earth turns and wind burns

Palisades and Fruita

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Mon, 08 May 2023 03:54:00 +0000

Palisades - an area I've been meaning to check out for a while. Famous for its peaches and wine, but also home to the Palisade Plunge. That was my real draw, but with the recent snow the trail was not open yet.

No matter there are plenty of other trails to expore, and not one but two mountain bike races on this particular weekend. One of which my buddy Brian was in.

While Brian was racing I started up the Palisade Rim trail.

It is quite spectacularly scenic.

Little Book cliffs to the north across the valley.

Petroglyphs on the rocks half way up. The video shows more essence of the Rim trail.

camped overnight north of Fruita.

Sunday was a gravel race, which Brain raced in also and won the combined two day event.

I took off in search of a trail called Sarlac.

I had discounted the trails leading to the canyon as they didn't look like much on the map.

However the cactus was in bloom and trails were in pretty good shape dustwize.

The Sarlac trail was a grunt of a climb, but once up to the single track, the trail was specular once again.

Some fun traverses.

Utah border over my shoulder.

Rugged geography back east toward the Book cliffs.

Paintbrush in bloom.

Purple Scorpion flower, names as such due to its toxic sap like poison oak.

Even the Cactus was in flower.

Peaceful Valley to Brainard Lakes and back on fat bike.

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 05:20:00 +0000

Had a great ride on the fat bike, Sunday. It has been a pretty good season so far. This ride was 4.5hrs and about 22.5Miles and 3700ft of climbing. The weather was perfect, and the trails were smoothly packed and quiet due to it being super bowl sunday. I started at Peaceful valley, took sourdough to Brainard lakes, lapped the east part of Snowshoe trail, then Waldrop to South St Vrain, back up Beaver reservoir road to Coney cut off back down to Peaceful Valley.

Skating Red Rocks Lake

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 09:14:00 +0000

Skating on an Alpine Lake has been on my list of things to do for a few years, I finally got to do it this Christmas break. The Previous week I had been fat biking, and heard a hockey game being enjoyed here, the previous day I rode across it, noting the ice thicknesss and quality. Although the forecast was for some wind, we went anyway. The Lake is a little over 10,000ft above sea level in the Brainard Lake Recreational Area.

Granby Ranch 2022

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 03:42:00 +0000

Another trip to Trestles

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 03:31:00 +0000

This Time with Danny. Weather was absolutely perfect, and the trails were in great shape.

Steamboat Springs

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Mon, 05 Sep 2022 02:50:00 +0000

I headed off to Steamboat Springs for Labor Day weekend as it seemed a good bet for the weather, plus I was invited ;) The flying was quite nice, very gentle thermals which was a surprise to me, but apparently this is common as the valley is generally quite green, and this year had a particularly wet August. My battery ran out half way through the flight, but I think the scenery is still pretty nice, I flew for a couple hours, getting to 14k and had a nice landing at the hayfield LZ.

The next day, was questionable as to whether or not there might be helicopter traffic grounding freeflight, so I opted for a town tour on the folding bike I had packed. The river trail was quite fun.

Winter Park Daddy Daughter day.

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Sun, 28 Aug 2022 01:43:00 +0000

Maddy gained some really good skills riding a rigid frame downhill, we stayed mostly on the Green, stince the 1.8" wide tyres on the 24"inch wheels without suspension has to be brutal on the wrists. Anyway she did great, 4 runs is a good showing considering the circumstances. What is more, she ended with a big excitablable smile.

loveland

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 01:58:00 +0000

No lessons today, just skiing around. We all made a complete lap around the resort together. A good 22 Mile tour (including the lift runs).

Maddys first official ski lesson

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 05:52:00 +0000

We left in the darkness to arrive at Snowy Range Ski resort for Maddys first lesson. I chose there because of loathsome traffic on I70, relative ticket prices and the prospect of quieter lifts. I was wrong about the lifts, it was quite crowded that weekend. But we got lucky with the parking and the journey. I had ideas of snowboarding in the morning while Maddy had her lesson, then using my xc skis in the afternoon while we were all together. The meet up logistics were too cumbersome though and I stuck with the board. The snow was surprisingly good while thin.

On MLK day I skied Happy Jack Trails. It's a place I've had my eye on for Fat biking for a couple of years because the local club grooms the trails. Pretty day, awesome trails.

Soapstone Prairie

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 03:03:00 +0000

Up on the border of Colorado and Wyoming is Soapstone Prairie , I think it is part of the National Park system, whereas the neighboring Red mountain park is Larimer county open space, and the northern part is Wyoming - Big Hole open space.

