There are 56 14ers in Colorado and I have had an ambitious goal for some time know. I want to summit all of the ones that are hikable without climbing gear. Today I got two summits closer, completely numbers 5 and 6 for me. Bierstadt, Sherman, Elbert, Massive, Greys, and Torreys. Greys are Torreys are […]

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Today there was redemption. Seven years ago, when the girls were 9 and 7, we climbed our first mountain ever. Twins Sisters in Rocky Mountain NP. Zak had suggested it and I remember cussing him out under my breath the whole hike up. This silly climbing a mountain thing was his idea, his dream, and […]

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Three days, two nights, 28 miles, 6000 feet of gain. What an adventure. Parts were terrifying, parts were so exhausting, parts were depressing, but most of all, it was exhilarating. We took off from Grand Lake at about 10:30 on Friday morning. The first seven miles had a gradual incline. This was perfect, as it […]

Read More Rocky Mountain: North Inlet/Tonahutu Creek Loop

Zak and I started our 20th(!) anniversary with a ride at Boggy Draw. The network of trails is immense and I don’t think we’ll be repeating sections for a long time. The ride was crazy! It started with gentle ups and downs through beautiful terrain. The tall pines would turn to sagebrush and then back […]

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I stumbled out of our room ten minutes after the 6 o’clock alarm to start the coffee and saw Zoe sitting in the couch, ready to start the day. I have no idea why she woke so early or how she got ready so quickly, she she was the first of us ready for today’s […]

Read More Hope Lake

Finally, we got to sleep in! The perfect start to a rest day. Coffee on the porch, a good book, and no expectations for the day! Perfection! I spent the morning painting. I had never used oil paints before and had no idea what I was doing. It was fun to experiment and I’m pretty […]

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Yesterday I crawled through an arch and through a window. Today I crawled up and down a mountain. It was another early morning, but the promise of adventure (and hot coffee) was enough to get me out of bed without too much complaining. (Ellie takes after me.) We were on the road by 7 and […]

Read More Centennial Peak

What a day!! I’ll start by saying it’s the first time in my life I’ve crawled through a window to enter a house. I also crawled through arches. It was a wild one! We woke up early and made the 2+ hour drive to Arches. A few months ago we snagged 9-10 am entry tickets […]

Read More Arches NP: Fiery Furnace

Kudos to Ellie for keeping this project afloat! She’s definitely the one who complians the most when we make her write, but the only one that did it when it was optional. It’s been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks. we had a wonderful time with the Stewarts, had a crazy trip back home, […]

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As I sit down to recap the day, I don’t know where this post will lead. This is supposed to be a journal of our traveling and adventurings, both of which we did a lot of today. But today has been so much more than a hike and a long drive. We started out early. […]

Read More Day 11: Observation Point in Zion to Mancos