Colorado 2007

Flew into Denver on Wed., and immeadiately hit the trail above Highlands Ranch. From Highlands Point you have a great view of Pike's, Evans, and Long's Peaks, not to mention pretty all of the metro Denver area from about 6,500 feet. Did five miles and felt the altitude a bit.

On Saturday we went up into Boulder Creek Canyon and tried some fishing, then on to Nederland for a look around. Ended up running that afternoon down in Golden on the bike path along Clear Creek, 4 miles in 90 degree heat.

Headed up to Grand Lake on Sunday, driving up Mt. Evans on the way, the world's highest paved road (?). Keegan and I did the extra 200 foot climb to the summit. Remarkable. I didn't get the time to do Bierstadt to Evans, next year, I guess. I handled 14,000 very well this time, and even Keegan was running above treeline with not much effort. Kids.

Grand Lake was awesome. Did 8 miles on the North Inlet trail, saw a huge elk herd grazing and on the return passed two giant moose not more than 20 feet off the trail. We put in some great hikes, wildflowers were in bloom, I'll put a list of all that we positively identified soon.

The one thing that shocked me was all the beetle-kill lodgepole pines. I mean, there were sections of Grand Lake where it looked like 75-90 percent were dead. Brown trees everywhere. The forest will look much different in 10 to 20 years. Huge fire hazard, too. On Monday a forest fire broke out near Granby but was contained.

Drove back on Wednesday over trailridge road back to Highlands. My first time crossing completely through RMNP, pass was snowed shut last time out.

So, didn't get to do Bierstadt or the Slacker half, but got in 35-40 miles on trails and felt solid every time out. Great trip. Pics to follow.

Finished reading McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men," which is a great book. Probably his most accessible book by a long shot. Anton Chigurh is a chilling character. Started readin "The Road" on the plane. As much as I detest Oprah, I'm all for this being a bestseller. Damn good read from, I still maintain, our greatest living writer.