Buchanan Pass

Saturday night's sunset





Sunday we went up to the Indian Peaks Wilderness and hiked Buchanan Pass Trail #910, an 8-mile round trip starting at 8,680' and going up to 9,600' at the turn around















At the turn-around



The trail goes on to Buchanan Pass itself. That would be a 20-mile round trip



Buchanan Pass actually is just to the right of that large mountain (Sawtooth)



At the trailhead we ate awesome cookies from Lyons while wading in the freezing cold St Vrain river

I'm taking Monday and Tuesday off work and one of those days will hopefully be spent back in the Indian Peaks Wilderness before the snow

Ward & Jamestown

Another great sunset Friday night



Saturday afternoon we went up to the historic mining towns of Ward and Jamestown



Ward is at 9,450' and about 35 minutes west of Boulder up Left Hand Canyon Road, a rather wooded drive and a good opportunity to see early fall foliage





Ward is hard to describe. Wikipedia has a simple synopsis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward,_Colorado

We actually did mail ourselves a post card in case they do close their post office:
http://sites.google.com/site/wardcolorado/

This person does not like Ward:
http://ward-colorado.20megsfree.com/index.html

The show "American Pickers" should come to Ward
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Pickers











Our opinion is Ward is to Colorado what Port Renfrew is to Vancouver Island (also the only two places we've seen squatters)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Renfrew

After popping in the cute General Store we headed to Jamestown
http://www.jamestownco.org/

Jamestown was much different - it felt more like a small Vermont village







Town cemetery

Heil Valley Ranch

Heil Valley has several good options for a run. We chose a 7.6-miler with 1,000' of gradual gain.

The ranch is still worked and owned by the Heil family







The $0.75 pop was ice cold



The trails

Advertisers Welcome

In an effort to leave the bullshit of the corporate world where punching people is frowned upon, I am selling advertising space here on the blog. With 2,114 page views from 10 countries...think about it...

Sunsets were incredible Monday and Tuesday





That is Long's Peak at 14,259'



Wednesday - after dealing with the "Lazy Clown Convention" - we drove up Magnolia Road. We will not be buying there - it goes up 1,500'-2,000' in 2 miles on curvy switchback roads. But the views can be awesome - below is much of the mountain area of Boulder County (at least west of Boulder and east of Peak-to-Peak highway)

Exploring Boulder Mountains

Sunday morning was chilly. 48 degrees at 7am. Perfect running weather for Hudson. We went to Dry Creek Trailhead (dog running trails) and did 3.5-miles

Afterwards I decided to try and run Green Mountain and finally post a good time. Green Mountain is outside our windows and stares back mockingly...



The summit from Gregory Trailhead (up Saddle Rock / Greenman & down Ranger / Gregory) is supposed to be 5.3/5.4 miles with 2,344' of gain. All three prior efforts involved unintentional additional distance and elevation gains - twice due to getting lost. This conversation sums up Saturday's attempt:

Chris: "Where am I?"

Elderly Couple: "Flagstaff road is that way"

Chris: "Flagstaff road??"

Sunday went well - I did not get lost and completed it in 1:26:57

Afterwards we went to a few open houses and drove by the fun Fourmile house we looked at Friday. We saw a sign for a Gold Hill town rummage sale and decided to head up. Gold Hill is at 8,300' and 10-miles from Boulder. There are several ways to get there and we decided to go via Gold Run Road - which is 5-miles up Fourmile



We had never gone this way. This is a rather historic mining area and was one of the worst hit in the fire







The rummage sale was over but it's always fun to visit Gold Hill and the great views





Afterwards we went on an even more rural dirt mountain road. It is also off of Fourmile - it starts as Logan Mill Road and turns into Escape Route then Arkansas Mountain Road before arriving in Sugarloaf. It is steep with lots of blind curves and is really a one-lane road with no guardrail

There were a few areas hit by the fire and pockets of lost homes. There is no way a fire truck could make it up or down this road. I don't know who lives here. But - there were excellent views at times and there is wildlife. The fox sat there for a good minute before it moved