Finally, a free weekend (at least for a day)! I guess it wasn't really free (as finals are this coming week and I need to study) but there wasn't any racing happening today. A friend of mine and I decided to go snow shoeing. Our original plan was to go up to Pingree Park, but soon found out that we couldn't get to Cirque Meadow because the campus was closed. Here is a picture of the campus with the Mummy Range behind. Pingree Park sits at right around 9000feet.
Note: This summer I have to take a 4-week course at Pingree Park. We live up there for 4 weeks studying different plants and animals. I was a bit leery of the course because I didn't know how I was going to train. Today proved me wrong. There's some awesome terrain (not to mention so very nice views) up there. I'm excited!
After finding out we couldn't go on our intended hike, we headed back up the Poudre Canyon towards Cameron Pass. We found an awesome spot to start. I had never gone snow-shoeing before, so this was quite an experience. It's a really good workout (especially at 10,000ft+). It took me a while to get my breathing under control and a rhythm with my steps. But once I figured it out, it was a blast. I'll leave the rest up to the pictures, with a little explanation about each. Enjoy!
Even though it was probably 15 degrees out, I got hot. You don't want to break a sweat when snow-shoeing (or anything outside in that kind of weather).
Just the beginning of the awesome views.
If you look close, you can see Highway 14 (the road that actually goes over Cameron Pass).
Above tree-line. We came up from the trees on the left side of this picture.
Ran out of time to make it all the way to the top. Still pretty high up - probably around 12,000feet.
Another view.
That's all for now. Definitely going to have to go snow-shoeing again. Not racing tomorrow at the State CX race for several reasons. Next race will be the U23 CX Nats in KC. Just three finals to go and I'm school free for 5 weeks HURRAY! In the meantime - my birthday is coming up. Bad thing is, I have a final that day and the day after. Oh well! Have a good night!!
-A
4 comments:
Very cool. I had planned on heading up to Horsetooth Mnt to hike, but freezing drizzle was enough to make me turn around and head back to Devil's Backbone.
You are hardcore...
http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071207/UPDATES01/71207031
Yes - it was slightly extreme. However, we made sure to stay in safe spots (i.e. lots of trees) and once we got above tree line, we stayed in this little plain area - so overall it was pretty safe where we went. If we had decided to keep going up, I would have been a little more hesitant.
Looking forward to watching you at X Nationals.
John
Hey...its June and I was just bored and reading folkses blogs and I caught yours today. THAT was a great entry! Good reading.
GOOD LUCK at Nationals this weekend!
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