Rocky Mountain Hiker

So it's been a bit again...

2011-03-12T00:05:00.003-07:00

So it's been a little since the last post, notice, not a year this time, so moving the right way, no?

While I was glad to get out hiking again at the end of last year, I'm terribly disappointed in how little I did. As a result of that, I gained back a good bit (alright, almost all) of the weight I'd lost since taking up hiking. There's not really any way to describe how annoying and disappointing that is. While I never got away from 'fat' I did move more towards a healthier weight, and I was feeling pretty good.

Now that we've had a good stretch of clear and quite nice weather, interrupted a few times by a cold snap or two, I've decided to try and get back into the groove of things. I started doing a bit of exercise with one of those DVD series (not really hiking training, but, will help move towards my previous weight) of workouts. Nothing crazy, just a 10 minute thing every day.

As this is a hiking blog type thing, I'm also going to attempt to hike every weekend. Even if that hike is just up Rattlesnake Gulch, or maybe the Eldorado Trail. Both are about 6 miles round trip (or I can do 6 miles of it, Eldorado Trail is about 7 miles, as I recall.) For reminders of those two places, and well, because I tend to do pictures on here...

Rattlesnake Gulch:

Eldorado Trail:

Yep, the first one is from a long time ago, and I've probably used it before. The second, not sure if I've used it before, but it's from a while ago.

Wait, what?

2011-02-27T19:17:00.007-07:00

So yeah, I've been way lazy about posting here, and well, last year I didn't get much hiking done. Not that I didn't want to, but I just didn't get to.

I did do one hike, however, and it was the first camping I've done with my dad.

We managed to get a fairly early start on the hiking, about 7:15 AM. Which meant we left for the trailhead around 5:00 AM. I know what you're thinking, and yes, contrary to personal belief, there IS a 5 AM! Who knew?

We got dropped off at about 7 that morning at the Long Gulch Trailhead in the Lost Creek Wilderness. Chilly? Yes, it was. It was September, after all!

A stream crossing and a couple hours later, it was still cold in the shade, though it did turn into a beautiful day. I said it was cold, right?

Yeah, that's frost on the ground, and it's 9 AM!

We stopped for lunch at Rock Creek, almost 7 miles in to the hike already. 7 miles only broken up by the sound of water, and of an elk running in the trees. Too bad we never saw it, only heard it.

After lunch was a big clump of uphill. Not even the courtesy to give us a level spot! Uphill far enough that you can't see it all in the picture, actually...

We'd gone almost 8 miles so far, and it was only getting to be about 2 PM, and since neither of us had done much of any hiking that year, it was getting to be the end of what we wanted to do for the day. We had planned on using two separate tents, because I'd just gotten a new one, and this was going to be the trial run for it.

Unfortunately for me, it turned out that it was the wrong tent straight from the store! I'd purchased the Fly Creek UL 2 tent, which it was labeled as..wasn't. It was the UL 1. As in 1 person. Not a good discovery when you're in hiking a good distance. I'd set the tent up before, but, just thought it looked a bit small and figured it was because it was A) an ultra light tent and B) it was an ultra light tent...whups.

I have to say though, REI did me right by that. I'd purchased the tent earlier that year with their member reward with 20% off (Have I mentioned I love REI?) When returning the tent, and explaining what happened, they gave me an additional 20% off.

While I set up camp, my dad went and got water, and we sat down for a while to grab something to snack on while evening came in.

The next day started off to a good spot of the trail, that was fairly level, for a while. Lots of nice spots along it to camp, or sit back and relax. Groves of aspen trees, with a few pine trees sticking out of them.

After a long trek upwards, we came to the point where we started heading down towards Kenosha pass. Lots of aspen, lots of pine, and lots of amazing shades of green spread across one hill side. It's surprising how different the stage of changing trees can go through in one grove.

After an easy 6 miles or so, mostly down hill, we finally arrived at the Kenosha Pass parking lot, where there were lots of signs, telling of the history of the area, restrooms, water, everything you could want after a long hike. We wandered out of the parking lot to where we'd parked early the morning before, beside the highway.

And here's the picture of the difference that happens in one grove of trees:

Amazing, isn't it?

It's that time again

2010-02-15T22:38:00.004-07:00

Well, looking back over to the last post, I realize it's been ages since I did one. When I started this I intended on doing a daily post, which morphed to a weekly, which morphed to a monthly, and now it has managed to get to quarterly or longer. Whups.

But, never fear, the new year is here, and a new hiking season will be upon us sooner than can be imagined. Granted, people do winter hiking and camping, it's just not for me. Yet. I feel the new season will bring a fresh round of pictures and tales of adventure. After reading the last bit of that statement, I realize I've been reading far too much Lord of the Rings. While there is no doubt it will be an adventure being in the back country of Colorado once again, it'll be nothing like those adventures.

I can only state that I wish I'd thought more of it, and made it more of a priority to stay in good hiking shape over the last months. Unfortunately, I haven't, and I fear I'll regret that to no end. Not to say that I was ever in all that great of shape last season, but I did make some strides towards being 'less pear shaped' shall we say. Anyways, on to the new season, and on to continuing the hike along towards Durango on the CO Trail.

I know I'll most likely spend far too much time hiking the trails in Eldorado again, but I do love being so close to a place I can hike for 6 hours, then be back home in time for dinner and a movie.

As for those of you who want a picture or two for some reason, here's a couple of them for you that are large enough to use as backgrounds (1200x900 pixels, originals are 4000x3000.)

Rattlesnake Gulch..

2009-09-03T23:55:00.006-06:00

I do this hike far too often. What can I say though, it's a good distance (about 6 miles round trip) and has a nice elevation gain (about 900ft in gain) and has some great views to the west and east. Since I started hiking a year ago (about June 28, 2008) I've done this trail at least 6 times, and every time I enjoy it. Anyways, enough babble about that, on to the pictures!

I started off on the trail around 9:15 AM, lugging Mike's 50D with me. I do enjoy using that camera, but it's a bit heavier than I'd like to carry on an extended hike, like the CO Trail one I still want to do (and I'm still learning how to take any sort of decent picture with it.) Unlike many of the pictures in my previous posts, this one is mostly things that stood out, and not so much the scenery.

As I worked my way up from the Fowler trail, I saw the familiar sights along the way, big boulders, pine trees, aspen, a few birds, and a few people, though nothing caught my attention right away. Well the scenery did, but I've posted it to death. I'll probably post more eventually, but, not tonight.

