Manitou Incline

I went on another "hike" recently. I think it's really half challenge half hike.

It was WAY to cold and rainy to sit by the pool as we planned so we decided to tackle the mountain. This is the start of the Manitou Incline in Colorado Springs (on the left). Doesn't look too bad from the bottom! The photo on the right is somewhere in the middle of the hike. It was so rainy, we didn't get our phones out much during the incline.

Our friend, who is in excellent shape, said she did the incline in 30 minutes. I think she is mistaken. World class athletes can do it in 25 minutes. I am sure she was fast, but I would plan on an hour to an hour and a half if you have a regular cardio routine (and up to 2.5 hours for then average hiker). We were passed a fair amount along the way up. I'd like to think all of those people were in the Air Force Academy or from the nearby Olympic Training Center. Though, most of the hikers looked like regular people who have done the trail before.

This is the top. Not much of a view! The incline rises 2000 feet over less than a mile. It doesn't sound like much, but my heart was beating out of my chest before too long.

It was too slippery for us to even consider taking the stairs back down. My recently broken foot has made me very cautious. The trail down is about 4 miles on a fairly well marked path.

We had some pretty views along the way down.

We weren't expecting the way down to be so long, but there were a fair amount of switchbacks. 

I think I was delirious at this point. These rocks looked so beautiful in my mind.

Here's the train for Pike's Peak that we took last year. I thought I had blogged about that journey, but maybe not.

It took us about 3 hours to do the round trip journey. I think under better conditions, we would have been faster. I'd like to come back in a year after I've rejoined my regular cardio routine to see if I could get a better time. 

Colorado Springs has so many interesting sites. I'm never disappointed with my visit to the area.

St. Mary's Glacier

I have my own Summer Bucket List. It doesn't have a lot of items on it, but one thing I really wanted to do was hike this summer. I thought maybe my hike at Mt. St. Helens would be all that I would do given the kids schedule this year. I was very happy that twins & I were able to join the boy scout hiking group this month. 

We visited St. Mary's Glacier near Idaho Springs. It took just under an hour and thirty minutes to arrive at the trailhead. The parking lot was a few miles past where Siri thought it was. You can't miss it along the main road. Be sure to bring $5 for parking. The entire hike is loose rocks so that was a challenge for me & my recovering foot.

We took our first water break about half way up. It was steep & the elevation is high, but even the four year old in our group made it. I was hoping the trail followed this nice somewhat flat path.

But, instead, you continue up!

It took us about 40 minutes to reach the lake - it's a great hike for beginners. Rocky was especially glad to see the water. He's never been a fan of swimming, but I think he would have tried today if he had been off leash.

The view at the lake is very beautiful. The lake is formed from the glacier run off. I tried to find information about this glacier. I always thought that a glacier accumulates snow & ice faster than it melts and that a glacier is always moving. But, wikipedia says this is a semi-permanent snow peak which sounds inconsistent with a "glacier". 

The kids had fun scrambling over the rocks & enjoying the area.

As we kept walking, the view kept improving.

As you can see, like everywhere I've been in Colorado, you are never alone. Greta & I stopped here for a while. 

Charlie's enthusiasm had faded.

Greta, Rocky & I wanted to touch the snow! Rocky really wanted to run & play with the other dogs.

The view was so amazing!

The rest of our group (less the 4 year old & his mom) kept going up the peak. But, I didn't trust my foot on the snow or loose rocks with Rocky. Next time!

Eventually, we coaxed Charlie into the snow.

The way down was not too bad. It took us about 30 minutes to get back to the parking lot. We left the trailhead about 9 & had no problem with parking. When we got back to our car at 10:30, the lot was totally full. Arrive early & enjoy.

May your holiday weekend be filled with great adventures!

Broncos Fever

For Nick's birthday, I tracked down two of the hottest tickets in town. We were finally headed to our first NFL game. We followed the advice of the neighborhood veterans & took the bus to the stadium. Definitely the cheaper & faster option.
We were able to join the tailgate of some of our neighbors (though we didn't know 90% of the people there). It was a beautiful day. There was lots of orange & blue, huge Jenga sets, lots of corn hole games & several football tosses all around us.
We were told this is one of the nicest stadiums in the league. It seemed nice - though we don't really have anything to compare it to.

There were a lot of people headed to the game. After the Boston bombing, fans are only allowed to bring in clear bags to the stadium. We traveled light & only brought our phones. We were glad one of our neighbors sits in the same section as us - we had an escort to our seats.

Our seats were HIGH. It was dizzying to look across the field! Due to budget constraints, the Air Force  can no longer do flyovers.  But, we had 4 cool parachutists. 
Despite being so high (& forgetting my contacts), we were still able to enjoy the game.
The half time breast cancer celebration was very moving.

Today is rainy & cold so we are especially grateful for the beautiful weather we enjoyed.

Going to an NFL game was on both our of "life lists." I think going to the game adds to your "ownership" of the local team. You feel the excitement of the fans & the community spirit. We had to dig deep in our closets this week for orange garb - but I just invested in some Broncos wear (the kids are already on board with their T-shirts).

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Weekend Fun

After 6 weeks of being on the go, we had a weekend at home. It felt great and I'm ready to hit the road again this weekend with the kids.

We had a busy day with errands, gym time, house projects & a work party on Saturday. Ella was the only one who was willing to hike with me on Sunday. Nick kept busy with house projects while the twins had no excuse for not coming with us to the Flatirons.

We got an early start Sunday morning & finally found the trail I scoped out.  It was GORGEOUS.  Nice & shady for Rocky - it reminded me of Utah.  Unfortunately, the bears also like the trail.  With a bear sighting last week, no bear spray (does the stuff even work?) it didn't seem wise to take Ella & the pooch down a long, deserted trail I wasn't familiar with.

I need to get a Boulder, Colorado hiking guide because my back-up plan was to return to the same hike we took over Labor Day. Rocky did not need to be carried this time. He was bounding up the very steep rocks on the second trail we attempted.  My legs were burning from 8 minutes of wall sits at the gym on Saturday so I didn't protest too much when Ella suggested we turn around.

And we ended up the exact same trail we walked last fall. But, it was about 2 hours later than we had hoped & it was super hot. So, we called it a day & headed home.
But, not before cooling off.

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Graffiti Run - Denver, CO

We decided to run a 5K last weekend. I told the kids to make sure to keep their shirts sparkling clean.

They didn't listen.

Nick had to bend down to get in on the action.

We were joined by 10,000 of our closest friends for the Graffiti Run.  Unfortunately, we unknowingly passed the start of the race & got behind all of them. It was a long crawl to the starting line.

Can you guess which picture of the crowd I took & which one is from Nick?

The Graffiti Run, like many others out there, is all about getting colorful.

The kids loved that.

The running part? Well,  . . . 

Despite the fact that the kids run like crazy all day, they made it about 10 feet before complaining of tired legs. I was actually getting a little concerned because I have signed them up for track camp this summer.

We were a little underwhelmed by the race itself. The kids were hoping there were more spray stations.

I know these photos are a little off. I used a new protective case & I'm still working out the kinks. I probably could have used a ziploc bag for this run to protect my camera & saved this case for pool time.

The only thing more off than my photos is the video I took (and this is with youtube's stabilizer).

If I were to rate this race, I would give it a 7 out of 10. It loses points for too many people, not enough race course fun stuff, a ridiculously long wait to get to the starting line and a congested race course.

But, the race gains points for letting everyone get dirty & have fun. And, if you are wondering why Greta is grumpy, you would be too if your legs were as tired as hers.