Breck and Beer

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This morning, we "slept in" and didn't leave our hotel for the day's activities until nearly 9am. On the way out of town, we stopped at the City Market (as a joke, we never actually pronounce it that way) to pick up some muffins and a styrofoam cooler. The portable cooler I brought from home is probably not really made for ice, but just insulation. So, we had been having some problems with leakage throughout the day.

From there, I got behind the wheel and we went east towards Frisco, CO. We arrived into town around 10am. Although the shopping outlets they had there seemed enticing, we decided to go for a hike instead. About 3 miles up Ryan Gulch Rd. through neighborhoods of apartments and condos, we reached the trailhead for Lily Pad Lake.

Even though this hike was initially challenging as we walked up a gravel service road at about a 30 degree grade for a good 200 yards, it really leveled off from there. Also from the top of this initial hill was a great view of the Dillon Resevoir below - an enormous lake that is surely a destination for boating and sailing during the summer. As we continued along the path, we passed beaver pounds (with no beavers), streams, marshy clearings and spruce forests. At our destination was a small lake completely overtaken with lily pads followed by a significantly larger alpine lake behind it.

We met some other hikers, as seems to becoming a common thread with this trip, who were from Sedona, AZ and locally in Breckenridge. We snapped some pictures of them and they returned the favor. Then, per their recommendation, we decided to try an alternate trail back to our car called the Salt Lick Trail. The local woman said that in parts the trail would become a bit difficult to follow, but to always KEEP LEFT.

So, we started the trek back to the car with that in mind. The trail seemed easy enough to follow at first, but as Justin was tracking us on his Topo Map (through an Iphone app) he just didn't think we were heading in the right direction. We came to the first fork in the trail about a 1/2 mile in and went left...but it literally seemed like the left fork was almost causing us to double over the direction we had just come from. So, we came to a third fork, and at this point we decided to cut our losses and try to make our way back to the original trail. This was not accomplished by backtracking, by any means, but we continued on the route we had started and consulted the map whenever we would get to a fork in the trail.

Eventually, after about 3 more forks in the trail and ever so slowly seeing that we were getting close to the more well-traveled path, we decided to make a beeline for the main trail. There was a decent clearing in the woods with little brush or other debris blocking our way, so we cut across the area and finally made it to familiar territory. It took us about another 15 minutes to get back to the starting point, and we were certainly relieved to see the car in the parking area.

By this time, it was nearly 1pm and we were quite hungry for lunch. We decided to head over to Breckenridge because it seemed like it would be another cute ski town to check-out. Plus, it's fairly accessible since it's only about 10 miles south of the interstate. After parking (and might I mention, it was free for once), we got a table at the Breckenridge Brewery. Since they are known for brewing their own beer, we both decided to get a sampler. In hindsight, we probably could have done with a single sampler between the two of us. There were 8 beers totaling 32 ounces. When it's actually in front of you, it's really intimidating. The beers included a Pale Ale, an Amber, a Vanilla Porter, an Oatmeal Stout, a Belgian Ale, a Wheat and 2 IPA's. I took a sip of each, and then decided to finish my 4 favorites. So, in all, I maybe had 16 ounces of beer.

For the food portion of lunch, we ordered some peel 'n' eat shrimp to share. Justin had a half rack of ribs with fries, and I had a BBQ chicken sandwich with fries. With a slight buzz and full stomachs, we walked around to some of the shops in downtown Breckenridge. One of the stores we wandered into was a photography store. Justin was looking for a few minor supplies. As we were talking to the owner and he was schooling Justin on his photo equipment, he mentioned that he had shot for Nat Geo many times and had been published in countless other magazines. He was an interesting character, but he turned out to be very helpful. He offered to give us some tips for our next few days in Arches and Canyonlands if we could find him a map. So, Justin and I left the store and found a book store a few blocks down that sold maps. Once we had our map, we went back to the photo store and our unofficial, professional photographer guide marked up areas on our maps that we were not to miss. This would definitely require a bit of reworking of the schedule I had planned.

