I drove to Colorado with m y sister, Sara leaving Harrisonburg, VA around 1 :30 pm heading for Colorado. I started off driving...West Virginia, the first new state. Still pretty familiar territory. I have many memories of driving 64 west to the New River Gorge from Roanoke, driving past Roaring Run and Low Moor. From Harrisonburg driving through West Augusta past the Maury and Goshen Pass. Sam Black Church past Rupert and Ranielle ...Lansing-Edmond Road. Fayetteville. Past WV was still familiar.
I bought a one-way flight to St. Louis spring break of my Senior Year of college, to pick up a black Subaru Outback I had purchased from a wholesale buyer over the internet....yea, i was a bit skeptical but it was all good. Drove it home the same day all the way to WV, massive snow, it drove awesome, stayed at a hotel and drove home the next day.
I digress...Sara started driving in WV or Kentucky and got us a long way. I took over for the latenight shift in Indiana, woke Sara up for the Mississippi. I got us into almost to Kansas, and we napped around 4am for a few hours outside Kansas City, Missouri. We hit the road hard ready for Kansas. Its a blur from there on into Colorado. We made it to Boulder around 6 to surprise Sara's friend Lecia for some dinner at a great India bufette. Delicious real food after 27 hours of driving.
I did some hiking in Rocky Mtn. National Park, some kayaking, and hanging out with friends in the Front Range. I left Sunday afternoon to drive to Aspen where I had my first day of guide training Monday morning. I arrived in Aspen around 11pm and headed east past the town towards Independence Pass. I arrived to at the locked gate and found a pulloff just down the road and called it home for the evening. This would be the nightly routine for the next month.
Dinnertime in the truck. Beans...yumm!One of my favorite spots was about 12 miles up Castle Creek Rd, at the ghost town Ashcroft. This old mining town sits at about 10,000 feet above sea level. There was still about two feet of snow in the middle of May when I was staying up there. A few nights I would wake up to 3 to 6 inches of snow and frozen condensation in my truck. It was a truly beautiful thing to open the back of my truck and see tons of snow covered peaks.
What I awoke to the next morning at 10,000 feet in May.
Kayakers and surfers sharing the man-made play feature on the Colorado River at Glenwood Springs.
The South African brothers getting their taste of the American booty beer tradition
Free Thursday night bluegrass at Snowmass
Dan's 1982 Audi loaded down after a post work Slaughterhouse run.
Mt. Sporis as seen from the Prince Creek mountain bike trail
The Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
A beaver pond and a mountain somewhere above the Clear Creek put-in.
Driving over Cottonwood pass from Buena Vista to Crested Butte.
Ian and the mighty Subie going over Cinnamon Pass from Lake City to Silverton.
A snow covered mountain along Keebler Pass from Aspen to Crested Butte.
The Slate River meandering through the valley towards Crested Butte
Aspen trees and snowcovered peaks...it is the Rockies
Mount Crested Butte
A cool view of Mount Sopris
A mule deer fording the Fryingpan
The gold medal trout waters of the Fryingpan River
Gearing up
An unrunnable man-made drop on Castle Creek
Johnny Haddock paddling the upper Fryingpan River
Twin Lakes and Mt. Hope
Raft Guide training
Mount Massive and some other tall snowcovered fourteeners
Iowa Shaft trail
Aspen from Smuggler Mountain
Greg shreddin' it on the Rim Trail
Jeff tearing up some of the well deserved downhill on the Rim Trail
Climbing the ridge line on the Rim Trail
Celebrating Jeff's ability to legally enjoy the delicious taste of carefully fermented hops
1 comment:
Sehr schöne Bilder.....very beautiful pictures... :))
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