A herd of Bison are re-establishing there.

The Cheyenne rim trail was what attracted me up there, though there are a couple of other canyon trails I'd like to go explore more.

Maddys West Mag Tour

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 02:34:00 +0000

This time we all went and rode lower hobbit and of course Aspen Ally.

2021 Aspen change riding

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 02:48:00 +0000

The Aspens have been spectacularly bright this Autumn. I managed to get a couple of rides in. First one from Pierson park, through Homestead meadows.

and up onto Kenny Mountain.

I turned around just below the top, on a rock outcropping in the middle of a beautiful aspen grove.

A couple of days later, I took a day off and rode West Magnolia just about as the first significant weather rolled in that I assumed would likely knock the leaves down.

Granby Ranch in the summer

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 03:33:00 +0000

For Labor Day weekend, we headed off to Granby Ranch to see if Maddy would enjoy some downhill mountain biking. We found a hotel with a nice pool and off we went.

The biking was a sucess, I think Maddy managed 5 runs, 900feet vertical each run. I'm claiming success. We also did a nice hike around Monarch Lake.

Winter Park or is it Trestles.

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Sun, 18 Jul 2021 03:01:00 +0000

Either way, winter park is pretty fun in the summer.

Valmont Bike Park

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Sat, 26 Dec 2020 00:17:00 +0000

Mt Evans

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Sat, 10 Oct 2020 03:18:00 +0000

I started my ride by Echo Lake, at about 10,600ft MSL.

I started there because that is where the road is closed to motor vehicles. With COVID happening and parking at the top being limited and trails narrow, the road has remained closed all season, which makes it a dream to ride up.

Looking north, the Williams Fork fire continues to burn.

Bighorn sheep I think?, just the females.

Looking south and getting higher

Summit lake just below 13k.

Some snow that must spend most of its time in the shade.

Finally the parking lot at 14,160ft. Not so bad really, a pretty easy grade most of the way and I must be well adjusted to the elevation.

Meyer-Wobble Observatory soon to be decommissioned.

I didn't realize this road is the highest paved road in the US. Since I'd ridden my bike, I was wearing my road shoes which are rubbish to walk in. I decided to bare foot the remaining 105ft to the real summit. It was worth it for the views, the high light of the ride really, I imagine a regular summers day would be crowded.

Mountain goats just walking around, they are a wild species, but introduced from Montana in 1947.

Jefferson Valley to the South. Virga was starting to fall and the temperature was dropping rapidly, time to get off the mountain. The ride down was surprisingly unfun with ruts every 40 feet or so.

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 04:33:00 +0000

Brain, Andrew and I headed out early Sunday Monday to ride what is locally know as the figure-8 up near Brainerd Lakes. It starts at 8700ft near the Boy Scout camp and heads up the Sourdough Trail to Brainerd Lakes, west across Little Raven at 10,500ft and back down the bouncy South St Vrain Trail. Quite fun on these new long travel mountain bikes.

Video of the ride.

Villa Grove

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 14:35:00 +0000

A big turn-out! ~160 pilots I think I heard. From the LZ looking up at launch and the Sangre de Cristo Range

I didn't have sufficient time to do my homework for this trip. I thought the swifts fly in was a Hang Gliding class5 event -Ha Nope! Anyway I had decided to take it easy and not be too ambitious since I've barely flown in 16 months. Over launch looking south ~13k.

Over launch looking down at Villa Grove.

Over launch about 15k looking north toward Salida.

Over Villa Grove looking down on the LZ and Launch. A place I've heard about for years, but hadn't managed to visit until now.

Valley is around 8k feet MSL Peaks around 13.5k, previous day I flew down to the corner and back, flying the Freedom as I'm really out-of-practice. This glider is much easier to land and more forgiving of mistakes.

Looking south down toward the Great Sand Dunes National Park. What a great fun weekend, so nice to see (at a distance) so many friendly faces I've not seen in months/years. Somehow I was so busy catching up I didn't take a single group shot.

Niwot Ridge

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Sun, 09 Aug 2020 13:47:00 +0000

Here's a ride I've been eyeballing a while, uncertain as to the condition of the road and level of difficulty. The map at least showed it's a legitimate bike trail, however without going one would know the size and lose-ness of the rocks in the trail bed up from the Mountain Research Station.

The trail starts at 9500' MSL. Here's looking south toward Eldora ski resort and Silver lake down in front.

Looking south-east to Boulder reservoir and the Flatiron range.

Around 11,500' MSL just another 700' climb to go.

Just peaking over Niwot Mountain.

