Saturday

I had most of the clan with me 

today on the trail.  Clark got to the house at 7:20AM and Candy and I were ready to go.   We got the harness on Pebbles and we were out the door.  Pebbles was ready to go, but then she is always ready to go.

We made our way over to BCP and then hiked up the trail to GCR.  It was a great morning, a little cool when we left, but as soon as the sun came out from behind the clouds it warmed up nicely.

Trail traffic was light we only came across a couple of people.  Pebbles was off the leash for most of the hike.  She was all over the place, sniffing all around.   When we got down to the creek we came across a group of deer.   Pebbles saw them and didn't know what to do.  She wasn't sure if she should chase them or leave them alone.  She ended up just leaving them alone which was probably best for all.

It was nice to have Clark with us today.   We had a chance to catch up with him on how things are going on in his life.   All seems to be good.  We ended up getting 5.6/Miles in today.  It was a good day to be out.  Looking forward to getting back out again tomorrow.  We were all looking to see if we could find the Bobcat that Candy had seen yesterday.  No luck today but will keep our eyes out.  I had the camera with me today just in case.

I just checked the weather and I can't believe how warm it has been.  Looks like it will be in the 60's tomorrow and all the rest of next week.

I am still tracking my food intake, miles and weight.   I just need to keep after it.   If I can just keep walking everyday I am sure I will feel better and loose some of the weight.

I ran out to Home Depot to get some wire for my welder and then stopped by the store.   Picked up a few items for dinner this evening.   It was my day to cook.   

Seven Bridges Loop

This morning I drove up to the GCR parking lot.  I expected to see a few more cars in the parking lot at 10AM, there were only three other cars.  I headed up GCR and figured I would either do Seven Bridges or go up to St. Mary’s Falls.  Well Seven Bridges won as it was the first trail that I came across.

On my way up GCR I came across two guys who were just coming back from doing St. Mary’s and said that the trail was decent, it had seen a lot of action since the snow.   So I caught trail 622 which is also known as Seven Bridges.   Hiked up to the Jones Park area and there is still plenty of snow and once again I could have used my snow shoes but didn’t have them with me.

I managed to find trail 668 and then over to 666 for about mile before catching trail 667 aka Captain Jacks.   I then worked my way down the Mt. Buckhorn trail back to GCR.   I moved a little quicker today.  Hiking time today was 3 hours and 44 minutes with a total distance of 6.83 Miles.  Once again another great work out with an elevation gain of 2155 ft.

I managed to get a few pictures today and have included or you can view all the pictures at: https://picasaweb.google.com/115678648713324071004/20111229?authkey=Gv1sRgCPWi18LHj-3vlQE

Not sure where I am headed tomorrow but you can rest assured I will let you know.

Happy Hiking

Around the Bend

Last night I headed out for a hike up to GCR and back.  Round trip logged 4.75/miles.    I took my Barska Point N View Binoculars with me this evening.  http://www.barska.com/Binoculars-Point_N_View_Binoculars.html. The batteries were dead, replaced them and was out the door.  This is a picture of the Garden of the Gods from Bear Creek Park.

I took a side trail that gives you a view of upper and lower GCR and two trail heads that see a lot of activity.  I sat up there on the rocks looking out through the binoculars to see if I could spy any hikers on Section 16 or High Drive.

On the way back I came across this caterpillar trying to cross the trail.  At the speed he was moving it was going to take him a while.  

Feeling the burn

I had today off as vacation and thought I would head out for a little hike.  Well the hike ended up being a little over 10.5/Miles.   A little further that what I had originally planned.  I started out around 9:30 this morning and head up through Bear Creek Regional Park up to Gold Camp Road (GCR).  Crossed the GCR road and went up Robinson Gully up to the top and then worked my way over to Captain Jacks and then down High Drive to Gold Camp Road.   From there I worked my way down Upper and Lower Columbine trails to the Discovery Center.

The overall hike wasn’t too bad and scenery was great!   I came across several wild flowers and birds that I was able to get some pictures of.   I didn’t really run into any people until I was on Lower Columbine.   This is a very active trail and it is actually the first time I had hiked Upper and Lower Columbine.  We had talked about it but never made it happen.

