Meet The Parents

My parents were in town this past weekend. They arrived last Thursday evening. I was showing off the bike path in my backyard as my mom calls it, when we found out about a bull elk that was nearby. It was having dinner about 1/4 of a mile from my apartment. Pretty cool, but I am quite surprise to see an elk wander this far into town. On Friday while I was working, my parents went for a walk on the Bear Creek Bike Path and saw the elk again. It was heading further into town. I guess the elk was trying to get away from all of the hippies that were at Red Rocks for the band Widespread Panic.

On Saturday, I took my parents to Long Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. I was there a couple of weeks ago. The elevation is not too bad for Colorado, only about 10,500 ft. We walked part of the ways around the lake.
Mom, Dad (a.k.a. Pops on this site), and myself at Long Lake.






On Sunday, I took them over Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. The temperature was probably in 80's in the mountains. It was cool when the wind blew. Back in Denver the temperature reached 100° F. It was good to be in the mountains. We did a short hike off of Trail Ridge Road that took us to an elevation of 12,300 Ft. I didn't tell Pops that we were that high till after we were finished hiking. He wouldn't have gone if he had known.













Mom, Dad (a.k.a. Pops on this site), and myself with Trail Ridge Road in the background.

After crossing over the Divide, we went through Grand Lake and Granby. This area, I am sad to say, is in great danger of a major fire. It looked like 80 percent of the trees were brown from what I assume is the pine beetle. It just looks like it is just a matter of time before something bad happens there. Anyway, from there we headed back to my home by going over Berthoud Pass to I-70. I-70 was slammed with people going home, but it crept along faster than other places I have lived.

After getting home I watched the Gold Cup Final between U.S. and Mexico that I had taped during the day. Great Game! U.S. won 2-1. The game-winning goal by Benny Feilhaber was spectacular to say the least. After I finished watching the game, we went to Ted's Montana Grill for some Bison Burgers. Very tasty!

On Monday, while Dad was opening the blinds to my apartment, he spotted the Elk wandering through the parking lot of my apartment complex.
This picture was taken through my bedroom window on Monday morning.






The elk was heading west towards the foothills. The hippies would have left Red Rocks by now, so I guess the Elk felt it was safe to go back.

My parents left at about 9 this morning. They are on their way to Montana.

Until next time,

-M

Mike Almighty

Today, I climbed Mt. Sniktau (13,234 Ft.) This is the highest I've been since moving to Colorado. Mt. Sniktau is a relatively easy 13er. It has easy access because the trailhead is at Loveland Pass (11,990 Ft.) Round Trip is only 3.36 miles according to summitpost.org. The trail starting out of Loveland Pass follows the Continental Divide and is well used. After about a mile of up, the trail to Mt. Sniktau leaves the Divide. Fortunately, this is where the people disappear as well. They either keep following the Divide or turn around. I saw one person coming down as I was going up. On top it was just me, a marmot, a chipmunk, and the pika on the rock. I spent close to an hour up there with out seeing anyone.













That's me on top of Mt. Sniktau. The Man, The Myth, The Legend. That goes out to my Bro and my "other" Bro. Sorry I didn't get to see you this weekend.














Me with what I believe is Torreys Peak (a 14er) in the background.

Happy "Pops" Day!

-M

Eli's Coming

On Sunday, I met up with a friend of mine to go hiking. My buddy, Devon, has a dog that was coming along. The dog, Ely, doesn't like me very much. Fortunately, he got over this dislike during this trip. Which was good since he was sitting behind me in the vehicle. Anyway, Devon introduced me to the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Beautiful area. It can't be much more than an hour away. Our hike took us up to Lake Isabelle. There is still quite a bit of snow on the ground. The elevation of the lake is just under 11,000 ft.

Devon and Ely walking down to Lake Isabelle.

Me and Ely at Lake Isabelle. Ely is the dog.

Another Day In Paradise

I just hung out in Paradise; I mean Colorado this past weekend. No big adventure to follow the previous weekend. Saturday, I took care of some things around town and watched soccer on TV. On Sunday, I went up to the mountains briefly. It is nice having the Continental Divide a little less than an hour away. I went for a short hike at Loveland Pass. It is what I would call a high altitude training exercise. Nice place to train. Here is a picture.

This view is looking towards the Arapahoe Ski Basin.

On my previous post, "This Means Something", I talked about going to Mount Rushmore. I forgot to mention that I looked for the backside of Mt. Rushmore like Frank & Ernest did. Unfortunately or fortunately, I couldn't find the view they had.

-M