Lost Man Loop

Today we hiked the Lost Man Loop up by the continental divide. It was awesome! What a stunning day. We are so lucky.

We went a bit off piste again and climbed up a little ridge to peer into the adjacent valley. A cute little stoat came to say hi to us! She is pretty camouflaged in this photo but she is so cute.

At the end of the loop, one of us had to hitch back to the trailhead to get the car. 

Nobody picked up Rhodri but in the end a nice lady who had been hiking behind us with a big fluffy dog gave him a lift.

Hot springs!

After our pretty long hike today, we headed for the Penny Hot Springs. I had read about it on the internet, and these are some primitive hot springs on the side of the Crystal River. Could be great, or could be dodgy!  Anyway, we gave it a go and it was awwwwesommme

We made some friends as we were soaking, these two hilarious ladies who have been coming here for decades. And then as we were getting ready to leave, a newly married couple from Tennessee showed up with their photographer and entourage and kind of took over. But we were all done by then so it was fine.  Added to the adventure of it all! The red cliffs in the distance were stunning as the sun set. 

We will have to come back tomorrow with Skylyr and Merran.

Savage Lakes

Today we headed up into the Frying Pan Wilderness. We bought a book yesterday and chose a hike that sounded promising. And it was! We went to the Savage Lakes and a bit off piste up towards the saddle you can see in the distance on this first photo

The only bummer is that we got chased down by a scary sounding and encroaching thunder and lightning storm. We were up above the trees, so it was probably a good idea to head back down.

Later on we met Skylyr for dinner at the Tipsy Trout and got an awesome table right on the water!

Willits and the Mushroom Rock

Today we started with a trip to the outdoor clothing shop which is conveniently located next door to Skylyr's house! (This Willits community is awesome.)  We studied maps and looked at outdoor clothing and accessories, grabbed some lunching items and then headed out for a hike.

We did the 'Mushroom Rock Hike' which was thoroughly enjoyable and scenic.

In the evening, we went out to a different restaurant downstairs in Willits and then came home to have more indulgent ice cream.

On to Aspen

We left Colorado Springs on Saturday morning and headed to the Florissant Fossil Beds, where we walked around the National Monument and enjoyed the fossilized STUMPS

Then we headed west and over to Buena Vista where we went to an awesome ice cream place that Skylyr told us about! It was a spectacular drive with big open views and storms on the horizons.

After enjying the ice cream, we detoured to see the Adventure Unlimited (A/U) ranches where I twice went to summer camp as a child. It has changed a lot, but it was cool to go there. Then we drove up to the Continental Divide and walked over to the view point (photo below), then continued down the hill into Aspen.

We got into cell range in time to find out that Skylyr was still at work in Aspen and would be happy for a lift back to his house where we were going to stay for a few days. Perfect! We got to see the fancy watch store that he works in.

We got to his house, went out to dinner at a restaurant downstairs, and then stopped at Whole Foods to buy obscene amounts of high quality ice cream!

Biking and Hiking in COS

COS = the trendy way of saying Colorado Springs. I guess its the airport code too.

Anywho, we had a fun time here by spending Thursday riding mountain bikes all day and then Friday hiking! Ideal.

After returning our bikes to the rental place, we did some laundry since it was right next door! They had an old school Ms Pac-Man arcade game in the corner and games were only 25 cents! Tryfs and I played dual games for awhile and then we just sat around reading.

It was a proper old school laundromat with very old vending machines. Then later for dinner we went to a gas station BBQ place that had a really cool outdoor seating area with country music pumping out of the speakers. Classy!

On our hike the next day, we went a couple of places and managed to mostly avoid the scary looking thunderstorms that were chasing us. First we went up to a cool little peak (St Peter's Dome) that was really scrambley to get up to, and then we went back down and drove over to Cheyanne Canyon to hike up to Muscoco Mountain. 

On Friday night we had dinner in the hotel sports bar. It was kind of weird but still good. Actually all 3 of us were really pooped after these 2 really active days and we ended up binge watching The Office (US version). There is a whole channel devoted to it! Fun.

Colorado Springs for a couple of days

The next day (Wed) we had breakfast and hit the road to get to Colorado Springs in time to meet Rhodri's contact at Mountain Chalet so they could have a business chat.  We managed to do an hour or so stopover at Cabela's, which was fine but by now the novelty has kind of worn off, at least for me. Anyway, we made it to Mountain Chalet and Rhodri had a nice long chat with his new friend. Meanwhile, Tryfs and I explored around town. It was really hot today and we sat in the shade on a street corner waiting for the ice cream shop to reopen.

Later in the day we went to a brewery across the street from our hotel to play pool, have dinner and participate in a Quiz Night. It was really fun.

Here is the view from the brewery over to our hotel, with the mountains behind.

The next day we rented mountain bikes and cycled round Garden of the Gods and Red Rock Canyon. 

At one point Rhodri peeled off to do some trickier routes, so Tryfs and I explored around a cool quarry.

Denver, just us 3

Today we had a good flight to Denver where we picked up our trusty Toyota Prius rental car and headed off! We found our hotel (which had been carefully selected because it is walking distance to REI.. of course) and we settled in just fine. We headed straight for REI but did manage to find some food first so we wouldn't be too starving as we shopped there. Spending 3 hours here would not have been surprising; this has happened before. 

We ended up spending an hour or so but left disappointed with only a couple of items in hand. Nothing beats the flagship Seattle store! Anyway, we decided to have dinner at the Dimestore Deli, which worked out fairly well since our waitress was very friendly and lovely, and the food was great and we had some nice beverages too!