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Two days ago, Beth and I got up and headed to Mt. Evans.  Like Pike's Peak, you can drive to the top of this 14'er.  I've not been up to Pike's, but if it is anything like this drive...I am still trying to get Beth's fingernail marks off the car door arm rest!  Once you get to the "entrance," it is another 14 miles to the top.  The road is paved, but deteriorating along its edges.  At one point I saw a marmot pop it's head out of a pothole near the side!

Much of the road has a drop off on one side, no guard rails, no room for error.

Looking off in the distance you can see a curvy line....the road (left of center).

As you approach the top, you get a glimpse of a small observatory indicating the top was near.  Plus it seemed as though we were getting close to the sun along with some oxygen deprivation!

Once parked, which there are minimal places to park at the top of the world and the highest paved road in the country, we got out, headed to the bathroom and a short scramble up to the "real" top of Mt. Evans at 14,265'.

The locals appear to use the facilities as well, since they are just right there!
Another family of goats showed up with two small babies.  So cute.

Almost to the top, looking back on the parking area towards Denver in the distance.

There was snow covering part of the trail to the top, so some creative scrambling straight up got us to the top of Mt. Evans.  No shortage of rocks to use at footholds.  Step, step, breath, breath, step, step, breath, breath, breath...see the pattern here?

We were greeted at the top by an enthusiastic
young man, celebrating his 14'er by writing it's
elevation on his back in marker for a photo op.

At the top, looking slightly SW, you were looking down on the majority of the
other mountains in the distance.

The USGS survey marker, proving we made
it to the top, albeit by car!

Selfies for everyone!

The lake below will show up again in another photo on the way down.

While descending back to the parking lot, there were lots and lots of vintage motorcycles of all kinds making their way into the parking lot.  Harley's, Triumph's, Norton's, Honda's, and more.  On the way down, we came across an emergency vehicle where a motorcycle had recently gone off the road by about 10-15 feet.  It was upside-down and no sign of the driver.  We assumed they had already been taken to the hospital.  Even though it was not a drop off, the rough rocky terrain did not bode well for their outcome.  I paid a little closer attention to the road the rest of the way down.

We stopped at Summit Lake, the lake in the photo above, to use the facilities...again...maybe it's the adrenaline from the drive...  There was a small heard of bighorn sheep, probably friends with the mountain goats at the top.  They kept their distance, so we went on to admire the lake.  Even with ice still covering a good portion of it, it had to be photographed.

Summit Lake

Onward to Georgetown.  We grabbed a bite to eat in Georgetown, but the real draw was driving up Guanella Pass that leads out of Georgetown.  Okay, I am done writing Georgetown!  It was very picturesque as we quickly gained elevation above ___.  Here is a picture looking back down on ___.  Bye ___.

We passed some small beautiful lakes and intermittent campgrounds along the way towards the pass.  No photos, but a recommended drive for sure.  From Guanella Pass we could look over and see Mt. Evans.  There seemed to be many trails and judging by the parked cars, they were being taken advantage of.  Heading down the pass and ultimately towards Fairplay...so pretty.  At the last moment we did not go to Fairplay, where we would have caught our road back to Breckenridge, but instead opted for driving up the south side of Boreas Pass...the pass I had riden my bike up a few days earlier.  It was the packed gravely, rough road I remembered from my ride, but this side of the pass had it's own character.  It did not include the shear drop offs the road to Mt. Evans included, but the isolation you felt almost as soon as the pavement ended made up for it.  No flat tires here, please!  We arrived at the top towards late afternoon with only one other car already there.  We stretched out legs and then headed down the way I had biked up.  It was fun for Beth to see what I had to describe to her previously.  A soak in the hot tub was a good way to end the day.

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With one day to go before packing up another memorable visit, what do you do?  Well, I got on my bike and road some more.  The paved recreation bicycle trail system around here is phenomenal.  I road the trail that lead up to Vail Pass.  It follows along I-70, through Copper Mountain Resort and on up close to Vail Pass.  It is approximately 12 miles up...emphasis on the word UP!  The reward is riding back down, or should I say coasting back down.  Many people pay to rent a bike and get a shuttle up to the beginning of the trail and ride down, but a few...well actually quite a few choose to ride up first under their own power.  Many of them with a lot more gray hair than I have...if you know what I'm saying.  I just didn't want to get passed by any of them!  To run a shuttle for us to get everything there and home, Beth met me at the top and rode down with me...so fun!

We made it home safely, once again, and rewarded ourselves with a little tub time.  And then there is the chocolate milk recovery drink for all my hard work.  Some pop up thunderstorms popped up and thunderstormed around us, but missed us while soaking up the scenery one more time.  Later we met Beth's Aunt Jane and Uncle Max for dinner.  They come here too, to Summit County for a couple of months each summer, so for the last couple of years we have met up with them to catch up.

I think there is some science behind the chocolate milk thing, but I haven't
researched it.  Don't need to...I know it helps!

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Our time has run out and we have begun taking care of business...packing, cleaning, and absorbing a little more thin air and the sights and sounds that bring us back.  Till next time...

