Cheyenne Mountain in the Morning.

Last Monday I was getting my stuff together for my trip back East when this scene outside of my window caught my eye. I have been trying to dry out some equipment from the trip to RMNP but we have had more rain during June, in Colorado Springs, than we have had in the last year. Unfortunately that does not make drying out equipment easy. However, the heavy clouds settled low across the valley and around the mountains creating the beautiful picture that you see above.

Rocky Mountain National Park: Part 3

This is going to be short and sweet. I will be on the road again tomorrow. I'm heading in to Pittsburgh for one night to see the Home Run Derby with my buddy Jim. I'm in Columbus the rest of the week, back to Pittsburgh for the weekend then up to Buffalo for sectionals. If things go well I'll get to meet up with Danny V. when I'm in Ohio.

Swimming in a fifty-degree lake at 11,000 feet wasn't enough for one day. Russell and I were catching football at the campsite when he decided we should try to find the "Lost Falls". They weren't really lost they just didn't have a trail leading to them. We made our way through the woods and were rewarded with a truly amazing sight: a three or four tiered waterfall they went fell close to vertically for about 50-75 yards then continued on for another 50 yards at a less severe angle.

Seeing the falls was amazing but climbing up and down the sides was breathtaking. You could feel the power of the water as it crashed on the rocks and sent a fine mist up into the air. We had been able to hear the falls from our campground a mile away but the waterfall was deafening when you were right next to it. When Russell and I shouted at each other we could barely make out the words.

When we finished the hike we had our last camp meal and went to bed. Despite all of the activity for the day neither one of us slept well. We got up around six; packed up camp; ate some breakfast; and hit the trail. It took us about 2-1/2 hours to get to the trailhead and into the car. When we added it all up we put in about 30 miles of hiking for the weekend.

It was a good thing that we were able to put this weekend together. In the next two months we'll both spend more time out of Colorado than in it. Please take the opportunity to visit RMNP if you get the chance. It's an amazing park and I have some ideas for future trips. Let me know if you want to come!

Rocky Mountain National Park: Part 2

After hiking in to RMNP on Saturday Russell and I spent the rest of the day setting up camp, scouting the trails and taking pictures. After a fitful night of sleep (our camp was at 9,700 ft.) we set out for Lost Lake on the Lost Lake Trail.

The area we were in was a huge valley. Mt. Dunraven was to the south and a fantastic ridge loomed over us to the north. Once we reached Lost Lake (below) we decided to press on to the end of the valley. The trail ended after we passed Lost Lake so we set out cross country for Lake Louise and Lake Husted which sat at about 11,000 feet above sea level. The terrain was boulder-strewn tundra and some pine trees. Our progress was halted for about a 1/2-hour as we sat out a hail storm.

When we finally reached the top of the valley we were treated to two beautiful, glacier fed lakes. Of course one of our goals was to swim in one of the lakes. We chose to get in Lake Husted. The water felt like it was around fifty degrees and it made me gasp when I went underwater. We were able to stay in the water for a couple of minutes before our joints began to get really tight. The water was about two-feet deep but dropped off to an unknown depth after wading out about 50 feet. The picture below of me on the rock shows the glacier in the background and the north ridge. I'm sure the rock I'm standing on will disappear later in the summer when the melt-off is complete. In Russell's picture you can almost see the ridge where the drop-off begins.

After drying off and warming up we set off back for our camp. We accidently ran into a moose grazing and were able to follow him/her for a bit before it became completely spooked and ran away. We had an awesome meal (dehydrated Tomato Chipotle Pasta) and caught a little football before we decided to head back out to try to find the Lost Falls.

As usual, both Russell and I are posting pictures and stories from the weekend. If you want to see more pictures visit his site at Russell's Wild and Crazy Adventures.

