Mount Massive

The first weekend in August, Aaron, T-Dog, Paul and Kelly set out to hike Mount Massive. It's the second largest 14er in Colorado. The distance matches it's name, mounting up to a 14 mile climb. Aaron started Friday night off with accomplishing a goal of his; he slept in his hammock! Oddly enough, Aaron slept better than T-Dog and Kelly (who slept in the truck), and Paul (who slept in the tent). I think he's on to something.





Aaron was a ways ahead of the others, and got a few shots of them heading up.





Aaron waited for T-Dog to summit; they were about five hours in when they reached the top.





It was a long day for all, and they were happy to have had the beautiful weather they did!

Mount Huron

We headed up to Leadville for a weekend in July. We were unable to find a spot at a campground, so we headed into the National Forest and found a much more beautiful spot, which we had to ourselves. Aaron set up camp while I read, then we relaxed around the fire until Rob and Jenna arrived.



Saturday morning, Aaron and Leroy headed up to hike Mount Huron. He took some beautiful shots along the way.





He summited in about four hours, which was much faster than anticipated.





While Aaron was out, Rob did some training for the Leadville 100 by running over Hope Pass, while Jenna and I hung around the campsite. When both Aaron and Rob returned, they iced their sore legs by sitting in Clear Creek.



That afternoon Aaron successfully hung and test drove our hammock for the first time. He has plans of sleeping in it on future trips; we'll see how that pans out.



Sunday morning we drove back to reality.

Red, White and Blue Up the Wazoo

It's been a while since we last posted. We have a lot to update on...

We celebrated the Fourth by taking our maiden voyage through Brown's Canyon. For those who are unfamiliar, Brown's is the most rafted section of whitewater in the US. Needless to say, it was quite busy that weekend. We left Denver Friday morning; Aaron happily drove us to Buena Vista, where we hung out at the whitewater park for a few hours.



Saturday morning we headed to our put in. Because Amy and I were unable to raft through Brown's with the little ones on the way, the group agreed to put in higher so we could raft for the first part. Here's a shot of our boat going through the Milk Run.



Amy and I got out where we stopped for lunch. Before leaving everyone else, we were able to get a group shot. I think we were successful in being the most patriotic group on the Arkansas that day.



According to some rafting books we have, and locals near the Arkansas, Zume Flume is the most well known rapid in the US. It's also the most technical. Nonetheless, everyone decided it would be best to put all 12 people and two dogs into one boat to go through the rapid. (Mind you, these boats are meant for 3 people). They somehow made it through without a flip.



We then hiked back up to go through again in our own boats. Here's some pictures of Aaron and Brent going through Zume Flume.







To continue with tradition, we drove into Salida that night to watch the fireworks. So sums up our celebration of the Nation!

Memorial Day madness, Utah style

This past weekend we went on our first rafting trip of the season, marking the official start of summer! We packed the CRV to the brim, full of rafting gear, firewood and beer. We drove to the Colorado/Utah border, and put in for a three day trip. The wind was incredibly strong. Here's a shot of us - I'm trying to stay warm while Aaron's trying to avoid an eddy.



We camped about 17 miles in. The camping was perfect; we had the beach to ourselves and were nestled in a quiet canyon.



Here is our attempt at making pancakes on the beach, in the desert with just a flame and frying pan. They actually turned out pretty good.



We took a hike on day two, and ended up in the back of a secluded canyon. The guys attempted to hike towards the top, but the heat proved to be a bit strong and the walls a bit steep.



On day three we floated on down to the ranger station. Most of the people in our group emptied their boats, then headed on down through Westwater Canyon. Being pregnant, I was not one of those people. Bummer. Westwater is known for its class V rapids and technical challenges. A few in our crew have flipped in this section on previous trips, but we're happy to report that was not the case this weekend. Aaron was able to sneak in a few shots while braving the high waters.



All in all, it was a successful weekend on the water. Here's a parting shot of Aaron enjoying the view.



Until next time,
Jen

Two 14ers in the Middle of Winter

I've wanted to try climbing a 14er in the middle of winter and in January 2010, we had our chance. With a low snow season and a two week snow drought, I decided we should head up Greys and Torres, two 14ers not too far from Denver. We got up early, got our gear and Leroy Brown loaded and started the drive. We were the only ones at the trail head before dawn. It was a tough drive up to the trail head with the snow. We waited a bit for the sun to come out and then we headed out. It was a cold, but beautiful morning.



We had logged onto a report about the two 14ers the day before and someone posted information on an avalanche that had just occurred. About 45 minute into the hike, we came across it, as it covered our trail. It was not a big avalanche, thankfully.


Although it started out beautiful, it turned cold very quickly. But we did start out the day with ssmiles on our faces.




Everything from here on out, you will have to take our word for. It got so cold, both our cameras stopped working.

As we continued up the mountain, the wind started to pick up and the snow started to fall. About a 1/3 of the way up, we had to put on our snowshoes and pull out our climbing polls. We had gotten some mountaineering shoes from T-Dog and Kate that winter and we definitely needed them. Leroy Brown was stuggling up the icy mountainside. As we climbed higher the wind blew harder, much harder. About 2/3 of the way up, Jenny decided she could go no more. It was too cold and she was too tired. She turned back with Leroy, and I continued up. Another couple wasn't too far behind us. They had a similar situation happen - he continued up and his girlfriend headed back down.

