Category Archives: Southwest

Colorado, Skiing, Travel

Four Feet of Snow?!

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We went to Crested Butte to enjoy a ski weekend and got more fresh snow than we could have ever imagined. Back at our house temperatures dipped to frigid sub-zero temperatures, but in the Colorado Mountains epic snow came pouring down. 

Over three days Crested Butte got around four feet of snow. Never have our kids experienced powder like we had at Crested Butte on MLK weekend.

When it was time to leave we actually had a bit of a challenge finding an open route as almost every mountain pass in the state of Colorado was closed due to avalanche danger. We ended up driving on a southerly route after Monarch Pass closed and made it across Cochetopa Pass before it was closed. 

It was a bit stressful but after backtracking several hours and spending a night halfway we made it home.

Colorado, Hiking

The DeCaLiBron Loop

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I have a new hike to add to my list of The Greatest Day Hikes in the USA. The DeCaLiBron Loop is a 7.6 mile hike that leads to the summits of four of Colorado’s 14er mountains. The trailhead is located at Kite Lake, which is up a 4-wheel drive road from Fairplay, CO.

7.6 miles isn’t usually that difficult, but the elevation changes as you summit one mountain, descend and reascend the next one make it challenging. My teenage son and I were both pretty tired after completing the hike.

You can complete the hike in either direction, starting with Mount Democrat, then continuing to Mount Cameron, Mount Lincoln, and finally Mount Bross. Or you can do them in reverse, as we did. I don’t think there is an advantage in going in either direction, but the scenery might be better going in the reverse direction.

There are a couple things to know in advance before starting this hike. The first is that once you start it and advance past the first summit there is no quick return to the trailhead. Thus you must keep an eye on the weather and start early to avoid afternoon thunderstorms. We saw people arriving at 10AM and hopefully they weren’t trying to hike more than one mountain.

The other thing to know is the trail and the mountains themselves are on private land. Because of a recent lawsuit private landowners are reluctant to allow the public to use trails on their land. Fortunately the landowner is allowing the public to use the trail as long as they complete this online form the day of the hike: https://waiver.smartwaiver.com/w/c2d3wpisftzvbznpjhsbnb/kiosk/ .

My son and I battled through the wind and cold, the altitude, steep terrain and later the heat and loose rocks to complete the loop. Overall it’s something to be proud of once you finish it.

I included a video of our hike below the gallery.

Colorado, Hiking, Outdoors, Travel

A Trip Up Mount Evans

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Despite living in Colorado for 12 years, we had not yet driven up the Mount Evans Scenic Highway as a family. With summer winding down I decided it was time to finally do this before winter set in (the road is only open a couple months each year in the mid to late summer).

I had once before taken a drive up to the summit with my older brother all the way back in 1997 when I was in college. Now twenty-six years later I wanted to take my family to the top to enjoy the scenery and the alpine wildlife, which frequently includes mountain goats, bighorn sheep, marmots, and pika.

We actually had more of an experience than we planned on. We hit a torrential downpour on the I-70 west of Denver that cleared up before we took the road south toward the mountain at Idaho Springs. Then we hit some of the thickest fog we’ve ever driven through. Still, like many others on the road that day, we carried on with a can-do spirit and had a really enjoyable time, even if we couldn’t see for a hundred miles.

We saw plenty of mountain goats and I took the short hike to the very top to get a photo of the very worn survey marker. When the clouds did part we had some fleeting vistas with impressive displays of light and cloud.

We made a fun video that’s included below.

Colorado, Travel, Waterfalls

Seven Falls and Manitou Springs

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My wife and I decided to spend an anniversary evening down in the Colorado Springs, Colorado area. Though we only live about 40 miles away and have been to Colorado Springs many times, we had never been to Seven Falls. I decided to get us reservations at the Restaurant 1858 at the base of the falls and we could then walk up the stairs alongside the falls.

The food at Restaurant 1858 was a bit pricey and we were a tad underwhelmed, but we enjoyed our dinner nonetheless. I climbed the stairs to the top in nice clothes while many other visitors were dressed in hiking garb. No problem for me, of course, surmounting the 300 steps dressed for success.

The Seven Falls are the property of the Broadmoor which owns quite a lot of Colorado Springs tourist properties including the Pikes Peak Cog Railway. The charge $18 per adult just to see the falls and to go to the restaurant. The Broadmoor’s power in Colorado Springs is controversial but it doesn’t appear to have any desire to relinquish control of the Seven Falls or the Cog Railway.

After enjoying dinner and the falls we drove to Manitou Springs and our hotel: The Cliff House. The Cliff House is a historic hotel in the historic town of Manitou Springs.

The Cliff House dates back to the late 1800s and has rooms dedicated to many of its past famous guests: Buffalo Bill, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, and more. We initially had reserved a Junior Suite for the night but received a free upgrade to a King Deluxe room. I made a room tour video as well (there was a wedding at the hotel and I think they upgraded us to be away from the noise at the other end of the hotel as a courtesy).

The following morning we had some time to walk around the small town of Manitou Springs and had a quick breakfast at a coffee shop. It’s a nice little town although it does get very crowded in the summer tourist season.

Overall we had a very good anniversary evening and enjoyed our time at the hotel.