My Zen from the Road:  Last year we were treated to a similar sight as seen below...same time of year, off the same deck, same, same...so cool!

Petals and Pedals

Petals
I think I first became interested in photography because of flowers.  And to capture them on film (I guess I am dating myself) and now in digital form, pixels on paper, I was looking for THE shot that everyone would want!  So I snap away in hopes of capturing what I think I see.  And with the luxury of not having to develop “film” to see what it was I actually saw, I can delete, delete, delete and try, try again, without paying, paying, paying!

Beth and I took a drive to Lower Cataract Lake and did a little hiking around it.  The sky was so deep blue, the mosquitoes were so thick (in places), and the flowers were beginning their spring display.  With my “good camera” at home, I snapped away with my what else… my cell phone camera.  And here are some of the ones that caught my eye…

Our island is just left of center...it is technically surrounded by water on all sides!

Half way around the lake we reached the water feeding the lake.  It is coming
from above the horizon of the picture above.  Left of center towards the top,
you can see a waterfall.

The view from our "island."

Pretty!

More pretty!

Two flowers...one in the foreground and one
in the background!

Love Columbine!

Wild Iris

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Aspen against a blue sky...YUM!

Beth and I logged a few miles around the lake, had a snack on an “island.”  We had to walk on downed logs to reach it and they were shaky and sinking as we inched our way across them.  Lewis and Clark we are not!

Pedals  

A couple of years ago, Beth and I dropped my friend Greg off in Banff, Alberta (Canada) to partake in the Tour Divide (see postings from June 2016).  Well, here it is a couple of years later and he’s back at it.  Beginning June 9^th, the Grand Depart, turned loose a bunch of riders to fend for themselves, while attempting to travel about 2700 miles and hopefully cross (touch) the finish line at the Mexican border in Antelope Wells, New Mexico.  All this, while following relatively closely, the continental divide of the Rocky Mountains.  Right now Greg is somewhere around the Idaho/Montana border, closing in on Grant Teton National Park.

I enjoy riding my mountain bike too, but the Tour Divide bumps the intensity of riding not just up to the next level, but many levels.  Maybe levels that most of us don’t realize are there.  Kinda like how dogs can hear things people can’t.  Well, these bikers ride in many places where bikers normally wouldn’t or shouldn’t.  But there is this tickle in the back of whatever part of my brain thinks it would be awesome, to do this too.  That is until I think about Greg’s training, the lightweight gear to shelter him from the inevitable monsoonal rain, that will turn what looks like ordinary dirt to peanut butter, and then there is the diet of needed calories, usually fulfilled by convenience stores with an occasional restaurant thrown in.  Not to mention the alone time with your own mind for hours, if not days.  Did I mention bears?  The tickle in my brain hasn’t made me laugh hard enough to sign up just yet.  So the next best thing for me to do is what kids do when they see themselves making the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl or putting to win the Masters golf tournament.  Today I rode my mountain bike, to experience a miniscule piece of what it is like for the riders of the Tour Divide.

Beth agreed to drop me off just north of Breckenridge, on Boreas Pass Road (and be on standby in case something happened…like getting a mosquito bite or getting hungry).  Where the pavement ends and a gravely, hard packed road takes over, leading to Boreas Pass, I took my bike off the rack and set off…up hill.  This is actually part of the Tour Divide route and I was going to ride a whole 7 miles of it.  I’d actually driven it before during fall color time, but never biked it.

It only took me an hour and had little car traffic, so as to not stir up enough dust to create lung cookies, so my timing was good.  My thighs talked to me on occasion, but I did good.  After reaching the pass, I put on a jacket, had a snack, and turned around to come back down.  On the way down, I got to feel all the bumps I didn’t on the way up, due to gravity pulling me back down the mountain.  I forgot to time it, but I’m sure it must have taken half the time to go down as it did to go up.  With increased speed, comes increased bumpage on my buttocks.  At this point in time I reflected on a FB posting from Greg, describing the path they encountered, comprised of cobblestones the size of your head, not to mention the insane incline up they had to maneuver. The pictures couldn't even do it justice.  Back to my reality.  Yes, I sweated around my bike helmet going up (poor me) and I was happy to reach the top, but I am sure the magnification of what the Tour Dividers experience is exponential compared to my short foray into pretending to experience the real deal.

Goose Pasture Tarn...the lake below, just south of Breckenridge.

First snow encounter.

Made it!  Elevation 11,482 feet.

View to the north of the pass.

View to the south of the pass.

Old water storage tank for the trains that use to come up this way.

A narrow road cut, made for the trains back in the day.

Aspen lined path.  Incredible color in the fall.

After reaching the parking lot where Beth dropped me off, the surface soon turned to asphalt and with increasing speed and fewer bumps, I was back in Breckenridge in minutes, on the recreation path heading for home.  All in all, I covered 37 miles, which is about a third of what the TD riders do a day, unless you are in the lead and it dwindles to about one fifth of their day. 

