Greyrock Mountain

On Saturday we went hiking at Greyrock Mountain, which is about 10 miles up the Poudre River Canyon.

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I read about this on a local outdoors blog and it turned out to be a fantastic hike. We started along the river and climbed about 1400 feet over about 3 miles to the base of Greyrock itself.

From Greyrock Dec 2008

It was cold, about 25 degrees or so, extremely windy, and there was still a good bit of snow around. We were skeptical that the trial up would be doable in these conditions but we were wrong. It wasn't so bad until we got to the very top. The top was beautiful, with a small frozen pond and a few trees growing up out of the rocks.

From Greyrock Dec 2008

I was determined to get up to the very top because I wanted to see the view to the north and west. The wind up top had to be 60 or 70 miles an hour. We had crouch as we scrambled up the rocks. We were rewarded with quite a view

From Greyrock Dec 2008

From Greyrock Dec 2008

From Greyrock Dec 2008

From Greyrock Dec 2008

But we didn't stay long to enjoy it. The wind was too painful. So we made our way back down and took a different trail back to the car. We crossed several high meadows where we decided we would do some camping this summer. Not the best picture, but you get the idea:

From Greyrock Dec 2008

And more:

From Greyrock Dec 2008

We had gotten a late start and spent a little too much time enjoying the views, so we made it back to the car just before darkness. This is a hike we'll be doing again and again. Here's what the GPS track looks like in Google Earth.

From Greyrock Dec 2008

We don't need no stinkin' snowshoes

(by mark)

Yesterday we went up to Rocky Mountain National Park for our first taste of the high country in winter. We did some hiking at RMNP in August and we were eager to see it shrouded in snow. We don't own snowshoes (yet), so our plan was to hike or ski, depending on what the snow conditions would allow. It's been snowing quite a bit in the mountains of Colorado, but it is quite localized, so we weren't sure how much snow to expect. We discovered quite a bit of variation in the snowpack even within the small area of the park that we drove through.

Here's the view from Loveland just a few minutes from home. The big mountain in the middle is Longs Peak in the Park

From RMNP Dec 21

We entered near Estes Park, a cute little touristy town that is teeming with shoppers in the summer. It was pretty calm on this day. We decided to head up the Bear Lake trailhead, where we had been back in August. This is Bierstadt Lake, near Bear Lake, from last August.

From Colorado Visit Aug 2008

So we were expecting great scenery. We found a surprising crowd in the parking lot. It was packed last summer, but even on this 15 degree Sunday, there were 30 cars and a lot of people. Two groups pulled into the lot at the same time as us and they were, well, interesting. They had some serious gear (avalanche shovels, avalanche transponders, mountaineering boots etc.) so we wondered if we were getting in over our heads. It turned out to be fine and we think they were part of an avalanche class. We hiked up from Bear Lake to a series of small lakes, with nice views all along the way. There was a lot of snow--probably 2-3 feet--but the surface was packed and hard from snowshoers so we were able to walk on it without sinking in.

From RMNP Dec 21

We eventually got to the edge of Dream Lake where the view was just stunning.

From RMNP Dec 21

We were alone and we stayed a few minutes to enjoy the view. Cassie remarked that if this kind of scene doesn't make you believe in God, then nothing will. So then we debated the existence and nature of God for a bit. It is certainly awe-inspiring. The size and scale are hard to grasp.

Beyond this point, the track on the snow got softer and we began sinking in, so we turned around. It's a good excuse to buy some snowshoes. After a snack, we drove back down to a trailhead with a long dirt road to try some cross-country skiing. There was much less snow in that area, but just enough to ski. After skiing for a while, we photographed two scenes that we had photographed back in August. This picture appears at the top of this blog (cropped).

From RMNP Dec 21

And then we did a winter version of a previous self-portrait:

From RMNP Dec 21

From Colorado Visit Aug 2008

We'll be doing more outings like this, and with snowshoes in the futures so we will be able to go further. Here's a link to the rest of the photos.

