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CDT Mapping Hike: above Loch Lomond to Cabin Creek
We get a nice morning for our climb up James Peak, but then the weather gets crazy. The low clouds to our east come rushing towards the divide, where sheer cliffs lob them straight up into the air like feather pillows. No trail has been constructed on much of the section, and we scurry down…
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CDT Mapping Hike: Berthoud Pass to above Loch Lomond
A long morning’s climb takes us to the summit of Mount Flora, where we begin a detour to avoid a rocky, technical section of the divide. On the descent from Breckenridge Peak we hike some of the most elaborately constructed rock trail I’ve ever seen. The trail then becomes less distinct, but we keep it…
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CDT Mapping Hike: Pettingell Divide to Berthoud Pass
It’s a pretty cold and windy night on the divide, but the morning brings ridge hiking as sweet as it comes. Shortly after this picture Jeremy and Bob startle a mountain goat that flies across the rocky terrain below us. Another tough climb takes us to Stanley Mountain. We try to find camping before Berthoud…
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CDT Mapping Hike: Bakerville to Pettingell Divide
Our newly formed team follows the plan to eat, drive to Berthoud Pass to leave a food cache, then continue to our starting point at the Bakerville exit on I-70. Jeremy and I will each collect a GPS track, Jeremy will take notes and waypoints, I’ll take photos and video. The trail is easy for…
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CDT Mapping Pre-hike: Beaver Reservoir to Monarch Lake
I’ve volunteered for the BACKPACKER Magazine CDT Mapping project as a team leader, and my first task is to meet my two team members at Monarch Lake. I figure it’s about 16 miles of hiking, but Sawtooth Mountain looks very tempting, and the trail is quite wiggly on the west side. The elevation profile ends…
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Book: The Wizard of the Crow / Ngugi Wa’Thiong’O
I haven’t enjoyed a big fiction read like this in a long time. The dictator of the African nation of Aburiria seems to be a composite of his peers in the real world, Mobutu being the most recognizable to me. It’s a social and political tale that is chock full of strange metaphors and blatant…
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Rain and lost phone
We drive eagerly to Piz Badille, new climbing shoes in our packs, but it’s raining. Optimistically, we wade across the South St. Vrain, but it only rains harder and we have to turn back. In the end we settle for a nice hike and car camping near Beaver Reservoir. Somewhere my cellphone falls out of…
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Vedauwoo – Nautilus
Doug meets us on a fine morning at the Nautilus, then proceeds to dive back into climbing with a solid lead of Stand and Deliver 5.10a. He and Ann then follow me up Ted’s Trot 5.7, just as thrilling for me the second time. Rain showers send us scurrying off the rock to sit and…
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Vedauwoo – Jurassic Park / Lichen Lung
It’s hot, we have errands to run, and we’re not moving so fast. But we make it to Vedauwoo eventually and find Mark and Kate in a similar state at the ever-name-changing area Jurassic Park. Despite our laziness we enjoy a few routes: First Iteration 5.9+ There’s some hard slab climbing here if you try…
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Notre BAT
We take the next step on our quest to become hermit crabs: more portable housing. Ann’s mom and my dad join us to pick up the new (used) Lance 810 camper. The most nerve-wracking part, backing the truck up under it, goes without a hitch on the first try. We all celebrate with a yummy…