CO Roadtrip - Four Pass Loop

Around the turn of the year I booked a campsite for a couple nights at Silver Bar Campground (on the Maroon Bells road), thinking maybe we could go do the Four Pass Loop... but in the back of my mind thinking the chances are LOW that the trails will be clear and the weather will be good.

Well, Colorado had a low snow year and lately its been warm and dry. Great for hiking and trail running, bad for fire danger. A big wildfire broke out near Aspen a day or two after we were there. We got to Silver Bar on Friday afternoon, setup camp, and then started around 7am on Saturday morning.

The loop is around 27 miles and climbs ~8,000 feet. TrailRunProject says its 74% runnable, but I'm really bad at any type of technical/rocky terrain, so maybe it was 50% runnable for me. That being said, Four Pass is one of the most stunningly beautiful trail linkups I've ever done (maybe the best... its definitely a 1A/1B type of ranking), so fast hiking allows you to take in a lot more of the scenery. Andrea and I decided early on that since the weather was so good and there was zero chance of thunderstorms, we were in no rush and opted for "take our time and enjoy the day" over "push hard and sufferfest."

The whole day was just perfect. Sunny, warm, hardly any clouds. No chance of rain. Dry trails, and wildflowers EVERYWHERE. I don't think we could have gotten this in better conditions. We were just 100% stoked all day!

CO Roadtrip - Colorado National Monument

Andrea and I decided to head out of town for a few days (6, so more like a week) as our respective jobs have been crazy lately. Plan A was central Colorado if the weather looked good. The forecast was high and dry, so we took off last Thursday afternoon. We made good time to Fruita and went for a (HOT) run in Colorado National Monument. I have driven by the area many, many times (often stopping to run in the Loma area where the Kokopelli trail starts), but this was our first time actually in CO National Monument. 

After a world-class dinner at Munchies, we spent the night in Fruita and did a couple scenic overlooks on Rim Rock Drive the following morning before heading to our next stop: a little place called Aspen.

We went for a short afternoon hike up the Sunnyside trail in Aspen to get an overview of the valley. If I only had $10 million to drop on a house. :-)

Running Season

I cleaned and stored all the ski gear a few weeks ago. For the past three weekends we've done nothing but trail running, and as always - I think I'm going to be sad that skiing is over but then I realize I really like running a lot for half of the year too! What a problem to have :-)

We've been mainly sticking to some of our favorite trails in Park City, plus the Jeremy Ranch dirt road, trying to build some running fitness for upcoming vacations. A trip to the Colorado rockies is on tap for the July 4th (long, when it falls on a Wednesday) weekend and our journey to the Dolomites is fast approaching!

Flying Dog

South of Big Mountain Pass

North of Big Mountain Pass

Mid-Mountain

Park City, Old Ranch

Last Call for Wasatch Skiing and another Alta Wedding

Ski season in the Wasatch is just about over. I skied Main Chute at Alta on Saturday (smooth moguls) and surprisingly you could make it almost all the way to the main parking lot (with a short portage by the Collins angle station). That might be the last day of the season which is OK by me at this point. Heading north to Wyoming would present some opportunities to extend things for a few more weeks, but with a lot of travel slated for July, I'm not sure we'll be able to swing it.

Over Memorial Day weekend we headed back east to visit my family.

Kayaking the South Branch of the Potomac River...

Hiking on the AT...

A couple runs on the C&O Canal...

June 2 - Amiee/Fritz Wedding day hike to Hidden Peak (I was the only one smart enough to bring skis)...

The best place for weddings, and that is not even up for debate...

Summer is here, gotta stay cool...