Starting our Telluride road trip.
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009The past two weeks have truly been beautiful in Denver for January. I think the temperature averaged 60 degrees for at least 10 of the past days. I haven’t snowboarded since my last powder day at Vail on Jan 28. However, I’ve been doing a lot of road cycling. Vanessa and I rode up Lookout Mountain Road last week, a popular ride in Golden. I also did some trail riding in Denver, and attempted a ride up from Boulder to Lyons last Friday, but the wind was just unbearable.
Also, Vanessa and I were back in Golden on Sunday doing some rock climbing at North Table Mountain. One of the best climbing spots close to Denver, it is a large mesa that overlooks the Coors brewery in Golden. Needless to say, having the smell of fermented hops in the air as you climb on some excellent rock is truly unique to this area.
A few photos from last Sunday. Vanessa flakes the rope after climbing; a few photos of some routes on North Table Mountain; the view of Golden from North Table Mountain, with the Coors Brewery in the lower right, and lookout mountain far in the distance.
However, all good things have to come to an end. It is still February, after all, and it is now snowing once again in Denver. No worry, for tomorrow Vanessa and I are going to embark on our long awaited Valentines weekend road trip. Our first stop will be Salida, where we plan to ride at Monarch Mountain. Then, its over into the Gunnison Valley (site of my recent elk hunt last November). We won’t be staying in Gunnison, merely traveling through on our way to Telluride. There, we plan to stay three nights, riding on the mountain, and exploring the backcountry around there and Ophir. Finally, we’re going to stay a night in Ouray, and doing some backcountry riding on the popular Red Mountain Pass, between Ouray and Silverton.
Here is a map of our planned trip.
The forecast is calling for snow all week! It couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ll be bringing my laptop along and will try to post some photo updates of the trip.
