Jessie on Lyra (aka maybe the best photos I’ve ever taken)

Wow.

That’s what I think every time I see my friend Jessie perform. 

I’m not the only who thinks so.  

Jessie is now at a full-time professional circus training program in Vermont.  

She’s awesome.  

She’s 16.

Yep.  

You heard me.  

She’s 16.

Were you this interesting when you were 16?

Could you do this thing called an armbreaker?

And look this good while doing it?

Me neither.

But that’s what made this photoshoot fun.  

Jessie was so creative and we had great light and a perfect background.

And it helped to have a portable rig and headlamps to set up your rig in the dark.

These are some of the best photos I think I’ve ever taken.

And I think they speak for themselves.

Jessie, you’re amazing.

Seriously.

Fourteen 14ers – Bierstadt

It doesn’t get more simple and straight-forward than Bierstadt.  The hardest thing about it is learning to spell it correctly.  This is my go to 14er for people who have never done one because you can see the whole route, it’s close to Denver, and it’s only 7 miles round trip.  If you’re more daring, you can do the Class 3 sawtooth over to Evans.  I had my dog Oreo, so that was a big “no thanks” from me, but I probably would have tried it if I were puppiless.  

We rolled up to the trailhead about sunrise.  It’s one of the few paved roads to a trailhead.  Even on a Friday it was busy.  We were delighted to find 3 moose having breakfast and even a dip in the alpine lake beside the trail.  Any close and I would have been very uncomfortable, but they didn’t seem to give us a second thought.  

We had nothing but blue skies and beautiful views for the climb.  The route to the summit is visible for basically the entire climb.  Classic Class 1 climbing.  Just keep moving up.

A couple hours later we were enjoying the summit, albeit with a stiff breeze.  Graham and John were good companions, although I think we really held Graham back.  He’s a hiking machine these days.  And of course Oreo was along for the trip.  The summit of Bierstadt marked his fifth 14er.  

Final Score: 

Julie 1, Nature 0.  She was saving up her scare tactics as it turns out.

 

Fourteen 14ers – Bierstadt

It doesn’t get more simple and straight-forward than Bierstadt.  The hardest thing about it is learning to spell it correctly.  This is my go to 14er for people who have never done one because you can see the whole route, it’s close to Denver, and it’s only 7 miles round trip.  If you’re more daring, you can do the Class 3 sawtooth over to Evans.  I had my dog Oreo, so that was a big “no thanks” from me, but I probably would have tried it if I were puppiless.  

We rolled up to the trailhead about sunrise.  It’s one of the few paved roads to a trailhead.  Even on a Friday it was busy.  We were delighted to find 3 moose having breakfast and even a dip in the alpine lake beside the trail.  Any close and I would have been very uncomfortable, but they didn’t seem to give us a second thought.  

We had nothing but blue skies and beautiful views for the climb.  The route to the summit is visible for basically the entire climb.  Classic Class 1 climbing.  Just keep moving up.

A couple hours later we were enjoying the summit, albeit with a stiff breeze.  Graham and John were good companions, although I think we really held Graham back.  He’s a hiking machine these days.  And of course Oreo was along for the trip.  The summit of Bierstadt marked his fifth 14er.  

Final Score: 

Julie 1, Nature 0.  She was saving up her scare tactics as it turns out.

 

Fourteen 14ers – Mount of the Holy Cross

Holy Cross is known amongst the 14ers to be a “doozy”.  That’s due to the 1K feet of elevation at the end of the climb to get back to the trailhead.  That is to say if you don’t do the more sporting “halo” route as I did.  It’s long.  13+ miles with endless tallus, but how often do you spend the day above 13,000 feet?

We camped at the trailhead and started out about 5am, still in the dark.  The sunrise was gorgeous on the rocky face of holy cross.  The last nearly 1K feet to the summit is rocky.  Little did I know it was a preview of much of the rest of the day.  

We headed down from the summit to a saddle and onto the next peak, one of the highest point on the halo route after the summit of holy cross.  From there, two lakes were clearly visible throughout the ridgeline hike.  I don’t know there names, but one was fantastically blue and the other fantastically green.  The fantastically blue lake was at the base of holy cross, but the fantastically green lake was only visible to those gluttons for punishment who decided to do the halo.  

Worthy reward.

The rock hopping and trail finding continued for hours.  We stopped ocassionally to let lightning pass on either side of us.  The holy crap we’re high on a mountain and I see lightning strikes is never a reassuring feeling.  We finally made it back to a cabin and a trail heading back to the trailhead after walking basically 270 degrees from the summit of holy cross.  We go there just in time for a cloud burst and we booked it down to timberline.  We got soaked.  Then a really nice rainbow showed up.  

We made it back to the car that afternoon.  Exhausted.  

Final Score: 

Julie 2 (one for the summit, one for the halo), Nature 1 (for again leaving me with a healthy respect for the high country.)

 

Fourteen 14ers – Democrat, Lincoln, Bross (and Cameron!)

My first 14ers of the summer.  I wanted to get some bang for my buck.  Three (and a half) peaks in one hike?  Sign me up.  I went with a crew from ultimate.  The hike starts nice and high at the aptly named Kite Lake.  At the first big saddle, we took a left and tootled on up to Democrat.  Check.

