Winter Fun

We have been getting snow the last couple of days and I headed out today to do some snow shoeing. Never got the shoes on but had a great time. Started out on trail 666 and at the Ring the Peak marker I kept to the right instead of continuing on trail. Wasn’t much of a trail but I followed it up for two miles until I hit a dead end, or at least a dead end for me. Round trip I ended up doing six miles.

For Christmas I had gotten some new STABILicers and tried them out today. What I expected to happen did. I lost one and had to keep screwing with the other one and finally just ended up carrying it. I always come across these and other brands in the winter on the trails. For this terrain STABILicers makes a strap-on version that over the last two years has worked great for me.

STABILicers Lite Shoe Traction – Thumbs Down

STABILicers Classic Shoe Traction – Thumbs Up

This picture is looking back on the trail.

This picture is looking forward on the trail.

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! :-)

Paint Mines

Today’s journey took us to the Paint Mines located southeast of Calhan, Co. This is not a long hike but the gullies and clay and stone formations are very cool, like being on another planet. The mines have evidence of human life as far back as 9,000 years ago. The colorful clays were used by American Indians for making pottery and ceremonial paints.

I have done this hike in the summer several times and this is the first time that I have done in it winter with snow on the ground. This is a great hike for beginners, with great views and 45 minutes travel time from Colorado Springs.

All pics can be found at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/drobincorvette/20091229#slideshow/5420845102186634370

Beaver Creek WSA

I headed out this morning to Beaver Creek WSA (Wild Life Study Area). This was a new trip for me and I am ready to go again in the spring and summer. It can be a little tricky to get to if you don’t have a map, but I didn’t have any problems.

I parked at the trail head and away I went. The snow on the trail was still 5 to 6 inches deep and no need for the snowshoes. I followed the previous hikers before me until I lost the trail and then ended up making my own.

Today’s distance was about 5 miles and not tough but the views were excellent! I need to do this in the summer so that I can do the roundtrip on this one.

I did see a sign that said you can take this trail from the Beaver Creek WSA all the way up to Skagway reservoir. The distance is about 12 miles with a 3500 feet incline. The notice on the board said to plan on three days to make the hike. So I have something to shoot for in the summer.

A few pics below and the rest can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/drobincorvette/20091228#

Mt. Rosa

Today I headed out to do Mt. Rosa. A friend picked me up at the house at 9:30am and we drove up Old Stage and then to F.S Road 379. We were only able to drive up 379 a short distance, where we found the road washed out. So we parked and loaded on the gear.

This was the first time that I had gone up this side to the summit. I have been up Mt. Rosa two other times but came up from the Gold Camp TH and St. Mary’s Falls and then back down Pipeline and Seven Bridges This way makes for a 16/mile round trip hike.

There was a lot of snow, a lot more than I had expected. In some places it was at least 3ft deep. The trail was covered and we followed the tracks of hiker who had gotten an earlier start. With the snow and route, I think today was one of the toughest hikes I have done. Each step in the deep snow, you would either be able to stay up or sink to you waist. It made for long hike. But we pushed through and made it to the summit.

In the summer and even coming up the other side with the distance seemed easier than today’s hike. The total distance was only 7.2/miles round trip today, but felt a lot longer.

Below are a few pictures that we snapped:

From the Summit of Mt. Rosa

Downtown Colorado Springs from the

Summit of Mt. Rosa

2009-1219

Nik Nelson at the Summit of Mt. Rosa with
Pikes Peak in the Background
2009-1219

Dennis Robinson at the Summit of Mt. Rosa with
Pikes Peak in the background
2009-1219

Nik Nelson and Princess taking a breather
2009-1219

Home again, home again, jiggety-jog

I have been traveling for the last couple of weeks. The end of the year push to see what we can get done before closing for the Holidays. So travel is done until January and I am back into the groove of things.

Downloaded some new tunes last night for the IPod for today’s outing. I mostly listen to Rock and Alternative. The following links are just a few that I picked up. Probably not for everyone!

Against Me! "Stop"
She Wants Revenge - Tear You Apart
CROOKED X!!! Rock and Roll Dream
Morningwood – Nth Degree
Burn Halo - Saloon Song

I left the house when Candy got home from work, so it was about 7am. I drove up to the parking lot at Gold Camp Road and loaded up the gear and headed out. I debated which route to take and finally decided on Seven Bridges Trail. It was a beautiful morning and a little cold. I had the snowshoes with me but didn’t get a chance to use them today. The trail was already used by other hikers since the last snow, but the further I went the fewer the tracks became.

The trail was snow packed and even with my stableicers on I had a hard time on some of the steep downhills. The going up is easy it’s always the coming down that you will find yourself on your ass if you are not careful.

Now that I am home for a few weeks and am going to have some off time I hope to have a few new hiking stories for you.

I had forgotten my 35mm camera but did have my little casio with me and snapped up the pictures below.

Slow going this month!

This month has just been so busy that I haven’t been able to get my miles in like I need to. Had co-workers in from NJ and NY plus several client meetings. For this month I am only up to 40/miles and am coming up short by about 60. I will be traveling next week so that is not going to help.

I did manage to get Palmer Loop Trail, Mt. Cutler and a few trips back & forth to work in. On Sunday, Candy I walked from the house to Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby. Took an empty backpack with me so I could carry back the groceries. Turned out to be about 7/miles round trip and had a great time. Find you don’t overspend when you have to carry it 3/miles.

The Wood Spider

This is pretty funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHzdsFiBbFc

Mt. Elbert Trip

I left the house about 10am on Wednesday and headed towards Leadville. It was snowing as I was going through Woodland Park, but once past the pass the snow cleared and it was just overcast. Found a decent campsite, unloaded and setup camp. Built a fire and checked out the surroundings.

Made it up to Mt. Elbert and had a great time. It was cold, damn cold. I about froze to death at the top of the Peak and couldn’t wait to get down. The wind was blowing and a couple of time it just about pushed me over. The snow was fairly deep in area’s that had drifted over. Didn’t have a need for the snow shoes

I made my first attempt of doing a video documentary of my trip. Unfortunately I still have some bugs to work out as the camera I was using didn’t pick up the sound to well. I will try again in the next couple of weeks.



After doing Mt. Elbert and being in the cold, I decided to put a hold on Mt. Massive until summer or at least a day with sunshine.

Going Camping

I have scheduled time off work for this Wed, Thu and Friday. I have already gotten everything together and will just need to hit the store to pick up some food and get some firewood. So the plan is to head out early AM on Wednesday up to Half-moon Creek by Leadville and hike Mt. Elbert and Mt. Massive.

Of course it will be fun to see if the weather is going to cooperate for this. It looks like we may have some snow dustings Monday and Tuesday up where I’m headed. I doubt that there will be much, but may prove interesting once I get up on the peaks.