Le Petit Elk

Keith and I set off on Friday morning from Boulder with the intent of climbing Le Petit Grepon, a classic rock climb in Rocky Mountain National Park. At the trailhead parking lot at 5:00 am, we stepped out of the car to encounter stiff winds and unexpectedly cold temperatures. After completing about half of the 5 mile approach, we stopped at a point on the trail where we could see up the valley into the region where we would be climbing. Many of the visible peaks were engulfed in clouds, and the wind was not letting up. We both felt that the conditions would have permitted an ascent of the spire, but we would have been cold and miserable for the entire climb. While still waiting for conditions to improve, we saw a lone cow elk in the creek bed below us. Keith went down to investigate (i.e. take photos and see how close he could get to the wildlife).

He got pretty close and we both took a lot of pictures. He returned back up the hill to where I was standing and we noticed a half dozen more elk within about 50 feet of us, working their way down the hiking trail. Soon enough, more elk emerged, the last of which was a 5-point bull. The small heard (about a dozen in total) slowly moved their way down the trail until some hikers came up the trail and scared the elk back past us. We must have been taking elk pictures for nearly an hour when we finally decided to head back another day for the climb. Unfortunately, it was early and a bit dark when we were taking all the pictures, so most of them didn't turn out too well. On the hike down, the clouds parted enough to reveal fresh August snowfall in the higher elevations.

Yosemite, etc.

Ashley and I left on our road trip on August 11th. We spent that first weekend in Crested Butte, Colorado camping with a group of friends. While they went out for a mountain bike ride on Saturday, we went on our long run for the week of 18 miles. We ran on beautiful wilderness trails in one of the prettiest parts of the state. Minus the horse traffic, it was a superb trail run.

We drove all day Sunday to arrive at the east side of Yosemite National Park. We spent a total of 4 days in the park: 3 in the Tuolumne Meadows and 1 in The Valley. It didn't take us long to figure out why Yosemite has the climbing reputation that it has. The granite peaks, domes, and other formations are everywhere abundant, many of them harboring fantastic moderate trad climbing routes.



Since we spent our first day lining up a camp site for the rest of our stay, it was a perfect opportunity to do a shorter introduction to Yosemite climbing. As such, we climbed a 2-pitch 5.6 route on Lembert Dome, which involved about a 10 minute approach and some fun and oftentimes awkward climbing moves.



Later that day, we went for an 8-mile run up a popular tourist hiking trail to Cathedral Lake. I found it quite enjoyable to run past slow-moving and wheezy tourists who look at you like you're crazy.

We climbed Tenaya Peak on our second day in Yosemite. This was a technically easier, but much longer route than the previous day. After about a 45 minute approach and 14 pitches of easy class 5 and some class 4, we found ourselves on the top of Tenaya Peak. The views were much more exceptional than even our pictures suggest.







After climbing some 5.6 pitches on our first day and a long multi-pitch on our second day, we were ready to combine the two and do a multi-pitch 5.6 - 5.7 route. We chose one of the most classic climbs in the Tuolumne Meadows area - Cathedral Peak. It was on this climb that we made the worst mistake of the trip - we forgot the camera. We did, however, take several pictures of the peak from Cathedral Lake and elsewhere in Tuolumne Meadows. The climb was essentially 6 pitches of sustained 5.6 with a few 5.7 variations. I thoroughly enjoyed this climb as it pushed my trad climbing skills and was extremely aesthetic.



Since Ashley was such a good sport in doing all the things I wanted to do for the first three days, she chose what to do on our last day in Yosemite. I feared she would opt to do our weekend run, but much to my delight she chose to hike up Half Dome! We justified this deviation from our training program by planning to hike the 17 mile (5000 ft) round trip rather briskly.



The hike passed a few waterfalls and smaller granite domes before emerging at a point where we could see Half Dome. Shortly after that, we found ourselves at the infamous "cables" section of the hike. Two parallel cables are strung in railing-like fashion for hikers to yard on while hiking up the final, steep 300 vertical feet. At the top I stood on the diving board (see picture below) and looked down the route that the big wall climbers take to reach the top. This was the most awe inspiring perspective of the trip for me.



