Mt. Bierstadt

19 Sunday Jun 2016

Tags

Georgetown, Guanella Pass, Mt. Bierstadt, Silver Plume, Silver Valley B&B

Brit and Ellie drove up with me Saturday evening to Silver Plume. We spent the night in the A-Basin Room of this modest B&B, the Silver Valley Bed & Breakfast. Surprisingly nice place on Clear Creek, a few miles past Georgetown. Above is a photo of their backyard, from a wooden porch swing.

creek crossing

The first mile of our 3.5 mile climb included this creek crossing. Brit demonstrates here how not to cross the fast flowing snow melt. She said her feet were numb the rest of the hike.

alpine seating

We took our time hiking up, stopping here about half way, to smell the alpine flowers and eat some grapes.

sisters

We summit the peak in about 3 hours. Ellie’s first 14er at age 14. Pretty special. That’s Grays and Torreys to the right of Brit.

Brit yoga

What is it with girls and yoga poses? Pretty funny, after our deliberate pace up to the ridge, Ellie nearly sprinted up the final pile of rocks to the peak.

Ellie yoga

I’m not sure which view I like most from Mt. Bierstadt, east or west. It’s an awesome view of Mt. Evans to the east. Actually, you can continue on across a knife-edge ridge to Mt. Evans. I’d like to do that some day.

Bierstadt photo

You can see Mt Evans in the upper left of this photo above. There are some lakes below, that add to the view.

fathers day

The western views contain the most snowcapped peaks. Brit and Ellie enjoyed sliding down a long snowpack on our descent. I was impressed by their bravery, they simply thought it was fun. The link takes you to the video on YouTube. Overall, I had an awesome Father’s Day. Got my long run in on Saturday. Even installed a garbage disposal without having to make additional trips to Lowes. Great weekend.

I Just Want to Run

16 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Colorado Trail, Running

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Tags

father's day, Mt. Bierstadt

race photo mile 2c

All I want to do for Father’s Day is go for a nice long run. Doubt though my new InSinkErator garbage disposal will install itself in the kitchen sink. And Ellie wants me to take her camping. Why is Father’s Day rarely about Dad? This photo is two miles into the 2016 Bolder Boulder – Memorial Day where I had an hour in the morning to myself to run a storied 10K. I recall having to return quickly from the race to grill burgers for Brit’s band, who was performing in the neighborhood. How much you want to bet, I’ll grill dinner for Father’s Day too?

Bierstadt

I think my plan will be this. Install the garbage disposal Saturday morning. Celebrate that victory with a run in the afternoon. Then travel up to a B&B in Silver Plume for the evening to position us for an early morning climb up Mt. Bierstadt. I tried to reserve camping spots but they are either taken or not yet open. I could risk camping at first-come, first served camping spots, but if I’ve learned anything as a father, you don’t take such risks with kids. So the B&B is booked for a sure thing.

This entire hike is above tree line from the trail head. It’s 3 miles up to the peak, with the first mile through a wet marsh. Should be frozen in the morning. The next two miles are steep. This will be Ellie’s first 14er. Brit is going too. Wish us luck.

Camping

05 Monday Sep 2011

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Storytelling

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Tags

Camping, Handcart, hiking, Labor Day, Mt. Bierstadt, Northwest Hills, posole, Whale Peak

Few would ever confuse Karen for a camper. As they say in Austin, you can take the girl out of Northwest Hills, but you can’t take the NW Hills out of the girl. Still, she was quite a sport this Labor Day weekend as we camped out with a pack of neighbors at the Handcart camping site 5 miles west of Hwy 285 on CR 60 in Hall Valley and a short hike from Whale Peak. Karen even cooked everyone some tasty breakfast tacos Sunday morning.

It’s been an awesome weekend. We were a bit late to arrive Friday night. Couldn’t cut out from work any earlier and hit heavy holiday traffic on I70 and Hwy 285. But we got there with plenty of daylight to pitch the tent. We didn’t have to worry about cooking as Dave had posole ready for the first course and grilled us up some fantastic fajitas. A cool front rolled in offering us the first taste of fall with a low of 45° overnight and 60s during the day.

Several of us hiked up Mt. Bierstadt Saturday. This picture captures Susan, Scott and Julie about half way up the trail. We alternated donning our wind jackets as the clouds danced back and forth across the sun. Kieth cooked a shrimp boil Saturday night that could have made a Cajun cry for having missed out. I drank some beers after the 2.5 hour hike, followed by some wine, topped off by a handful of TnTs in honor of Keith’s British background. The clouds threatened us with a few rain drops but held it in check as we enjoyed a magical night around a perfect campfire. Ellie sang us some tunes and before I knew it I was sound asleep. We finished the camp out the next morning with Karen’s breakfast tacos. Back home on the eastern slope of the Front Range now enjoying the start of autumn.