I wandered my way to the Continental Divide Overlook, and decided to have lunch. I set my pack down on the bench and grabbed my lunch and sat down beside my pack. There was no one around, and I sat listening to a gentle breeze blowing through the pine trees behind me (there really is nothing quite like that sound.) After a little I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye, and saw these two running around, looking for food that someone had dropped.

A few minutes more listening to the wind and watching the two chipmunks run around, and I decided I'd had a long enough rest and it was time to get moving again. So back down the trail I went, to the Rattlesnake Gulch Loop, and proceeded uphill!

I took off on a small side trail that goes to a great overlook spot, and I had to take a few pictures.

Another minute or two of looking out over the mountains to the 14ers far off in the distance, I decided to get a move on again, going back down to the loop and continuing uphill. Which brought me to a few flowers..

As I drew closer to the highest point on the trail, I started to hear birds chirping, and after a little looking, I found one and waited for him..finally he landed a little ways ahead of me on the trail. I forgot what it's called, so no name for it!

As he flew off, I started up the trail again. Finally crossing the highest point, I took a picture I've taken before, only this time, all the leaves were green instead of bright red.

A little farther down, just before reaching the path to the railroad tracks, I saw this flower, and just before I took a picture, a butterfly landed on it, giving me this shot (I wish I'd gotten one of its wings open as it landed.)

Finally I was to the downhill section of the Loop!

I saw another flower that stood out to me, contrast to the green and red all around it.

And just before I got to the Craig's Hotel site, I looked out across the canyon for this shot.

I finally got back to where I'd started from, and decided to take a few pictures of the river while I was relaxing a bit before the drive home.

Long time no post.

2009-09-03T22:57:00.003-06:00

Ah yes, it's been a while since I've posted. Probably because I haven't been able to hike much since Mt Democrat. No physical reason, just not as much opportunity and time as I'd like. I did one hike in Eldorado, up Rattlesnake Gulch again, but everyone's seen the pictures of that place, though there are a few nice ones from it. If I can find them. For a while I thought that I may have deleted the originals (the RAW files, I had half size jpgs left, but ew) in a recent computer reloading. All hope is not lost, however, as I found them. I'm so glad I have an external HD to back up to.

Give me a few hours to pick out and do some editing, and I'll have a post up and running.

Mt Democrat

2009-07-24T20:20:00.006-06:00

This last weekend I went with the BCC group and did Mt Democrat. I was hoping to do all 4 (Democrat, Cameron, Bross and Lincoln) but at the top of Democrat my feet started hurting (specifically my heels, which just get worse as I walk more,) and I decided not to. Anyways, we left at about 5:15 AM, and got to the trail head and started hiking at about 8AM.

The trail heads off from Kite Lake. From this trail, you can do the four mountains. The trail is mostly a circle, that ends up with 4 shots off of it, one to the top of each. Kite lake gets its name for, well obvious reasons:

Along the side of Mt Democrat, there are several waterfalls that feed into Kite Lake:

They're fed by snow melt, and there were still several large snowfields around on the mountains, even though it's July. One of them that you have to cross to summit, was at least 50ft long, and about a foot deep (I don't know how wide it was, because I couldn't see the other side after it dropped over the edge.

From the saddle between Democrat and Cameron:

When I reached the summit, there were probably 25 people there. While I ate my lunch and relaxed a bit and took some pictures, a couple of people asked if I'd take their picture with a sign they made, they then offered to take mine with it (Their elevation is off, it's actually closer to 14,140 ft)

It was extremely windy on the way up and down Democrat, and in some gusts, it would have been easy to lose your footing if you weren't being careful. Now I can cross one more 14er off my list. Only 52 to go.

Eldorado Trail, I actually did it this time

2009-06-28T17:11:00.012-06:00

So I got to looking again, and found out that I'd forgotten to do a post on the Eldorado Trail that I did a while back. I did the post about when I had to call it off, but not on when I'd actually done it. I started off my dropping my dad off on the Walker Ranch Loop Trail, which he was going to do between two trailheads. The one I'd dropped him off at, and the one I would leave my car at. We headed out on Saturday May 9th for our hike, and got there around 10:30AM.

After that, I hopped back in my car and drove 10 minutes to the next trailhead. It was about 1.5 miles of trail or so between the two spots. When I got to the Ethel Harold Trailhead of the Walker Ranch Loop, I was the only one there, which was kind of cool.

It was a beautiful day for a hike, probably 60 degrees at most. I'm kind of a slow hiker, but still didn't see many people on the trail, on this end.

I've taken that pic before, but it you couldn't see anything nearly as well because of the fog.

After about a mile on the Walker Ranch Loop, I came to the Eldorado Trail trailhead.

You start out down in the canyon, near South Boulder River, and work your way up to a ridge at about 7,600ft. Along the way, you come across an interesting sign:

There's about 2 miles before you reach the ridge, and the trail raises slowly towards it, taking several switchbacks, some buried in the trees, others at the edge, giving a glimpse of mountains further back.

From there, you head down into Eldorado Canyon. I was planning on taking pics of the view from there, but started talking to another hiker that was heading the same way as I was, that had never been to Eldorado before, and it slipped my mind. Scary, I know.

The trail turns and follows the ridge for a while before turning and heading down into the canyon. Here you lose most of the shade that's provided along the way up from Walker Ranch, and start walking on a trail that's in the sun most of the time. There's trees every once in a while, but the majority of this end of the hike is in the sun.

After a fair distance, you are down under the cliffs that have been closed, with trees hiding them from you. The trail follows the side of the mountain around, passing through several gullies, and for the most part is almost flat, barely going downhill at all.

A bit farther down the trail, you start going through trees a bit more, and climbing back up slightly, over some rocks, though nothing extreme, and enter into Eldorado Canyon State Park. After entering the park, the trail begins to go down hill through lots of switchbacks, and gets steep in a few places. You also start to see more and more people as you get farther into the park and closer to the trailhead.

You finally end up down at the road above the river in the canyon, which is the trailhead in Eldorado.

Blast from the past

2009-06-27T18:20:00.007-06:00

Since I just got the new netbook, and figured out how to make my phone share out my internet access, I get to post and surf the net from where ever I really feel like it now. So, while sitting around feeding my caffeine addiction, I decided to start looking through some of my older pics from last year, and came across the ones from Humboldt Peak. Some are good enough to post, I guess. I'll have to upload them when I get home, because this connection isn't the best for that kind of thing, but I can at least write this thing while I sit here.

