Inyo Crater

Easy bike ride to a steam explosion crater.  It's estimated this formed ~500 years ago when magma hit the water table.

Lambert Dome

As seen from our camp at Touleme Meadows.

Mountain View Trail

The lift served trails didn't work out for us.  The winds were too high at the summit and the mid station trails required downhill specific bikes.  Instead, we had to earn our views by riding up uptown and mountain view. 

Mike the Headless Chicken (Fruita, CO)

Mike the Headless Chicken is running for president. That is what the man on the grandstand said as we walked through a festival in Fruita town center. Mike is a real celebrity here. They celebrate his life every year. In preparation for dinner, he was beheaded. When he didn't die, the farmer decided to feed him with an eye dropper. He lived two more years. I don't know if politics is the right job for him though. Cable news may be better. You can read the full story here. Headless chickens aside, Fruita is a cool little town. Mountain biking isn't just an attraction, it's the main industry. The town thrives on it and the locals claim it's better than Moab.

Back in Denver, Cynthia and Jason hooked us up with trail recommendations, maps, and camping suggestions. We offroaded it to Bitter Creek Camp where we encountered a bachelor party with mountain bikes, motorcycles, beer, and shotguns. We knew we had to stay. They were really cool. We got to shoot skeet with a 12 gauge and they left us giant pile of firewood. The sight itself was at the highpoint of a canyon rim. It offered a 360 degree views and a handy place to launch clay discs into a hail of gun fire. What more could you ask.

Trailwise we hiked McDonald Canyon in search of ancient Indian grafiti. They call them petroglyphs because their old. New ones are called vandalism. I'm not sure I could tell the difference. The West Rim came highly recommended and it was worth it. We started out with a wrong turn that ended in a cliff. Once we sorted that out it was all good. The trail follows a canyon rim then returns to the 'confusing intersection' via a more direct route. Once again we had outstanding views and flowy single track trail. However, I'm glad we jeeped the first few miles of doubletrack. It was really nice to have cold drinks in a cooler at that point and it allowed us to help out some fellow riders who had run out of water. It's damn hot out there in the desert.

Denver

We had such a good time in Denver that we stayed longer than planned. On zero notice, Marty and I scored a mountain bike ride and place to stay with Cynthia. One more call and we had another place to stay and a climbing partner. It's great to hang out with old friends. It seems like yesterday they were living in Baltimore. Eating out at the local joints and talking over homebrew ipa was a highlight.

Centennial Cone was Cynthia's choice for a bike ride. The terrain rolled on with short climbs and descents on a bench cut slope side trail. The views on this ride are classic front range beauty. We had a new rider too. That was the perfect excuse for us to take breaks and breathe in the thin air. I loved the downhills and occasional banked turn. I must work on my switchbacks.

Clear Creek Canyon was the climbing spot and Fred was my guide. I led up the easy stuff while Fred set the 5.11 for me to try. I'm not used to real rock and my footwork is appalling. I don't know whats going to stick so I don't trust any of it. Guess I'll have to relearn the 'friction' thing. You couldn't ask for a better day though. The rock was just right for my ability. The skies were overcast but thunder kept it's distance all day. That is a another thing I'm not used to. Back home thunder always means your about to get wet. No so here.

We finished the day at Golden's second largest brewery. It's like a big house party with everyone hanging out on the front lawn. In true Colorado fashion, last call was at 6pm. The joke is that everyone is training for something so no one stays out late. Yet this town has more microbreweries than anywhere else on the planet. They drink great beers, but not after nine.

(I need to pictures to this one)

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Is this really Colorado? Sand dunes are supposed to be in North Africa. With a mountain range right behind them, they don't look that big. Get up close and they are huge. We tried to climb a steep one and failed. Picture the effort required to run on sand multiplied by the effort required to run up stadium steps. Now lose 75% of each step to sliding sand and you get the picture. I wore about pretty quick.

Running down dunes was awesome. W felt like we were five years old doing summersaults, barrel roles, and back slides down the slope. Each jump sets off mini sand avalanches that roll down the slope in slow motion. We had a blast. The downside – sand everywhere.

 

Past the sand dunes is the 4x4 trail up Medano creek. The trail crosses the creek nine times. The first crossing is 24” deep. It's an odd sound when the water hits the floor pan and the fan belts start flinging water, but the jeep took it in stride and we continued on. Soft sand was another obstacle, but it did make for a smoother ride than the rocks further up the pass. The pass it self was a meadow with mountain views. We chose a camp site off the trail by creek to enjoy a quiet starry night. This was much better than a day of working.

Smoky Mountain Blue Grass

It's been a busy couple of weeks. We passed through the great smokies and scored a nice stream side camp site. Some of the trails we wanted were closed so we hiked up the dome. This hill top is crowned with a lookout tower offering 360 degree views. Another short trail down the valley wandered through old growth forest. We saw another bear on the road side and snapped a few pictures at a safe distance.

Friday we headed out of the park for the blue grass festival. It was just getting started so the real action was not on the state. Musicians gathered for impromptu jam sessions under every available shade tree. If you didn't like one song, it was only few paces over to here something different.

A friendly local commented on our car, loaded down with bikes and boats. Soon she offered advice on where to kayak as we passed through Alabama on our way to Baton Rouge..