When we left the photo store for the second time, it was nearing 5pm. It had been a long day and we were looking forward to getting back to the hotel at this point. Away from Breck we went, and we made it back to our hotel around 6pm.

Following a few hours of winding down, Justin and I congregated with our newly purchased maps to figure out a game plan for the next few days. With such a limited time in the Moab area, we really need to time everything perfectly, particularly in regards to the photo opportunities. Then, about 8:45pm we decided we should probably catch some dinner before it got too late. So, we drove a few minutes to a local sushi place called Nozawa and had a few rolls - it was decent for small-town, Colorado.

The final steps of our evening included packing for the next few days and getting our showers in due to a very early morning tomorrow.

Moose Hunt

Maroon Lake

Today we made the trek from Vail to Aspen. After traveling through some pretty awesome cutouts in the mountainside the road took us through several smaller towns including Glenwood Springs. An hour and a half after leaving our hotel we arrived in Aspen. We turned north and headed up into the mountains traveling about 12 miles to our detination the Maroon Bells area. Maroon Bells is a beautiful valley between several towering mountain peaks and is a popular destination for hikers. Our objective was Crater Lake, a gorgeous alpine lake at the end of a 2 mile hike up into the mountains.

The hike was fairly easy with a small elevation gain of about 800 feet. Along the way we were treated to pretty views of Maroon Lake and dense groves of Aspen encircled by several 14k peaks. Unfortunately as we arrived a Crater Lake we discovered the lake was a bit dried up. Combined with the overcast weather the photo opportunities were limited at best. Both Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak were shrouded in a thick blanket of clouds that refused to budge during our visit.

Crater Lake

We did have the opportunity to meet some very nice folks up at the lake though. A man from Montana with two golden-doodles was just headed out for a week of camping in the wilderness. Another couple was just making their descent from the mountains after camping for 4 days. As we made our descent from the lake the clouds finally parted in the valley below treating us to some very nice views of Maroon Lake.

We drove back down into Aspen and had a nice lunch at the Red Onion. As usual Lauren ordered way to much food and we left with a few leftovers. My Elk Burger with pepperjack cheese was tasty and satisfying after our hike. We spent the next hour or so browsing the shops in and around Aspen. To say that Aspen is not cheap is an understatement. It is a town for the truly afluent. Most of the stores were top fashion designers like Gucci and Prada. We perused the Ralph Lauren store and found the $900 cashmere sweaters to be a bit out of our budget.

During our hike down from Crater Lake we encountered a few patches of light rain and Lauren occaisionally struggled to maintain solid footing - she was wearing regular tennis shoes! After days of trying to convince her she finally conceeded that she needed some hiking shoes. We left the super rich fashion stores and headed into a local outfitter and got Lauren hooked up with some hiking shoes. Success!

Leaving Aspen we drove back to in Avon to catch a free BBQ before heading back out into the mountains. Our final destination for the day was Piney Lake, an alpine lake north of Vail. During a previous hike a local we met suggested we head up to Piney at dusk to catch moose feeding on the lake grasses. After a pretty rough drive up a dirt road we made it to Piney Lake around 7:00 pm. To our dismay it first appeared the area was closed off behind private land, Piney Lake Ranch.

After a few miutes of trudging around evaluting the situation I encountered a few hunters walking up the road. They were camped a bit down the road and were stalking a few elk in the fading light - it is muzzle loader hunting season. The two hunters confirmed that a trail just off the parking lot was indeed public land and would take us to the lake. We grabbed our gear and quickly headed off onto the trail. After a few hundred yards we were at the lake. At first we could not see anything, but we heard deep grunting from the other side of the lake. I trained my long telephoto lense on the other side of Piney Lake to where the forest touched the waters edge and there he was, a huge adult bull moose! Mission success!

Our Moose!