This one is from the trail to the campsite near the base of the Crestones, a short walk from the trailhead. I'm sure some of these are repeats of the ones my mom first posted back when Mike and I first went up and did the hike. There was a 1.5 mile hike from where we parked the truck to where we actually camped before heading up the mountain the next day.

Down the valley out towards how we came in:

Crestone:

Crestone covered with something sort of like half-melted hail falling:

The view up the valley towards Crestone, with the ridge over towards...I forget what, over to the saddle to Humboldt:

Crestone again, after the snow-ish hail quit falling and we were after pictures and water:

View back down the valley from South Colony Lakes:

Figured I'd just do a random post with an old hike in it. Just because I could, and because I wanted to see how well this would work out typing and everything else on the new setup. It works pretty well.

YAGP (Yet Another Gear Post)

2009-06-24T20:55:00.002-06:00

Yes, apparently I have more stuff I need to list as 'gear' since I noticed I don't have it all in the other posts. That and the fact I've gotten new gear, it's a required update once in a while.

Tent:

Big Agnes Sunnyside 2 - This is my current tent (mine is also gray, not yellowy-orange.) It's heavy. After carrying it for 3 days last time, I was about tired of it. 6lbs (the 'shipped weight' on the box it came in was 7lbs) is heavy. I'm currently researching a different tent that's half the weight. The other issue was the rain. This tent is two parts - the tent body, and the rain fly. Great for keeping out the rain after its started, not so great while setting up. The top of the tent is mesh, so any rain that falls while setting it up will get inside the tent.

The two new tents I'm trying to decide are on the REI Ace SW 2 and the Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2. I'm not sure that I want a single wall tent, need to talk to someone who knows more about it and has experience with them. Either of the tents are about half the weight of the Sunnyside 2, which would be a huge reduction overall.

Clothing:

The Mountain Hardware pants have to go back. Some of the seams came apart, so, sort of worthless. So, I found some REI pants I like a good bit (plus they were on sale during their annual sale.)

REI Sahara Convertable Pant - Comfy, though I've burned a hole in one of the zip off legs (well, two holes) while sitting around the camp fire. Whups.

Columbia River Runner Shirt - Very comfortable. Soft as can be, and light. I haven't worn it hiking yet (though I have another similar shirt that I have.) People act like I'm dressed up when I wear my hiking gear. Go figure.

Columbia Silver Ridge 2 Shirt - Just as comfortable as the River Runner shirt, though not as soft. It's a bit lighter, and I was quite pleased with it on the Colorado Trail segments 3 and 4.

Bridgedale Lightweight Endurance Trail Hiker Sock - Wow that's a long name. Great socks though, I cut down to wearing one pair on the 30 miles of trail over Memorial Day, not one blister, feet stayed nice and dry too.

Marmot Afterburner Fleece Jacket - Finally another one I could find at Trailspace. It's windproof and just as heavy of a fleece as my old one. I wanted it for the windproof goodness of the thing. Nothing was worse than getting toasty warm in the other, then getting frozen by the wind that blew straight through.

Other stuff:

I picked up some of the CamelBak Elixir Tablets before the trip out on Memorial Day. A bit expensive, but worth it for a boost and a change from plain water (though filtered water straight from snow melt is GREAT.) I'm just glad it doesn't leave any funky taste in the reservior after I finish them off. They taste pretty good (4 tablets in 100oz. doesn't taste watered down to me, like the one guy says.)

Exped Pillow Pump - Picked this up to be able to ditch the fleece's weight and bulk. That's not to say the fleece won't find its way back into my pack during cold weather, but, this thing is lighter and about 1/4 the size of the fleece.

Tarp - It's a good thing to have. Emergency shelter, extra warmth, rain gear, whatever. It's light and a good cook area under it for one person. 6 ft by 8 ft, any smaller and it'd be too small for what I got it for.

I think that's it for new gear. I can't think of anything else, currently anyways.

Chief Mountain

2009-06-20T19:20:00.012-06:00

Well, it's been a while since I last posted, so I'll post about the hike I did with the BCC group a few week ends ago. We went up Chief Mountain on June 6, 2009. It was a fun hike. There's an 1100ft gain in 1.5 miles, but, unlike it sounds, it's a very easy hike.

We left for the hour long drive around 9:00 and got started on the hike around 10:15, crossing the two lane road and hiking up past a forest service road.

The hike started out with tall trees on either side of the trail, giving little to no view of anything. There were a few clearings, however, where previews of the upcoming views could be seen.

We then came to a small outcropping of rocks just off the trail with a great view out across the surrounding lower mountains.

Through all the trees, and up at the top, there were large drifts of snow, some 3 or 4 ft deep. Even though it was a warm day, the wind at the top made it a bit chilly to stand on the rocks at the summit.

We summited at noon, even with all my picture taking stops (I only took about 80 pictures, I was holding back!) Some arrived before us and some a little after, but we were all at the top within a few minutes of each other.

A short scramble up some rocks provided us with quite a reward for climbing this mountain - Mt Evans and Mt Beirstadt to the west, as well as Pike's Peak far off to the south.

Even up on the top of a mountain you see lots of things. This little chipmunk stole an apple core that had been dropped:

And a few flowers were around too:

CO Trail Segment 3 and 4

2009-05-31T12:24:00.008-06:00

It's been almost a week now since I got back from the start of my planned two week trip. I started with something rather nasty that just finally started clearing up in the last two days. So with another 30 miles of the Colorado Trail done, I'll make a post.

We set out on Saturday morning for our 3 day weekend of hiking. It's the longest I've spent out before, and it was enjoyable for the most part (the being sick wasn't enjoyable, it made things a good bit harder.) The main part I didn't like on all of Segment 3 was the bikers. It seemed like every 10 minutes we were getting off the trail to let a group of 4 or 5 pass in one direction or the other.

Due to the weather, most of the days weren't worth taking pictures on. I still managed 245, but, some didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. The weather is also part of why I came home early. It rained/drizzled/sleeted for the better part of two days, and rained off and on at night.

We managed to pull off about 9 miles the first day, which was definitely more than I wanted to do, but wasn't too bad. We set up camp near a large rock, and gathered some firewood. This fire was pretty easy to get going and maintain. The wood wasn't too wet, dried quickly and burned nicely.

