My Beautiful Backyard

Just a few blocks from our door lies Green Mountain - we use it a lot for running, biking and hiking.  I'm always stunned by the view from the top.  Pics from our hike this week one evening, the wildflowers are out in full force right now!

Looking toward Denver:

 

Looking towards South Table Mountain and Golden: 

Summer Snow

I was too optimistic. I thought a low 13er might be mostly clear of snow, but I guessed wrong. We attempted Whale Peak on Sunday with our friend Andi and her two canines, Ezra and Bella. But it was not to be...threatening clouds along with huge cornices on our approach ridge waylaid us. It's been so stormy this spring, that clouds formed by 10am.  All the snow is great for the water supply, I hear it's at 200% snowpack!  What a wet year, soooo nice for Colorado. 

On another note, I think a winter mountaineering class is in our future for next year. It's long been on my short list - playing with crampons and ice axes and learning how to be safe on mountains in the winter sounds actually very fun to me.  I'm sure it'll cost us $1000, it seems every new outdoor activity in Colorado has an entry fee of a grand. But it's always well worth it. 

Pictures from our hike:

Bella exploring, Whale Peak peeking out behind.

Andi and Tom with Ezra. Lots of snow up high. 

Gibson Lake with very cool icicles, our approach ridge to Whale Peak is the very snowy one on the right. 

Bluebird Morning

Another beautiful day to trail run. South Table Mtn this time with Susanne. Everything is so green right now, which you'd expect in many areas of the US in the summer, but the green won't be here for too much longer.  Soon, in Colorado we will be hoping for rain, so let's enjoy this wet spring we've been having!

Busy

Hi everybody. Been busy the past few weeks so I'm a blog slacker. My husbands parents visited (we love having them, always a lot of fun), among other things. Pictures below from all the craziness recently:

St. Mary's glacier

John Prine concert at red rocks

Film on the rocks (can anyone name the movie?)

Also did the Bolder Boulder 10k, hiked the Manitou Incline for the first time this year and been busy with yoga classes and anatomy workshops. Headed to WV tomorrow for work. Looking forward to some downtime!