Friday, July 27, 2012

And Away I Go...Off To New Adventures!

Telluride, Colorado. My next destination. This time I will be there not just for play, but to live as well. Well, I guess more to work and play. As of today, this will be my last post from my seat here in Grand Junction as I have packed up a chunk of my junk and am moving to the "Mountain Home" in Rico, Colorado where I look forward to a plethora of entirely new adventures. Away from the hot dusty dirt of the dessert and into the fresh, cool, crispness of the great San Juan Mountains!
Here is where you will find me!
Before I can leave the wonderful valley that I love so much, I have to give a little homage to my favorite people, places and spaces of the Grand Valley! So presented to you through the lens of the camera on my iPhone over the recent years and the wonderful application known to all as Instagram, here are all of my favorite things that I will miss so very very much!
My breastest friend, The Palisade Brewery and Peach Street Distillers, The Palisade Rim Trail, Sunny ski days with Lil Man and The Hollster
My Stash (Sir Stash 'O Lot...Mr. PiStashio), Texas Roadhouse, The Fellas of Desert Moon, Views from the Bookcliffs
The Kokopelli Loops, The Lunch Loops, Backyard camp outs, Downtown Farmers Markets
The Singletrack and Skinny Tire Sisters, Hiking around Palisade, Margaritas and hot tubs w/ the girls, The Hot Tomato
The West Bench Trail in September, Downtown Farmers Markets (again), Working with my good friend Cindy Lu Lu, Powder days at Powderhorn
Colorado Mountain Winefest (which I will most likely come back for most years), The Colorado Riverfront Concerts, Pool Sharking at the Livery Saloon, Murdock's in the spring time when the chickies arrive
Lil Man and his Chili Dog, Mt. Garfield hikes with The Hollster and Ashley Pup, My garden and the awesome things that come out of it, Which Wich (still have a bunch of sandwiches to get from climbing 14ers)

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

"And We're Off Climbing Mountains Again!"

I'll keep this one short and sweet!
On the very first day of July we set out to Lake City, CO, a hub of five or so 14ers. Although we could have completed quite a few, after last year's quite tiring first 14er of the season trek to the top of Mt. Shavano, we decided our first one this year should be a nice easy one. One that wouldn't make us never want to climb on ever again.

Turns out Handies Peak was just the ticket! After a short and lovely drive from Grand Junction to Lake City we fueled up at a cute little gas station on burgers and fries (that's right, not gas! Gas is way way way way WAY too expensive in Lake City!) and began our 20 mile bumpy drive up to the American Basin trailhead. The road was pretty pleasant for the most part. Got semi-4x4-ish in places. A little hairy around some edges. And was swarmed with Jeeps and ATVs. Though my little Jeep Compass was a not-so-tough looking crossover, it fit right in with the rest of it's family and got us all the way to the trailhead without a single worry! After passing the trailhead for Sunshine and Redcloud Peaks, they say that a lot of the crossovers that have a shorter wheel base and 2-wheel drives shouldn't attempt the stream crossing that lies .09 miles from the Handies trailhead, but my lil Jeep comes equip with 9" of ground clearance, all-terrain tires and skid plates! We're going through! Cinch! And next almost mile is quite rough as well.

We rolled in sometime in the early evening on Saturday, and there was only one other car parked at the trailhead. This surprised us as there is usually a flood of cars that arrive throughout the evening to climb the next day. The other car was a small family of a mom and dad and their 11 month old little boy from Los Alamos, NM. They were doing exactly what we had planned. Set up a tent, sleep, wake up and hike!

We enjoyed nearly pristine air (far enough away from all of the surrounding fires burning in Colorado), crisp clear skies and the sounds of birds, marmots, pikas and a stream (oh and a little guitar playing too)! And here's our little adventure!
The American Basin Trailhead
Our cozy sleeping spot
M plays wonderful tunes!
Sunset on the surrounding ridges
Our morning sound alert!
The Handies Ninja
I found me some snow!
Flyin high!
GoPro cam!
Hangin out over Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre!
Our lil neighbor of the night made it all the way up!
Columbines everywhere!
Quite a few more groups showed up by the time we got back down.