As myself and this unspoken young college kid continued on, the wind at times was blowing over 60 mph with gusts even higher (my best guess, but I've never been in wind that strong, even in ND). I could hardly see, but I knew I had to get to the top. It felt like it took forever, but I eventually made it to the top of Greys mountain and the college kid wasn't too far behind. We chatted for about 30 seconds before it got too cold to stand around.

I had a small ridge to cross to make it over to Torres. It wasn't far, maybe 1/2 a mile. I was getting pretty delerious at this point with very little food and water. The ridge was pretty flat and not to hard to navigate. It took me about an hour to get over to Torres and back to the top of Grey's peak.

It was a relief to start heading down. I was so cold and I couldn't feel my feet. Fortunately, I had dressed really warm and my upper body was doing well, just my toes were in rough shape. It took me about half the time to get down the mountain as it took me to get up the mountain.

I finally made it back to the car to find Jenny in tears. She said she was about to call search and rescue. She didn't have much faith in me getting back okay, I guess.

It was a phenomenal climb and I can't wait to do it again. I lost feeling in my toes on my right foot for about 2 months, but that eventually came back (which I was assured would happen during a trip to the doctor a few weeks after).

Killers at Red Rocks, Round 3

We went up to Red Rocks to see the Killers last night. Needless to say, they were phenomenal. We had good seats, in the middle of row 20.







Until next year, Brandon Flowers. Until next year.

Xoxo,

Aaron Nagel

Conundrum: hot, wet and naked

We spent the holiday weekend making a trip to the coveted Conundrum Hot Springs. We wanted to see if the rumors we heard were true. Was there really a naturally occuring hot springs sitting at 11,000 feet just miles from Aspen? Was the average temperature really 104 degrees, despite the fact that snow surrounds the pools nine months out of the year? Did hippies really bare all while enjoying a relaxing soak?

Well, my friends, the rumors are true.

We left work early on Friday and drove to Aspen via Glenwood Springs. The drive itself was breathtaking - the changing leaves on the aspens, highlighted by the canyon walls near Glenwood were beautiful. Upon arriving in Aspen, we grabbed some food, then headed about eight miles out of town to the trailhead.

When we arrived, it was about 6:30 pm, and the sun was beginning to set. We had planned on setting up our tent and sleeping at the trailhead, and heading up the trail at sunrise. However, after being greeted near the trailhead by this creature, we decided to spend the night in the Audi.



Mind you, there is not much room in an A4 for two people, much less two people plus a dog crammed in the backseat. Combining that with the fact that we knew there were bears nearby made for a sleepless night. We crawled out of the car around 5:30 am, stretched out our cramped bodies and started the hike up. Here's a shot of Aaron a bit after leaving the trailhead, and one of Leroy early on in the hike.





The first part of the nine mile trek was in and out of large aspens, and weaving over Conundrum Creek. The whole trail was beautiful. I'm not sure if I'd want to do this hike any other time of year.



We were above the treeline for most of the second half of the hike. There were three large river crossings, each with a makeshift bridge, like the one shown here.



Normally these wouldn't be intimidating, but we were both a bit nervous, being that the 35 pound packs on our backs could throw off our balance quite easily. We stopped by a small pond on our way up to get some food and take in the scenery.



There was also a weird creek crossing we passed through. The first shot is a close up of me going over it, and the second is the same creek from a few miles away. Again, normally it wouldn't have been a big deal to cross it, but we were trying to stay dry and maintain our balance.





The last few miles were pretty steep, so we had to take quite a few breaks. Additionally, we were warm and tired. We finally arrived around 2 pm. There were about 30 campsites near us, with only one or two other tents actually visable. They were well-spaced. We were about a 15 minute hike down from the actual hot springs, with our site being surrounded by tall trees for privacy. We finished setting up our tent about five minutes before it started to downpour. We crawled in our sleeping bags and took a two hour nap while the rain continued. Upon waking from our nap, we decided to check out the hot springs.

Unsure of what to expect, we made our way up the steep, muddy hike to the springs to find about 30 others enjoying the pools. One was big enough for only a couple of people, probably six, with a bit cooler temps. The other, which was our choice pool, fit many more people, and avereged a temperature of 104 degrees. We made small talk with other visitors, thinking 'eye contact, eye contact' while we visited. We met a lot of interesting people; the most interesting was a European man in his 60s and a Hawaian man in his early 70s. Both kept themselves busy by positioning their nude bodies at just the right height above the water to give everyone a full view of themselves, while clipping their toenails into the water we were soaking in at the same time. I obviously don't have testicals, but I can imagine that it would take great skill to keep them dangling at just the perfect height for such an extended period of time.

Anyways, we walked back to our tent, made dinner and went to bed.





We awoke Sunday morning to beautiful views that we'd missed Saturday due to overcast skies. Conundrum Hot Springs sits in a valley at an elevation of 11,200 feet, in the middle of six 14ers. We had amazing views.



We spent about an hour in the larger pool before packing up and heading down to the trailhead. We didn't bring our camera to the pool, not wanting to take pictures of others who had chosen to go in nude. The older gentlemen from the previous day, however, didn't seem worried about that.

The hike down took only about four hours. We were hit by rain, but the hike was still beautiful.



We spent Sunday night in the national forest somewhere outside of Aspen, in the middle of the mountains. It sits at the top of our list of great camping spots. Monday morning we drove over Independence Pass back to reality.