More on Colorado

I promise I won't make a habit of this, but I'm again recycling an email I sent to Pat, a guy I'm working with who gave me the framework for last weekend's Rocky Mountain trip. Doing this lets me archive this email, which has some good memories to it that are only now starting to sink in. I'd like to take some time and concentrate on the running angle of it, and will probably do so in a day or two when I get some more time.

In the meantime:


Just wanted to follow up with you on what was a very fun weekend. I took your advice and drove out to Glenwood Springs on Friday afternoon, taking my time to get out there. Stopped in Georgetown for something to eat and picked up two books, one on hiking/4-wheeling at above 10000 feet, the other on history around I-70. The last one gave me some context to what I was driving through, the latter gave me a target for Saturday.

Before that I got into Glenwood Springs in time to make it to the pool an hour before it closed (and for half-price) where I hung out in the chilly evening air and in the very warm water, with just a touch of rotten egg smell. It was a good hour for getting my head of homelessness mindset and into the mountains. I got up early Saturday and drove toward Aspen and finding the trailhead to Snowmass Lake (see http://www.cyberwest.com/cw15/15adwst5.html for a better description than I can give). I took the path as a run, but took it slow when rocky footing or beautiful scenery demanded it. It was just what I was looking for – solitude and majesty – but I had to turn back about six miles in when the snow got deep enough so that I was falling through the crust and sinking up to my knees. You had warned me but the extent of the snow still surprised me.

After the hike I headed out to Aspen and did some Mother’s Day shopping, and wanted to head back over Independence Pass but it was still closed for the “winter”. So I backtracked back to 70 and crossed the Divide on Route 24 which took me to Leadville, where I had dinner at the Golden Burro and got to read about Horace Tabor, among other local lore. I really liked Leadville, at 10,000+ feet up it retains the hastily built up, run down look of a mining town set against enormous peaks that seem to loom just spitting distance away.

From there I took 91 back to 70 and made it into the La Quinta at the airport, exhausted, at about 10. Then up and out of the airport by 7 am so I could make it back for little league and Mother’s Day on Sunday.

Thanks for pointing me into that direction. I was amazed at how much I picked up about the area from the time I spent there, even though I know I only scratched the surface. I’ll have to schedule another site visit soon!