We spent that night just south of the National Park at a Forest Service campground. Just before we went to bed a neighboring camper came by and told us that a bear had walked through our camp the last two nights. Sure enough, he did this again. We heard it crashing around in the woods and I vaguely made out a silhouette at one point in the night. It turns out the neighbor who informed us of the bear was the same one who left food out all over his campsite, effectively baiting the bear into camp. Coincidentally, this was the only bear we saw our entire trip - the 4 days we spent in the park disclosed no bears. The photo below shows me standing (in bear pose) where I saw the bear the previous night in relation to our tent.



The day after leaving Yosemite, we drove through Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park. The highlight(s) of this trip were all the giant sequoia trees, including the largest tree (by mass) in the world. By the end of this day, our patience with yahoo tourists grew thin. We continued our drive south before stopping for the night on top of Grapevine Pass, 60 miles outside of L.A.



We arrived in Irvine in time to meet our friends (mostly from Boulder) for breakfast. The rest of the day was spent at Huntington Beach playing in the surf, digging holes in the sand, and getting sunburned. Our second day in the L.A. area was similar, but spent at Laguna Beach. We left the beach in time get ready for our friends' (Tony and Lisa) wedding. Their wedding took place on a boat in the harbor, so showing up late would have involved a lengthy swim in a suit.



Their wedding was relatively small and the ceremony was wonderfully short and to the point. After that it was open bar and buffet for the next few hours. After docking, we ended up with the bride and groom and a slew of friends at a nearby bar. The rest is hazy.

Monday morning our plan was to wake up and drive back to Boulder, but first we had to get a flat tire fixed that we obtained in Laguna Beach. This should have taken 20 minutes, but it took two hours. Shortly after 11:00 am we were on our way back across the country. We drove straight through (with one stop at In-N-Out Burger) and arrived in Boulder at 3:30 am Tuesday morning.

Off to Cali

Ashley and I leave tomorrow on a road trip to California. We plan to spend Friday and Saturday in Crested Butte, CO, drive on Sunday to Yosemite, climb Monday through Thursday in Yosemite, spend Friday in Sequoia National Park, and spend Saturday and Sunday in Newport Beach with our friends, Tony and Lisa, who are getting married there on Sunday. Provided we're not too hung over, Monday will be an all-day drive back to Boulder.

BBB

Our longest weekday training runs are now up to 8 miles. Because it is so hot every day, I choose to run before work. In order to get 8 miles in before I need to leave on my commute, I need to start when it is just beginning to get light. One of the side effects of this is the abundance of wildlife taking the same advantage of the cooler temperatures in the early morning hours. Today was a classic example of this.

While running up the Mesa Trail behind our house, Melanie was kicking my ass up the hill as usual when she suddenly stopped. She claimed she saw a Big Black Bear (BBB). I saw what she was looking at about 150 yards away, and we could 'bear-ly' make out a large black head sticking up above the grass. We watched him for a short while before deciding to continue on our way. The catch here was that the BBB was on the trail above us, around a switchback. We ran up the trail to where we could look straight up the trial at the BBB, now about 40 yards away. It looked at us, ate some more vegetation on the side of the trail, and began slowly walking at us. We slowly backed up, and the BBB wandered off the trail and up the hill.

This was the second time I've seen a black bear in the hills behind our house, and I look forward to seeing more as we continue our early morning runs!

2 Mountains and 4 Goats

This weekend I finally managed to meet up with a friend from work (Ryan) who has been trying to climb a 14er with me for some time. He brought along another coworker of ours (Kevin) who I had never met. Although the weather forecast looked menacing, the three of us drove to the southern end of the Sawatch Range on Saturday evening with the intent of climbing Mt. Shavano and Mt. Tabeguache on Sunday morning. Ashley came along for the camping outing, but due to our long weekend training run on Saturday morning, opted not to hike with us the following day.