We headed back to the car and met up with the two hunters again. They had come up empty handed but were thrilled that we saw the moose. I showed them a couple of the pictures, we talked a bit more about the wilderness and parted ways. We had a long 10 mile drive down the mountain on a dirt road in the moonlight. On the way we saw lots of critters including a pair of young doe walking up the road. Once we finally got back to paved roads we breathed a sigh of relief and headed home for some beer and snacks.

The Peter's vs. The Mountains

Overambitious, much?? Yep, that's me. The plan for yesterday was to do up to 3 hikes...yeah, we only did one. It's alright though - at least we were still getting in some major calorie burning.

So, this morning we were out the door by about 7:45am. We got to the trailhead for Pitkin Creek by 8:15am, and after some minor confusion due to some signs that said "Path Closed," we exploded out of the gate to tackle about a 600 foot elevation gain in .4 miles. By the time we were a mile in, it was becoming quite evident that this 4.5 mile trail (to Pitkin Lake) would be a bit more than we could handle. The trailhead's starting point was above 8,000 feet, so we were already amongst some very thin air.

We reassessed our goals. About 2.5 miles in, there was a good stopping point with a view of Pitkin Falls (much more attainable). We continued our moderate climb through aspen and spruce forests, wide mountain valleys and occasional encounters with Pitkin Creek. The last .10 mile was a big push and about a 300 foot elevation gain to get to the viewing point of the towering Pitkin Falls in the distance. There were also sprawling views of the peaks to the south from the direction we had been hiking. In total, we had conquered a 1,500 foot elevation gain.

After shooting some pictures and resting for about 10 minutes, we decided to head back. Our food rations were sparse, and we were getting hungry for lunch!

As always, the descent was significantly quicker. We still made several brief stops to snap pictures and take in the views. The wildlife on this hike was unfortunately minimal. We saw a group of marmots bouncing around on what looked to be a former rock slide. Other than that, I'm guessing many of the animals were scared off because there was a family camping near the trail - and the kids were doing lots of running around and screaming. Oh, well.

Also on the way back down, we ran into a group of locals with a beautiful Burmese Mountain dog. They gave us some tips about where to go to see some black bears and full-grown moose. So, we may try to hit those areas over the next few days.

By the time we got back to the car, it was just after 12:30pm. So, that entire hike took about 4 hours. We quickly made up some PB&J sandwiches and had some chips. Then, we decided to do something a little less taxing - some scenic driving.

First, we headed to Shrine Pass Road. This road was mostly dirt and was very marked with many pot holes, but it really took us into the heart of some of the major peaks in the area: Mount of the Holy Cross, the Gore Range and Ptarmigan Pass. From Shrine Pass, we briefly tried to get on another 4WD road called Wearyman Road. Bad idea!! This road was one lane and made out of pure rock - not little gravelly rocks, but big rocks. Once we got to a big ledge in the road that dropped down into a creek, we decided we needed to turn around. It took about a 7-point turn to do so, but we got the heck out of there and saved potentially doing some major damage to our rental car.

We continued on Shrine Pass the rest of the way into a small town called Red Cliff. Then we headed south on Hwy. 24 to do one more scenic drive called Resolution Road (and this was described as Easy). It took a good 30 minutes to get to the end point - where it actually joined up with the other side of Wearyman Rd. The view point that we stopped at was known as Ptarmigan Pass and offered panaromic view of mountains in all directions. It was quite awe-inspiring.

Finally, with our morning-hike exhaustion stil lingering, we decided to go back to the resort to rest up before dinner. We napped, showered and drove into Vail Village for our 8pm reservation at Restaurant Kelly Liken.

They had a prix fixe menu to go along with a weekly event they have called Sunday Summer Harvest. Apparently, Vail has the largest Farmer's Market in Colorado that runs from 9am - 3pm every Sunday. The chef and her staff use the produce and other ingredients that they pick up from the Market to develop the evening's dinner menu.