A while after we'd eaten dinner (which consisted of hot dogs, apple cider, and s'mores, carried up by Mike) by the fire it started to sprinkle again. We got our gear thrown in the tents and zipped them up, and got under the tarp just in time for the three or four minute downpour. Fortunately, the kept going through the rain, and we got to go back out and sit by it again, although the ground was a slight bit wet.

I turned in early that evening, around 8:00 or so. It was starting to get dark, but not quite there yet. This trip I'd decided to try my air pad instead of the one I had been carrying. I woke up a few times during the night, but not nearly as many times as usual on the other sleeping pad, so I'd say this one is a keeper for the rest of my trips.

We got out of camp about 9:30 the next morning, after a breakfast of eggs, cheese and pepperoni. Mike still claims he can't cook, but the eggs were good. We got off to a good start and got most of the way to segment 4 before noon. We ran into some people filling their water bottles at a stream and decided to fill up some for ourselves, and had some pleasant conversation with them.

We started Segment 4 about 11:300 that morning, and it seemed to be all up hill. Probably because it was all up hill the first day. The last 750 feet in gain was the worst for me. We finally worked it out that I could do 1/10th and take a 1.5 minute break. It's really hard to do any kind of work when your lungs are working at half capacity, at best. Add on top of that that it was sleeting and drizzling up through the trees, and there were a few flashes of lightening that got to about a 7 count before the thunder, it was quite miserable.

After we crested the ridge (at about 10,640 ft,) it was much easier. Except for walking through all the rain that had come down, and was still coming down a bit. Most of the time we were walking in a stream that followed the path through the forest. We came out of the forest and off the trail and joined back up to the old logging road we'd followed before. We didn't have to worry so much about the stream anymore, and the rain and lightening had stopped.

It was getting late, pushing on about 7:15 when we finally got camp started, after pulling out a 12 mile day. We put up the tarp and tents, and Mike took my folding bucket (new for this trip, worked great) down to the stream to collect water for dinner and breakfast, while I put the stakes in for the tents. We spent some time gathering firewood, which turned out to all be wet from the rain earlier, and I got a small fire going. It only lasted a couple hours, and didn't do enough to dry our clothes, but it was still a fire.

During the night, we heard the coyotes calling up and down the valley we were staying beside. We'd hear them at one end, then it'd echo the entire distance. We even heard them get a kill that night, though we never saw it the next day.

We broke camp and got out to a little earlier start, around 9:45 the next morning. That day I decided to try the Camelbak Elixir Tablets, and I've got to say they helped me a good bit. I'm disappointed I couldn't get my hands on the Camelbak Filter Adapter I was looking for for this trip. No one seems to stock it anymore, even though they claim they do (Permanent back order status.)

The last day of this trip flew past, it was almost no vertical elevation change (600 ft over 7 miles is almost nothing.) We ran into 4 other hikers that day. All of them had spent the night out in two different groups, both apparently lost, and hiking somewhere different than they thought they were, due to a broken compass. Two of them had seen our truck the day before, and one went with Mike to get it and bring it back for the rest of us.

We got to the end early, at about 2:00, only to find out the directions for leaving the truck were to the wrong spot. Luckily it only cost us about an hour of time to get to the truck.

All in all, it was a great trip. Tiring, but great. I hope to get my two weeks in sometime later this year, sooner rather than later.

Co Trail Segment 2

2009-05-05T15:43:00.012-06:00

So Segment 2 has come and gone. Sort of. It's been two days now since we got back from finishing it, and I'm finally posting about it.

It was definitely a fun one, and much easier than the first. 11.5 miles start to finish, and 1981 ft in gain (compared to the 2338 ft of the first segment...trust me, 400 ft is noticeable) The hardest part was having zero water along the entire segment. You start at the South Platte River, and continue up through the burn zone of the Hammond fire from 1996.

We started hiking at about 10AM, a bit later than we'd hoped, but it was plenty of time. We made it in about 6.8 miles to our camp site, and we were there very early. It was a great site, however, with lots of wood in close range for a fire, and plenty of flat area for our tents and cook area.

That day was just as hazy as it looks - it seemed as if we were in a cloud the entire evening. It started to drizzle a bit, and we quickly set our tents up and then the tarp. After that we started gathering firewood and preparing for dinner.

I woke up during the night to the sound of light rain falling on my tent, it's definitely a different sound from anything in the city. I for one, am glad of that.

We started the day with a big breakfast of eggs (Mike carried them all the way up there and didn't crack a single one) bacon, and cheese. Even though he claims otherwise, Mike's quite the cook.

After breakfast, we broke camp and cleaned up our fire pit, we headed out on the trail again. It was almost 10AM when we headed off from camp to finish the last 5 miles of the trail.

The area is almost desolate - very little in the way of trees that survived the fire, but the scorched and burnt trunks and branches of the trees remain.

At the same time, there's life blooming back. Small things, Yuca, cactus, grasses, small wildflowers and bushes are spreading.

And that's the end of the trail! It was tiring, yet fun. Hopefully I'll be able to get down what works and doesn't for my two week trip..coming up in two weeks.

CO Trail Seg 2..the night before.

2009-05-01T21:55:00.002-06:00

So the night before the hike is here, and speeding by. Tomorrow's forecast is..well, cool. 44 for a high, 33 for a low, in the general area we're heading. It'll be chilly, but not too bad. 60% chance of precipitation. Which means I had to chase all over to get a rain cover for my pack. I got some last minute food and am ready to head out at about 7:00 tomorrow morning.

With two hours of driving for leaving one vehicle at the end, and going back to the start, then getting the one vehicle back..and going back to get the other. If we could swing someone dropping us off at the start, it'd save about 45 minutes of drive time, but, that's how it goes.

Hopefully it's not too much rain. Wait, I'm supposed to laugh in the face of rain. HAHA!

Thought for the day:

Hundreds of years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove... But the world may be different because I did something so bafflingly crazy that my ruins become a tourist attraction.

CO Trail Segment 2

2009-04-28T19:29:00.003-06:00

Time is fast approaching for my two week hike on the CO Trail, starting with Segment 3.

So, with that in mind, I'm going out this weekend with Mike and Nathan again to do Segment 2. That's the plan, anyways. We'll see how it turns out, as the forecast says rain and snow. I laugh in the face of rain and snow! HAHA! Well, ok, maybe I don't. I like to think I do, though.