My group decided to turn back at that point, but I decided to tackle the rest. Back at the saddle we’d come up together, I headed toward Cameron/Lincoln.  Back up.  I stopped for a puppy break at Cameron.  Oreo was already showing signs of needing a nap, so we hung out for 15 or 20 minutes before continuing on to Lincoln.  Technically Cameron doesn’t count as a 14er separate from Lincoln because the saddle doesn’t drop far enough, but I wasn’t about to complain about the relatively flat hike over to Lincoln.  Weather was looking good and I wanted to continue.

30 or so minutes later on the top of Lincoln I started to notice smoke rising from a neighboring peak.  Interesting.   Noted.  These pictures are from the top of Lincoln and the first hint of fire at 2:07pm:

Exactly one hour later I took these photos from the top of Bross.  It was weighing on me at that point that in only an hour, a forest fire at literally blown up the next ridge over.  No one stayed long on top of Bross, but I did check my third 14er for the day!

At 4:10, one hour after leaving the top of Bross and two hours after leaving the summit of Lincoln, I snapped this shot from the trailhead:  

Then I got the hell out of dodge.  I was never in real danger mind you.  People were camped at the trailhead when I left, but it was a memoral experience nonetheless as I watched this forest fire grow and become a little monster in just a few hours.  Back in the tiny little town of Alma, the forest fires growing into big monsters that day were all over the TVs and the topic of conversation.

Final Score: 

Julie 3, Nature 1, for putting a little awe and AWW! back in awesome triple header.

 

Fourteen 14ers – Democrat, Lincoln, Bross (and Cameron!)

My first 14ers of the summer.  I wanted to get some bang for my buck.  Three (and a half) peaks in one hike?  Sign me up.  I went with a crew from ultimate.  The hike starts nice and high at the aptly named Kite Lake.  At the first big saddle, we took a left and tootled on up to Democrat.  Check.

My group decided to turn back at that point, but I decided to tackle the rest. Back at the saddle we’d come up together, I headed toward Cameron/Lincoln.  Back up.  I stopped for a puppy break at Cameron.  Oreo was already showing signs of needing a nap, so we hung out for 15 or 20 minutes before continuing on to Lincoln.  Technically Cameron doesn’t count as a 14er separate from Lincoln because the saddle doesn’t drop far enough, but I wasn’t about to complain about the relatively flat hike over to Lincoln.  Weather was looking good and I wanted to continue.

30 or so minutes later on the top of Lincoln I started to notice smoke rising from a neighboring peak.  Interesting.   Noted.  These pictures are from the top of Lincoln and the first hint of fire at 2:07pm:

Exactly one hour later I took these photos from the top of Bross.  It was weighing on me at that point that in only an hour, a forest fire at literally blown up the next ridge over.  No one stayed long on top of Bross, but I did check my third 14er for the day!

At 4:10, one hour after leaving the top of Bross and two hours after leaving the summit of Lincoln, I snapped this shot from the trailhead:  

Then I got the hell out of dodge.  I was never in real danger mind you.  People were camped at the trailhead when I left, but it was a memoral experience nonetheless as I watched this forest fire grow and become a little monster in just a few hours.  Back in the tiny little town of Alma, the forest fires growing into big monsters that day were all over the TVs and the topic of conversation.

Final Score: 

Julie 3, Nature 1, for putting a little awe and AWW! back in awesome triple header.

 

Sand Dunes Hot Springs

I have a thing for hot springs. I really enjoy them. I’ll go out of my way to find a good soak. So when my sand dunes national park research uncovered a nearby hot springs, I was excited.

Google said it was an hour drive from the Piñon campground, even though it was only about 32 miles away. We thought it would be a gravel road. Google was so wrong. It took maybe 40 minutes and was completely paved.

So we got there expecting basically a big swimming pool. Nothing fancy. Well, it was true and not true. It was a big swimming pool (and a quiet, hotter pool) but it was so much more!

First surprise- the food was delicious! There was a large menu and 4 greenhouses on site, meaning lots of really delicious fresh veggies. I couldn’t believe it. The quesadilla was wonderful and was served with green chili sauce. Yum!

Second surprise- you can rent lots of fun stuff. Basketballs, noodles, floaty chairs, etc., all for free. Or, of you bring your own, there is an air pump to make the job a snap. Wow! We played a game of horse with a rented basketball. FYI- its hard to shoot when your toes don’t touch the ground!

Third surprise- the view. Awesome. Gorgeous mountains. The Sangre de Cristos to be technical. Loved it.

This place is worth a stop. Diving boards, basketball hoops, fountains, kiddy watersilde, mountains, and food. I wanted to stay and tent camp. Oh, did I mention the free wifi? Yeah, everything I want.

As Arnold said, “I’ll be back!”

Trying Trapeze

Every once and a while, I get to do something really fun.  It often has to do with the circus, because I have awesome circus friends.  They have a low-hanging trapeze in their kitchen: 

So I jumped at the chance to fly this weekend with the Imperial Flyers and their high-flying trapeze.  I’ve flown with them before, and always had a good time.  I even made it to the video reel, watch at about the 1:00 mark to see my knee hang (the very basic move they teach beginners like myself).

 

Thanks to all the flyers for the trapeze lesson.  I shall return!

Trying Trapeze

Every once and a while, I get to do something really fun.  It often has to do with the circus, because I have awesome circus friends.  They have a low-hanging trapeze in their kitchen: 

So I jumped at the chance to fly this weekend with the Imperial Flyers and their high-flying trapeze.  I’ve flown with them before, and always had a good time.  I even made it to the video reel, watch at about the 1:00 mark to see my knee hang (the very basic move they teach beginners like myself).

 

Thanks to all the flyers for the trapeze lesson.  I shall return!