I Got a Nikon Camera, I Love to Take a Photograph

We went hiking last weekend in Rocky Mountain National Park to Chasm Lake. It was about an 8.5 mile hike roundtrip with a net elevation gain of about 2,400 feet. The trail is rated as "moderate" but I think that must be on the higher end of moderate because there was a whole lotta up on this trail. In fact, the route you take to get to Chasm Lake is the Long's Peak Trail, which goes to the top of 14,000 ft+ Long's Peak. You may remember me saying a few posts back that our goal was to summit Long's by the end of the summer. Well, using this hike as a measuring stick we may not be ready quite yet. I was feeling good at Chasm Lake and felt like I could go on, but summitting would have added another very strenuous 7 miles to our hike, and honestly after finishing at 8.5 I was pretty beat (along with everyone else in our party). Going up is ok, but going down is killer on my knees.

Anyway, the hike was well worth it and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. I took a bajillion pictures on the way (I really do have a Nikon camera...), some of which I included here:


Here is a shot of the sun rising over the Twin Sisters, which we summitted a few weeks ago. This is when we first started out. Even though we left really early to avoid any afternoon thunderstorms, it really wasn't necessary as the sky was a clear blue for our whole time out.

The first leg of the hike is through a thick woods named "Goblin's Forest." I didn't see any goblins, but I did see a bunch of cool, freaky trees like this one above. Since the trail lead straight up pretty much right off the bat, I didn't mind stopping and shooting a couple pics of them.

Coming out of the Goblin's Forest towards the tree line. Right after this the trail turned into huge rock steps that lead all the way up to the base of Long's and Mount Lady Washington. Did you hear about the guy who went to Mount Lady Washington? Her husband saw and got really ticked...

Once we hit the base of Mount Lady Washington's peak, the views were fantastic. There was even an open-air privy hanging on the side of the mountain that provided some very inspiring vistas in which to do your business. However, as comical as it was, I passed on the opportunity.

At the privy, the trail forks one way to the summit and the other to Chasm Lake. We took the trail to Chasm Lake which hung on the side of Long's and granted us spectacular views of several glacial lakes. This is Peacock Lake above, which I am guessing may be named after its amazing blue-green color. Also pictured is Columbine Falls, which we crossed over on the way to Chasm.

We had to cross several snow fields while transversing to the alpine meadow below Chasm Lake. These were pretty steep and even though it looked like a way fun hill to sled down, I wouldn't recommend it. You might not stop until you hit Estes Park if you do...

Once we got above Columbine falls, we entered an absolutely beautiful alpine tundra meadow. We followed this babbling brook for awhile and saw many butterflies, wildflowers, and even this guy...

Which leads to my obligatory marmot shot. They look much cuter when they aren't trying to steal my lunch...

At the end of the meadow we had to scramble straight up a wall of boulders and rock, which was pretty tough especially at that altitude. But after that we were finally at our destination, Chasm Lake, 11,760 feet above sea level. The backdrop pictured is the top of Long's Peak, but the lake is surrounded on all sides by Mt. Meeker, Long's, and Mt. Lady Washington. I can't even begin to express how serene and beautiful this place was. Very cool.

As you can see, there was still a layer of ice floating on the lake but it was starting to break up around the edges. Look at how clear that water is. Seriously, it was like glass. Very cold glass as I found out when I decided to test it out. A mid-hike swim was definitely out of the question.

Here is some guy standing out down by the lake. Funny, I think I saw this guy on our last hike...

Well, there are this week's pics. As I said, I took a whole schlew of them and it was hard trying to pick out just a few. While the straight up then straight down took it out of me, it was well worth it for the sights we encountered along the trail. I don't know if I'm ready for Long's yet, but I am definitely ready for some more hikes like that. Tons of fun.

Lookin’ for Some Hot Stuff Baby This Evenin’

Well, today is the first official day of summer. So up to this point all of the barbequing, sandal-wearing, outdoor swimming, etc. hasn’t counted. We will be celebrating the summer solstice here in Colorado with a near 100-degree F day. Yee-haw! You know, I love warm weather. But once it starts getting in the triple digits that’s even too warm for me. I usually try to head up into the mountains when that happens since it tends to be 10-15 degrees cooler, but that doesn’t really help when I’m driving down the road in a car with no AC or when attending a middle-of-the-day summer company picnic like yesterday. In fact, I’m sporting a pretty nice red forehead from that little venture. It could have been worse, I guess. Since the sun was directly above me I was spared the wonderful “raccoon look” from wearing my sunglasses.

