Category Archives: Hiking

Grand Tetons: Traditional lake hike, and hike by Jackson Lake

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View of Taggart Lake

We began our day in by getting breakfast at Bubba’s BBQ.  They have great biscuits and gravy, and the coffee is good, dark, and refills are quick.

View of the Tetons from the Snake River

We needed to be properly fortified for our first hike of the day: Taggart and Bradley Lake.  The views were great, and we didn’t even have to run through any hail storms this time. ;-)   After the hike we stopped at a Dornan’s for lunch.  It was crowded, as usual, but we stocked up on sandwiches, chips, and some locally-bottled pop.  We also enjoyed looking at their large selection of cheeses from around the world.  The food was so good that we returned to get a similar selection of goodies for dinner.

View from Colter Bay on Lakeshore Trail

We found an uncrowded pull-off and ate lunch in the car.  Then, we decided to get in one final hike before beginning the trek back to CO.  We did the Colter Bay Lakeshore trail.  The hike was perfect – easy, flat, not-too-crowded, and provided some nice views of the Tetons.  We did, however, have to keep moving, since there were also a fair number of mosquitoes on the hike.

This road never ends...

The drive back to Denver was long, but fairly uneventful.  The highlight of the trip was passing through a small town with a vet, animal hospital, and taxidermist side-by-side in a tiny plaza.

South Boulder Peak

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View from South Boulder Peak

View from South Boulder Peak

Well, we finally conquered South Boulder Peak (a.k.a. The Trail).  This one happened to be about 7 miles round trip, through fields and over a stream.  So why call it The Trail?  The last mile has about 1900′ of elevation gain, up a rocky, at times hard to see trail.  The next 0.25 miles involves bouldering.  The view from the top is worth it, though.  We had a clear day and could see the mountain ranges behind the flatirons.  One word of caution, though – bring more water than you think you’ll need.

Photos can be found here.

Green Mountain and Chedd’s

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Green Mountain

This past weekend we decided to go on a short hike up Green Mountain.  However, we were also hungry, so first we went to Chedd’s for some gourmet grilled cheese.  While the concept of gourmet grilled cheese seems a bit strange, the sandwiches were creative and very yummy.  After lunch, we proceeded to head to Green Mountain.  The weather was a bit windy, but the sun was out and it was a gorgeous weekend in January.  Once we got to the top of the trail, we had some very clear views of the Denver Skyline.

Rocky Mountain National Park: Lights, (no) Camera, Action!

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Yeah, for the first time ever on a big trip, Louisa and I forgot to bring our camera.  :-)

We had a great time away from the big city however.  Estes Park and Rocky Mountain N.P. are definitely great vacation spots and great wildlife viewing spots.  On this trip we saw a bull mouse, a few herds of elk, a bear cub running through the field, and a few hummingbirds.

Here are our favorite hikes and attractions from Rocky Mountain National Park on this trip:

  • Old Fall River Road – Scenic drive that approaches the Alpine Visitor Center from the valley instead of via Trail Ridge Road.
  • Trail Ridge Road – The premier scenic drive in the park.
  • Colorado River Trailhead – Gateway to many cool hikes through the forest.  Be sure to bring your bug repellent.
  • Bierstadt Lake and Bear Lake – Hiked about 4.1 miles to check out both of these lakes at once.  For a bigger challenge (and about 1200 ft. of elevation gain), start the hike from the Park and Ride.

We also had a few favorite restaurants in Estes Park and Grand Lake:

  • Bighorn Restaurant, Estes Park, CO – Great breakfasts, we tried their country fried steak, blueberry waffles, and ham and (double) cheese omelet.
  • Poppy’s Pizza and Grill, Estes Park, CO – Good pizzas with a variety of sauces. We had an Italian sausage, mushroom, and garlic pizza with salad bar.
  • Sagebrush BBQ, Grand Lake, CO – Pretty wide selection of grilled and BBQ.  Their great onion rings were our favorite part of the meal with decent brisket (a little on the fatty side, but very tasty) and pork.  We also tried Rocky Mountain Oysters.