She directs you to sing or clap an off-beat rhythm or jump up and down for an entire song!  She ran out in the audience a few times...BAREFOOT I might add!  We stood for her entire concert, plus we sang, danced, clapped and jumped!  My age was showing by the end of the encore!!  Like any good carnival ride, I would get right back in line and go again!  FUN, FUN, FUN!!

I swear that is NOT ME singing off key!!!

I am old but not yet tone deaf!

A Visit to Denver University Then Off to Evergreen for Art, Pizza and a Walk!

We took a little trip to Denver University to buy Devin a Denver University Lacrosse jersey.  At 10 years old he has made the choice to attend Denver University, of course we expect that will change many times over the coming years.  This choice has been made solely on the fact that Denver University has the top lacrosse team in the U.S.A. Who knows what his choice will be next week?  But for now, he has a new jersey from the school of his current choice.

Now off to the mountains!  We have gone to the Abend Gallery on other trips to Denver and have admired the works of Robert Spooner.  In reading Southwest Art before leaving on our trip we noticed that Evergreen Fine Art Gallery was have a showing and reception for Robert Spooner and his works.  So we took a lovely drive to Evergreen!  It was well worth the trip, Mr. Spooner was a wonderful man with truly lovely paintings!  After our time at the gallery, we headed to dinner!  Beau Jo's Pizza - Evergreen here we come!

 After dinner it was time to go for a walk around Evergreen Lake.  A nice little lake right in the middle of town.

Roxborough State Park Hike

In one flight I have gone from 100 feet above sea level to vacationing at an elevation above 5,280 feet.  I needed a little time to get my body to function with less oxygen.  For our first hike we chose Roxborough State Park, which is west of Denver.  This was a new hike for us and it proved to be great!  Being interested in geology, we were happy to find the Fountain Formation, the Lytle-Morrison Formation, the Lyons Formation and the Dakota Limestone Formation are all found in this park.  The elevation is around 6,000 feet so it is the perfect hike for "lowlanders".  Hikes range from easy to moderate, so it was a good way to get started.  And did I mention...the rock formations were spectacular!

I will say we hiked in the full sun most of the time and it was hot, but NO HUMIDITY!!!  I am loving the dry air!!

 

 

 

A Drive to El Rito and Beyond

Yet another crisp fall morning.  Out for a short walk to breakfast at the Bent Street Cafe and Deli.  The sign in front of our hotel looks particularly nice this morning.

This is not the first time I have passed this telephone pole.  In fact, I would guess I have passed it many times during every visit to Taos.  But the sunlight is just right!  It shows what remains of all the messages, signs, posters, etc. that have been posted at this prominent intersection.

Of course, after breakfast we went for a walk around town.  That is why we enjoy staying in the middle of town.  It is nice to get out when it is quiet and see the town waking up.  The shop owners arrive and begin to open for the day.  The fall colors are so wonderful, just had to have another picture!

There is Ed Sandoval getting his shop open and getting ready to start two new paintings.  Love that truck!  The color is perfect!

Well, the thing about planning a spur-of-the-moment trip is...there is no plan!  Everyday we get to go wherever we want, whenever we want, to do whatever sounds good!!  Looking at this sitting area outside our hotel room makes me want to sit in the sun and sip coffee...

 

But we better get out and tour the area.  We started by going south of Taos to the Rinconada area.  We took a small road along the Rio Grande River until we found the bridge.  We even got to exercise our 4-wheel drive!

 

There is that bridge!  With the 4-wheel drive engaged, we climbed up the other side of the gorge!  Even found a hiking trail, we need to come back to hike.

We had to stop for a photo op as we neared the top plateau.  The mighty Rio Grande looks quite small!  Wow!  There is nothing prettier than a New Mexico sky!

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Next stop was El Rito, New Mexico. 

Just a tiny little town!  The one and only place to eat was actually OPEN!  Too bad we brought our lunch, we could have eaten at El Farolito!  Maybe next time.  Instead we had lunch at picnic table located on the grounds of Northern New Mexico College, El Rito Campus(http://www.nnmc.edu).  This college has classes in silver smithing, wood carving and other local arts.

We are headed south to Abiquiu, New Mexico.  The artist, Georgia O'Keefe lived there from 1949 until just shortly before her death in 1989.  The influences of this area can be seen in her paintings.  The landscape changed as we left El Rito.  The rock and formation colors are much different than the volcanic rocks we had been seeing around the Rio Grande River.

Abiquiu is on my list of MUST VISIT again!!  The landscape is beautiful!  Now, we got back on the road and headed back to Taos.  We took a slightly different route back, went over the big Rio Grande Gorge Bridge!  I never get tired of that view.

We are going back to await a call from Larry's cousin, Jamie.  Larry has not seen her in about 40 years maybe!  She happens to be in Taos for a meeting and we are excited to see her.  Received her call and went to meet her for a quick visit.  Jamie and Larry seemed to pick right back up like they had never been apart!  We should have made more effort to do this before.  Though just a short visit, it was so much fun!!!!

What a fun day!  After a little dinner, it is time to listen to a little live music at the hotel.