I know what you’re thinking: Why didn’t you wear a hat and/or put on sunscreen you big dummy? Well, I normally do and I would have, except this was conveniently scheduled during the middle of the work day so everyone could (had to?) attend. So, in order to not mess up my well-coifed ‘do and to avoid smelling like coconut all day I passed. ‘Cuz you know, I’d rather look like a bright-red beet for a few days than have to spend a single afternoon with hat hair…

Anyway, in honor of the official start to my most favorite season, I was going to list off a top-whatever list of “summer” songs. Then, I realized that the vast majority of summer songs are incredibly lame or outrageously overplayed. Seriously, how many times can you hear “Summer in the City” or “Dancin’ in the Streets” before you start asking yourself if it is the end of September yet?

But I don’t want to disappoint, so I was able to come up with a handful of summer tunes:

Doin’ Time by Sublime. Ok, this is basically a cover of an old Gershwin tune that has been redone a thousand times, but I really like Sublime so they make the list.

Blue Sky by the Allman Brothers. Just a happy, feel-good tune. Plus, it is one of those few Allman Bros. songs that doesn’t have a woman’s name in the title…

Girl by Beck. I love Beck. This is a nice little pop track that he put out a year or two ago. It gets a lot of radio play around here, but in this rare case I don’t mind. A good tune to crank while driving along in your little tin can car with all of the windows rolled down because you don’t have AC…

Summertime by Janis Joplin. Basically the same song Sublime covered, but presented in such a different way I thought it would be ok to slip it on the list. Sultry and bluesy, Janis really nailed it on this lesser-known track of hers. She’s at her best when she gets raw and belts it out, and she definitely doesn’t disappoint on this one.

Summertime Blues by Eddie Cochran, but I like The Who’s version myself. However, every time I hear it I think of that weird outfit Roger Daltrey wore at Woodstock (I was going to link a picture of it, but couldn’t come up with a good one doing an image search. So, you’ll just have to trust me on this one…).

See? I’m already running low on good ones. Do I include “Summer” by War or “Hot Fun in the Summertime” by Sly & the Family Stone? I like both of those groups, but IMO those are some relatively weak tracks when compared to their other respective releases. I’m sure there are some more decent summer tunes out there, but all of the rest I can think of either suck completely (“Summer of ’69”by Bryan Adams, anyone?) or get an “eh…” like “In the Summertime” by Mungo Jerry or “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper. So, please help me out fellow bloggers. Any ones that I missed that deserve to go on the list? Any of the few that I did happen to mention that you disagree with? Feel free to chime in, we’ve got a few months.

While I'm Tryin' to Figure It Out I'm on This Ride For the Thrill Of It; Livin' the Dream That's What Life's All About

So, as promised here are some pics from last weekend's hiking expedition. We had the girls with us, so we didn't do any major summits this time around. Instead, we decided to do a nice hike to a Mills Lake in our usual stomping ground Rocky Mountain National Park.

Our first stop was Alberta Falls, which is a pretty popular spot considering it isn't that far off of the trailhead. Still, it is a pretty spot to rest, grab a drink, and take some pictures before heading on our way.



Here is another shot of the falls a little ways down the chute. Considering the number of down trees swept up by the river, the water must come down pretty powerfully from time to time.

Here is some guy who coincidently also happened to be hiking with his daughters. Boy, those are some of the whitest legs I've ever seen...

The trail to Mills Lake cuts through the side of Glacier Gorge, pictured above. Some of the most scenic parts of the hike came from this section.

This is on the final approach to Mills Lake right after departing Glacier Gorge. I don't know, I thought this puddle and piece of driftwood looked cool framed with the back of Mount Meeker, Long's Peak & company.

And here we finally are: Mills Lake. This picture doesn't do this place justice. It was absolutely beautiful, and despite there being other hikers at the lake today, it was still quite serene. Definitely well worth the hike to get there.

There's an old joke that says that Coloradoans get up earlier on the weekends than they do for work during the week. That's because you have to get in and out before you see one of these guys rolling in. Lucky for us we were almost done with our hike when this afternoon thundershower started coming over. We made it back dry and lightning free. I can't say the same for anyone on top of those peaks...

So, there are a few pics for ya. All told, we hiked about six miles. Both girls did great, though my 5 year-old ended up getting a piggy-back ride right at the very end. It was a very quiet ride home as both of them konked out right away. I had a ton of fun. I couldn't ask for a better way to spend Father's Day weekend.

Even If We Knew Which Way to Head, But Still We Probably Wouldn’t Go

***Warning*** This post is fairly self-serving, and was pretty much written to help me formulate my own thoughts so I can concentrate on obtaining the personal goals that I have set for myself. An attempt to inspire and motivate me to keep moving forward on the path I’m on, so to speak. Feel free to peruse and take from it what you will. Or you can just skip it and check back next week when I should have some more scenic hiking pictures to share. Your choice.



