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Colorado 2006
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So this was a pretty epic trip. Went rafting, hiking up to 14,000 ft, ran into a Elk, and put 900 miles on my rental car.
Monday
A bunch of the folks from the Track Meet stuck around an extra day to go rafting up in Idaho Springs. It was a blast. Our guide was a 18 year old kid who went by the name EZ. He asked if we were worried about flipping over. We told him... if it was fun then we were all for it. Needless to say he managed to flip us twice at the top of some rapids. Good fun.
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Tuesday
After the rafting on Monday, we headed up to Boulder for dinner and drinks. Man I love that town. Then headed down to Denver to crash at Wacky P’s apartment. I’m not joking, this guy goes by the name Wacky P.
Tuesday Judy and myself decided we would head up to Rock Mountain National Park. Had a lazy start and decided to get some coffee and breakfast. Guess we should have planned a bit better cause the park is actually pretty far from Denver. By the time we got there we only had about 2 hours to hike. Even on a Tuesday that place was crowded. Even managed to run into George and Amber on one of the hikes.
Made it out of Rocky Mountain National Park not a second too soon before huge thunderstorms came in. Hauled ass back to the airport to drop Judy off (who barely made her flight). Then headed into Denver to check out the REI flagship store. To be honest I was pretty disappointed. It had all the stuff of a regular REI, but spread out over a lot bigger space. Oh well, still managed to buy a lot of stuff. Forgot I had a big dividend, so net cost to me was $30.00 for a bunch of gear. That night I met up with George and Amber in downtown Denver for some much needed Sushi.
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Wednesday
All right, now this is where the real fun starts!! Headed into the mountains to get in some serious hiking and some 14,000 ft. peaks. Headed out towards Dillon and did a hike right off I-70. Was pretty good, but just a warm up for what was to come on Thursday. That evening I drove up to the trail head of Grays and Torreys peak. It was one serious dirt road. Pretty much 6 miles of Jeep road...... I was in my Pontiac Grand Prix, but it was a GT model. HA! Since it was a rental I decided to drive up it like I was racing in a Rally Car. I found the faster you go over rough roads the smoother the ride. Instead of bouncing over each bump, you kinda skip over them. Set up base camp at 11,000 ft, had some dinner, and settled in for an early night.
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Thursday
Woke up early (what else you going to do... it is camping) and started up Grays and Torreys. It was a great morning and a good trail. Made it up to the summit of Grays first then headed across a ridge over to Torreys. Met a lot of pretty cool people on the hike, even some guys from England. Made it back to the car about noon, and by that time the parking lot was pretty crowded. Looked around and I was the only car there. All the rest were SUVs and trucks..... what a bunch of wimps!
Next stop was Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a long way! Nothing some loud music and Red Bull couldn’t overcome. That night I camped in the Park and even made a camp fire. I was bored so I took a bunch of pictures of it.
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Friday
Did a little hike in Rocky Mountain National Park. Not sure the name of it or where it went. It was nice cause there wasn’t a lot of tourists.
That night I headed into Boulder to meet up with Carolyn and Bobby for dinner and a few beers. Guess what, we ate sushi. Had to get my fill. We don’t have sushi in Scotland.
Headed out Saturday for an adventure of a flight back. Missed a connection so British Airways got me a taxi from Gatwick to Heathrow for another flight. Ended up flying Denver to Newark, Newark to London Gatwick, Taxi from Gatwick to Heathrow, London Heathrow to Aberdeen. Total travel time about 26 hours. Plus they managed to loose my bags. Did I mention they also lost my bags on the way to Colorado?! Gotta love flying.
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