My plan is to leave Ouray the following day after the Bear Creek hike. But I get an email from Bobbie saying “If anyone is interested in a hike on Tuesday, I’ll take you up to Columbine Lake.” I have been intrigued by this hidden alpine lake since the Bullion King hike, when we stood at the top of the ridge with Blue Lake on one side and Mill Basin on the other, as Bobbie told us, Continue reading
Wildflower season is winding down in the San Juans, and so is our Ouray Utopia. It has been an incredible time here, connecting with former friends and making new ones. The hiking has been among the most spectacular I have done yet, way up there, where the air is rarefied. My addiction for “getting high” has grown stronger than Colorado’s legalized marijuana business. Continue reading
Blaine Basin trail is a beautiful, moderate 6.5 mile hike with 1,850’ elevation gain. The trail starts out through dense forest alongside a musical brook, crosses Wilson Creek three times, and ends up in a gorgeous wildflower-filled basin beneath the face of Mt. Sneffels. That’s about all I can tell you.
I wasn’t feeling it on this hike, and I am still not feeling it looking back. But that is certainly no reflection on the hike itself. It was beautiful, and of all the hikes we have done in Ouray, it had the least incline. But I struggled Continue reading
I left Texas on a Wednesday, after two weeks of mowing, weed eating, and general maintenance required to get Mom restocked, refueled, and reset before my flight back to Colorado. It was 106 the day before I left. I realize that is nothing to the Arizona contingent, but in the Dallas area, there is no such thing as a “dry heat!” Continue reading
Bullion King Lake was the last hike I did before leaving Ouray for Texas after receiving news from home that my Dad had died. But even if I didn’t have that sharpened sense of hindsight, looking back on such a glorious day from 106 degree heat of the dry dust-bowl of Central Texas, it still would have ranked up there with one of the best hikes ever. But then, while in Lovely Ouray, I seem to say that about every hike. Continue reading
Rare is the moment that I don’t have a song lyric playing through my head. Any word, phrase, or scene can set me off, as my brain contains a database of songs for all occasions. Most times, I can keep it in my head, but then there are those times when I just lose control, and lyrics come tumbling off my tongue like a case of tourettes syndrome. Often times it’s subconscious, and I only realize it has happened when someone turns around and gives me the stink-eye. Continue reading
Once again I find myself overwhelmed at the kindness in my comment box. Thank you all for your words of comfort extended to my family during these difficult days back on the farm.
I often take stock of the incredible places in which I find myself, and the bonus of like-minded community that I am so fortunate to have found as a result of this blog. Never could I have imagined the network of friends that would come as a result, particularly for a self-proclaimed “loner” like me. Continue reading
Still chasing wildflowers, Mark gets word that Spirit Basin is near peak. A master at logistics, he figures out a way to drop off Pet Rex along the Million Dollar Highway. We will then shuttle eight of us up to Spirit Basin for a one way hike, while still leaving Bobbie a way to bug out early, since it’s a work day. Continue reading
So now that I am fully acclimatized (said with a wink and a grin!) it is time to do the one hike that has been on my mind since discussions began last winter about a summer visit to Colorado. For three summers now, I have watched posts on the Box Canyon Blog about a place called “Ice Lake,” only accessible by foot. Year after year, I watch as Mark and Bobbie guide friends and family up to this most magical of places Continue reading
I have had altitude sickness twice in my life – once on my attempt to summit Kilimanjaro, and again in Nam Tso Lake in Tibet. I liken it to sea sickness, in that I would do just about anything to make it stop. As best I can describe, it feels like your brain is suddenly two sizes larger than your skull, and my gray matter might begin protruding from the eyeballs at any given moment. Each move must be made in slo-mo, otherwise everything pounds and pulsates with every step. Call me paranoid, but it is not an experience I wish to repeat. So when Box Canyon Mark says Continue reading