the white room

Campout!

It seemed like a fine couple of days to head into the high country and seek out some turns. Elaine and I did just that. Nothing too complex - packed our ski and camping gear, and a bit of food, and it was off. A nice evening at a lake, a aromatic fire and mac and cheese, a chilled 20° night with stars abound and some of the best turns of the year this morning. Then, lazy reading on the tundra before heading home. A darned perfect two days if you ask me.

Thundersnow!

A fog rolled in last night, and with it snow flurries and the rarest of conditions, thundersnow. Basically, it is what the name says...it's snowing at the exact same time it's thundering out. Of course, the thundering part is no problem...it's the lightning that can be bad, especially when skiing above timberline at 11,000 feet. In the dense fog, you can't see where it's coming from, but you can hear it. On this day, I heard it to the south, which made me feel OK about sneaking in a quick skin and descent.

The woods were delectable this morning - damp, frosty, pungent pine. When the fog rolls in, the woods are the most peaceful place to be. Now it's off to the desert for a few days with Neptune staff to learn the sport of canyoneering. We'll see about that!

Reverse paths

We had a rep meeting Wednesday morning, so our adventure plans for the day involved taking the 7 am bus to Boulder and then walk home. Basically, a reverse of our walk down, with a different beginning. We decided to head up Bear Canyon and then take the Bear/Green Trail and West Ridge Trail to the top of Flagstaff. From there, it was the usual trails back to Nederland.

The hike yesterday went well. I was quite sore after the first jaunt, espcially in front of the calves, and I feel relatively fine today, albeit a bit dead-legged. It took us exactly seven hours, but the route was longer and of course there was much more climbing. We both much prefer climbing to descending though, and don't really feet like there was much of a loss in speed going up Bear Canyon versus coming down trails to Boulder.

All in all, a great hike. Saw tons of hawks, blooming flowers and just enjoyed moving through the mountains together. We got some spiffy new carbon fiber hiking poles, and I must say I really like them. Hiking poles for me always had a bit of dork factor, but the truth is you can travel considerably faster with them than without. That, and it makes hiking feel like nordic skiing. Sometimes I'll even double pole with them and pretend I'm skate skiing up some World Cup course. Great fun. When we got to Ned we put them away (wanting to hide that dork factor), and I was amazed how less powerful and quick I felt walking, even just through town to the Park-and-Ride.

Of course the poles will serve multiple functions on our Colorado Trail trip. They're going to be the support for our shelter, so we don't need to carry an extra pole. And, if one of us gets hurt, poles can make a nice brace. I started using them on NOLS courses, and wouldn't imagine doing a big backpacking trip without them. These ones just happen to be super light, strong and gucci, but I suppose I've graduated to gucci!

The overall stats for the day we're exactly seven hours of hiking, 22 miles, 4,373 feet of climbing and 1,713 feet of descending. Thirty minutes longer than the hike down, but also two miles longer. A good second effort. Our goal is to feel confident hiking 20-miles average at the start of the trip. Then as the trip proceeds, we'd like to dab in the 25-30 miles range. Our lungs and muscles are there...our feet and tendons are not - hence the training. We've decided we both want more of a hiking trip where we camp, versus a camping trip where we hike. As such, consistent moving and lightweight packs will be our goal.

In other news, through the graciousness of some wonderful folks who hiked the Colorado Trail a few years back, we've managed to borrow a dehydrator for the next two months. Call it our first dose of "trail magic." So in our spare time, when we're not working, hiking, biking or skiing, we'll be dehydrating food and packaging it. Those pre-dehydrated packets you buy in the store are incredibly expensive and loaded with nasty chemicals. This route will be much, much better.

Elaine has a thing for classic cars. Here she is posing with a Maverick in the Table Mesa Parking lot right before the start of our hike.

Day 142: May Sparkle

Mornings don't come any more beautiful than today. Makes working all day after no problem.

Well look what arrived in the mail today!

A thin brown line in a world of white

Gorgeous mountain bike ride this morning...

Riding bicycles from Boulder to Nederland

Took the old narrow gauge railroad line home the other day. Elaine's first ever ride up from the flatlands to the town of Ned. For me - I don't think I've done this ride since 2007 or so. It used to be a main staple, back in the Montezuma days, and it was good to return. Lots of fire damage up here, including a bit of an eerie pass of the exact place where the fire started. Can't imagine the chaos and smoke up here that day. Like everything, nature heals.

Elaine did great. Four hours from Neptune to home, which is pretty darned good I think for a first go. Not sure if I'm right about this, but I don't think I was doing it much faster than three hours in my racing days. Her butt got a little sore by the end...the Switzerland Trail is rough...but truth be told I was also bonking a bit by the end. I think that was my longest ride since the Soggy Bottom back in 2007. Good to be back in the saddle...we're going to try it again next week.

