Absent With Leaf

Readers: it has been about a year since I last created an entry without Tyler here to weave the post’s intricate tapestry of words. I’ve had to dust off the cobwebs around the writing parts of my brain, so please bear with me! Anxiety gnawed the recesses of my mind as my hiking boots hit […]

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The Fern Believer

The waning crescent moon glowed luminously above the cerulean backdrop of the mid-October sunrise over Rocky Mountain National Park. I felt a hint of relief from the colorful display, having almost completely missed out on the autumn season of hiking between work and moving to a new part of Denver. But here I was, ready […]

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Lake It Easy!

Hello, dearest readers! This is Skyler writing to you once again, back to deliver on a promise I made in my last post. I mentioned there that Tyler and I had embarked on a glorious hike to Beartrack Lakes (which I had misnamed as Beartracks Lake; sorry!) in the Mt. Evans Wilderness area, but the […]

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Continental Divide and Seek

If ‘heavily trafficked’ is used to describe the volume of other potential recreationists one might see on a trail, I often make a point to seek out a lesser-trafficked path. One of the great comforts of nature for me is solitude, quiet—a respite from Denver’s constant cacophony—somewhere to clear my thoughts and enjoy the natural […]

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Hot Take on Lonesome Lake

I needed an escape: a recess from the existential gloom that is living through this pandemic. Ty unfortunately could not join for this escapade, he has been hard at work helping to run time-sensitive COVID-19 diagnostic tests for CU Boulder through his lab research gig. Godspeed, Ty! Lurking just beneath the jagged precipices of the […]

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Fountain of Booth

The morning air was brisk and the sounds…unusual. Typically, we want wilderness when we set out: going to great lengths to seek settings of solitude, pursuing peace and quiet. The unusual sounds? The thunder of cars and semis barreling along I-70. Never before had we started a hike so close to a major interstate, but […]

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Pacific Bleat

The three of them approached cautiously: their chestnut-brown eyes assessing me, gauging if I were a threat. With quizzical expressions on their wooly faces, the mountain goats passed within reaching distance of me, now disregarding my presence. I moved slowly as not to frighten them. They grazed on the alpine grasses beneath their hooves, and […]

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Hellfire and Brimstone

In our last trip to the Indian Peaks Wilderness, Ty and I trekked alongside the roaring Cascade Creek to find the remote Mirror Lake and Crater Lake, two bodies of water nestled at the foot of the Continental Divide’s western flank. The trail had started near Lake Granby, a hotspot for recreation, and the third-largest […]

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Bluebird is the Word

Back in March, when snow still blanketed the ground in the mountains, I set out into the Wild Basin of Rocky Mountain National Park in an effort to find the sub-alpine Bluebird Lake. I trudged over five miles through the snowy landscape on a bleak, overcast day. After surpassing 10,000 feet in elevation, I began […]

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