Since we took off for Florida last year, the guys and I thought Colorado would be a nice way to mix things up. We headed out last Thursday and did 18 hours of driving from Houston to Co. Springs with nothing but pee, the DS, and cows.
So we spent the night in a shady motel on the outskirts and entertained ourselves with a 7 car, 1 chopper police chase until we just couldnt stand the pressure on our eyes and had to give in.
GARDEN OF THE GODS
The next morning we hopped around downtown CO Springs and finally ended up at the Garden of the Gods. They are these huge, red rocks jutting up from the foothills of an otherwise green mountain.
Ah, the parking lot
Theres not much straying from the trail and theres not much climbing to do, but we strayed as far as we were allowed.
All of them in a row
See this spot I think its over there Hrmm Maybe we should turn back
We finally found a place to climb where there were no signs telling us to keep away and got a decent view of the surrounding area.
Gary in front, Steven in the back, and the view from where we were
The cool thing about these rocks is that there is absolutely no climbing on them unless youre a Colorado State Fire Fighter and we saw quite a few from Boulder up there climbing.
We saw this dude on the way out. I snapped these just before he leapt over the path and ran away
We left there and spent some time in Denvers beautiful city park tossing around the football and waiting for rush hour traffic to die down, then took off for a dinner with my sister who lives in Boulder.
ESTES PARK CONDO
So my older friend Gary orchestrated this whole trip and found us the last vacancy in Estes Park, a $200/night condo that was just amazing.
The mountain on the left surrounded the complex and the river to the right ran right through it and in front of our condo. Just awesome. And we had a hot tub and swim spa with a view of nothing but trees and mountains. It was like something out of a Lifetime movie.
12 MILE HIKE
Lead to the top by eminem himself. Lovely.
But really, we drove to a trailhead in Rocky Mountain National park and we just kept following the most interesting signs and adding up the miles hiked.
The outset and Steven crossing a river how daring
First stop The cascades
As we hiked, we encountered a bunch of these beautiful yellow flowers. They seemed to flourish where all of the trees were burned in that 1980s forest fire.
Next stop was the waterfall. We hiked to where it fell, but couldnt find a way across or to the top, so we kept on truckin
We finally hit the top of the mountain we were climbing. The valley to the left was all burned trees, yellow flowers, and a mountain stream. The valley to our right was a bunch of tall evergreens. And, as you can see, the view ahead was snowcapped peaks that were just breathtaking
The final hike to the end of the trail. 6.1 miles
We hiked back down in less than half the time it took to get up and gave two married women a ride back to the main entrance. We headed back to Estes, grabbed some amazing local pizza, and relaxed in the hot tub for an hour.
The next day we spent in Denver and in Boulder. We met up with my sister and her husband and checked out the outdoor mall in Boulder. Ive never seen so many people out having a good time and Ive never seen so many people riding bikes around instead of driving. Quite a breath of fresh air from stupid Houston. That evening we took their pup to the dog park, played with him, and tossed around the football.
BEAR LAKE
The final day of our trip! We drove into Rocky Mountain National Park a different way and found a couple new trailheads to follow. We hiked about a mile and took the right fork to Bear Lake.
Some view, eh?
We did the hike around the lake, headed back to the fork, and went left to the falls. There were a lot of people on the path so we decided just to follow the river and keep from the path. It proved to be a lot more fun than walking a flat path because we got to do some actual rock climbing to get where we needed to go. The view was great, too.
As we got closer to the source of the river the areas surrounding our own came into view.
We finally hit the source and found a trail it looked like we werent allowed to hike. It took a little vertical climbing to get to the main trail from where we were, but we managed.
View from the top
THE 4th OF JULY
That night we headed to the fields outside of the local high school and set up camp for the fireworks show. We arrived early enough to get good parking and a great view of the lake. I think we tossed around the football for a good 2 hours and I discovered that I can throw one just over 50 yards. Not TOO shabby. The fireworks were fun, but we left just a little early to avoid terribly tourist traffic.
Steven, the field, my leg, and the fireworks. -__- yay
The next day we woke up at 6 and drove 21 hours home to Houston. We took shifts to ease the burden and it ended up being a fairly easy drive. Much easier than one would think.
I left out a lot of details but I think I hit the best highlights. Ill most likely update when I get the other Garys pictures on CD later this week. He has shots of great events like my barefoot beaver dam crossing.
