journey.

The top of the Ute Trail

Today was filled with some unexpected surprises.  We knew the trek we were about to take was going to be challenging, because our hiking book told us so, but we didn't know how challenging...

Our plan:
-wake up.
-act casual.
-drive up to the Ute Mountain Trail Head.
-hike for a little over a mile over steep terrain.
-relax at the top.
-eat lunch at the Sundeck.
-take the gondola down.

Except... the gondola & the Sundeck weren't at the top when we got there.

As it turns out, that steep, switchbacky, rocky, & slightly difficult trek to what is known as "the rock" is in fact only part of the hike to the gondola & the local's morning exercise.  They practically run up the thing before their morning coffee. 

When we reached the top of "the rock," we realized quickly there was not enough room anywhere for a popular mountain restaurant or a giant gondola, so we decided that the rest of the trek to the top couldn't be all that hard... right?  WRONG.  We had quite the journey this morning.  A trek that did not go as planned, but was rewarding all the same and probably even more.  The locals described it as a difficult hike, but one that people regularly & actively do.  We decided we couldn't back down from the challenge & started up.  & up... & up.

It was not as simple as it was made out to be.

I lost sight of my parents pretty far back & was on my own for the majority of the trek, which ran up the double black diamonds of Aspen Mountain.  Jackpot is a run that I have never snowboarded down, but I can now say I have trekked all the way up!  I know I have done trails comparable or possibly even more difficult through my experiences with Adventure Treks & with 30+ pounds on my back, but this hike was more of a wake-up call for me, as I have not hiked anything this difficult in years!

I was glad to have my 2 liters of water in my Camelbak because otherwise I would have run out of water.  Speaking of my Camelbak, I did something really stupid the other day.  I pulled it out of it's storage after a year of not using it & it had some mold congregating in the tube & inside the mouthpiece.  I know... YUCK!  Anyway, I was working on this problem endlessly for hours... how do you clean a small, 2 foot long tube?  I washed it with soap, I soaked it in hot water, I massaged it, I did everything, including creating a device from scotch tape.  I rolled up some paper and covered it in tape, creating a tube-like utensil to clean out the inside of the tube.  Everything was going great... it was really working, cleaning out the mold.  Until it didn't.  My device broke in half.  In half!  And guess what?  Not only did I have a mold problem, but now I had a scotch tape problem too.  DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!  Rookie mistake... luckily tubes are replaceable & only $9.99.  The simpler solution.

This picture doesn't do the vertical-ness justice.

Back to business... the trail just seemed to never end.  From the lookout point with "the rock," the distance was only about 2 more miles, but the 2,000 more feet of elevation gain was never mentioned.  I'm serious... the trail was 100% vertical, 99.23% of the time.  Interestingly enough, the portion of the trail that was actually walking up the double black diamond terrain was actually easier for me than the second half on the blue slopes.  Go figure.  Maybe it was because I was tired or maybe because the altitude was higher, but once I got to the rolling blue slope, I was only making about 20 steps before doubling over, completely out of breath.

Luckily there was a nice man behind me who gave me some good advice about my hiking skills.  He told me that hiking is a marathon... it is not as important how fast you get there, but that you get there & that I needed to slow my pace, control my breathing, & not take breaks so I do not confuse my heart rate.  I listened.  I followed his pace & made it up the last 600 vertical feet without dying.  Go Carole (Juno if you are confused by that reference)!

Let me tell you... it was worth the huffing & puffing because that beautiful panorama of Aspen Highlands, some Snowmass, Sopris, & of course our Bells.  There was bluegrass music playing by a live band & families were everywhere... enjoying the afternoons.  It was a pleasant place to be.

I waited up there for a while until my dad came & we ate lunch in the Sundeck.  I was receiving sporadic texts from my mama bear exclaiming how tired & exhausted she was... but where was she?

At one point I walked down a ways to see if she was on her way up... nada.  I asked a couple if they had passed a woman in a blue shirt, maybe in the need of a lift?  They said they had passed no one.  My original thought was "oh oh," but then I decided we must have just missed each other... she entering the restaurant from the other entrance just as I exited from the back.