Bikes are a neat tool. They allow you to travel faster than walking, and sometimes that's necessary. I'm beyond the days of self-identification through the bike, and actually, if you look at the contraption and the way people look when they ride them, they are both ingenious and kind of dorky at the same time. But after walking to Boulder at 3 mph, it's pretty neat to be able to go at least twice that fast, uphill, with minimal effort. I like how they get your legs and heart strong. Come August, September and October, we'll be doing a lot of uphill mountain biking to build strength for backcountry ski season. It's as good as Alpine Training Center, and a lot cheaper.

Bikes are a contraption of the modern world, much more so than skis or walking. Two reasons for that. First, they basically require trails or roads to work. Even the new fangled fat bikes only work somewhat well on certain surfaces, and don't work at all in others - like a jungle or deep snow for example. Second, people are in a hurry these days to get places. My most effective use of a bike was for commuting to work. I could ride to Boulder in two hours easy. It takes six hours to walk it. That's not practical for most commutes. Honestly, if I lived in a remote cabin in Alaska, a bike would be of minimal use. There are no trails up there, and there's nowhere to be except right where you are. Might as well walk or ski in that case.

One limitation of bikes is you can't get to some of those places in the woods where nobody goes. I know a spot in the woods, far off the trails, where the moose gather in droves. You can see their droppings everywhere. I've stumbled across coyote dens, evidenced by the bones of elk and deer, fur scattered about on the wildflowers. There are places on north facing hills where the moss is so deep and squishy you can bounce on it. Those are nowhere near trails either. You have to walk to those places.

It's all perspective. Compared to driving, biking seems slow and simple. Compared to walking, it seems fast and somewhat complex. I think they are a nice happy medium. They are a good tool, especially if you have to get places, and I recommend them.

Day 140: Pawnee

Day 138: Frosty

A walk from Nederland to Boulder

So that wind was a little more biting than they said. A cold west wind off the Divide makes for a less than fun ride home from Boulder, and as this was going to be Elaine's first go at it, we decided to save it for another day. As I was walking the dog, I had a thought..."I wonder if it's possible to walk from Nederland to Boulder on almost all trails?" It seems like an obvious answer, and I've biked this route literally thousands of times over the years, but I've never really seriously contemplated a walk of the same distance. When I got home I mentioned the idea to Elaine and she jumped on it..."let's do that today." One key thing Elaine and I like about each other is we push one another to make ideas a reality. Within minutes we were packed and ready to roll.

The hike itself was overall a success. The numbers tell a story...20 miles, 4,500 feet of descending, 1,800 feet of climbing, 95% trails. We had no idea what to expect, as evidenced by our very real conversation of whether we had enough time to catch the last 10:10 pm bus home (we departed at 11 am). We were pleased that the hike took us six hours instead of eleven. I brought the GPS along to chart our speed. 3.3 mph moving average, 3.0 mph with rests. Not bad. According to the ultra-light handbook, three miles per hour is fast.

That said, we have a long way to go. The feet tell the truth. They ache. My hips are sore, as are the front of my calves. Elaine is soaking her feet in hot water as I type this. Our aerobic is fine...it's the muscles and tendons that need honing. The challenge of hiking the Colorado Trail - 480 miles, day-after-day, with packs between 25-30 pounds averaging 20-25 miles per day seems daunting right now. Simply put, we need to get our bodies in hiking shape. As far as I know, the only way to do that is to hike.

It was a great adventure today. It was amazing to hike trails I have biked so much, and see them from a new perspective. You really do see more hiking, including every single little off-shoot trail that heads to who-knows-where. We have a lot of preparation to do. Fortunately, we also have a lot of trails in this neighborhood.

The original plan for today was to do Elaine's first ever bike ride from Boulder to Ned. Alas, it was blowing like crazy and cold - not ideal conditions for an initiation ride. As I was walking the dog, I had an idea...I wonder if it's possible to walk from Nederland to Boulder? I told Elaine, and she was like...let's do it! After a quick stop at the Co-op, it was up Big Springs to the trails.

Onto the trails. We had no idea how long it would take, so we brought headlamps. We knew the last bus was at 10:10 pm, so that was our cut-off.

Yin and yang trail art about three miles in.

Here's Elaine making her way through Christmas Tree alley. It was brisk and we had a tail wind - perfect hiking conditions.

Violet sprout on pines.

Across some secret trails that will not be named here!

Made it to the Boulder Parks. All downhill from here.

Elaine heading down the Long Canyon Trail, mile 15 or so.

And there we have it! Arrived in Boulder. Feet hurt, but otherwise no problem. A great way to spend a Friday, and the best part is, it was 90% on trails. I'd never even really considered walking from Nederland to Boulder, but it's actually a great adventure.

Forget the 10:10 bus. That Elaine waiting for the 5:40 bus back up the canyon!