It's been over 3 weeks since I last updated; and boy, what a busy month it has been! Let me briefly highlight; hopefully I can get a chance to write more about each of my trips before the weekend, but we'll see.
One weekend, Logan and I went up to Long Draw Reservior/Corral Creek, in the northern part of Rocky Mt NP. It takes I think 3 hours or so to get there from Estes... Tim was building a bridge with his crew, so I wanted to check out his project and do some hiking, where the aspen had changed and the nights were cold... So we did a couple hikes up there.
Last weekend, Tim and I decided to spend the weekend camping together when he's NOT working so we could hike together. We planned on hiking the 9 miles to Conundrum Hot Springs outside of Aspen... but the 25 cars at the trailhead convinced us otherwise (did I mention, it was on a Thursday night, and there are only 18 campsites??). We didn't want to be around people, so we took the 4x4 road up to Pearl Pass, that goes between Aspen and Crested Butte. Ironically, we didn't end up doing any hiking AT ALL. Instead, we saw massive aspen of gold, orange and red; got hit by a snowstorm just as we reached the peak of Pearl Pass; "car camped" and only saw 2 other people near Twin Lakes; drove to Mt. Massive and did more off roading there; explored the old Champion Mill and Mine; had an absolutely amazing weekend. Oh, and we were thunder snowed upon at Mt. Massive. Yep - thunder, lighting... and SNOW. Freakin' LOVE IT.
Tim's back up north working on the bridge; next week, off to Bandelier NP in New Mexico for a week; I'm done working next Thursday. Already bought my expensive 5 mountain pass and ready for SNOW! Working on getting a job for the winter too. Still haven't heard from grad school.
Oh, and Tim and I looked into buying a cabin outside of Estes together. WHAT?! That's right. However, it was sold; we are still looking, but it's a pretty low chance to find another little log cabin in our price range anywhere within 2 counties of Rocky Mt. ;)
Now for the best part: LOTS OF PICTURES!!
Scottish Irish Highlands Festival
Long Draw Reservior; Corral Creek; Big South Trail; Neota Creek Trail; RMNP