I had got some new hiking boots last weekend and was ready to try them out.  They worked great!  This was a different brand from what I normally wear.   When I was trying them on they had a nice cushion when I was walking in the store.   I was disappointed either, after 10+ miles my feet were feeling fine.  I’ll give an update on the brand in another posting.

The pictures below are some of the wild flowers that I cam across.   I hope you enjoy them, but they are much prettier in person so get out there and check them out for yourself.

Making Tracks

We had a little snow last night, maybe about two inches. I headed out about 6:30AM to do a quick loop up and around GCR. Since I was the first one on the trail no one had a chance to ruin the animal tracks. I was amazed at all the tracks that I came across today. I came across Rabbit, Deer, Coyote, Raccoon and also what I think were Mountain Lion tracks. The Mountain Lion tracks were actually a pair. It was a little scary as I wondered if I was going to come across them.

The most tracks that I had seen were raccoon. They must have been out in full force last night as there were tracks all over from them.

It was snowing once I reached GCR and actually made the hike even more enjoyable. On the way down I had the wind and snow in my face so I quickened my step to get back. All in all ended up with just a little over 5/miles.

Glad to be home!

Got my lazy butt up this morning and headed out for a little walk. It was cold and very foggy and I think the tempature was about 25 when I left. Visibility at best was maybe 100 to 150 yards. I made my way down the road and caught the Bear Creek trail. The first thing I came across was a couple of Deer who were having breakfast.

I continued up the trail until I got to Gold Camp Road. I crossed and started working my way up the mountain. Once I started climbing I heated up pretty quickly. With each step the fog was diminishing. Once to the top I stopped and took a couple pictures looking back on downtown Colorado Springs. With low level clouds the city couldn’t be seen.

Above the low level clouds there was only this one cloud in the sky. At the elevation I was at, the sun was shining bright, so bright that I actually got a sunburn on my face from the sun and the reflection coming up off the snow.

I checked on an old fort to see how it was holding up. Looks like we may have to make a few repairs this spring so we can camp out in it next summer. One thing that is nice about hiking in the snow is that you get to see all the animal tracks. I came across Rabbit, Fox and even Bird tracks today.

Worked my way down the hill and came out on High Drive and back over to the Bear Creek trail system. I did manage to get 7.35/miles in today and have plans to get back out again tomorrow. Note to Self: take sun glasses.

Happy Hiking!

Treasure Hunt

We talked a big game last night about leaving early so we could be on the trail before Sunrise. I think we left the house at 10am, later than we had intended, ha-ha.

Today we went on a treasure hunt. Last weekend I found a pair of earrings that Candy had gotten when we were at the State Fair earlier this year. She hadn’t worn them yet. So when I headed out for my hike last Saturday I took them with me. When I reached the top of the Mountain I buried them and marked the location with my GPS.

I say Mountain but not sure exactly what its name is. The loop that I take is 6.9/miles. Leaving the house I make my way over to the Bear Creek trail head off of Orion, then up to Gold Camp Road (GCR). Cross over GCR and make your way up a gully to the top. The elevation gain from leaving the house to the top is 1,298 feet and it is 2.5 miles to the top. Then work your way down the trail and through twilight canyon, down to High drive then re-catch the Bear Creek trail and back to the house.

The real purpose of the trip today was to show Candy how to use the GPS. She did a great job and was able to navigate us to the location of the hidden earrings. I didn’t have my camera with me today but will be sure to take it with me tomorrow. Not sure where I am heading.

This is an image of the route that we took today.

This is an image of the route that I took when I went up to hide the treasure.

Vacation and so much to do!

We finally closed on a house that we were looking at. We spent most of last weekend painting the basement and have several more rooms to go. I hope to get one more done this week before I head out of town.


I cleaned out the boys stuff out of the work-out room so I have it back finally. His stuff is in the garage and hopefully will be out of here tomorrow. Then I can begin focusing on our basement and get some more stuff move out of here.

This morning Candy and I took Clark to school and then hiked up Helen Hunt Falls. Came home and cleaned and then went out to run a few errands. I plan on taking Clark in the morning and then trying to get some miles in. Will most likely drive up to GCR and then see where I end up. I figure if I am out hiking I don’t have to help the kid move. I mean I already move it all down to the garage so he should be able to handle it from there. Know what I mean Vern!