I'll be heading out with all the gear I plan on taking on the two week hike. I set up my tent in the living room Sunday night, and it was easy as could be to do by myself. I'll be using my Big Agnes Sunnyside 2 tent. Depending on how it turns out closer to the time, I may use one of my 20 degree bags instead of the 0 degree.

Anyways, just plans in the works. Which means new pics most likely.

Eldorado Canyon Trail

2009-04-25T12:49:00.002-06:00

Well, as it seems, the weather was against me. The forecast called for "Cloudy and 56" but it was actually "Mist, fog, clouds and 40" so I called it off.

I do have some pictures I'll post later on, however.

Said pics promised from before:

And it begins!

2009-04-24T21:40:00.003-06:00

My first serious hike of the year has come! I'm going to be doing the Eldorado Canyon Trail tomorrow! I'm not doing the "out and back" just the straight through, however. It'll be my first solo hike, so it should be fun to see how it goes. I'll post a trip report on it tomorrow night or possibly Sunday, depending on how I feel, and how the pictures look.

Random pics, part something

2009-04-22T18:31:00.002-06:00

Here's a few more pictures from my RMNP hike with Mike a month or so ago.

Hallett Peak from Dream Lake:

Part of Flattop Mountain near Hallett Peak:

A tree up by Emerald Lake, I'd have taken a picture of more of it, but someone was sitting under it, and I didn't want them in my picture:

Hallett Peak Panorama-rama

2009-04-19T13:33:00.007-06:00

Here's some of the stages of the Hallett Peak panorama.

The original two pictures:

Combined together:

As you can see, it doesn't line up correctly, so some cropping and magic* have to happen. The side of the mountain is what I'm disappointed that I lost.

After the cropping and magic*:

*Magic is a secret and I'm not telling. Thus the whole 'secret' statement.

Panorama-rama Part 2

2009-04-17T16:13:00.004-06:00

Here's the only other two I could find right off the quick look. There might be more, don't know right off, other than the ones I took on the top of Humboldt, which is a 360 degree. It needs a bunch of work, however.

The first isn't a typical "Panorama" shot, but it is multiple pictures combined to one larger picture. The only part that I miss in this picture is that I lost some of the side of the mountain. I'll probably eventually post the stages of combining the pictures, and maybe use this one as the example.

Hallett Peak, RMNP:

I wish this one had a blue sky all across it, but it doesn't, partly because of the sun's position, and partly because of the cheap point 'n' shoot I used to take it. Someday I'll get a DSLR and some filters to fix that problem. Someday.

I don't know what exactly is in this one, other than "View from the CO Trail":

Panorama-rama

2009-04-15T22:24:00.007-06:00

Here's all the panorama pics I've taken (that I know of.) I may have taken more, but I'll have to dig for them and put them together. As luck would have it, I've found a few more, that I'll post today.

And everyone's apparent favorite:

CO Trail Seg 1 pics

2009-04-11T17:43:00.003-06:00

Time for more pics. This time, brought to you by the Brotherhood of Steel. 500 points again. Same conditions as last time. I'm pretty sure I haven't posted any of these pictures before.

This time the pics are from the CO Trail, Segment 1.

Where it turns from Denver Water Board access road to an actual trail:

This was the view from our campsite. Not a bad thing to wake up to:

First ones on this part of the trail!

Random view off the trail. That's the same mountain that's in my CO Trail Segment 2 pictures:

LABELS! And pics. Can't forget the pics.

2009-04-08T22:43:00.004-06:00

Yep, finally, labels applied to the previous posts, and will be added to any future posts I make.

And pictures!

These are more of Rattlesnake Gulch trail - the last hike I did there was with Brad.

Random pictures, part something.

2009-04-05T17:56:00.003-06:00

It's that time again, for yet another part of the "Random pictures" series, here on the RMH Network..erm, blog.

This time, the pictures are brought to you by our kind sponsers at Nuka-Cola, and the numbers 3, 5, and 12. If you can name the two sources those references are from, you get an extra 500 points*.

These were taken on the first hike up to the dam in Eldorado, and I'm not going to comment on each picture. Shocking, I know.

Yeah, I find wierd stuff interesting:

*Points aren't actually worth anything, so even if you win, you lose.

Random pics

2009-04-04T23:15:00.006-06:00

Here's some random pics from the Quandary Peak attempt I made last year. Kind of disappointed that I didn't make it up the thing my first try. It's only a class 1 mountain, so it's really easy. I know some of these are crooked. I haven't done any editing to them at all.

I think this is a view of Quandary Peak:

The trail up to Quandary Peak:

John and Mike down the slope from me:

One of the cairn on the trail:

More planning on the CO Trail Trip

2009-03-30T23:00:00.007-06:00

I'm going to try and pin down some dates for the CO Trail hikes I want to do. This is all with the guess of making 10 miles per day. (Start approx 8:30am, camp at approx 6:30pm)

I need to find my CO Trail Databook before I make the judgment call on where to stop the first night. Though, it will be most of the way through the segment.

Week 1:

Saturday, May 23, 2009: Drop off for Segment 3. (Maybe drop off on Friday to camp out and get an early start the next day without having to get up before 5am.)

Day 1:
Camp at approximately mile 10, leaving 2.7 miles before the end of this segment.

Day 2:
Finish Segment 3, begin Segment 4.
Camp at approximately mile 9, leaving 7.6 miles on Segment 4.

Day 3:
Finish Segment 4, begin Segment 5.
Camp at approximately mile 3, leaving 11 miles in Segment 5.

Day 4:
Continue on Segment 5, for 10 miles
Camp at approximately mile 13, leaving 1.4 miles in Segment 5.

Day 5:
Finish Segement 5, being Segment 6.
Camp at approximately mile 9, leaving 23 miles in Segment 6.

Day 6:
Continue on Segment 6.
Camp at approximately mile 19, leaving 12 miles in Segment 6.

Day 7:
Continue on Segment 6.
Camp at approximately mile 29, leaving 4 miles in Segment 6.

Week 2:

Day 8:
Finish Segment 6, begin Segment 7.
Camp at approximately mile 6, leaving 7 miles in Segment 7

Day 9:
Finish Segment 7, begin Segment 8.
Camp at approximately mile 3, leaving 22 miles in Segment 8.

Day 10:
Continue on Segment 8.
Camp at approximately mile 13, leaving 9 miles in Segment 8.

Day 11:
Finish Segment 8, begin Segment 9.
Camp at approximately mile 1, leaving 13 miles in Segment 9.

