Endurance hike

[WolfVanZandt]

I wonder if anybody else does this. Yearly, I make an endurance hike. It's part of my cardiac program (snrk!). If it doesn't kill me, I know my heart is in pretty good condition. This year it was supposed to be a 26 mile hike to and in the mountains above Denver. Then I got to Bear Creek Lake Park, which was quite a-mazing (hrph!, pun intended - I got lost.) That and the golf course I found myself in added on at least 6 miles. Anyway, up until the park, things were great and I felt fine. As it is, three days later, I've almost completely recovered. Still a little tired and, strangely, I've lost my tolerance for the cold weather that's moving in (it's supposed to snow Thursday).

So, I started from home and walked up Bear Creek Trail to Kipling Trail, which is a route alongside a busy four-lane highway. Then I took a street to Green Mountain. There was a great view from the flank of the mountain but it was a dark, misty morning and I doubted if a hike to the top would improve the view much so I opted to see more further on. I took Dinosaur Ridge - a huge, open air geology exhibit - up to Red Rocks. Then I walked the road down to Morrison and picked up Bear Creek Trail back toward home. Bear Creek passes through the shortest canyon I've ever seen. I made it home well after dark.

I have some photos but I can't make the downloader work. I'm wondering if the problem people have is computer or OS specific?

[hunter63]

Glad you survived......Pic's would be fun...?

[Rick]

If this doesn't work PM me with the problem you are having.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...uploading+pics

[WolfVanZandt]

I've tried the image insert, the basic uploader and the attachment dialog and they all give me the "SANY0559.JPG: Upload of file failed." message. The SANY.... is the name of the file. I get the feeling that it's not the website but maybe just my set up. I'm using Firefox over Windows 7. I might try dumping the photos into my website and then extract them from there, but I'm starting cataract surgery tomorrow and that will keep me tied up all month. I will be very glad to "see" this month come and go.

[WolfVanZandt]

Aw right. The photos were just too big to download
So....I started at home in Bear reek Valley in south Denver and headed up Bear Creek Trail to Kipling Trail, which was basically a sidewalk beside a four lane. The altitude increased steadily until the mist was frozen mist. That was okay - it kept me from overheating. Jewell Avenue took me to my first destination - Green Mountain.

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This is a photo from the flank of Green Mountain toward a place I was going. The notch in the mountain is Bear Creek Canyon and, just behind, you can just make out Morrison, Colorado.
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Here is another shot from Green Mountain. I don't know the name of the mountain but it is a prominent rise west of Denver.
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And this is Green Mountain - not very impressive but the views from the top are spectacular. Unfortunately, it was a misty morning and the views back toward Denver were just foggy. I decide not to waste effort on climbing to the top of a grassy mound to get so-so pictures and head on.
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I walked up Dinosaur Ridge, a serious (but worth it) uphill drag through an open-air geology museum, to Red Rocks Park. It was getting late so I didn't walk all the way up to the amphitheater but I shot some of the rock formation - one I didn't include here since this is a family oriented site and the rock formation was very accurate and very masculine - sorry folks....
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Then I took a short road walk to Morrison. That pyramidal peak up ahead towers over the town and is the southern wall of Bear Creek Canyon, the shortest canyon I have ever seen. Morrison is a pretty little mountain town in the Front Range (I still haven't hiked in the Rockies).

I meant this to be a 26 mile hike, and I was doing fine until I got through Bear Creek Canyn and made it back to Denver proper. Then there was Bear Creek Lakes Park, where my trail disappeared amidst a maze of other trails. I spent at least three hours navigating the Park, over Carbon Mountain, and through two golf courses before again finding my trail. Finally back in familiar territory, the hike having turned into a 30 mile hike, I made it home well after dark, very tired with plantar blisters on my feet. But I recovered in the requisite 3 days and commenced my cataract surgeries the next Friday. All that is behind me now except one post-op and fitting for new glasses.

I would call this years long walk a success.

[hunter63]

Cool pic's ...Thanks for taking us along.

[Wise Old Owl]

Wolf I would like to say you did well like the others.. but your planning is aweful How about hiking Mt Evans?

HERE

[crashdive123]

Well done and good luck with the cataract surgery.

[WolfVanZandt]

Mt. Evans would be fun. I'd also like to get beyond the Front Range since all that is sedimentary stuff and I collect minerals. I need some granite, ore veins, or pegmatites. That'll take me further into the mountains and, since I'm a pedestrian now, I'll have to wait until I can coerce one of my housemates into taking me. But I think for next year's death hike, I'll have someone carry me 30 or so miles up into the mountains and drop me. This year convinces me that I ought to be good for at least 34 miles in a day. If I can get back to Bear Creek Trail, it's all paved and It doesn't matter how late it is. Coyotes aren't going to mix with me.

[WolfVanZandt]

Took a walk down the South Platte River the other day (in Alabama, it would be called the South Platte Creek, but it's perty, anyhow). Here are some pictures.

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We have lots of geese here now. They're migrating down from Canada and some of them have realized that no one shoots at them here so they've become year 'round residents. I was on a bridge across the South Platte when the geese upstream decided to fly downstream. I could almost touch them. I wish I could have taken a picture of one group. As they flew over, one of the geese cocked his head over and looked at me as if to say, "What are you doing up here."

[crashdive123]

Excellent....