Snow day on Green

An awesome morning and conditions were mostly perfect - aside from occasionally being hit by snow falling from the trees. The trail up was mostly packed and no need for traction













It was surprisingly gusty up above 7,500'



Might take Hud to Sugarloaf (the white cone-looking mountain) tomorrow - looks like a lot of snow



I think I got one of the last good runs in as it was becoming both slushy and icy on the way down

Chief & Squaw Mountains

Headed up Squaw Pass Road to do a couple of easy summits in the Evergreen / Idaho Springs area

Parked above what I assumed was a private ski area and was excited to see how much to join - but it is only for training kids. Used to be public and fun until it closed in the 1970s. Someone bought it for $700K 7 years ago



First up - Chief Mountain at 11,709'



Not an epic looking summit...







Next up was that - 11,486' Squaw Mountain



The Fire Lookout - was in use until the 1980s and it looks like you can rent it for $80 a night starting next year



Despite all this equipment - no cell service. Which is fine, just ironic







Looking down at Idaho Springs and all the mining scars to the north



A lazy 8 miles with 2,100' of gain

Offer Declined

After 2 house visits and 12+ visits to the neighbourhood the past few weeks at a variety of times we made an offer Monday on the Gunbarrel house. Nice house, met nice people on the trails, and a brewery with food trucks just 2 blocks away was good enough. Plus one of the Twin Lakes is off-leash



The house is over-priced and has been on the market 71 days so we came in at 7% under asking. They countered by lowering 0.4%

We'll counter at 6% under asking and be OK walking. Maybe they'll come back and accept in a few weeks if no one buys. Oh well. Looked casually at house prices up in Bozeman and in the areas 20 miles outside of Seattle. We could move to the town north of Salt Lake where Maureen's sister lives - 3,300' on an acre for $245K. Man...

Saturday was mellow - Betasso with Hud but he got spooked so we headed up to Sugarloaf. Ranger Fowler said maybe he sensed a mountain lion or bear





Monday morning at Sanitas after a week off from running. On the way down a fox came walking up the trail - caught Hud just before he saw the fox and ran off





Looking west where there was snow this weekend up above 11,000'





Sunset tonight from the porch

St. Vrain Mountain

Sunday decided to try St. Vrain Mountian. Pro Trails - an awesome site - provided perfect directions and said it was an 8.9-mile RT with 3,222' of gain to the summit at 12,162'

TH is off Ski Hill Road in Allenspark and less than an hour away from Boulder



After 3 miles amazing views of the Wild Basin in the RMNP





I had read that St. Vrain was similar to Audubon. St. Vrain was definitely more fun to run/hike and more scenic - it was also one mile longer with 500' more gain



On the summit. RMNP in the background



Indian Peaks Wilderness





Looking west - maybe Green & Bear etc on the far right?



Thanks for the wind shelter, whoever builds these. I spent 5 wind-free minutes enjoying peanut butter cheese crackers. My water bottle and wet hat still froze



It was fucking cold up there

Hudson's Birthday

Hudson is 7 today - his third birthday in Colorado. It was a good day - a few miles at Dry Creek in the cold (39F) with a few buddies, hours of naps and presents!

He wasn't too interested in his new stuffed animals...



...but he loved his birthday cookies





It could be his last birthday in Boulder as we're getting the boot out of our rental by Thanksgiving. Our landlady is getting divorced and wants to move back in

So - the best options we have are:

1. Move back and live in the father-in-law's house in rural Seattle while he spends the winter in Utah.  It's free but it is in a 55+ community - the neighbours are not coming over to watch hockey and drink whiskey
2. Find another furnished rental somewhere.  I found one on Cape Cod but the wife isn't keen on winters on the Atlantic
3. Buy this house in Gunbarrel that we've seen twice (and gone for runs in the neighbourhood four times)

If anyone knows anything about Gunbarrel feel free to e-mail me at charveyuw@gmail.com

Day off tomorrow and planning to head up to the Fourth of July TH tomorrow - hopefully South Arapaho.  No idea how accurate this is but found a site that has weather forecast for a specific mountain - tomorrow at the summit winds will be 30-35MPH with a high temp of 23F.  Yikes

http://www.mountain-forecast.com/peaks/South-Arapaho-Peak/forecasts/4083