And finally the top at 12,250'. Time to go check out the hard earned views. Perfect temperature, no wind or storms.

Isabelle Glacier at the southwest end of Brainard Lakes, under Shoshoni and Apache Peaks.

The trail passing Isabelle lake.

All downhill on the way back...

Mt St Vrain

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 03:52:00 +0000

Time for a wonder in the hills. This time Mount St. Vrain, a relatively short and steep hike ~3.5hrs

I went up the rocky creek route, the trail is sometimes tricky to follow, of course easy with a GPS. The wild flowers were out in full.

Still a little snow in north facing pockets, but definitely well passed max melt.

Leaving the house the temps were ~90'F on top blowy and ~50'F. great views even though it was hard to stand up in the gusts. This is looking south at Paiute Peak across Peaceful valley and Coney flats.

Ogalalla Peak (left) Copeland center, and Isolation peak back right.

Longs Peak (left) and Meeker (right).

Buchanan pass trail. Pettingell peak in the back ground.

Paiute peak and Shoshoni over its shoulder.

Yellow paintbrush just below Vrain peak.

Looking over the Flatirons and boulder onto the plains. Beaver reservoir in the foreground.

Scarlet paintbrush in an alpine meadow with some daisies. Back down to the truck from here.

Bikes over the years

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 03:14:00 +0000

My First mountain bike, a Sturmey-Archer hub 3-speed. My Dad put this together, I recall he built the back wheel with the new hub and the old rim. Probably 1982-ish. A few years later I had a 5-speed Euro-star mountain bike. The gears were external with derailleur, a huge improvement. It had the triangle in the handle bars, it had significant flaws too, the forks were weak and bent a few times, I recall, and the brakes were terrible.

Then there was the Emmelle ~1989, I don't recall the model, but it was the first bike I ever bought with my own money. It was a 3x6, had center pull brakes and quick release wheels.

I took it to France on a week long mountain bike vacation with some firemen I had met while Mountain Biking at Col de Forclaz. I recall braking the rear axle, but continuing to ride on the skewer. It ruined the hub, and the chainset wasn't too long behind. My Dad fixed it up but then it got stolen from the locked Garage a few years later.

Then there was the Claude Butler 1992 ? - same kind of bike but much better quality. I still have pieces of this bike. If it hadn't cost more to fix than a new bike I would have done it. I turned it into a few novelty bottle openers in 2018 after riding it as a commute bike for 6 years in California, and that's after 6 years of muddy mountain biking in the west Midlands, Chilterns, and a tour to the south of France. Many many miles on this bike.

Arriving in California 1997 I was ready for a new stead. Full suspension was worth the upgrade and v-brakes were brand new.

I broke the rear triangle, and while it was covered under the lifetime (3 year) warranty, the geometry changed and the bike never rode the same again. Which was too bad in its day it was one of the best mountain bike money could buy. The front suspension collapsed in Texas 2011 and the bike was stolen from the front door shortly after. Being low on cash it was 20 months before I got another bike and I was riding the Claude-Butler again.

The KHS204 has been a great bike and has plenty of life left in it. Disc brakes, tubeless tires and 120mm travel front and back. This bike made the Texas hill country swiss cheese limestone fun again. And it has been a great workhorse pulling Maddys tag along trailer over some significant terrain! -I still use it for that. However Colorados rocky Rockys are too much for its 26" wheels. I demo'ed a bunch of bikes, Santa Cruz - Hightower, Rock Mountain - Instinct, didn't much care for those, and I really wanted to like the Santa Cruz. I also tried the Yeti SB140 and the Pivot Firebird 29". The Firebird seemed in a league of its own, I was sold. Look at the side by side, notice the wheel size, the fork angle, the 1x12 drivetrain, and the dropper post. It's really amazing how differently the two bikes ride. The 180mm of travel is a significant upgrade along with the stiffness due to the frame and through axles. Giddy-up!

Snowshoeing to Spearhead Peak

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 04:23:00 +0000

This is a hike I had been eyeing up for quite some time. Rocky Mountain National Park, a hike up from Bear Lake, to Spearhead.

I cherry picked my day: warm, sunny, midweek (for parking access), and a while since it had snowed (so the powder was packed and quicker to walk on), but still I wasn't sure how feasible the goal was. The trail head is at 9100' MSL and the base of Spearhead at 11250' MSL, over 2000' feet of ascent at altitude in snowshoes.

The trail immediately climbs quite a bit but the scenery is nice and mesmerizing, distant peaks, frozen waterfalls.

Once up to Mills Lake the grade calms down.