Justin and I started out with a cocktail - a glass of Viognier for me and a tomato consumme martini for him. Our first course consisted of a salad of field greens, thin red onion, grape tomatoes, radishes and a ginger vinaigrette. It reminded me of a house salad you might have at a sushi restaurant, but way more balanced and refined. For our main course, Justin had pork cheeks with a sweet corn puree and sauteed swiss chard. My dinner was a seared and pan fried black bass on a bed of julienned beans (they were green, but they weren't green beans) with yellow squash and a red beet hash. I finished my plate - that's all that needs to be said. With dinner, Justin had a glass of Cab Franc and I had a Syrah. Finally, a peach tart with a cannelle of fresh vanilla bean cream was served for dessert. We splurged a little and had a glass of ice wine to accompany our dessert - Delish!

We got back to our room by about 10:30pm, and I was ready to call it a night. Justin spent some time editing photos and joined me a few hours later. Another early start for tomorrow as we plan to travel down to swanky Aspen.

Oh, Mountains, How I Have Missed Thee...

Vacation has officially begun! Today, we made our way out to Colorado after a somewhat sleepless night. It was not so much the stress of traveling, but rather procrastination that led to about 4 hours of sleep.

When I got home from work on Friday, I watched a little TV, had a beer, cooked a simple meal, got my Ipod playlists ready to go...before we knew it, it was after 11pm by the time we started packing. Combine that with some choice movies broadcasting on AMC as we were getting everyting together, and it was about 2am by the time our heads finally hit the pillows.

Regardless of this fact, it's amazing how easily it is to get motivated when it comes to a vacation. We left our house this morning about 7:45am to head to Columbus for our $160(!) round trip flight with Southwest Airlines. I snagged a great deal thanks to my dad's tip-off!

Our flight went direct into Denver, CO and apparently the stars were aligned for us on this day. We left Cbus on time, and we actually arrived in Denver 30 minutes early! Of course, once we got our luggage from baggage claim and went to the rental care place, all of that "extra" time was washed away. From the time our flight landed at 11:30am to the time we left the aiport with our rental car, 2 more hours had passed.

So, with our excessive amount of luggage and our GMC Acadia SUV, we got on the road. We made a brief stop before officially exiting Denver-proper to grab some lunch at a Smashburger (what can I say, it's a guaranteed tasty, quick meal). Then, we continued on I-70 W into Rocky Mountain Country. I'm always amazed with these mountains because the landscape literally goes from relatively flat to an explosion of rocky terrain within a handful of miles.

By about 4:30pm, we reached our resort, the Sheraton Mountain Vista, in Avon, CO (just outside of Vail). Shortly after checking-in, my vacation-planning prowess was affirmed as we met with the resort concierge to go over the features of the area. I wouldn't quit my day-job by any means, but I'm pretty damn good. He was impressed with how educated I was about the area without ever having been here.

From there, we went to our room, quickly unpacked and relaxed for a few hours. I don't know why, but plane flights are exhausting! Finally, about 20 minutes after 7pm, we left for our dinner reservation at Vin 48 Restaurant and Wine Bar. It was literally about a 2 block walk to get there. Nice 'n' easy.

Both Justin and I had about 3 samplings of wine with dinner...those 3 oz. pours go down so easy! I had a Sauvignon Blanc, a Syrah and a Red Blend called "The Prisoner." Justin had a Carmenere, a Merlot and a Syrah. Our cuisine included a traditional Antipasti (olives, cheese, proscuitto, almonds, crostini, etc.) and a mussels appetizer. For dinner, I had a homemade spinach papperdelle pasta with mushrooms and Justin has a beef tenderloin with ratatouille and a shoestring potato pancake. We capped off the meal with a shot of espresso.

With renewed energy, we stopped at the Avon Liquor store on the way back to the hotel to pick up some beer and wine for the week. Then, we hopped in our SUV to head to the local grocery store. With the various day trips we are going to take this week, it's nice to be able to eat lunch on the road as well as having breakfast and snacking options.

So, that essentially concludes Day 1. We have some interesting hikes planned for tomorrow, so there will hopefully be some glorious pictures, wildlife and other interesting tidbits on the horizon.