Labor Day Shenanigans

On Monday morning of our Labor Day weekend with Heather, we all woke up early (for a holiday), loaded up the car, and headed over the pass to Summit County for the day.  Gregg met up with Brother Giles from our high council for a ride to Montezuma (it's a little town east of Keystone).  Heather and I checked out a little trailhead we found just up the road from the Giles home in Silverthorne.  It was called the Willow Creek Trail and we had no idea where it would lead, but we wandered slowly for a couple of miles enjoying the cool morning and the wonderful smells of the forest.

This giant rock made a great group shot locale.

The sky was SO blue.

A little love message in the sky.

Lovely morning light.

Kind of a photogenic dandelion.

It was a lovely hike - even without a
"destination" at the end.

We met up with Gregg after a couple of hours and continued on to Breckenridge to check out the town and the mountain.  We enjoyed a delicious lunch at a little French bakery then took the gondola up to Peak 8 where we soaked in the sunshine and the views.

Leaves a-changin' at Breckenridge.

Lunchtime view.

Walking back through town we saw some fish food dispensers
and gave the "little" guys some lunch.

They weren't little by any stretch of the
imagination - this one was FAT - maybe
6 inches in diameter at at least a couple feet long!

Breck

Getting settled on the gondola.

Our Breckenridge lift shot.

Silly sisters.

Yeah, this is the life.

Lost Lake Trail

Heather (Kim's sister this time) made the brave solo journey out to visit us over Labor Day weekend.  She got here Friday evening and first thing Saturday morning we hit the trail to Lost Lake. (Gregg was off riding his bike).

A few official stats for this hike:
Date hiked: 1 September 2012
Start time: 10:30ish am
Arrival at the lake: 11:30 am
Left the lake: 1:30 pm (we ate and wandered around and took pictures and explored)
Back to car: 2:20 pm
Total mileage: 7.5 miles on the main trail to and from the lake (plus some more for the round-the-lake addition we added - but I just don't know how much)
High point: 10,100 feet or so (so says the book)

First glimpse of the lake - lookin' a little gray.

Here we see the infamous gray jay - this guy tried
(unsuccessfully, thank goodness) to steal my sandwich.

First group shot in the rain.

It was a little bit wet, but we decided to walk
around the lake rather than head back down
the trail - got to get our money's worth!

I'm glad we didn't leave because we got to
see cool logs and lily pads.

And mushrooms - I've seen so many cool
mushrooms while hiking this year!

The sun came out when we were halfway around the lake - so it was
time for another group shot.

On the trail we passed this ginormous fallen tree.  I made Heath
pose by it to give perspective on how big it really was.

Hiking back down the trail.

Takin' in the views.

And just one more mushroom for good measure.

Beaver Lake Trail {Third Time}

On Monday I went out to lunch with a few ladies from the branch, and afterwards, a small trio of us headed to Beaver Creek for a quick hike.  It was warmer than we were anticipating - it had been overcast most of the day but the sun came out in time for us to hike - and I was pretty full from the delicious lunch (philly cheeseteak and tater tots), but we made it up in pretty good time and had a lot of fun doing so.  I've shared the stats for this hike twice before so I'll just go straight for the pics today.  I did find it kind of funny that I had lived here the shortest time of any in our hiking group, yet I was the only one who had been to the lake already (not to mention twice!).  Gorgeous place, so I don't mind.  :)

Today's hiking group: Kim, Heather and Cherish

Perhaps my new favorite photo - now my desktop background.

Lionshead Rock

Round 6 of our Monday Night Hikin'.  (We sure do like this tradition.)  This time we headed South from home a few minutes drive to check out Lionshead Rock.  I actually hiked this same trail on Friday morning with my friend Cherish, but unfortunately the camera card was left home even though the camera made it all the way up the trail.  So, it was pretty quick turnaround time for me to do the same hike 3 days apart, but it was more than worth it.

The stats:

Date hiked: 20 Aug 2012

Start time: 5:45 pm

Take in the view/pose for photos time: ~10 minutes

Finish time: 7:52 pm

Total round trip time: ~2 hours (plus a couple minutes)

Total mileage: 4.4 according to the book (my gps batteries died, so I'm not sure if it's accurate)

High point: 9340 feet according to my dying gps, 9928 feet according to the book

And now for some photos:

Lovebirds on a rock.

The view to the Southeast. . .

. . . and back towards the Northwest.
We've been pretty hazy lately from the fires
in the West.

I have a dishy husband.

Posers.

Pretty deep crack in the rock.

The golden hour light was delicious!

Didn't mean to make this one blurry - but
somehow it's perfectly so.

That's the rock we were just at.

Coming back down through the lush thimbleberry thicket.

It rained this morning, but luckily it was dry for our evening hike.

Lovely sunset to end a lovely hike.

Beaver Lake Trail {Second Time}

Gregg's friends (and mine now) Ryan and Brittany Milcarek from Syracuse, NY were passing through Colorado on a trip out West.  We were excited to give them a spot to sleep Sunday night and a quick hike Monday morning while they were here.  And even though it was raining in the morning (seriously, it never rains in the morning around here - and it's kept up ALL day!), we didn't let that deter us from getting up into the mountains.  Our trail of choice (that fit our criteria on time, distance and destination) was Beaver Lake, the same one we hiked on the 4th of July.

This time our stats were a bit quicker (due, I think, to the cooler temps and less frequent water stops, and also probably due to the fact that we were soaked and just wanted to hurry it all up):

Date hiked: 13 August 2012
Start time: 8:26 am
Group photo at the lake time: ~10 minutes (9:45-9:55 am)
Back to car: 11:00 am
Total round trip time: 2 hours 30 minutes

And just a few photos since it was so wet (thank heavens for ponchos and friends who are troopers):