First RMNP hike of the year.

A panoramic shot from the trail.
As far as I went today.
Copeland mountain, or is it mt. Copeland?
St Vrain drainage.
Some cool trees.
I am sure things were dry up here less than a week ago. But since then it has been raining and snowing a little here, which means snowing alot in RMNP.
But I had a burning desire to get out! So today I got up a little early and drove up rt 7 to see what I could do.
My first idea was to do the Twin Sisters peaks. Unfortunately, I noticed large snow caps on the peaks above tree line (and a week ago there was only spotty snow, far more stone color than snow anyway). This put that plan down as I didn't have the gear with me to tackle much snow.
So I decided to head for wild basin and see what I could find there. I am not sure how it is going to work out, but I have made a goal to hike every named location from the wild basin trail head this season.
One hike I hadn't done yet was sand beach lake. The trail leaves from the parking lot right at the ranger kiosk. I though it would be interesting to do ouzel lake and see how it looked in a different season, but decided against that as the road was closed to that trail head.
Out of the car it was cooler, but not cold. Bad for me there was a ton of snow. I was thinking the trees might have helped the trail stay clear a bit, but no such luck. Undeterred, I decided to press on until I either reached the lake, lost the trail in the snow, or got cold feet.
The trail was surprisingly easy to follow. It just looked like a sunken area in the surface of the mountain, so that was no problem. My feet were. All I wore was some light summer running shoes. Really it wasn't too bad.
The snow was, with drifts up to two feet deep in places, and me often post-holing up to mid shin or knee depth. I made the first 1.4 miles to the connection with the meeker park trailhead trail, and decided there to turn around. Cold feet being high in my reasoning. If only I had snow shoes!
So I headed back. The trail was easier to find with my foot prints, and I even (GASP!) ran down some of it. I made the descent in half the time it took me to go up, so I may have to practice doing some trail running. That could be very useful this summer.
It was definitely a disappointing first hike of the season. If I had been better prepared I could have done more, but oh well. It is always nice and very peaceful and relaxing to spend time in RMNP, particularly at wild basin since you can usually avoid alot of the tourist crowds.

Back in the saddle...

With the recent warmer weather we have had the opportunity to get back out for some rides. This winter has also cooperated, unlike the last, as we have gotten very little snow giving us prime conditions.
Last week Katie and I rode picture rock and wild turkey trails of the Heil ranch trail system. I think this combination is one of my favorites for 'easy' trails in the area, and if you are planning on a longer riding day, this is a great warm up before tackling Hall ranch.
True to name, we did actually see some wild turkeys. And despite having not ridden in about a year besides for errands around town, I didn't really feel bad at all. The only part of me that really hurt were my sit bones, which definitely took a pounding.
On Sunday Katie rode her bike to work so I was able to use the car and got out to Heil ranch again. At this time of the year I just want to get some easier miles under my belt.
Again had a good ride, felt pretty good and a little stronger even. This time I also did ponderosa trail, which adds 2+ miles on, giving me around 17 for the day. I did it in the pretty reasonable time of about 2.5 hours, or around 7 miles per hour average speed. Not bad considering my high is around ten I think.
Yesterday we both had off again. We had talked about riding Marshall Mesa, a trail system south of Boulder which hosts a network of very easy trails. But since I didn't sleep well I ended up sleeping in pretty late. We talked and after some discussion ended up deciding to go to Hall ranch and just take our time there.
Hall ranch is my favorite and in my opinion the best trail in the area. Why? It has a little of everything. Very technical riding up through rock gardens, steep uphills in different soils, fun flowing swoopy downhills as well as some more technical downhill riding back through the rock gardens. It is also extremely difficult both technically and aerobically. Basically you have to be in good shape and a pretty good technical rider as well.
Well, it was a fun ride, and reminded me why I love this trail so much. I am not yet in good enough shape to ride it well, but it seems like my technical abilities are still there as I was able to clean most of the rock gardens and obstacles, including some that I have usually found difficult.
And talk about fun... Once you get to the top, the long fast downhill makes all the suffering worthwhile.
Our time was around 1:35 which again isn't bad, but is well off my best of 1:15 or so. But it'll come back as I ride more.