Colorado, Hiking, Outdoors, Rocky Mountain National Park

The Lawn Lake Trail

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On Father’s Day my 16-year-old son Daniel and I decided to go hiking. We didn’t have a definite plan in mind on where exactly to go but ended up driving up toward Estes Park and into Rocky Mountain National Park. I had entrance reservations already reserved for a few different weekends and we were there on the right day at the right time.

Once into the park I decided that we should try exploring a new area of the park that has lesser foot traffic, which led us to the Lawn Lake Trail near the (currently closed) Fall River Entrance.

After parking we had about 7 miles of hiking uphill to Lawn Lake which sits in a bowl of the Mummy Range (14 miles round trip). I was hoping to go even further to Mummy Mountain but we found there was a bit too much snow and it was pretty cold above tree line (we weren’t prepared for winter weather conditions).

Overall it was a very enjoyable hike with terrific scenery at the end, although I have to admit the first several miles get a bit monotonous. We made a video of our hike which tells the story. We’re going to make more videos in the coming months as we continue to enjoy the outdoors and we’ll get a bit more sophisticated in our production.

The second photo is of a garter snake which was a surprise. We saw a moose near the trailhead but it quickly disappeared into the foliage, which was a bit disappointing.

Colorado, Hiking, Travel

Staunton State Park

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Staunton State Park is Colorado’s newest state park having been established in 2013. The park has some diverse trails of various lengths that climb to overlooks and past historic sites like the remains of a sawmill from the 1930s. There are lots of steep cliffs here too.

This was our first family hiking of the summer season with a lot more ahead. We enjoyed the lighter crowds from this lesser-known park on Memorial Day.

Colorado, Travel, Zoos

Denver Zoo

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We had a nice day on Sunday at the Denver zoo. We used to go more often but yesterday was the first time back in three years. They have a really nice elephant area and they are building out a new Australia exhibit.
Because we are transitioning from winter many animals were not yet on display. In the summer months the gorillas and most of the monkeys are out and we’ll have to go back to see them.

Colorado, Outdoors, Skiing

Keystone Ski Resort

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Near Silverthorne, Colorado, Keystone is a terrific ski resort with seemingly endless terrain for all ski levels. I went April skiing with my 10-year-old to finish out the season before we transition to summer of hiking, camping, and more.

In this video below we will travel a 3.5 mile green slope from the top of the resort to the base.

In the distance you will be able to see Dillon Reservoir at 2:38 in the distance.

Colorado, Outdoors, Skiing

Loveland Ski Area

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Tango Road at Loveland Ski Area

Our ski and snowboard journey took us to Loveland Ski Area which sits right off the I-70 at the entrance to the Eisenhower/Johnson tunnel at the continental divide. This ski area is more basic with lifts in two areas (Loveland Valley and Loveland Basin), a few eateries, a rental shop and no on-site lodging.

We actually found that the Basin area is much more enjoyable than the Valley area. The Valley area has only a couple lifts and is meant for beginner skiers and snowboarders. Since my kids have progressed tremendously in one season we had no reason to spend much time in this area which was also quite crowded.

After returning by shuttle bus to the Basin area we had more fun on more interesting terrain and it was also less crowded (and the people actually less rude and willing to wait in line to get onto the lifts).

While we enjoyed the nearby Arapahoe Basin area which is just over Loveland Pass when we went to it a few years ago, Loveland was somewhat disappointing overall. We’ll head further on to a larger resort next time we go skiing.

New Mexico, Travel

A Ski Weekend in Taos

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  1. Taos Ski Valley
  2. Sleigh Ride to the Bavarian
  3. Rio Grande Gorge Bridge
  4. Monte Sagrado Resort
  5. Orlando’s Mexican Restaurant

Taos Ski Valley

We had a lot of fun on the snow with our kids at Taos Ski Valley. We spent more hours in one day skiing than ever before. My kids advanced considerably at skiing and snowboarding.

I took my GoPro and tried it out on a few different runs you can view below.

First my son and I went down a section of Rubezahl toward the village:

Rubezahl

We followed that with lots of runs on Pioneer:

Pioneer

I also made a couple runs on Whitefeather. I recorded the entire length but condensed it for viewing here:

Whitefeather

Sleigh Ride to the Bavarian

We took a night time sleigh ride pulled by a snow cat to the German Bavarian restaurant at Taos Ski Valley. It was a bit expensive but very good and a lot of fun. It was a four course meal and I had schnitzel, strudel, cabbage, soup, and of course a liter of hefeweizen.

Rio Grande Gorge Bridge

Since the weather was turning for the worse and we didn’t want to risk getting stuck in heavy snow on the way home we made only a single stop on Sunday. We went to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge which was very impressive, especially in the snow. We’ll be back in warmer weather to see more of Taos’ museums, art galleries, and historic sites.

Monte Sagrado Resort

We stayed at the Monte Sagrado Resort which looks very nice but there were actually a lot of small issues that added up to it not being a place we would stay at again. We had to switch rooms after arriving because the first room wasn’t fully cleaned and there were dogs barking across the hall.

The new room was clean and quiet but the incredibly slow water flow made the bath tub unusable unless you plan to literally wait hours. The internet WIFI also never worked more than sporadically.

Orlando’s Mexican Restaurant

When we arrived we decided to give this popular restaurant a try. The wait was long in a heated patio area, but once we were seated the New Mexican green chili enchiladas and margaritas made up for it. I definitely recommend it.