I love the mountains. there is nothing you could say to change my mind. we flew to colorado this past week. it was a last minute decision and oh so totally worth it.
we spent our time out in nature… breathing in the mountain air, hiking along cliffs, wading in streams of blue. it was breathtaking (the view and the altitude). we live at sea level and in colorado we hit over 12,000 ft (3657.6 m) so the air was much thinner and we did have to adjust to sleeping at 9,000 ft (2743.2 m). but it was just so perfect and so worth it. I would honestly move to the mountains today if I could. there’s so much adventure out there and I feel most at peace there. I’ve been to several states now and we’ve hiked hundreds of miles up and down mountains, and I always say we should move there. it’s nothing new.
our trip this time was short and we wanted to take full advantage of it. we flew in monday, headed to dinner and ice cream then walked along the colorado river in eagle. I wasn’t aware of the rapids in the river (the last time we went it was december - everything was covered in snow). however, visiting colorado and the ski towns in may - or mud season, as it’s affectionally called - is a really stellar idea. prices are lower, crowds are non-existence, and more trails aren’t closed from snow. on the flip side - shops have shorter hours, some are closed all together, but if you’re going for the mountains and streams, hiking and backpacking - you won’t mind the bare towns. we didn’t mind them at all. I still got my coffee mug, we still tried ice cream, and we found plenty of coffee shops. I’ll say it - there’s something about drinking coffee in the mountains. I’m not really sure what, but it hits on a different level.
tuesday - we had a full day and so we got up at the crack of dawn, had breakfast, pulled on our hiking gear and headed out. we walked over 20,000 steps, hiked around 12+ miles (19.31+ km), and burned over 1,200 calories (according to my apple watch, which froze two minutes into our first hike). so we very well could’ve hit more because we didn’t get the first 1.5 mile walk in. I’m not saying that if it’s not recorded on the apple watch it didn’t happen, but where’s there proof? maybe our exhaustion or hunger play a part in proof… who knows. anywho, we found many places to hike - we drove up the arapahoe mountain to loveland pass, the highest mountain pass in central-colorado sitting at 11,990 ft (3,655 m). we were not prepared for the drop in temperature. it was around 65*F when we left silverthorne and it hit the low 30s *F at loveland. but - it was beautiful.
we spent the latter half of the day, avoiding the oncoming cold rain. the mountains create very unsteady, unpredictable weather. the morning began with a bright sun and clear blue skies, as we were hiking after lunch, clouds rolled in and drizzles began. a few short minutes later, it was a down pour. and it was cold. we did do some shopping and I bought a local artisans coffee mug. but we weren’t equipped for hiking in the rain so we cut our hike short after 12 miles. we did drive around and visited a few ski towns - that were deserted.
we had to head out pretty early wednesday - not without grabbing a coffee at nomad coffee in dillon. we stopped along IH70 and admired the beauty before heading home. it was a perfect little getaway. a much needed vacation and reset.
oh, I’ve been to the mountains… I’ll never breathe the same
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