Short Lake, Long Lake

The rising sun in the rear-view mirror promised a mild winter day for Denver. Unfortunately for us, we knew that the mountains in front of us promised the opposite. Despite unseasonably warm weather in the lowlands, the peaks remained snowbound, and we were bundled up accordingly. It didn’t help as much as we had hoped. […]

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Mills To Pay The Bills

We left for the mountains before sunrise. With a sparse 2020 now behind us, we were anxious to get outside and start making 2021 a brighter year. Looking at forecasts and trail conditions, we decided that brighter year would be best begun at Rocky Mountain National Park, specifically the hike to Mills Lake near the […]

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Sawatch Me Do Three

Missouri Mountain, Iowa Peak, and Emerald Peak Grand Slam ~15.5 miles round-trip; 6,300′ elevation gain.             The turn to Chaffe County Road 390 and its subsequent vexatious washboard ruts felt all too familiar. Five months ago, I had kicked off the 14er season with ascents of Mt. Belford and Mt. Oxford—two of the three 14ers […]

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