We camped near the trailhead Saturday night and were pummeled by a vicious rain storm. When our alarm went off at 4:00 am, the rain had ceased and stars were visible. We began hiking at 4:30 on our way to Shavano's summit. After reaching the top, the plan was to descend the ridge leading to the saddle between Shavano and Tabeguache, hike to the top of Tabeguache, and retreat back over the top of Shavano before retracing our original ascent route. Shortly after beginning our descent to the saddle between the two peaks, I spotted four mountain goats ascending Tabeguache. They seemed to be showing us the way as they were about 30 minutes ahead of us on the same route. We were never very close to them, but my new camera allowed me to zoom in close enough that you can be certain they aren't just white rocks.



We topped out on Tabeguache around 10:00, and the thunder clouds began to build. I hurried back over the top of Shavano and down to treeline, leaving my comrades to fend for themselves. Apparently I have an irrational fear of being struck by lightening. I passed several smiling hikers on their way up as I was running down in fear of my life. Call me paranoid, but I've read accounts of survivors who've been struck by lightening and it just doesn't sound like fun.



We were back to the car by noon for a 7.5 hour round trip. It was nice having hiking partners, as most of my 14er hikes this summer have been solo. I'm not up to 21 of the 54 14ers in Colorado. I've not yet decided if I'm trying to climb all of them, but I'm having a great time using them as an excuse to visit different areas of Colorado.

Nice, Relaxing Weekend

With no one to entertain, Ashley and I had a nice relaxing weekend. On Friday night we went to see A Midsummer Night's Dream, put on by the Colorado Shakespheare Festival at the CU Outdoor Theater. We've seen other plays there before and have thoroughly enjoyed all of them. On Saturday morning we went for a 15 mile run up in the mountains, came home, bought a barbeque, and grilled in the afternoon. On Sunday we climbed the 3rd Flatiron (8-pitch, easy 5th class trad climb behind our house). When we got home, it was entirely too hot in the house (mid 90's), so we went to see the new Harry Potter movie in a wonderfully air-conditioned theater. The prices they're charging for movies these days really aren't worth it until you factor in the value of air conditioning on a hot summer day, then I think it's a fair deal.

More Visitors

After threatening for a few months, Jason and Kelly finally came to visit us from Seattle. They'll be here for a total of about 10 days, last weekend being the only weekend overlapping with their stay. As such, all the working members of our household took Friday off and we ventured to Buena Vista, Colorado for a weekend of rafting and car camping.

Prior to leaving on Friday morning, Ashley, Melanie, Jason and I went for a run on the trials behind our house. As all of us with the exception of Jason are training for a marathon, and this run was to fulfill the training requirements of a weekend long run, we ended up running about 14 miles on a very hilly trail. Miraculously, Jason completed the entire run with us after traveling to Boulder from sea level. He claims he's never run farther than 5 miles at once in his life, but I'm not sure I believe him.

After the run it was into the car and off to the Arkansas River near Buena Vista. We made it in time to run the "Numbers" section of the Arkansas, which included 7 cleverly named rapids over a 5 mile stretch of water: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. With Keith as our guide, we styled the Class 4 run without mishap. That night we drove around for about 2 hours looking for an unclaimed campsite, only to end up camping at the takeout of the "Numbers" section, where we began our search 2 hours earlier.



The following day we rafted the ever-so-popular stretch of the Arkansas known as Brown's Canyon. With Keith guiding, this stretch would have been pretty mundane and boring. However, he handed me the guide stick for most of the way down and I got to practice running into rocks in a consequence free environment . . . okay, so there was the consequence of embarrassment in front of all the other rafters. I slowly figured out what to do with Keith giving occasional pointers and had a great time learning how to maneuver a raft. The beer we brought with us came in handy every time we got stuck on a rock.