Day 12:
Continue Segment 9.
Camp at mile 11, leaving 3 miles in Segment 9.

Day 13:
Finish Segment 9, Begin Segment 10.
Camp at approximately mile 7, leaving 6 miles in Segment 10.

Day 14:
Finish Segment 10.
Camp in my own bed, and recover for the next week of work, wishing and dreaming of being back on the trail.

Pickup on Friday, June 5. This is an unplanned thing for me, I was planning on being picked up a day later, on Saturday, maybe even Sunday. This may let me relax my "10 miles per day" strategy. Which may allow some people to join me at different times.

There's the rough outline of the Segments/days. I feel that Segment 10 is entirely optional, if I don't have enough time left to complete it at the end of Segment 9, that's entirely fine.

I was off in the milage on the previous post.

Segment 3 12.7
Segment 4 16.6
Segment 5 14.4
Segment 6 32.9
Segment 7 12.8
Segment 8 25.4
Segment 9 13.6
Segment 10 13.0

Total: 141.4

Instead of..

2009-03-27T22:34:00.002-06:00

Instead of making a post about the storm (I took a few pictures of the day after, that's it,) or old pictures, I'm doing one about the May hike I'm planning on the CO Trail (PDF Map of the trail.) It should be fun to see if I can pull this off.

The Current Plan

Right now, assuming everything goes off without a hitch, and I don't do any other segments before May, this is what the distances and everything else will be for each segment:

Segment 2 11.5
Segment 3 12.7
Segment 4 16.6
Segment 5 14.4
Segment 6 32.9
Segment 7 12.8
Segment 8 13.6
Segment 9 13.0
Total: 127.5

I'd do Segment 10, since I'm under my 10mi/day plan, except that it's 21.5 miles, and that'd take me over my 2 weeks. I think 10 miles a day should be doable.

If we do end up doing segment 2 before May, it will be likely that I'd add Segment 10 in, because without Segment 2, it will put me at 137.5 total.

Old Stuff

2009-03-22T21:23:00.000-06:00

Some old pics from Eldorado, the weekend before the DNC.

Today's Pics

2009-03-21T22:05:00.003-06:00

Here's some pictures from the CO Trail Segment 2. Our chosen hike today was a completely different one, but the access roads were closed.

The area with no trees burned pretty bad about 10 or 15 years ago.

Late Old Pics Post.

2009-03-20T22:22:00.004-06:00

Yes, yes, it's late, but it's time to do the post for the day.

These are all from Humboldt Peak.

Old Pics

2009-03-19T13:00:00.003-06:00

Yes, it's that time again, more old pictures. These were taken on my first hike with Mike, 8/16/08. My first hike ever, when I decided I wanted to do something outside to lose weight, was 6/28/08.

These were taken on the Homestead Trail, near Mt Evans:

Taken on the trip home:

More old pictures

2009-03-18T16:28:00.004-06:00

Yes, it's that time again, more pictures for the ages. These are pictures of the benches on Rattlesnake Gulch and at the Continental Divide Overlook spot.

More old pictures

2009-03-17T11:41:00.004-06:00

Here it is, yet another installment of old pictures. Probably going hiking and/or camping this weekend, so maybe some shiny new pictures next week.

And another had to:

What's left of the fireplace from the old hotel:

Views from Rattlesnake Gulch Trail:

Old pictures from random trips

2009-03-16T13:07:00.003-06:00

Since I did my RMNP trip report, and there's nothing new, I figured I'd put up a few older pictures that I've taken over the last year.

You forced me to! Taken on our first hike up to the dam last year:

The dam we hike to in Eldorado:

The sign at the old hotel on Rattlesnake Gulch:

Emerald Lake, RMNP..part two-ish

2009-03-15T16:21:00.005-06:00

Yes, I know I can edit the old post and just change what it says. However, I'm lazy, and I'm making a new post so it counts as my post for today. Sneaky, isn't it?

Anyways, on to the trip report!

The Ranger Station at the parking lot (if you can't read it, the sign says 9,475ft):

View from the parking lot:

When we showed up at the parking lot for the trailhead, it was about 10:15 (that's the timestamp on my first picture, anyways.) We strapped our snowshoes onto our packs and headed off to the trailhead. Yes, I said snowshoes. We were told that Bear Lake (lowest lake, 256ft from the parking lot) had recieved 49 inches of snow. These trails, however, are popular enough that by the time we got there, snowshoes weren't needed at all, and I didn't even put mine on.

We first hiked to Nymph Lake, since it's first on the trail up to Emerald Lake, and took some pictures. Though there were so many people there, I didn't take many, because I take few pictures of people, I take them of landscapes. All of the lakes are currently frozen solid, with about 6-10 inches of ice on them.

I won't post the pic of Nymph Lake, since it's my header, but this is from the trail head:

We then headed off to the opposite side of the lake, and started down a trail, which turned out to be the wrong one (told you so!) and took us down to Bear Lake. We hiked back up, and took the right trail this time, towards Dream Lake. After trudging up hill for a good 5 minutes, we stopped and went over to an open area, because I wanted to take some pictures.

That is one point where Mike and I get along quite well - both of us are into taking pictures (him more than me, he started long before I did, and has all the stuff to take pictures with) so neither of us minds stopping to take pictures of any random thing we feel like.

Another bit of hiking brought us up to Dream Lake, the largest of the four lakes. Mike went walking out on it, and discovered quickly that it was very slick. So he put his snowshoes on and walked out on the ice with no problem at all. After rounding a large rock outcropping, we came across a giant smily face someone had made in the snow that was on the lake - this was possible because they packed the snow down into the shape before it melted, and the packed snow stayed there (unpacked snow had melted or been blown away, judging by the wind, it had blown away.)

Another bit of hiking, and we came to a huge rock covered in snow, probably 60 ft tall. Snow on it had drifted to a good 2-3ft deep, and Mike and I decided to climb it, like many others had done before us. It was great fun to climb, more fun to watch Mike slide down it though! (I honestly have to give it to Mike here, without him pushing me training for his climb up Kili, I would never have been able to do that climb, or even have wanted to.)

Me ontop of snow I had just climbed:

Another walk, and we were at Emerald Lake. The place was great, I didn't take any pictures of the snow covered lake..because it was just a white field (thinking back, I wish I had taken pictures of it.) I did, however, take pictures of the mountains around it.