Thus concludes my one good post a year. I hope you enjoyed.
So we spent the night in a shady motel on the outskirts and entertained ourselves with a 7 car, 1 chopper police chase until we just couldnt stand the pressure on our eyes and had to give in.
GARDEN OF THE GODS
The next morning we hopped around downtown CO Springs and finally ended up at the Garden of the Gods. They are these huge, red rocks jutting up from the foothills of an otherwise green mountain.
Ah, the parking lot
Theres not much straying from the trail and theres not much climbing to do, but we strayed as far as we were allowed.
All of them in a row
See this spot I think its over there Hrmm Maybe we should turn back
We finally found a place to climb where there were no signs telling us to keep away and got a decent view of the surrounding area.
Gary in front, Steven in the back, and the view from where we were
The cool thing about these rocks is that there is absolutely no climbing on them unless youre a Colorado State Fire Fighter and we saw quite a few from Boulder up there climbing.
We saw this dude on the way out. I snapped these just before he leapt over the path and ran away
We left there and spent some time in Denvers beautiful city park tossing around the football and waiting for rush hour traffic to die down, then took off for a dinner with my sister who lives in Boulder.
ESTES PARK CONDO
So my older friend Gary orchestrated this whole trip and found us the last vacancy in Estes Park, a $200/night condo that was just amazing.
The mountain on the left surrounded the complex and the river to the right ran right through it and in front of our condo. Just awesome. And we had a hot tub and swim spa with a view of nothing but trees and mountains. It was like something out of a Lifetime movie.
12 MILE HIKE
Lead to the top by eminem himself. Lovely.
But really, we drove to a trailhead in Rocky Mountain National park and we just kept following the most interesting signs and adding up the miles hiked.
The outset and Steven crossing a river how daring
First stop The cascades
As we hiked, we encountered a bunch of these beautiful yellow flowers. They seemed to flourish where all of the trees were burned in that 1980s forest fire.
Next stop was the waterfall. We hiked to where it fell, but couldnt find a way across or to the top, so we kept on truckin
We finally hit the top of the mountain we were climbing. The valley to the left was all burned trees, yellow flowers, and a mountain stream. The valley to our right was a bunch of tall evergreens. And, as you can see, the view ahead was snowcapped peaks that were just breathtaking
The final hike to the end of the trail. 6.1 miles
We hiked back down in less than half the time it took to get up and gave two married women a ride back to the main entrance. We headed back to Estes, grabbed some amazing local pizza, and relaxed in the hot tub for an hour.
The next day we spent in Denver and in Boulder. We met up with my sister and her husband and checked out the outdoor mall in Boulder. Ive never seen so many people out having a good time and Ive never seen so many people riding bikes around instead of driving. Quite a breath of fresh air from stupid Houston. That evening we took their pup to the dog park, played with him, and tossed around the football.
BEAR LAKE
The final day of our trip! We drove into Rocky Mountain National Park a different way and found a couple new trailheads to follow. We hiked about a mile and took the right fork to Bear Lake.
Some view, eh?
We did the hike around the lake, headed back to the fork, and went left to the falls. There were a lot of people on the path so we decided just to follow the river and keep from the path. It proved to be a lot more fun than walking a flat path because we got to do some actual rock climbing to get where we needed to go. The view was great, too.
As we got closer to the source of the river the areas surrounding our own came into view.
We finally hit the source and found a trail it looked like we werent allowed to hike. It took a little vertical climbing to get to the main trail from where we were, but we managed.
View from the top
THE 4th OF JULY
That night we headed to the fields outside of the local high school and set up camp for the fireworks show. We arrived early enough to get good parking and a great view of the lake. I think we tossed around the football for a good 2 hours and I discovered that I can throw one just over 50 yards. Not TOO shabby. The fireworks were fun, but we left just a little early to avoid terribly tourist traffic.
Steven, the field, my leg, and the fireworks. -__- yay
The next day we woke up at 6 and drove 21 hours home to Houston. We took shifts to ease the burden and it ended up being a fairly easy drive. Much easier than one would think.
I left out a lot of details but I think I hit the best highlights. Ill most likely update when I get the other Garys pictures on CD later this week. He has shots of great events like my barefoot beaver dam crossing.
Thus concludes my one good post a year. I hope you enjoyed.
I want to go to Colorado/Wyoming one day to visit the gamebird leks during mating season for a week or so. 