Mills Lake.

Jewel Lake - I think.

After climbing up from Black Lake, I thought I might be turning around quickly, It had gotten pretty cold, the weather was turning, I was still climbing vigorously, and already wearing all the clothes I brought along. However just a few minutes later the sun poked through and the place changed dramatically.

I stuck around Spearhead peak, and used up what was left in my battery with the coldeating it up.

West face of Longs peak (flat looking) up top at 14,259' MSL and "keyboard of the winds" formations.

Black Lake and McHenrys Peak 13,320' and Arrowhead (right).

Snow Shoe

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 16:22:00 +0000

Not quite the trip I had planned, we entered the park on MLK day and as such, there was no fee. Sure enough the parking lots were all full with lines of folks waiting for a spot, and others turning around. So plan B, we turned around and parked at Sprague Lake a couple miles back. This would mean an extra 4 miles walk, hmmm, so I picked a new route (using the free National Park Map). The Original plan had been to walk up to Black Lake and back, (south) from the Bear Lake parking lot.

Instead we hiked the blue tracklog (anti-clockwize). There were a few different varieties of woodpecker near Sprague Lake. I Didn't expect to see them in the depths of winter at this elevation. It was however a bright warm sunny day.

The trail started off well trodden (packed snow), so no need for snow shoes or even crampons.

It took over an hour to get to the original planned hike origin, pretty good views though.

I had never seen jack rabbit tracks in the snow before, not something I'd seen or expected up there. But of course they cannot migrate like birds do ;)

Crossing Prospect Canyon.

Some pretty cool snow formations from the different storms we've had this season.

Pretty close to the Glacier Gorge junction.

By the frozen Alberta Falls.

Soon after that we turned on North Longs Peak Trail. This is where the going got so much tougher. The trail was tough to trace through the snow.

After this bridge the going got even tougher.

Full confession I've not done much snowshoeing before, and I think previously it was a novelty walk.

This hike was quite a bit more serious. More so than the original plan. I did have a GPS/transponder with the trail mapped on to it, but traversing across a powder slope is hard work, like a steep sand dune in clown shoes. We've all been there! ahaha.

There were moments of nice views and obvious signs we were on a trail. We left the snowshoes on though after taking them off once. The time isn't saved, and without them, the snow quickly came up to hip level. It is then, really tough to get the shoes back on.

We peaked at somewhere around 10,300 ft. With clouds moving in, and being on the north side of a 14er, the shadows were getting long. Temperature was good though, right around freezing.

Battle Mountain and Lady Washington in the background, picture is a bit blurry on account of planting my face in the snow after sliding while climbing a snowdrift.

Plodding along, the trail looks down sloping, but it wasn't. After this we got the hurry ups, So now more pictures. It was getting dark and we had a long way to go with the arduously slow progress. The downhill was also quite challenging but progress picked up. We arrived back at the truck perhaps 20mins after complete darkness. (other than our flash lights).

Coney Flats

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Sat, 11 Jan 2020 16:33:00 +0000

https://vimeo.com/384541500

This ride took me 3 attempts, mostly due to nagivation issues, this time I had uploaded Open Street Map to my Garmin Inreach, which, while not totally accurate or detailed, has more user friendly information on it. Colorado was 88MB, a handy size that the device processes OK. Round trip was about 12 Miles which took me 3.5 hours. Pretty slow! That does include the picture stops, falling/laughing/restart, as well as the 1400ft net ascent in the snow.

The day was cold, around 14'F and -10'F with the windchill. My clothes were barely adequate, even with the extras I brought along. Feet, Hands and Eyes need better. I'm going to try my old snowboard boots next time. Also I'm going to sew up some mittens, it's really just my finger tips that get chilled. And regular ski googles, since when I put the facemask on for the descent, my oversize sunglasses fogged, then iced up on the inside. Great fun though, I'm am looking forward to more exploring.

Fat Biking Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (west coast brit) — Wed, 25 Dec 2019 16:21:00 +0000

fat biking .

With the recent snows, many of the lower bike trails close often due to mud. Skiing is on, but expensive and takes the whole day.

The local bike shop said "give Fat Biking a try" so I did. All in I bought a used bike, after I found one with acceptable specs, 4.5" tires are wanted for the fun aspect, otherwize you sink into the snow too much.

On the other hand the snow also needs to be packed a little to be possible. I turned around at this point. I was pretty lost anyway.

Peaceful valley has left an impression on me. It's beautiful up there. Note I have also left a few impressions on it too ;) It's taken about 3 rides to know the right gear to wear and how to stay upright more.