Definately a hike I would like to do in the summer, just to see the lakes as water instead of ice, though it was definately a great hike in the snow.

Emerald Lake, RMNP

2009-03-14T19:25:00.005-06:00

Saturday, Mike and I headed off to hike up to Gem Lake. When we got there, the access road was closed, so we went to RMNP (Rocky Mountain National Park, nothing like the RCMP.) When we entered the park, we asked why the Gem Lake trail was closed, since it's supposed to be open all year, and we were told it was because of the Raptors. Yes, birds closed the lake for our hike.

We decided to hike up to Emerald lake, which was 1.8 miles one way. Along the way you pass Nymph lake (Currently the header pic) and Dream lake. I was using Mike's camera again, and took about 135 pictures, which are copying to my computer now, and I'll upload and do more of a trip report later tonight or tomorrow.

Let's try this again.

2009-03-13T14:45:00.004-06:00

Since I tried this 10 minutes ago, and the upload decided to shoot itself in the foot with a rocket launcher and just died on me, I'll try again with pics that are smaller than 6.5mb each. I took these pictures with Mike's camera (Canon 50D.) It's a DSLR, which, actually, has grabbed my interest. It's higher quality digital photography and such, and apparently, I'm becoming a semi-amateur photographer. I call myself that because I'm just barely scratching the surface of being an amateur.

Mike on top of the 6ft pipe that carries water to Denver:

Me on top of something I climbed (Mike took this, obviously. I have a few more, but this one shows how big the thing is) I'm the yellowish thing near the top:

The river near the dam:

The rest of my gear

2009-03-12T14:41:00.004-06:00

Yesterday's post was about the stuff that's almost always in my pack. Today's is the stuff that I wear, and occasionally have in the pack.

Sleeping Pads

Yes, there are those out there who just love the feel of the hard ground under them as they sleep. I'm not one of those people. I have two sleeping pads, I've only used one of them though.

ALPS Mountaineering Lightweight Air Pad - Comfortable, small, and light. What more could you ask from a sleeping pad? I like it because I can be lazy and let it inflate itself (it has a foam core that compresses down while carrying it, and expands to fill the thing) or I can fill it faster by inflating it myself.

Big Agnes Air Core Pad - The link is to the squared off one, I have the mummy shaped pad. This one I've never used because I don't feel like inflating it myself every time, and I don't use the bag I got it for. It's thicker than the ALPS pad though, probably twice as thick.

Clothing

I generally wear the same thing every time I go hiking.

Vasque Clarion GTX Hiking Boots - My hiking boots, obviously. They're comfortable, and water proof.

Socks - Thick wool socks and a silk liner are the ones I wear. Easier to keep from getting blisters while wearing two pair of socks.

Mountain Hardwear Talus Pack Pant - My newest pair of hiking pants. They're comfortable, and stretchy, though they don't block the wind at all. My old ones are showing wear, since I've been using them to swim in, they zip off into shorts and all.

Ex Officio BUZZ OFF Baja Shirt - Mine is yellow, instead of blue. It's light and comfortable, though the arms are a tad short for me.

Backcountry.com Shift Element Softshell Jacket - My standard jacket. I carry it sometimes, and wear it others. Stops the wind really well.

Backcountry.com Prime Power Stretch Pant - Midweight layer I tend to wear a good bit. Comfy, warm, and stops the wind in its tracks.

That's it for the gear I tend to wear. Don't know what tomorrow's post will be about. Yet.

The stuff in my pack

2009-03-11T17:20:00.002-06:00

Now for the stuff I carry with me in my pack all the time, well, not just in my pack. Some of the gear I wear and carry with me. There's more junk than you'd think there would be. There's probably stuff you'd never think to carry, or could see a reason for carrying. Some stuff I don't always carry, but, most of the time I don't bother taking it out, or I may need it for one of those "It'll never happen to me" scenarios.

In the pack

Pentax Optio A40 - My current camera. Replaced a Nikon CoolPix S210 after I decided to carry the camera in my pocket, and then run my leg into a table in the dark, and crack the LCD. Every picture since January 17, 2009 (and probably a bit before that) has been taken with this camera.

Garmin eTrex Vista HCx - My GPS. Used it on the CO Trail for the first time doing any real navagation with it. Works great, though it did read differently than Mike's GPS, which is the same model as mine. Mine read ~19 miles and his said ~13 miles.

Black Diamond Trail Trekking Poles - Must have for hiking, atleast to me a must have. Really help when going downhill on slick surfaces, or in mud, or just in general. They even fit in the side of my pack (I have the compact edition.)

Sea to Summit X Bowl - My collapsable bowl for dinner. Nothing more to explain about that, it's a bowl, it collapses flat, works nicely.

Marmot Impulse Jacket - My rain coat, works nicely.

Sierra Designs Hurricane Pant - My rain pants, never used them. I'd rather have them and not need them, though.

Marmot Radiator Jacket - My fleece, just incase it's cold. It also doubles as my pillow.

Brunton 8099 Eclipse - My compass for when my GPS fails me, or something. I don't use it much, as the trails I've been on haven't required it yet.

Brunton MY-Ti Folding Spork - It is what it says it is. A titanium spork that folds in half.

Snow Peak Titanium Double Wall 450 - It's a double walled mug made of titanium. Nice and light, and keeps stuff warm. Worked great every time I've used it. Mine, however, is not pink. It's silvery in color, also known as "Titanium."

Columbia Omni-Tech Booney - My hat. Waterproof (except that if you sweat a good bit, you get soaked anyways) and keeps the sun out of my eyes. I may get a new hat eventually, but it works fine for now.

MSR Sweetwater System - My water filter. I leave the chlorine drops at home, because, well, I don't want chlorine flavored water. That's one of the reasons I'm hiking.

Steripen Adventurer - Used in addition to the filter. Kills just about anything, but won't get the chunks out of your water, thus, the filter.

Black Diamond Zenix IQ Headlamp - My headlamp. No walking around in the dark for me!

Outdoor Research Backcountry Kitchen 2 - My "Kitchen." Though I don't plan on carrying half of the stuff in it, it's still something I carry for food.

Primus MultiFuel EX - My stove, though I'm seriously looking into a smaller stove that will fit into my pot so I can cut down on how much space takes.

GSI Ultralight Soloist - My cookware. The stove is a bit overkill for a soloist item, which is another part of why I want to get a new one.

Gloves & ear warmer - Yes, I carry gloves and an ear warmer. Gloves are not just for keeping your hands warm, they're for stopping things from getting to them.