For a variety of reasons, the group was wanting to lie low on Sunday before driving home. I, on the other hand, thought it silly to be camping at the base of so many of Colorado's 14ers without hiking to the top of one. I woke up at 4 am, drove to the trialhead, hiked up Mt. Yale, and met everyone else in Buena Vista just before 10 am. The hike up was on the Colorado Trail for 3.2 miles before gaining a 2.2 mile long ridge leading to the summit. Perhaps the best part was when I saw a doe and two spotted fawns while driving to the trailhead.



Overall, it was a fantastic weekend in the presence of superb company.

Visitors

Tis the season to visit Boulder. The weekend of July 7th and 8th, Ashley's sister and brother in law (Abbie and Tom) came to visit. We had an action-packed, extended weekend that involved hiking, the Coors Brewery Tour (The Tourey), inner tubing down Boulder Creek, and going to see the Colorado Rapids (professional soccer team who's mascot is an Eagle) among other things. The inner tubing turned exciting immediately as the tube I was riding was mostly deflated. After a period of instability, I figured out how to go over the drops, become completely submerged, and pop up downstream all while staying on top of the flaccid inner tube. While hiking back up for a second run, I traded tubes with somebody who I was unable to locate.





Aside from the low score (0-1), the Rapids game proved to be much more fun to attend than a Colorado Rockies game. I believe the main reason for this is that people attend the game to an extent that mostly fills the stadium. They also don't lose as frequently.

On Monday, Ashley, Abbie, and Tom spent the day at Rocky Mountain National Park, but I was unable to join. Apparently they didn't see any elk, which I find hard to believe.

Harvard, Colombia, and a Goat

I got home a few hours ago from climbing two more 14ers: Mt. Harvard and Mt. Colombia in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness. I began hiking at 4am, reached the summit of Harvard at 7:15, Colombia at 9:15, and was back to the car at 11:30. Overall, the loop was 13.5 miles and involved about 6000 feet of elevation gain. One of the highlights of the trip was seeing a mountain goat near the summit of Harvard. This was the first goat I had seen in the wild in Colorado (the pet goats on top of Mt. Evans don't count). Other than that, I saw the standard critters (marmots and pikas) including one marmot that was bigger than Keith and Melanie's dog.

I didn't bring a camera on the trip because my past experience climbing other peaks in the area suggested there would be nothing to take pictures of. For some reason, this little sub-area of the Collegiate Peaks was different, and I'll never leave my camera home again.

The other highlight of the trip was the traverse between Harvard and Colombia. The standard route drops over a hundred feet below the ridge to flatter ground before making the traverse. The book I had said that one could stay on the ridge (fairly sharp and steep on both sides), but it would involve 5th class climbing. My plan, since I had plenty of time, was to stay on the ridge until I got to a point where I didn't feel comfortable, at which point I would bail down to the standard trail below me. There was one section that was a bit tricky, the guide book calling it a 5.7 downclimb. It may have been 5.7 for about 4 vertical feet, but I wouldn't be a very good judge because I just jumped down the last little bit. I did see a rappel anchor built of climbing webbing about 25 feet above this section, so I'm sure it was what the book was referring to. The rest of the ridge was class 3/4 and quite entertaining. Overall, this was one of better Colorado 14er climbs I've done.

Summer in Boulder

It's officially summer here in Boulder by my standards: those being that it's always uncomfortably hot, there's way too much to do, and I almost want to go to work because there's air conditioning there.

As soon as Dad went home from his visit, Ashley, Melanie, Lauren, and I went climbing in Clear Creek Canyon. We initially tried to go to an area called Cat Slab, which we found to be closed indefinitely. I believe it's on private property and the owner is a jack ass. We backtracked back down the canyon to Highwire Crag, a personal favorite of mine as far as sport climbing in Colorado goes. It was hot and we were lazy, but we got about 4 solid single pitch climbs in before heading back to our not-so-air-conditioned house.







The following day, Lauren and I made the mistake of following Ashley, Melanie, and one of Melanie's coworkers on one of their weekend training runs (they're training for a marathon at the end of September). The run was an 11 mile loop, and I think I made it about 10 before walking up the final 1 mile incline. My knee felt good afterwards though, so I may decide to jump in their running program here and there and see what happens.