I walked back up & saw my dad waving to me from a bench & let's just say mama bear was TIRED!  I won't go into any more detail because I will be toast, but this was the. hardest. thing. that. she. has. ever. done. (as I quote from her facebook status).  Proud of both my parents today... facing challenge & conquering like champs!  You guys are awesome! 

Yes... I have 3 arms.  Don't worry, I got it removed.  This is what I looked like before the plastic surgery.  

Peace & Ciaos.

hidden little treasures.

Everything in life can be a hidden little treasure... you just have to look at it in a new light.  Today the fam bam & I went to downtown Aspen for their weekly farmer's market.  Is it just me or are people just happier in a mountain town?  That wasn't rhetorical & actually that wasn't even a question at all.  The answer is yes, they are happier.  Everyone here just has "YOLO" tattooed on their foreheads.  I know "YOLO" is cliche these days & widely overused, but it's just true.  Spend $36 on some heirloom tomatoes & $5 on a muffin... no problem.  Maybe "hakuna matata" is tattooed there too.

Back to those tomatoes though... they were the size of my HEAD.  I'm not joking... I know they aren't feeding their fruits steroids, but sometimes you just wonder.  Is that natural?

The farmer's market was cute though: hippie people selling their gluten free cheese biscuits, hiking bums selling homemade leather bags, & older mangy people selling (very useful) giant brass animal sculptures.  An eclectic bunch, but when you walk slowly & look at everything, you begin to see all the hidden little treasures.  Beautiful handmade jewelry made from aspen leaves & natives rocks, homemade cheeses that taste better than anything wrapped in bacon (despite what people think), handcrafted fedoras & cowboy hats, wines that taste of Aspen, & house smoked salmon that probably was caught that morning from the nearby river.  Everything feels connected to the area.

The outside of the coolest store ever.

And behind all those goods & down the road a ways is one of the coolest stores I have ever been to called, Aspen Emporium & Flying Circus.  The store is in itself a single hidden little treasure,  but everything inside is just as special &, to be honest, weird.  The outside (at this moment since it constantly changes) has two chairs made of old bicycle tires, planters made of randomly balanced pots, & tennis balls hanging from the ceiling.  You just feel happy walking by it.  But you feel even happier walking in... everything is homemade by local vendors.  Delicious balsamics, cakes & pies, coffees, & even delicately decorated dog treats that I almost wanted a taste of.  The best part is all the strange items that are recycled & transformed into something else, something awesome.  Purses made of old bags & rags, glasses made of old strainers with "antler-esque" tubes coming out the top, old wheelbarrow wheels turned into a jewelry tree, & many other nick-knacks cluttering every free surface.  The floor was even littered in leaves... simply for effect.  It all worked.

After our lazy morning, loving life, we decided to try out a new restaurant called White House.  The menu was beyond limited, but when the food came out, you guessed it, we discovered a new hidden little treasure.   My mom & I shared small plates, one of chicken meatballs, one of small cheddar drop biscuits with country ham & apple jam, & a light kale salad.  Why is food so good?  Our fam bam motto: "we are people that just like to eat!"  At least I know I am good at it.  I'm not going to be modest about my eating skills...

Hidden little treasures can come in all shapes & forms: lazy days in Aspen, long hikes through aspen trees, delicious meals at unknown places, getting lost on dirt roads with casual cows, old abandoned barns & not so one-way roads, my parents & their "crazies" & even wild flowers.  Once back from our adventure in Old Snowmass, we settled down & decided to take a trek into our backyard.  The slope was covered in wild flowers: blue bonnets, sunflowers, strange colorful plants, white poky things, & dandelions.  Doesn't it just make you smile?

It makes me smile.    

Can you see the hidden little treasure?  Hiding behind the blue bonnets.  She blends in because she is wearing blue... don't let her fool you!  She is my hidden little treasure <3

My day was perfect.  Crazies & all.  Ciao-Ciao

biking, hiking & rock&roll.