What can I say? Life is on an upswing for me right now. Just about three months into the new job and things are still going well. We are a week or so away from the start of my favorite season, and I have been trying to take full advantage of the beautiful weather we’ve had lately leading up to that point. The family is doing well, and I really have no complaints. It’s kinda funny because I was reading back through some of my older posts and it’s hard to believe that I ever let myself get so miserable. All it took was a few tweaks in my life (another job, shorter commute, etc) to drastically change my overall outlook. I know these things come in waves and that today’s peak is tomorrow’s ebb, but I am trying to do more to “tweak” how I’m living my life so those ebbs never become as deep nor last so long.

I know that sounds incredibly corny, like I’m some kind of late-night Tony Robbins infomercial guy (You, too, can lead a happy life! Just buy my book…), but I truly believe that for the most part we are masters of our own destiny. We can create our own happiness. It’s not easy, and it takes a lot of work, but I think it can be done. I know what I want and I am now trying to pursue those goals by taking the necessary steps to realize them.

I think that the hardest part of dream realization is the transition time. I have to invest the time, effort, blood, sweat, tears, etc, to get there. Nothing comes quickly, and we have to work hard to get to where we need to be. I can’t just say that I want something and expect it to be given to me. But how does one successfully maintain his/her current life and status while trying to achieve his/her desired life and status? Having to straddle each reality is difficult, and the more you try to reach out and invest in your desires, the wider your straddle becomes, making it more difficult to maintain. One has to gain flexibility to be able to make that stretch. My favorite excuse for putting off doing the steps to get to where I need to be is that I “don’t have any time.” But I had time. I just didn’t want to adjust my already full and rigid schedule to make room for that time. It wasn’t the task that was the problem. The problem was me and my inflexibility to change even when the end result was to my own benefit. I didn’t want to put in the investment towards a long-term reward when I was already comfortable living in the short-term, despite the knowledge that I would be much happier if the long-term payoff would ever come true.

I have known that I was my own worst enemy for a long time, but only until recently have I started to do things about it. I needed to change my paradigms and become flexible enough to make room for the tasks in which I wanted to accomplish. For example, I am one of those people who need to work out for many mental and physical reasons. I am not one of those naturally fit and trim people. I’m ok now, but if I don’t stay active, my body will put on weight and get all kinds of flabby in a hurry. But trying to squeeze in a workout 2-3 times a week when a lot of times my weekdays don’t end until 9:00 or so due to work, kids, etc, can get pretty tough, especially when one is looking to use those few precious hours that he/she has alone with his/her significant other to pencil it in. Plus, after all of that running around all day I often feel too worn out to all of a sudden get all active. So what did I do? I decided to get up an hour earlier a couple days a week and exercise then. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am definitely NOT a morning person. So, deciding to not only get up at 5:00am but to sacrifice an hour of precious sleep on my own volition is a huge deal for me. I’ve been doing it for a couple of months now, and so far I’ve stuck with it. I’m not going to lie to you. It’s really hard for me to get out of bed that early especially when contemplating that ever-attractive snooze alarm vs. getting up first thing in the morning and physically exerting myself. However, that little bit of sacrifice has really paid off for me. Plus, in the long run what will mean more to me? Getting that extra hour of sleep or my physical and mental well-being?

I’ve also made a goal to get out and do a lot more hiking this summer. I love the mountains and I love to hike. However, that, too, involves getting up at an ungodly hour to do it (and on the weekend, nonetheless). Did I really want to forgo my sleep-in Saturday to get up at the crack of dawn? As much as I hated to do it, I did and the payoff was well worth it (see previous post). The old John would have argued that Saturday was “my day” and that I had earned the right to sleep in after a long week of work. But why was I working? So I could afford the life I wanted to lead. As I said, I love the mountains and I love to hike. If I wasn’t doing it so I could grab a couple hours of more sleep, was I really living the life I wanted to lead? Years from now I will remember that hike and how awesome it was. I can honestly say that I’m not thinking back to myself saying, “Remember that Saturday I slept in back in ’96? Boy, that was that the defining moment of my life.”

But both of those cases are just smaller scale examples of the philosophy I have now decided to apply to my entire life. We only get one spin on this merry-go-round, and I want to make my ride worth it and know that I spent my time well. I’ve had time all-the-while. I just wasn’t spending it wisely. The hard part will be trying to make this philosophy stick. I can feel the straddle getting wider. I just need to keep myself flexible and looking ahead to the time when I can finally step-off and stand firmly in the place where I want to be. I control my destiny and I can make it happen. Where I am at is pretty good, but I can do better. Here’s to working towards that goal.