With the work-out room clean I have been on the treadmill and doing some lifting. I called a paving guy today as we need to have our asphalt driveway sealed and hope to have that done on Wednesday and now I am looking for a tree guy as I need to have some trees trimmed and removed.

Man, I am on vacation but it seems like I am working my butt off!

Happy Hiking!

New Friend

I have had a lot of fun keeping my blog. I also started a group on facebook named Hiking Colorado Springs. To date there is 129 members. It’s open to everyone and they can post photos and stories. Hopefully it will catch on and we can get it going.

Well through this group I was able to make a new friend and hiking partner. We made plans to meet up at 5:30AM at the Gold Camp park lot and then head up to Mt. Rosa. I had told Candy what I was doing and she was ribbing me about making a date on the Internet. LOL.  Derrick and I met for the first time in the parking lot. We were both on time and after we exchanged initial greetings we were on our way. Luckily I think our hiking abilities were about the same. I was concerned as you never know the pace a new hiking partner will keep. But we seemed to be pretty evenly matched.
There are two ways to get up to Mt. Rosa but this route is the longer of the two. My GPS tracked that the route we took today was 15.2/Miles. From the Gold Camp parking lot up to Mt. Rosa it is 7/Miles with a 4K elevation climb. The following are the trails that we took today:

Gold Camp Road (GCR), 624, 673, 672, 701, 668, 622, GCR. On our way up 624, we took time to go to the base of Saint Mary’s falls. Always a great place to check out. They have really done some nice work on the trail as well at the base of the falls. After a few photos we continued on up. We made the steep climb and finally found ourselves at trail 673 to make our way up to the summit of Mt. Rosa. We worked our way up and at 9:45AM we had reached the summit.

This was the first time to the summit for Derrick and the fourth for me. Be it your first or fourth, it is always a great experience. We pulled out the cameras and snapped some pics. While at the top we had two other hikers join us. We all took pictures, we took some pictures of them and we had them take pictures of us, showing we had reached the summit.

Once we had a quick bite and some water we started our way back down. We took trail 672 down to Frosty Park and then took 701 to trail 668 aka Pipeline Trail. Had a first for me on the trail today, as we were coming down 668 and around a corner I look up and there is a girl putting her bikini top back up and I could tell she was embarrassed. She had what I am guessing was her boy friend with her. I am guessing they were doing a little candid photography, we said hello and kept on moving.

It was hot today and luckily we had a breeze and for the most part shade. In the areas where we didn’t have shade it was hot! We didn’t start running into people until we were back on 622 aka Seven Bridges. The closer to the bottom we got the more families we came across. I think most of them are tourist but I didn’t check that license plates in the parking lot. Today we spotted two deer, a snake and numerous squirrels and birds. I came across the first columbine that I have seen this year. Two different color varieties of columbine, I had not seen the yellow colored ones before but the blue are common.

Happy Hiking

Another Great Day in Colorado!

I left the trail head at 7:30AM and headed down Gold Camp Road to Trail 622 (aka Seven Bridges), to Trail 668 (aka Pipeline Trail), to trail 720 to 667 (aka Jones Park) then looped back down to Gold Camp Road. Total miles today came up to be 9.08/Miles. Hiking time was 3 hours and 30 minutes plus I had 38 minutes of stopping time to take pictures and get a drink of water.

It was overcast this morning and the clouds were hanging low around 8K feet. I didn’t snap two many pictures on Seven Bridges as I had done it just the weekend before. But I did have the camera ready for any flowers, birds or other critters that I came across. I moved up the trail pretty good today. Might have been that I did it the weekend before or the fact that I have been walking to work again everyday when I can.

It was nice and cool this morning with the low hanging clouds and it had rained last night. The vegetation was loving the wet weather and there were so many wild flowers in bloom. I snapped this picture of some wild iris’s growing in a meadow of Aspen trees. I have also included a close up.

This picture is of another Chipmunk that I came across. They are so funny actually little camera hams. They will sit on the branches and let you snap as many pictures as you would like.

This is a picture of a nice little water fall on trail 667. I actually hung out here for about 10 minutes and had some turkey jerky and a little water to drink. While down in the creek I had 5 dirt bikes come by on the trail. I don’t think they had seen me as I was about 10 ft. below the trail in order to snap this picture.

