day 0 - The Airport
well...some bastard in Chicago ran thru security so they had to evacuate the
whole wing of the airport and my plane to colorado happened to be coming from
chicago so my flight was delayed by 3.5hrs...so i just kinda hung out in the
airport for awhile and wished i had brought a book with me or a pencil and
paper so that i could hit the airport people over the head or stab them...no
just kidding, they did what they could and once the plane arrived the flight
went very smoothly...arrived in denver and my sister drove me to her crib in
golden...
my sisters gay cat...shortly before i beat his ass for sleeping in my bed...and drinking my porridge...
day 1 - Lookout Mountain
woke up kinda late...decided to go for a bike ride on the chimney glutch trail
on lookout mountain...this is when i realized that riding up mile long hills
sucks...i think it was more like 6 miles to the top...took me about 2-3 hours
to go up and then about 30 minutes to get down...almost wiped out a few times
but i was able to save myself, decided that next time i should wear a helmet...
the foothills around golden...
looking down at the chimney gultch trail which i biked down soon after...
heres a deer id like to mount...oh no people, no...i mean mount as in kill it, chop its head off, rip out all of its entrials, stuff it, mount it on a piece of wood and put it on my wall...you thought i meant something sick like sex didnt you?...
a look at denver from lookout mountain...
looking towards the start of the real mountains from the top of lookout mountain...
day 2 - Rain
the british have surrounded us on the hill and we are outnumbered...luckily the
higher ground gives us an advantage over them so hopefully we can hold them off
until more renforcements come...ah...flashbacks are a bitch...if anyone ever
asks you to fight in a revolutionary war just say no, its not worth it...on my
second day in colorado, it rained...something that doesnt happen a whole lot
there, colorado is so dry its almost like a dessert...over 300 days of sunshine
is what they average each year...so since it was raining, my sister and i went
up to an outlet mall in the mountains...really cool location for a mall, right
on a rolling river and surrounded by mountains...almost makes shopping
enjoyable...i got a pair of hiking boots...
day 3 - Indian Peaks Wilderness Area
we hiked this trail that went around a lake...and then we were like what the
hell, all we did is walk around a lake...thats pretty weak...so then we hiked
up a trail that went up into the mountains...and then we were like what the
hell, that mountain didnt look that far away when we started...actually i would
have liked to have gone on but we had some weaker ones in the group so we
headed back down...really a beautiful area...
me and my sister by brainard river...
brainard river...
me by brainard river...
my sister crossing a log over a river on the way back from blue lake in roosevel park...
me and my sister...
probably mount audubon...
day 4 - Mathew/Winters
after taking a break from biking i figured i was ready to ride up some hills
again...the ride to the Mathew\Winters park was a bitch (up up up and up) and i
think thats mostly because of the altitude...there simply wasnt a high enough
concentration of oxygen in the air for me...but i got to the park, and the park
itself was really nice....the trail had a good balance of up and downs rather
than just up for 4 miles and then down for 4 miles...and it went through the
"red rocks" so the scenery was great...i only wiped out once...i was coming
down a hill and braking and i hit a pretty big rock and flipped over the handle
bars...just got some minor scratches and it didnt actually hurt that bad...i
stopped and hiked up one of the bigger red rocks and had lunch...it was pretty
cool...except when i dropped my camera off it...
"red rocks" from a distance...
"red rocks" from the top of one of the red rocks...
my hand after doing some rock scrambling, flipping over the handle bars of my mountain bike, and wrestling a grizzly bear to the ground...
day 5 - Mt. Evans
mt evans is a 14,000ft+ mountain which makes it among the tallest in
colorado...unlike most mountains tho, this one has a road that goes just about
all the way to the top...but its not a good road to be driving around on when
youre drunk...so me and my sister drove up the road and then hiked up the last
few remaining hundred or so vertical feet to the top of the mountain...we saw
some mountain goats in the distance and tried to hike over to them but they
disappeared into the great expanse of the mountain...you can see so far when
youre up on a mountain that it makes it really hard to judge distances...the
mountain seemed so sterile, just a bunch of rocks, like walking on the moon or
something...surprising that it supports any kind of life...after hanging out at
the top for a bit we drove down to summit lake which is at the base of the
mountain...we saw a few mountain goats crossing the road on our way...i just
told my sister to run them over...but she wanted to stop and take
pictures...they were very friendly and not scared of us at all...almost seemed
as if you could have gone up to them and petted them...they are probably used
to having people feed them...so we got to summit lake and started hiking around
a bit...and my sister points out this snowfield way up on the mountain and says
i should go up and get some snow...she was just joking...my family, or at least
my dad and sister, think i have really bad judgement when it comes to hiking,
like i am too risky...so i pretended that her suggestion was preposterous and
looked too dangerous...even tho in my head i was like, that sounds kinda
cool...so i kept hiking in the general direction of the snow and when i got to
where the real slope started i was like what the hell, im here, its here, and
my sister was barely visible in the distance behind me...so i started hiking up
and it wasnt too bad except that the rocks were very crumbly and very loose and
they were on a very steep slope......but eventually i made it up to the
snowfield and it was actually quite huge...there was a nice sound of water
melting off the glacier and running down the mountain...i hung out there for
awhile and then began to make my descent, this is when i realized how steep the
mountain was and how far up i had climbed...i couldnt stand up with out
slipping and feared that if i started sliding i would never stop...so i ended
up coming down on my hands and feet, like the spider crawl you learn in
elementary school...i caused a few small avalanches but made it down ok...ok,
maybe i dont have the greatest judgement...
me on the top of mt evans (elevation ~14,200')...2,000 feet below me you can see summit lake...dont ask what the "G" stands for on my hat...
me somewhere else on mt evans...
a baby mountain goat...
the baby mountain goats mom...
hi mom...
summit lake and mt evans...
hopping rocks on summit lake at the base of mt evans peak...
puddles of water below the snow field...
my sister hiking along summit lake (elevation 12,500') at the base of the peak of mt evans...
snow field up on mt. evans....
looking back at summit lake from the snow field...my sister is down there somewhere sitting on one of those boulders waiting for me to come back...
summit lake and me...
my sister somewhere on mt. evans...she wasnt ready when i took this picture, hence the strange facial expression...i guess youre supposed to say "say cheese" or something before you take a picture of someone...
me and a river that flows down from mt evans...