Colorado is awesome... I mean I already knew that, but it is a completely different breed in the summertime.  Why wasn't I born here?  I belong in the mountains... I am a mountain child.  One of the best parts about being here is seeing the different sides of my parents.  They are mountain people too?  Well... apparently so & they haven't been doing half bad either. 

So back to the title of this post, biking, hiking & rock&roll, that has been the agenda these last few days. 

Yesterday we went biking from Snowmass Village to Aspen, which is about a 9 mile trek through some hilly terrain.  Now I know I am a wimp & a terrible bike rider... but that first couple of miles was rough stuff.  If you promise not to tell anyone, I may or may not have walked my bike up a section.  In my defense, I almost couldn't walk up it either... 

After conquering the more challenging trails, we eventually became one with the wind and began flying down.  It was awesome.

When we arrived in Aspen, we ate lunch at this restaurant in the downtown area called BB's Kitchen, where I scarfed down a pulled chicken salad and a banana-blueberry smoothie.  I am attempting to be a bit more healthy since my stint in Italy.  Day 5... still. eating. gelato.  Why??  I told my mom to starve me.  It is hard when she likes food just as much as I do...

After lunch, we attempted to ride around the city a bit more, but lucky me, I had no padding in my shorts and I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable... if you know what I mean.  Melissa McCarthy from "Bridesmaids" would be more frank about it, but I will stick to subtleties... my but was sore.  I will admit it... I am no Lance Armstrong.  (But then again, I don't think he is either.  Too soon?)

Every day I return to the condo feeling 100% satisfied that I lived in the moment.  I feel tired, but that good kind of tired that proves you did something valuable with your day.  I never feel like I am wasting my time away out here.  We are always on the move, always hiking, biking, & hiking more... & the small amount we relax is important & definitely much needed.  We use our time wisely out here!

The great thing about summer in Snowmass are the free weekly concerts on the slope.  Around 6:30 the music began to call us down the mountain to where everyone in the valley was.  Where did all the young people come from?  I literally didn't know real young adults lived in & around the Snowmass area except during winter time.  It was a completely different atmosphere with the green hills, blue skies, teenagers & college students, live music, beer instead of hot chocolate sold on the slopes, & the lifts not in motion.  You almost wouldn't recognize the place.  The band that played is a British band called the Dunwells... they were nice to listen to, but played quietly.  Mostly people were there to socialize rather than listen to the music... it still counts as rock&roll, even though it was quiet!!


We stayed there for about 2 hours when we heard "Scandal" calling us from the condo.  You always listen to Olivia Pope...she kept us entertained.

Allora, this morning we woke up a little earlier to attempt to leave the condo for Cathedral Lake.  After a bit of a late start, we finally headed about a half an hour away to the trail head.  Cathedral Lake is a 6 mile round trip hike to this alpine lake at 11,900 feet.  We gained about 2,000 feet in elevation, hiked casually through groves of aspens, tripped over rocks in bouts of scree fields (a little bit of rock&roll if you ask me!), & practicaly keeled over and collapsed from the steep switchbacks.  But it was worth it because at the end of the trail there was a bright blue lake surrounded by rocky mountains that resembled cathedral spires.

We sat by the lake for a bit enjoying the ambiance when a dog walked up behind us... it was a shiba-inu.  If you don't know what that means... first off look one up because they are adorable & second off, it is the type of dog we have.  We greeted the shiba with a "hey Suki," because that is the name of our dog & it seemed fitting.  I guess we were right, because guess what that dog's name was?  Yep, Suki.  I know, I know... you can't believe it.  We couldn't believe it either!  That just made the day even better.

And beyond that we ate at this cool restaurant, which is only accessible during the winter by snowmobiles or cross country skiers.  It is literally in the middle of no where, but it was a very delicious meal... especially after a great 5 hour hike! 