As I was traveling north, I passed a guy on a bike going south, that sure looked like he was part of the TD.  After getting home and going to Trackleaders.com, I looked up a guy that was in Breck on the map that looked like the guy I passed…Ben from Belgium, currently in 4^th.

Bonus

This last part has nothing to do with petals or pedals, but an “adopted” niece.  Katya is the daughter of some good friends in North Carolina.  She recently graduated college and decided to begin her adultness in Denver.  She and a friend, that was traveling to do some summer work before going back to school in the fall, stayed with Beth and I as they convoyed to Colorado.  Now a few weeks later, she is interviewing and lining up her new life west of the Mississippi.  We arranged to meet and spend the day together and catch up.  Some highlights of our day…

Lunch in Leadville.

Main Street in Leadville.

Cool bridge in the background.  Oh, cool people in foreground!

Friday night Dillon concert.  Sunset was okay too!

My Zen from the Road:  When I was teaching elementary school, the boys wanted to grow up and play in the NFL.  They pretend at recess and play on little league teams and continue to dream.  You know how that plays out.  Today I pretended to some extent and even though there is a really good chance I will never attempt the Tour Divide, what I did today was pretty good for me.  I had an adventure, got sore muscles, and made it back home safely.  It was a good day!  Have an adventure, get sore, and make it home safely.

License plate from trip out.

Smiling at Altitude

Five days have slipped by and I wonder what we've done, so I look through photos I've taken on my phone and I've noticed they have a common thread..."Things that make me smile and place me in a state of awe."  So here are some of those moments...

Wondering how others see me as I am
driving down the road, I snapped this selfie
after needing my readers for a moment.
Definitely not a trend setting fashion in
eyewear.  But I think it's working for me!

Here, I show my enthusiasm for being back in the mountains while not
blinding you with exposure to my chest, that has not seen the sun for a
number of years...win - win!

While on an evening drive up to Ute Pass, looking back to the Gore Range
made us stop and just stare for a moment.  What the dwindling light is masking
in the foreground are the wildflowers making their debut.

Cloud gazing!

This serpentine series of switchbacks gets you from the bottom of Dillon
Lake dam to near the top and your heart a-pumping!  Always a sense of
accomplishment for a flatlander.

This momma fox stands guard as her two kits romp in the dust at dusk.  Oh,
this is right next to someone's home and in the middle of the housing
subdivision we are staying in.

It's no secret that golf makes me smile (most of the time), but due to the
elevation changes, this hole drops a bunch, which makes a good drive seem
even gooder!

Yes, golf deserves two photo spots, not because the normal green fee here is
about $120, but because I played for $36!  HA!!!

A selfie while waiting to be picked up after a round of mountain golf.  Amazing
what the lack of oxygen to the brain will get you to think of to do.

Our friends Connie and Curt are actually from back home, but we see them
more here than there, but we've agreed to fix that.  Two years in a row now
that we've met up at the Colorado BBQ Challenge in Frisco.

What will they "Fest" on next?  

Between beer, BBQ, the arts, wildflowers, and now grilled cheese, there is never a lack of activities to pursue.  Haven't seen Pedicure Races, but there are Outhouse Races.  There are Wine Festivals, but haven't seen Whining Contests...yet.  Who knows what is next to rear its head here in the Rocky Mountains to attract tourists dollars and make the locals take the back roads to get across town?  Whatever it is, we'll check it out while we're here!

But that's the glamorous side to house sitting, taking in the sights and sounds, the culture and the terrain, but we also have normal stuff that comes up on occasion too.  For example, a young man that is staying down the street from us, lost his dog, so we got involved in that hunt over the course of a few days.  Looking for a French Bulldog, that has a taste of freedom, with abundant wildlife as a distraction is a challenge.  He's been spotted a few times, but I'm still not sure if he's been found.  

Quitter's we are not, so we will continue to carry on here in the mountains, putting up with the wonderful mostly blue skies, the free concerts in the parks, and trails and fish that tempt us into the wild.  Adventure awaits...

My Zen from the Road:  There are some things you observe that just captivate you.  You find yourself staring, whether in awe, for the beauty, or just because.  Here are a few "just because's" from the last couple of days.  

These were to be videos, but I have not accomplished getting them imported, so imagine...

The first features some ants that kept me company while waiting on Beth to pick me up from golf.  Incredible, tenacious little creatures.  There were three ants, each attempting to carry an object (piece of grass, something woody, and a dead bug) up a stone wall to their nest inside it.  These objects were all bigger and more awkward than I could imagine them being successful at, but each was.  In some cases, crawling up backwards or hanging upside-down.

The next one is what I wake up to every morning.  Have always loved a big sprinkler.  The golf course behind the house gets watered each morning by these massive sprinklers that have the morning sun dancing off each droplet...love it.

And finally, the owners here have an awesome tea pot that make me want to start drinking tea!  It has the color and shape of an elephant drawn on it and when it comes to a boil, the steam coming out goes through a special something to create an elephants "trumpeting" sound...hysterical!