An Image of You and of Me and We're Laughing and Loving It All

So, one of my big goals this year was to get a lot of good hiking in this summer. I used to be all into it, but once the girls were born it was kind of hard to really get out there and get some good climbs in. We take them on little 3-mile nature hikes now and they do ok, but with their little legs they're not exactly ready to take on any big peaks. My wife works with a lady who used to climb fourteeners regularly with her husband, but they kinda fell out of it in the last couple of years due to a lack of climbing partners and just overall burnout. So when they heard that we were looking to get back into the groove, they offered to have their daughter watch the girls and we began to plan our summer outings.

This past weekend was the first of our hikes this year, and we started out on a moderate climb, the Twin Sisters just adjacent to Rocky Mounatin National Park. This mountain is so named by its two prominant peaks and has an elevation of 11,428 feet.


The first part of the 7.4 mile roundtrip is a steady climb through a trail in the woods. This part is fairly gradual, with several switchbacks along the way.

Here we are finally out of the woods and above the treeline. You can see row after row of the smaller foothills going out into the horizon. That's the town of Estes Park down below.

Above the treeline, it was pretty much rock scrabble all of the rest of the way. There was still a decent trail to follow so we had to do minimal scrambling. As you can see, even though it is called "Twin" Sisters, there are several smaller peaks in between the two major ones. So it's actually a whole gaggle of sisters, a "Little Women" of mountains, if you will.

Getting closer... We really lucked out with some fabulous weather. We had to get up at the very crack of dawn so we could summit and get down before the afternoon weather started rolling in. It was well worth it. Besides a few straggling clouds the sky was clear blue. Check out those snow-capped peaks in the background. Simply amazing and, honestly, the pictures don't do that view justice. Awe-inspiring, for sure.

We made it! Well, most of us anyway. I'm still lagging behind playing around with the camera. Oddly, there was a woman sitting crosslegged on top when we got there. I tried to ask her what was the meaning of life but she told me to buy a dictionary. Go figure.

Here is a view of Mount Meeker (the shorter of the two) and the fourteener, Long's Peak. Our tentative goal is to summit Long's by the end of summer, but we'll see. I've heard it's a pretty tough one, but I can see it from my house and have stared at it since I moved here over 10 years ago and have wanted to conquer it. Check back in late August to see if make good on that one or not.

Once we got to the top we took a break and had a snack. Then a marmot came who was also interested in eating my lunch.

Get away you oversized squirrel!!! This guy was a monster, seriously. He was really agressive, too. Apparently he had a taste for cheese & crackers and trail mix. We eventually had to scare him off with a hiking pole, though if he did manage to take my lunch I would be wearing a marmot-skinned hat on my next trip...

A shot of the other twin sister. I don't know if that's Mary-Kate or Ashley. I can never tell them apart.

Hey, I was up there once. After we got back down, the dark clouds started rolling in. We met a lot of people going up as we were coming down. I sure hope they didn't get caught in a storm. The weather was still great when we got back to town. We had a bbq to celebrate the day, and then we went home to shower and groan about our sore muscles the rest of the night (and most likely the next few days after).

I know I've said it a bajillion times, but life in Colorado is good. Man, I love summer.

Where I's Headed, Well, I Didn't Really Say; The Road was Calling and I's on My Way

Ok, sorry, I know I'm a bit late with these, but here are some shots from my Memorial Day weekend roadtrip:



Curecanti Recreational Area. This is the south part of the Black Canyon, where it opens up into the very impressive Blue Mesa Reservoir. We took an hour and a half boat ride from the reservoir up into the canyon. The first half consists of a tour guide sharing the history of the canyon while the second half was a chance to get up, relax, and snap some sweet pictures.

After the boat ride, we went into neighboring Black Cayon of the Gunnison National Park and looked down. This is a shot of the North Rim of the canyon right off of the Chasm View overlook. This is the narrowest part of the canyon, about 2,100 feet from the bottom.

The Painted Wall, so named by the streaks of color in the wall due to magma shooting through the original rock layers over a billion years ago. Boy, I sound like I know a lot about geology, but really the tour guide in the boat told me that.

Um, this is just a pretty shot that I like. My daughter found a wildflower laying on the path, but the sign said not to pick them, so she set it in the knot of this rail so no one would think that she picked it. My wife came up behind us and caught the picture.

On the way home we stopped in Colorado Springs and climbed to the top of Helen Hunt Falls (I'm really trying hard to suppress a lame Mad About You joke here...). This is about halfway up the falls before the main, big drop.

So, there are a few scenery shots of Southwest Colorado. It was a beautiful weekend and I had a super amount of fun. I know I got all gushy in my last post about how much I love Colorado summers, but seriously, with places like this right out your backdoor how could you not love living here? Anyway, it was a great kick-off to the summer season and I am way pumped to get out there and enjoy those mountains some more.