Cathedral Lake

Sporting my Camp Pinnacle Hat

So far this has been such an amazing summer!  The only thing I am looking forward to now is seeing my little kiddos at camp, but hey... that can wait because I am living every moment in the moment.

Ciao-Ciao

I signed an aspen tree :)

the call of the bells.

 The Maroon Bells have been two rather ever-present mountains

that I would always see from the Elkcamp Lift.

Today my parents and I challenged the Bells & even ourselves.  We 

reached Crater Lake (our intended

finish, but I FORCED us to continue up & hopefully

over to Buckskin Pass.

The trail proved to be more difficult than expected & we 

were probably a bit in over our heads,

BUT it was Beautiful! 

 The neat thing about the Maroon Bells are how the look so close

at all times, but they are always so far!

It reminded me of our family vacation to Alaska, where we hired

a pilot to fly around Mt. McKinley.

Pj would fly that plane (while looking back at us he flew!!), & the cliffs

looked so close that you thought you

could reach out & touch them (hence why we would freak out

when he would look back at us.

No need to look while driving... it's not

important or anything!)  The Bells seemed the same.

No matter how many miles you walked toward them, the distance just didn't seem

  to change... I always felt like I could reach out & grab hold of

them & ring them, but they were miles & miles away.
Well played Bells, well played.

One of my favorite things is looking at all the contrasts of color.
The blues, the greens, the greys, & the browns.
Could a sky get much bluer?
I mean seriously... look at that sky!!  

I have to throw a shout out to my mama bear, who struggled every

twenty steps or so... but after some

gentle coaxing (aka personal attacking), she trudged (almost) all

the way to the top.  So we thought...

apparently we were far from close.  We hiked for hours,

across a river, over a waterfall (yes, this is real life), through woods, past

lakes, up scree fields, & through wild flowers.

Hours later we could just barely see

the pass & decided to call it a quits. Hey, it counts!  We saw the pass!!!

Right now she is talking bad about me because we are all tired & 

our feet our sore & it seems like a good idea, but she will

thank me later...  YOU KNOW I'M TALKING TO YOU

MAMA BEAR! It was worth it & we were just

living in the moment!

Ciao-Ciao

caution: smiles ahead.

Welcome to my backyard.

I err on the side of caution

I walk out my front door to a national park.  Nature at its finest.  Fields of wild flowers growing up the ex-ski slopes, the greenest hillsides reaching right up to the completely blue sky, natural caution signs that grow along the sides of the trails, dogs everywhere, and the fresh, flowery air.

What could be better?

After yesterday's warm-up hike along the Rio Grande, my mom and I checked out the slope outside our condo.  Of course we were in our obviously flattering pajamas when we casually ran into some male hikers on Fanny Hill.  Fitting right?  FANNY HILL... get it?  Of course you do...  Just our luck!  Snowmass has interesting obsession with slopes names after a certain body part: will start with the obvious... 

Fanny Hill

Bear's Bottom

Assay Hill

Bottoms Up

Snowmass

And then, of course, there is Naked Lady...

 

Just being clear... there is even Aspen.  You can find t-shirts all throughout the city with the saying:

"How's your Aspen?" 

John Denver Memorial

Of course we had to visit our beloved Aspen

This morning we headed to what is known as Ditch Trail near the Campground Lift here in Snowmass.  It was a pretty easy trail, but was beautiful because you could see all across the Snowmass-Maroon Bells Wilderness Park, which is a lush valley leading to the areas around the Maroon Bells, Snowmass Mountain, and Mt. Daly (also known as Ribbon Mountain because of this strange, lightly colored ribbon of land that traverses the mountain face). 

If your checking out the map (which is old by the way..) you can see the lift to the far right.  That is where we were hiking!

Today I finally pulled out the GoPro... jealous of the shots Erika and Cole got in Italy!  It was a great day to use it and be outside.  The weather was PERFECT, the dogs were out and curious about my camera, the sky was 100% blue, and I was tasting some outdoors. 

Just taking a sniff

"Careful"

EW

Oh, Hey!

Ciao-Ciao