Rocky Mountain National Park: Part 1

This past weekend Russell and I celebrated our time off from work hiking and camping at RMNP. If you look at the map below; the trail we took starts at the northernmost section of the park. Actually it begins in Roosevelt National Forest at the North Fork Trailhead. We followed the Lost Lake Trail to our campsite; keeping our activities within the ridges to the north and south and no further than Lake Louise and Lake Husted which sit right below a glacier. We also had an opportunity to take a side trip to the Lost Falls which were amazing.

Once we set our base camp at the Lost Falls camps we spent the weekend swimming in glacier lakes (as cold as it sounds!), tracking moose and climbing waterfalls. Please check back for more pictures and details.

DVD Recommendation: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

The only thing I regretted about watching this movie is that I didn't see it in the theaters. This is easily the funniest movie I have rented in a while and definitely the funniest of 2006. The movie is part detective pulp fiction, part romance and part comedy. Whoever cast this movie did a brilliant job. Imagine having Iceman (Top Gun), Julian Wells (Less Than Zero) and Roger Dorn (Major League) all on the screen at the same time. Of course I am talking about Val Kilmer, Robert Downey Jr. and Corbin Bernsen. Michelle Monaghan, who I am not familiar with, played the smoking-hot love interest of Downey Jr.

There was so much to love about this movie; even the names of the characters were awesome: Gay Perry, Harry Lockhart, Harlan Dexter and Harmony Faith Lane. The humor is primarily dialogue driven, so pay attention! There is some physical humor; if you don't fall over laughing when Harry discovers the corpse in his shower you have no sense of humor (or I am particularly warped).

Be aware that this is an R-rated murder mystery that definitely earns its rating. The film is less than two hours, weaves in and out of plot lines and makes many attempts to confuse you. It's quick moving and totally entertaining. If you get the chance rent it this weekend.

Blodgett Peak

Today we finally made it to the summit of Blodgett Peak after talking about it for a couple of months. We gathered our crew at about 9:45 AM and started up the trail. Russell, Amy, Brady, Annie, John, Ellen and JB all made the summit in about an hour and fifty minutes.

The hike up and down was the highlight of the trip. The view was nice but not anything we haven't seen before. I suppose I am starting to get spoiled now. I did get a pretty sweet picture (below) of the Air Force Academy which we overlooked from the summit.

I really enjoyed the scrambling we did on the boulders and the sliding on the skree we did to get up and down. The hike was not bereft of scenery though. When we were just about to the bottom we came across this really beautiful cactus flower. It was good to get back out on the trails and I hope to get a few more in before I head out on the road again in two weeks.

The Last Victory

As most of you already know I have been in the office two days out of the last twenty-five. As soon as I finished my last trip I was headed back east for a visit to Pittsburgh and Rochester, NY. One of the highlights of my trip was going to the Pirate game with my dad. We went because I was home, it was the week before Father's Day and I am a huge Bucco fan (yes, I still am). However, it was amazing to go to the game with my dad when a year ago to the date he was barely recovered from the worst physical ordeal of his life. The credit for his recovery has nothing to do with modern medicine but his will to live.

We went to Del's for the pregame where we ate up all the pizza and pasta they put in front of us and washed it down with a couple of brews. We walked across the Roberto Clemente Bridge and got in our seats by the bottom of the first. The game was fantastic. The Pirates beat the Cardinals 9-7 in an exciting game that featured little in the way of pitching. Zach Duke did have three RBIs and Jose Castillo continued his push for the All-Star game with his glove and his bat. Unfortunately that win would be their last; they have dropped 11 in-a-row since.

Annapolis-Baltimore-Chicago

I'm back! I'm sorry about the hiatus. I had some computer problems on the road and I hate trying to update on Wi-Fi because it is so slow. Anyway, I had a great time time. When I got to Maryland I drove to Baltimore to meet Dragon and Russell on the tail end of their six-city baseball tour.

The rest of the weekend was great. Russell, Miss Sue Anderson and I went to the Eastern Zone Select Camp in Annapolis. The picture above is of the harbor beside the Naval Academy. I thought the town of Annapolis was sweeter than the academy grounds. We had some great meals and even better discussions.