Camping in Arapaho National Forest (Stillwater Pass)

Another week up in the mountains of Colorado.  This time was a little different, I forgot some supplies and had to go into town and used it as an excuse to get a road bike in.  (I forgot – Dark chocolate, rice, eggs)

I biked from Grand Lake, Colorado to Granby, Colorado … a flat 35 miler.  I had lunch in Granby and it was delicious, just a simple turkey sandwich at a coffee shop (Lava something).

I had the best camping spot on this trip with noone around for miles, I took a nightly 5 mile hike into the hills above my spot and enjoyed the views.  I camped at almost 10,000 feet, so it was much higher altitude than last time.  There was a ton of easy to find firewood because of fire prevention activities, and the weather was CRAZY.  Welcome to June in Colorado.  It snowed my last day at slightly higher elevation and hailed daily (you go under a tree for five minutes and it passes).

The mountain biking was amazing in these parts, really fun single track that wasn’t too technical, and a ton of fun in the downhill.

I got a better water container this time, and a solar shower which worked pretty well.  I tried to make popcorn in a pan and that didn’t go very well.  Fresh veggies, brown rice and fish for lunch, five mile hikes before dinner and running/road biking/mountain biking for a week and I finally hit the weight target I wanted for my marathon

And I got to eat all the smores I wanted!

Here are some pictures:

And an email excerpt I sent to some friends:

Last week I explored Arapaho National Forest, specifically Stillwater Pass, which is above Grand Lake, near Gramby on the
“quiet side” of Rocky Mountain National Park.

It was quiet alright, there was no one camped near miles of me.

I had mountain biking and jeeping trails right out my “back door”, and took a beutiful 5 mile hike every night before
dinner into the hills above my camping spot (elevation: 9700 feet).

I brought my road bike, mountain bike and running shoes, it was a perfect place to train for my triathlon!

The last morning it snowed at higher elevation and the highway I was expecting to take home (trail ridge road) was
closed.  I had to take US40 over Berthoud Pass to get back to Denver.

Not much new on this trip, I upgraded to a large rainfly for my rain shelter (it rained or hailed a little bit every day
so this was nice), I got some folding tables to make cooking a little easier, and I got a bigger water container (7
gallons) and a solar shower.

I haven’t quite got the hang of driving the trailer, I backed into a 100 foot tall tree on my way out of camp the last
morning.  Not my finest moment

Next up is some camping by Ouray and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Then no more camping until August as I explore the
world by more conventional (plane/hotel) methods (San Diego, Boston/Providence and South Africa).

Colorado Rocks – things to do in Denver, when you’re …

A couple random things to give you a taste of Colorado.  First, my local goat herd.  Really.  In the park by my house, every summer  they bring this herd of penned in goats to “mow the lawns”, I really don’t know why they do it, but its so much fun, the kids love petting and feeding the goats, and it breaks up my long runs and always makes me smile.  I am always sad when they leave after a few months of decimating our long grass.

Goat in James A. Bible Park

There are lots of cool animals in Colorado, I bought an annual pass (“America is Beautiful”) to our National Parks, and while driving through Rocky Mountain National Parks took this picture of an Elk:

I love music and Colorado gets great acts.  I got to see Boots Riley and Tom Morello of the Streetsweeper Social Club, open for NIN and Jane’s Addiction (first time seeing JA for me) at our outdoor ampitheater, commonly known as Fiddler’s Green.  This was the last show I got to see with my buddy Pavel before he moved back to the Czech Republic.  Vary Nice!

Nine Inch Nails in SE Denver

Even better is the summer, outdoor tradition of Red Rocks.  Made famous by U2, this venue is truly the best in the United States.  Located in Morrison, CO, and looking as if God himself crafted it, you can actually picture the dinosaurs roaming around thousand’s of years ago when you hang out here.  I got to see Riverboat Gambler’s (love these guys, check them out), Rancid (the reason I went), and Rise Against at Red Rocks earlier this year.

Rancid at Red Rocks

More recently I went to Red Rocks and saw Carbon Leaf and watched the movie The Princess Bride, you haven’t experienced the evil of Prince Humperdink in its full glory until you hear 1000′s of kid-again adults jeer him, while cheering on true love in quite possibly the funniest (Andre the Giant and Billy Crystal) and cheesiest movie of all time.  This was interesting because it was a sell out, something I haven’t seen before at Film on the Rocks, because of the mainstream opening band (Carbon Leaf!), and the delicious wine, ceviche, and other treats we enjoyed before the show under our natural dining canopy.

Post dinner, pre-showCarbon Leaf before the movie

Finally, a unique biathlon.  I recently drove up to Frisco, CO and biked the 50 miles round trip to Vail (up and over Vail Pass, where Greg Lemond and Lance Armstrong have preceded), upon arriving back in Frisco it was off with my fishing license to fly fish.  It was beautiful, but didn’t catch any fish.

I did see a Marmot on the bike ride, and a beaver while fly fishing.

So there you have it, a round-up of warm weather Colorado activities.

There is always a free place to stay here for you, come check it out …