I have to say riding dirt bikes up the trail looks like a damn blast! After seeing them I started toying with the idea of putting my old 75 Ford Ranchero on Craig’s List and seeing if I could sell it or trade it for a decent dirt bike.

One other cool thing you will spot is this old mining tunnel. I don’t know how far in it goes as I have only stepped in the entrance to snap a picture. If I had someone with me I might have the guts to go in a little further.

Well that’s about it for this trip. Need to figure out where I want to go next weekend. I may head up to Pikes Peak and hike the Oil Creek Tunnel trail again. If you would like to view all pictures from today's hike you can find them
here: http://picasaweb.google.com/drobincorvette/20100613#

Happy Hiking!

Bear Creek Park

Yesterday was just a quick 4/miler from the house to GCR. I snapped a few quick picks of some of the Birds that I came across. Only the two photos below came out well enough to publish.

I am taking a break today as tomorrow I will starting a new work out schedule! :-)

Memorial Day Weekend 2009

Memorial Day Weekend has come and gone. We have had lot’s of rain over the last few days and has made getting out difficult unless you head out early AM. My sister was in town and on Sunday morning we were able to go up and do Mt. Cutler. This is a great little hike for newbie’s and out of Towner’s. I think she had a great time as the views are spectacular.

On Monday morning the wife and I headed up Gold Camp Road (GCR) to a trail that I had seen but not done. Well what I learned was that this trail actually runs from the Mt. Cutler Trail over to GCR or vice versa depending on how you want to go.

This month has not been great on getting distance in but I am still over from what I had done last year at this time. Heading out of town for a few days and hope to be able to keep the miles up.

Pics below of the two trips we made this last weekend.

Another great day to be outside

Left the house about 6am this morning and headed up the Bear Creek trail to the top of Gold Camp Road. Then scooted up the mountain and made my way over to the Captain Jacks Trail. Came across several dear on the trail this morning and snapped a few pics. Round trip it was about 7.5/miles. I got back home around 9:30am. It was a beautiful sunrise and a great day temperature wise. I think I caught on the news that we are supposed to get snow starting tomorrow.

After getting home we headed back to the Zoo again. The pics for the Hike and the Zoo outing can be found at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/drobincorvette/20090207?authkey=BXRuD3RZFwg#

The Route

Well I am starting to get serious about my hike in Oct. This last weekend I drove down to Canyon City and caught Phantom Canyon Rd (PCR). I had the GPS with me and marked waypoints at every mile. On Saturday when I start I will have a full 21/Miles to get completed. I found a decent campsite, hope it is available when I get up their. If not I will find another, there a few around. Not as many as there are back at miles 5-10. I came across about 8 or 9 campsites that people were in. Being this late in the year when I leave I hope it isn’t to busy.

On day two, I have to get in about 23 miles to get to the next campsite. From the first campsite it is 10/Miles to Victor. Looked like their might be a restaurant or two that I can hit. Be a good place to clean up and get a small bite to eat. Don’t want to get to full. Once in Victor I will have to walk on the Highway 81 for about 3.5/Miles until I catch Gold Camp Rd (GCR). Once on GCR it is about 10/miles to get to Seven Lakes Rd (SLR) aka 376. At the junction there are several campsites. If I can get up SLR there is plenty of camping spots.

Day three starts out my tracking of miles for the remainder of the hike. Off of SLR I will be catching trail 379. This is new territory for me as I have not been to this area before and it is hiking only. My plan is to hike trail 379 and catch 379a, which will take me up to the Stratton Reservoir. From here I will be catching another foot trail, which looks like it goes up to the summit of the Almagre Mountain. From my map it looks like it is 12,367ft. Then I will come back down and find a place to camp on the back side of the reservoir. The only problem may be is that according to the map 379a may closed off with no access/trespassing signs. I am going to go for it.

Day four, I will be working my way home. I will head back down trail 379a and catch a foot trail that will shave off about 2/miles and I will catch 379 again. I then have a couple of options. I come to an intersection of trails 672, 701, 668. I think at this point it is going to depend on what shape I am now that’s it’s day 4. Guessing it is going to be about 20 to 23 miles for the day.

I need to start making my list of what I am taking with me. Tomorrow night I plan on setting up the hammock and sleeping out in the backyard. I have been trying to decide if I should go with the tent the hammock or both.