Winter wonderland

(by mark)

Mild winters. Right. The Western US is in the grips of an arctic weather pattern right now. Officially, the low for Fort Collins yesterday (Dec 15) was eight below zero (F). But one weather station was reporting 15 below zero at about 9 am yesterday. For some reason, I find weather more and more fascinating, so I looked around the west (you can just click on points on the National Weather Service Map) for the coldest I could find. The lowest I saw was 35 below zero in Glasgow, Montana. That's cold.

The cold weather blew in on Sunday. On Saturday it was balmy (around 50) and sunny. So Cassie and I went out for our first bike ride together. We explored some of the bike paths here in Fort Collins, of which there are many. The city is really committed to bike transportation. After snows, the bike paths get plowed quickly and somebody de-ices the paths everyday (it may be volunteers). In addition, on the cities website there is a link to information on how to continue commuting by bike through the winter. Pretty cool. Anyway, on our ride we made our way up to the Poudre River Trail. The Poudre River is the focus of my work right now, so it's nice to see it. The trail follows the river toward the mountains and ends in Laporte, a little town northeast of Fort Collins. The scenery, as you might imagine, was gorgeous.

From Poudre Ride Dec 2008

From Poudre Ride Dec 2008

From Poudre Ride Dec 2008

From Poudre Ride Dec 2008

(that's an old irrigation viaduct)

We had hoped to do a larger loop, including some roads in the foothills, but the new arctic weather change started blowing in. The winds began to howl and we were practically assaulted by tumble weeds! We could see the storm approaching

From Poudre Ride Dec 2008

So we turned back.

By Sunday morning it was zero degrees, with about 2-3 inches of new snow. I took the opportunity to go hiking at Horsetooth Mountain. I was so bundled up that I was hot on my way up the mountain. Mine were the first tracks up the trail, so it was a pleasure. But it was too hard to take pictures with big gore-tex mittens on, and too cold to take the mittens off, so no pictures.

The bitter cold really isn't so bad. I'd take this weather--dry and zero degrees--over typical Baltimore winter weather (35 and wet) any day. Minus 15 may be a bit much, though. The dogs certainly don't like it, as the cold snow hurts their paws too much for them to walk. They're getting cabin fever so it's probably time for some dog booties.

That's all for now.

Settling in and getting out

(by mark)

We've been here 5 days now and it feels pretty good. We arrived on Monday, Dec 1st and slept on the floor of our new house.

From Move2008

Our stuff arrived the next day, we unloaded it (with the help of some movers), and unpacked most of the boxes. We're pretty well settled in now, with only some books and some framed photos to unpack (for which we need new bookshelves). Overall, the house is great--a nice change from our old house, which was charming but had it's challenges. So far, we love it here. We can walk to some needed places (like a grocery store), we have a nice park nearby, the people are friendly (our new neighbors brought us brownies on Friday) and, of course, the mountains are minutes away.

Monday and Tuesday were warm, sunny days (65 degrees or so). By Tuesday night it had cooled off and by Wednesday morning it was snowing. It snowed a good bit and by Friday morning, we had this:

From Move2008

And it was COLD (in the teens with a good wind). The perfect time to do our first XC ski outing as Colorado residents. So we went skiing Friday morning in the foothills, but we forgot the camera.

Today we went hiking in Lory State Park


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There was still plenty of snow and the scenery was fabulous. Here's a taste.

From Lory SP Dec 6 2008

From Lory SP Dec 6 2008

From Lory SP Dec 6 2008

From Lory SP Dec 6 2008

From Lory SP Dec 6 2008

From Lory SP Dec 6 2008

From Lory SP Dec 6 2008

We made it!

We got into Fort Collins last night and it feels great. There's much to write about and pictures to share, but first we need to unload and organize. The house is great and the location seems perfect (a nice surprise). For now, here's proof (note that Colorado is really big, and when we crossed the border on I-76 from Nebraska, we were still about 150 miles from Fort Collins and the mountains):

From Move2008