Stag Gulch Trail

Another installment of Monday Night Hikin' (after a month-long hiatus due to a plethora of rainy evenings - not that we're complaining about the rain, you know, but it was nice to get out and enjoy another evening hike together).  This week we chose Stag Gulch, which we knew next to nothing about going in.  No information on the Forest Service website, in my hiking book, or even at the trailhead - we only knew it existed because there is a sign with the name and trail number (1866) designating it as such.  Actually, there were three or four signs along the trail, so it's kind of weird to me that there's no info about it anywhere.  Another oddity is that it was obviously well used, at least by horses, as we were constantly dodging their droppings the whole way up.  But, while it made for an adventure getting "there" since we didn't even know where "there" was, or how long to expect it to take us, we had a mighty enjoyable time.

The stats:

Date hiked: 29 July 2012

Start time: ~5:45 pm

Rest/group shot time: ~10 minutes

Back time: before 8:00 pm

Total round trip time: pretty close to our typical 2 hr 15 min

Total mileage: ~5

High point: above 9300 feet (I didn't look at my GPS at the top)

And the photos:

We hiked along the muddy trail (see pics below), not knowing what we would find, when we finally picked an arbitrary ".5 miles further than the point we were at then" to be our turn-around spot, so we'd be sure to have enough daylight to get back.  Once we reached that .5 miles-further mark, we could see an opening ahead of us, and decided to make that our destination, just a little bit further ahead.  It turns out that clearing was a huge grassy field with spectacular views in every direction.  And, as an added bonus, breathtaking clouds were billowing above us.  It was SO cool!

Can you see the itty bitty rainbow?

These ones looked a little threatening, so we didn't spend too much
time up on top, for fear that we'd get soaked on the way back down.

As we left the clearing we spotted four deer - three bucks and a doe - out for their evening meal.  I wasn't quick enough to get any photos, but they were beautiful.  I don't know that I've ever seen deer on a hike - especially that close.

Coming back down the trail we had excellent views of Cordillera
and Edwards and beyond.

See?  Mud-dy!

Rocky in a Day

When Kim and Paul came to visit for a weekend at the end of July, we spent that Saturday in Rocky Mountain National Park.  It's not a huge park, but oh-my-goodness was there a lot of beautiful countryside to see!

One of our first glimpses of the park - from the car window.

Longs Peak - the sole fourteener in the park.

Stop #1 - Bear Lake.

Paul and Kim at the lake.

. . . sigh . . .

On a little hike away from Bear Lake.

We met a very angry Albert's squirrel along the trail.

Our destination: Alberta Falls.

View from the top of the falls.

We saw tons of shapes, sizes and colors of
'shrooms along the trails - but this one was
my favorite because it reminded me of Toad
on Mario Kart.

We saw a big herd of elk - and I learned that baby elk are spotted
just like baby deer when they are young.

Out our window on the drive along
Trail Ridge Road.

Also called "highway to the sky" -
it gets up to 12,183 feet in elevation.

Pit stop along the way to take in the views.
Notice Gregg's lovely socks.  ;)

You can see the road above treeline here.

Lovely tundra.

Cool formations at the top of the tundra.

A leisurely walk on the Tundra Communities Trail (above 12,000 feet!)

Paul and Kim on top of the world.

One more of the tundra -
 and the awesome clouds.

Then we drove down the road back to lower elevations and it started raining and then we were out of the park on our way back home - so no more photos.  But it was such a fun day!  And we really want to go back to hike and camp and explore some more.

Meadow Mountain Trail

Another Friday Mornin' Hike with the Vail Branch ladies . . . turns out my Monday Night Hikes have turned into Friday Morning Hikes because of the rain we get every afternoon.  It's kind of crazy - every morning looks just like this, and by late afternoon we have a thunderstorm roll through.  Definitely no complaining about it from our house - we need the water and the temperature usually drops a good 10+ degrees because of it, plus the thunder is AWESOME - it just makes our little FHE tradition a little more difficult ever since July rolled around.

Anyway . . . the hike this week was Meadow Mountain, which is just a few miles east of where we live, and actually used to be a ski hill before Vail Resorts bought it and shut it down (didn't want any cheap competition!).  Now it's used as a tubing hill in the winters.  And the trail is heavily mountain biked in the summer - we didn't see any other hikers but something like 20 bikers.  Also, a fun fact from my Vail Hiker book (thanks Ryan and Victoria for the gift card!): homesteaders in the Vail Valley area in the 1800s raised sheep, cattle, hay, and even "an abundance of crisp mountain lettuce".  Lettuce.  Huh.

The stats:

Date hiked: 20 July 2012

Start time: 7:20 am

Rest/eat/explore time: 30 minutes

Back time: 11:40 am

Total round trip time: 4 hours, 20 minutes

Total mileage: 7 miles (according to the book); 9.31 (according to my GPS) - I'm tempted to believe the GPS just because it sound more impressive

High point: 9795 feet

And the pics:

Lots of these old cabin ruins along the trail.

Just one of three pretty decent-sized bucks we saw up in the trees.

I know they're a noxious weed, but I still
am kind of in love with these flowers.

Looking South towards Minturn and beyond.

Almost to the top.

Chloe and Angie resting inside the little cabin that was our
destination for this hike.

Pretty ponds down the trail.

The group with the gore range behind.
Kim, Chloe, Aspen, Lara, Angie and Cherish

And another in front of the cabin.

A quick looksie inside - pretty sweet
accommodations for a little shack on the top
of a hill - it's used by snowmobilers
in the winter and is quite well equipped.

Yeah, I'd be okay with waking up to a view
like that!

The Gores.

A little locust.

I like it here.  Have I ever said that?