Colorado Part 2

We came to quite a surprise heading up to the campground by Mt Bierstadt. After going through Georgetown, the road was completely closed for the night due to construction. With no better options, we set up our tent near the road block. At 5:30am the crew came up the mountain in their diesel trucks and construction equipment. We made our way up to Gnuella Pass and hit the trail at 8. The first half mile was through marshland then we gradually climbed. It steadily increased to a steep rocky trail with the last half mile as a boulder field. It was windy as heck but at the very top we were able to get to the other side for a rest. We had a great view of Mt Evans and debated about trying to head there. Looking down Sawtooth trail that connect the two, we decided we would definitely need to be roped up. Heading down, we chatted with our new friend Jenny and felt our knees crumble as we descended. We drove back to Denver to check out Great Divide Brewery which was closed Sunday. The environment we pretty sweet offering is a free sample of four of their beers. They were all pretty good, but their Oak Aged Jeti Imperial Stout was better than the rest. I had high expectations for the Wild Raspberry Ale, but it just didn't have much taste. We had our big planning session for which hikes to hit then headed back to the mountains.
First time ever, James got to throw his Jeep into 4wheel drive. Heading on up to Gray's Peak trailhead in the dark, we almost ran into some panicked elderly hikers heading down the road. Their car couldn't make it up so they caught a ride, hiked for the day, then came back way too late at night. There was no one left to ride down with, and with no flashlights, they were in pretty poor shape. Of course, we gave them a ride down. After reaching the end of the road, we set up our tent right beside the river. It got down to the thirties and my summer bag just wasn't cutting it. At about 6am all the other hikers showed up with their slamming doors echoing through the valley. After a hot breakfast, we hit the trail. It wasn't all that bad, but we were taking it pretty slow. We went straight for the saddle in between the two 14ers and chose the harder of the two to hit first. From Torrys Peak we had amazing views then headed back down to the saddle. The climb to Grays took a while with the altitude headaches. We were very fortunate with the gorgeous weather as it was sunny all the way down. We were pretty dang tired so we set up tent there by the river for a second night. This time we got far from the parking lot and bundled up as warm as we could. We slept right until the sun hit the tent. With the pitch of the valley sides, this wasn't until 9:30. A few minutes drive down the road we look back to see the tire completely flat. With no flat slots to change it, we had a wonderful time with the Jeep falling off the jack no mater how many blocks we pit in front of the tires. An hour later we're rolling down and head to the gas station with wifi. Giving James his internet fix, we got ourselves some greasy burgers. We went to Dillon Lake to check out the highest sail club in the states. After searching a owner seeking a crew with no success we headed to Dillon Dam Brewery. The Brown was amazing, kinda like a lighter chocolate stout. Asking the bartender, we found another brewery only a few blocks away, Pug Ryan's. James walked up to the bar and ordered the Kiltlifter. "Oh Jaka, you flatah meh" bartender. Oh and, "when I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race" HG Wells. Moving on, we walked off the alcohol with a wade in the alpine lake. Continuing the Tour de Brassiere, we arrived in Fresco for Backcountry Brewery. The Switchback Amber was a great marzen. The bar physics debate ensued; Jake +1. We found another sailboat marina here at the other end of the lake and are wondering how the other claims the highest when it obviously shares the title. We drove to Kite Lake saving the Breckenridge Brewery as a reward for the next hike.

Colorado Part 1

After waiting a whole summer, James and I found time to pull of our Colorado trip. The 20 hour drive was long, but I didn't expect Kansas to be so incredibly boring. Pulling into Colorado, we were exhausted. We decided no hiking for that day so looked into some leisurely activities. After a quick look, it was a no-brainer that we needed to head to Golden to visit the Coors Brewery. We walked to stretch our legs, checking out the little shops and playing in Clear Creek, the one that's pictured on every can of Coors (remember Rocky Mountain spring water). The line for the brewery tour was wrapped out and around the parking lot, all in the hot sun. After a half an hour, I couldn't take it anymore and headed to buy a couple tallboys and joined James back in line. I've never been to a large-scale beer production facility (Sam Adams doesn't actually make much in Boston) and this was completely different. The kettle room held at least a hundred huge copper kettles and smelled absolutely amazing. We learned about all the grains and filtration elements that I wasn't familiar with. Another thing I didn't know is that Coors makes Killians and Blue Moon. The best part of the tour was the free beer at the end in their lounge. We ran into a couple of people playing cards and had to join in the game. After several rounds of fresh beer and good rummy games, the four of us hit the bars and live music there in Golden. Four pitchers later, we found ourselves admiring the mesa formation up above Coors. We asked the bartender if there was a way to get up top. In sandles and flipflops, the four of us hit the trail only a couple blocks away. We reached the top of the cliffs right as the sky was beginning to blaze in orange and red above the town in the valley below. Of course the sunset was amazing and relaxing with our legs hanging over the cliffs was just perfect. We made it back with just enough light thanks to the full moon and went back to the bar for more live music. With plenty of fresh beer in our hands and great new friends at our sides, we danced the night away. The second morning after eggs and toast for breakfast, James and I drove up to the mountains to hike up Longs Peak. The idea was that we would probably have a hard time doing a 14er without being acclimated to the altitude. Unfortunately it was a bit worse than I thought. I was out of breath just bending over to lace my hiking boots. After a couple miles we ascended above treeline and had amazing views all around us. A mile later we came to the trail turn-off for the lake at the bottom of the cliff straight to the peak. It was absolutely gorgeous looking to the cliff in front with the valley and another mountain behind us. Moving on we started climbing a bit more but it was never actually steep until we hit the boulderfield. Here was the basecamp where about ten tents were set up in rock windbreaks with ammo boxes to store the food in. At 4 we headed up the boulderfield with no trail to the appropriately named Keyhole. At 5 we went through and the view from the other side was ridiculous. The mountains seemed too steep to actually be standing and the lakes at the bottom were reflecting the sunlight straight at us. It was pretty scary because if we made one slip we were tumbling several thousand feet. The only bad part of the view were the thunderclouds staring us in the face and moving right for us. The peak was completely shrouded in clouds. We knew we only had a mile to go, but realized that we had to turn around. Being caught on these rocks in a storm would have meant death for us. We turned around and scrambled down the boulderfield, and my worse fear came true. Jumping down to a rock, I felt the tear in my left knee and the pain shoot down to my toes and up to my back. I limped six miles back down, watching the lightning overhead just waiting for my hairs to stand on end. We ended up in the dark because we were going so slow, but the stars were totally worth it. Once back to the car, we decided call James's cousin living in Denver to have a place to crash. Sleeping in, I woke to the planning session for the next few days. We decided that we needed a day off of hard hiking to let the joints rest. So if not hiking, then? Microbrews. We drove to Boulder to go on Avery's tour. It was a much smaller brewery than I've experienced, but they had a large selection and a great laid-back atmosphere. Their beers were hoppier than most and some had more than twice the alcohol content of normal beer. From there we drove to Left Hand Brewery in Longmount to enjoy a sampler of more amazing beers and great conversation with some locals. Heading back to Boulder we climbed to the top of the Flatirons. It was nothing compared to the previous day, but gave me a chance to see how my knee will do using treking poles. The view over the town was great because from over a thousand feet up, it was perfectly flat as far as you could see. It was just getting dark as we got back to the car. We grabbed a pizza and drove up to camp for the night. Pictures and video will be added when I get to a computer.