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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…
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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…
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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.…
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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.
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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…
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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…
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Movie: Raising Arizona (1987)
Very interesting to watch this Coen brothers’ movie again after seeing many others over the years. It’s absolutely chock full of stuff that I didn’t recognize the first time around, much of which I recognize from movies they made later. There are even direct references to subsequent Coen movies! The slapstick comedy takes place in…
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Book: When Nietzsche Wept / Irvin D. Yalom
A bold, inspiring piece of historical fiction. Having the guts to portray the likes of Friedrich Nietzsche, Josef Breuer, and Sigmund Freud is impressive enough, telling a story of the origins of psychoanalysis ups the ante again, and it just keeps going. Not only has Yalom pulled it off, his premise and subtext ring bright…
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Shambhala Mountain Center
We were curious about this Tibetan Buddhist center, and made the hike to the Great Stupa shrine. It’s a strange place, with a few really attractive buildings, this grandiose shrine, some construction trailers, and hordes of white and green canvas tents. We were going to leave with the impression that it’s something between a retreat…
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Bouldering at the 420s
A leisurely day with some leisurely bouldering in the Poudre Canyon. Ann and I both make our fingers pink and raw, arms exhausted. There are wild berries everywhere here, and I wonder if we’ll see more bear sign, but none appears. During the night, however, there is a loud huffing outside our tent that sends…