Extra AA batteries - For all your techie needs! GPS, headlamp, stuff like that.

Extra Camera batteries - I have 4 batteries for my camera total, I only plan on carrying two at a time, however.

SDHC Cards - I have three 4GB SDHC cards for my camera. Each one will hold ~800 pictures.

Medkit/Emergency kit - I carry it, and will detail it out a bit below, after I finish listing stuff.

Kobalt 1 1/4lb Hatchet - Can't find a link, but it's a hatchet. You cut things with it. You also pound tent stakes into the ground with it. What else can I say about a hatchet?

Food - I generally carry 6 bars with me, for snacks along the trail, though this will increase when I do the CO Trail.

Water - I carry a 100 oz CamelBak reservior, along with two 32 oz Nalgene bottles, and sometimes a Gatorade/Powerade drink.

Paracord - I carry 50ft, though I should probably carry 150ft instead.

Spare straps - I carry repair straps for my packs, just in case I break one.

Fire Sticks - Some water proof tinder. Good for starting large forest fires that burn 100k+ acres, or, good for starting a camp fire.

Bic Lighter - Good for starting those Fire Sticks.

Iodine tablets - Just incase I break my SteriPen and Filter.

Medkit/Emergency Kit

Adventure Medical Trekker First Aid Kit - My first aid kit

Emergency Blanket - Mine is the cheapy all silver one. Still about $3, but worth it.

Bite & Sting Kit - Just because you never know.

That's it for stuff in my pack. It rarely changes, as I rarely unload my pack for anything.

Yet more of my stuff

2009-03-10T12:12:00.002-06:00

Since the last post was a hike, and I'm trying to do one post a day, here's today's post - more of the stuff I carry.

Sleeping bags

I have 3 sleeping bags currently:

Big Agnes Gold Creek Sleeping Bag - My first sleeping bag, and one I have yet to use. It's kind of big and bulky, so I've never carried it with me since I got the others. Rated to be good down to 20 degrees.

ALPS Mountaineering Slick Rock Sleeping Bag - This was my second bag, and I used it for the first time on my CO Trail trip this January. Rated down to 0 degrees, and it kept me plenty warm while my water bottle got a thin layer of ice on it while I slept. The tent I was in was a 4 season, so it kept the cold at bay, since the other water bottle I had froze almost completely solid while it sat outside the tent.

REI Polar Pod +20 Sleeping Bag - The whole line has been revamped and the one I have has been taken off the shelves - I got it because of a review giving it 5 stars and it was $80. I took this one to Humboldt Peak last year. I didn't carry it to the top, but I carried it to the campsite near the base. Definately works down close to it's rating, since it was barely above freezing at night, and I had to unzip the thing because I was so warm.

Tents

I have two tents. I'm planning on trying one of them for the first time this weekend, and I'll figure out if I want to carry it on my CO Trail hike this summer or not.

Mountainsmith Altura 1-Person 3-Season Tent - My first tent, as the name says, it's 1 person, 3 season. So it's small, light, and..small. I don't know if I'll like it or not, but I want to try it and see. If it works, great. If not, oh well.

Big Agnes Elkhorn 3-person Tent - I just got this tent. It looks good, but weighs more than my other tent by a good bit. It's also a 3 season tent, with lots of room inside. The "footprint" is just an extra layer of protection for the bottom of the tent.

Next up: The stuff in my pack

Mesa Trail, Boulder Open Space

2009-03-07T15:15:00.003-07:00

Mesa Trail is an "In and Out" trail, which means you go in to where ever you decide (or the end of the trail,) then back out on the same trail. I'd rate it as moderate difficulty if you're a hiker, otherwise I'd say it's strenuous. At least the first half, we only did 3.5 miles today, instead of the 13.4 that is the entire trail. The main reason behind that was the fact that it started snowing about 2 hours into the hike (we did about 5 hours with drive time included.)

Devil's Thumb:

Snow on the way back:

There were some very easy parts, and some more difficult ones. The trail starts off easy, with a wide path (about 10ft) that appears to be quite heavily used. After some distance, the trail splits and continues up hill a bit farther before turning into a "real" trail. By real trail, I mean that it's not widened more than enough for two people to walk side by side along the whole thing, sometimes less.

The hardest part was coming back off the trail from where we turned around. We'd just gone down through a valley with man-made stairs down, and back up. We stopped where 3 trails joined together and had a small lunch, and headed back. The stairs weren't so bad going down, but going back up they were a bit tougher.

This trail is also quite heavily used by joggers, runners, and people with dogs. Judging by the hoof prints, and rather large..piles..there's a good bit of horse traffic in places as well.

Sigh, I hate people who think anyone wants to see their stupid grafiti:

My stuff

2009-03-06T19:43:00.004-07:00

While I doubt most people will care what I carry with me while hiking, I'm going to do a list and possibly pictures of all of it.

Backpacks

I have several (5), which, according to some people, is too many.

Kelty Red Cloud 6650 is my latest and greatest pack. I got it specifically for the CO Trail trip, because 16 days on the trail needs something that big just to haul my gear and food around with me.

REI New Star Traverse, from an REI garage sale a few weeks back - It's so old there's not actually a link I can find to any real details about the pack. I found one in another langauge I can't read, but it claims to be up to 6000 cu in (smaller than the new one by a good bit.)

Millet Nanda 60+10 was my first "large" pack. It's also my only pack to get to the top of a 14er. Since I've only tried two, that's not saying much.

Vaude Aracanda 30 is my "overnight" pack. I almost made it up Quandry with this pack. That was my first try of a 14er and hadn't done any training at all.

CamelBak Menace Hydration Pack was the first pack I ever got. It's a small day pack, which I find far too small to carry most of the stuff I want to carry with me all the time.

And that's the end of my packs.

The new blog

2009-03-06T17:16:00.003-07:00

Apparently, I've decided to start my own blog. Mostly because I intend to do some trip updates and profiles and such of the trails I hike and mountains I climb. The biggest reason for the blog is my trip coming up at the end of May - two weeks (16 days, two driving, 14 on the hike) on the Colorado Trail. If possible, I'll update the blog from my phone at segment breaks or somewhere along the way if have cell service, and if I have enough battery power to do so.

I'll also probably do random updates with pictures I've taken (in my first year of hiking it's over 800, and I have no plan of stopping.) I may even end up getting a new and better camera.