Travels and Vagabonds
Bottomless Pit of Pikes Peak
On Memorial Day, after a weekend of being very unhealthy, a small party of us decided to the hike Pikes Peak from the Westerly side. This came to be after a late night call on Sunday from Ben and Amanda looking for a hike. After deciding not to do the hellish 26 mile trek that is Barr Trail, we set off in the morning for the Crags of Pikes Peak.
Continue reading “Pikes Peak (14er)- The Crags/Devil’s Playground Route”
Antero Fishing
Antero Reservoir is the first in a chain of reservoirs in the middle of the high plains section of Colorado. Located south of South Park and close to the mosquito range, the lake offers some awesome views of many mountain ranges. Antero is one of the oldest reservoirs in Colorado and was formerly the location of a small lake. The lake itself is still relatively shallow. Average depth is about 6-8 feet deep and at its deepest only about 18-20 feet. The lake boasts some of the best lake trout fishing around with an average trout size of about 17 inches and 2 lbs. The lake maintains a cold water temperature year round, promoting a healthy rainbow trout population. Weather can be very volatile as with anywhere that is high altitude. During our day fishing, we had it go from calm winds to 35 mph gusts, which created whitecaps on the lake.
Exploring Moab
Wayback in the spring of 2009, Paul and I took a trip out to Moab, Utah to join Ben and Amanda on some desert adventures. The trip out to Utah from Colorado Springs was a very grueling drive, which caused us to make an emergency nap-stop in Fruta, Colorado on the top of a dinosaur mountain. Once crossing into Utah the next morning, we were greeted by the “Eagles on Highway” sign, which Ben had first hand experience with the previous night by almost running over one in the dead of night. Continue reading “Wayback Wednesday #2”
Friendly Neighborhood Blowfish
Since everyone likes to go snowboarding on the weekends and I’m still banned, I talked to Paul and we decided to check out the Denver Aquarium. I’ve been wanting to go to the aquarium for a long time (also, I needed some more places to fill out my foursquare account). To make the most of it, I decided to bring along my camera and snap some pictures of the fishes. Continue reading “Denver Aquarium”
On the weekend, Jimmy and Paul wanted to go Mountain biking in the Canyon above Manitou. Since I was still out of commission, I volunteered to drive and take some pictures of the event. Snow and beers were involved. Afterwards, on the drive back I took some pictures of the area, and played with some of the functions of my camera (focusing, flare, and HDR photos). More pictures after the jump.
Welp, around February 6th, I had the unfortunate pleasure of breaking my collar bone (or clavicle). The whole weekend started out pleasant enough, but soon took a turn for the worse. I was riding Echo Mountain with my buddies Ben and Aaron. Ben suggest it was a good place to ride because it was kinda setup like a hybrid of Tussy and Big Bear (a couple runs and features all over the place). Ben was doing some work for “chill” as well, and it was only Aaron 3rd or 4th time riding a board.
Mt Princeton Hot-springs is a little hill side resort next to several hot and bubbling springs. The resort has a old school feel with separate buildings scattered across the grounds. The main draw of the area is the natural hot springs which turn the creek bed into 30+ bubbling pools. The water is heated to temperatures from 90-130 degrees by several thermal vents from far below the surface.
When there is a full moon, skiers and snowboarders come out from miles around to do some midnight riding on Loveland Pass. The attracts lots of locals to a pretty fun scene of hanging out, grilling, and doing some riding. Riding Loveland Pass during the day time is one experience, but riding it at midnight is another. Continue reading “Loveland Pass Night Riding”
Monarch Mt is a true old school mountain. The mountain only had 1 regular speed quad, and the rest are only doubles. This is not your typical I-70 ski resort. Monarch is right on a the infamous monarch pass, where last year during a snowy-ice storm my 4-wheel drive decided to go out and we were force to take refuge in a old closed hotel. Continue reading “Monarch Mountain”