cyberhobo

Author: cyberhobo

  • Arapaho Pass

    After a leisurely breakfast in a national forest campsite we found in the dark last night, we drive through Eldora to the Fourth of July trailhead. From here it’s only three miles up to the divide at Arapaho Pass, a point just a little ways north of the Devil’s Thumb where the Continental Divide Trail…

  • Ann leads a 5.8 in Boulder Canyon

    A little sport climbing sounds appealing, so we head up to the Riviera wall in Boulder Canyon. Despite dark clouds, we enjoy climbing Chouette, 5.6, and Splash, 5.7, on beautifully smooth, featured granite before the rain starts. We have to wait out half an hour of rain, then Ann surprises me by announcing she’s in…

  • Fall River Pass

    We take our first drive through Rocky Mountain National Park, electing to crawl up the one-way dirt Old Fall River Road. We pass many bikes on this road, and decide that we need to come back and try this ride, especially during the fall color season. The pass is covered with Elk grazing at 11,800…

  • Multipitch Climbing on the Pear

    We were a little nervous about tackling the imposing multipitch climbs on Lumpy Ridge, but found one 5.7 route up “The Pear” that looked mellow enough. Our tactic of using vacation time to hit this popular area during the week worked perfectly – the Twin Owls trailhead was nearly empty. The building cloud cover posed…

  • Gem Lake

    Wow. There are more things to see in this 2 mile hike outside Estes Park than in many full day hikes in the Rockies. The trail climbs Lumpy ridge, passing a few of its many granite rock formations. At one bend is a boulder with a hole in it the size of a human head.…

  • A Day of Battle at the Voo

    After a pleasant night of camping, we mosey over to the Nautilus formation near the entrance of Vedauwoo determined to ease back into some route climbing. But sometimes climbing and ease just aren’t meant for the same sentence.

  • Movie: Dirty Pretty Things

    If a movie can have a bad plot and still be good, this is one. This is a long look into the eyes of poor immigrants in London. The plot is not awful but definitely has some weak points and what felt to me like compromises. Ultimately, though, it’s just a canvas to paint the…

  • Name the wildflower

    I’ve been seeing these in the Northern Colorado foothills for a few weeks. They tend to appear in thick stands, usually not too far from water. Thanks again to Al Schneider from www.swcoloradowildflowers.com for the help identifiying this one, though I don’t think there’s an example on his site yet. He said it’s minty –…

  • Book: The Five People You Meet In Heaven / Mitch Albom

    The first book I’ve read in a while that fizzled for me – at least it’s short. This is a little fairy tale along the lines of A Christmas Carol, where people from the character’s life show it to him from different angles. Seemed to me like it’s been done already.

  • Bouldering at Elkhorn Creek

    I like this spot near Red Feather Lakes. It has solid, sharp, Vedauwoo-style granite boulders and formations in a more expansive feeling foothills setting. We did some fun problems, most too hard for us, but still quite enjoyable along with a night outdoors. We saw only one other climber, who told us there are trad…