Colorado

We've had a great couple of weeks in Colorado! We started off in Fort Collins, where our good friend's brother had lived for many years. It's a super nice place with a great recreation area called Horsetooth Reservoir (the one downside was the horrible numbers of centipedes in their shower building <shudder>).  We also went to Loveland, an area known for its artist community. Here's a shiny giraffe I saw on the street:

It's still mostly desert in that area, but it wasn't long before we were in the lush Rocky Mountains.

We spent half a day checking out Boulder. It's a very vibrant city with what looks to be a thriving economy. Piles of people there are active--we saw so many people out for a run or bike ride and didn't see one person who was overweight. Unfortunately the drivers there are absolutely insane, so the cyclists seem to stick to the sidewalks and paths to the side of the streets.

We then drove up into the foothills of the Rockys, up to Nederland. One of the things that stuck both of us was how many people and houses are everywhere up in the mountains. We've been in a lot of mountainous areas on our trip, but Colorado is the first time that we're seen so much development. I certainly can't blame people for wanting to live in these areas...but it changes things. Anyway, the weather was a bit cold so we made it a day of chores and finished the day having a coffee in an adorable coffee shop built in a couple of train cars.

Our friends Ute and Steveo arrived at the Denver airport the next day (Luke's birthday!) so we made our way there to meet up with them. They had rented an RV so we had true camping buddies to travel with :) They had their first overnight camping in a Walmart parking lot experience that night. It's old hat for us dirtbags now, but it was funny to see their reaction and a reminder that what we are doing isn't exactly mainstream. They survived and we headed out to Buffalo Creek the next day and spent some time on the beautiful trails.

Next we headed to Pike's Peak, but not before we stopped at a dinosaur museum for a couple of hours (I *love* dinosaurs, so I was happy as can be). We then drove the truck up the 20 mile road to the 14000 ft top of Pile's Peak. There is a trail called the Barr trail that starts at the summit and descends 8000 ft to the bottom at Manitou Springs. It was too advanced of a ride for me, so I shuttled them to the top and got to enjoy the amazing view!

 At the trailhead--look at that view!

 Some snowy spots

 View part way down

 At the start of the ride

I started the descent down (some of the road is narrow with tight hairpin turns and steep cliffs...not my favourite) and all was going well until I reached a car that had caught on fire traveling up the road. It had happened a few minutes before I got there and luckily happened where there was a rest area where I could pull off to park and wait. Even more luckily, no one was hurt. It took 1.5 hours for the firetruck and police to come, put out the fire and clear the road for cars to pass.
As I eventually drove past I saw there was barely a shell of a car left. It was burning for at least 45 minutes, so it didn't come as a surprise...but it was shocking to see all the same.

I also snapped a shot of the Big Foot warning sign on the side of the road:

"Due to sightings in the area of a creature resembling "Big Foot" this sign has been posted for your safety"

I made it to the bottom 10 minutes before the bikers arrived and we went for a well deserved dinner at a pub down the street. We learned from the waitress that the two cats hanging around, both missing a leg, were products of a time when the town was overrun with cats. There was lots of inbreeding going on (hence the missing legs) and the city had to trap a bunch of them. The interesting things you learn!

Our next day was spent in Salida/Poncho Springs. Luke, Ute and Steveo took on the 60km Monarch Crest Epic bike ride (where they saw another forest fire) while I puttered around on the trail network closer to town. I must admit that it was nice to have an RV to relax in, especially for dinner once the sun goes down.

We had originally planned to go north to Breckenridge or Steamboat Springs, however Luke discovered that they already had a fair bit of snow so we decided to go to Buena Vista and Gunnison instead. We went to a fantastic hot springs called the Cottonwood Hot Springs and stayed at a lovely campground where we heard coyotes howling in the night.

Steveo and Ute headed back to Denver on the Friday to catch their flights the next day. They had expected to leave early Friday morning but when they went to start the RV the battery was dead. Luckily we were still around so Luke and Steveo drove to town to buy jumper cables and after a couple of minutes of re-charging the RV started again. We also learned that the pass they were planning on taking back was snowy and icy from the night before, so getting on the road later than planned worked to their advantage since gave the road crews time to sand the roads. Unfortunately for them it meant that they couldn't sneak one more bike ride in before they left Colorado...but it was nice to be able to spend a bit more time with them! (and they made it over the pass with no problems!)

Luke and I headed up to Crested Butte. What an amazing place! It's incredibly beautiful and surrounded by mountains. I fell in love! Luke had been there a number of years ago when it was a tiny town of little wooden buildings, so he was disappointed to see that the town is much larger now. The trails (that we saw anyway) are also a bit wrecked from ATV, motorbike and horse activity. And real estate is super expensive. Luke biked the Teocalli Ridge trail, where he got snowed and saw many, many hunters shooting at things in the woods :/ I stayed down lower to do a hike and saw many cows out to pasture.

Gunnison Forest, down the road from Crested Butte

We've been at pretty high elevations all week and the thinner atmosphere makes it harder to breathe. I'm hoping that will make us superstars when we get to down to more normal elevations :D We're now trying to avoid the cold and snow so we'll be heading west.