Estes Park has pedestrian trails that connect downtown to Lake Estes and then continue West to Fall River Rd and also South to Carriage Hills.  This includes the Riverwalk trail along the downtown river corridor and also the trail around Lake Estes.  Locals and visitors alike take to our town trails to enjoy our outdoors, exercise or simply get from point A to point B. With shopping and dining so close together it is great for visitors to park their cars and breath in some crisp mountain air along these paths.  As a local, my kids use it to ride their bikes to schools, I use it to walk my dog and run safely away from traffic.   In April, the Parks and Recreation Department received a grant to assist with an addition of a new section of trail.  The grant is slated to fund an 2.43 mile section beginning at the Fish Creek Trail and ending at the Lily Lake Trail head.  This new section will be an eight foot wide soft trail estimated to cost about $875,000.  The grant from Great Outdoors Colorado is covering $450,000 and the town is contributing $50,000.  The remainder of the funds come from the mill levy increase approved by voters in 2008 for trail maintenance.  Upon its completion we will have a continuous 9 miles pedestrian trail from downtown Estes Park to the Lily Lake trail head.  Construction will be in early 2011 and be complete by the end of the summer.  I am excited, what a huge benefit to us.  I love the outdoors and Haley (my Golden Retriever) and I are going to enjoy using this new trail.  Thanks Estes Park!

Cloud City Cottage

Spent the 3rd weekend  of June at Leadville just hanging out soaking up the high altitude rays. No, this was not a training run or LT100  race prep for my husband. We just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary and thought Leadville would be great getaway. Perched in between the high mountains of Mt. Sherman, Mt. Massive and Mt. Elbert this old mining town will not disappoint.  We stayed at the Cloud City cottages and it was a delightful turn of the century cabin that has been renovated.  We planned to climb some mountains while we were there, but it didn’t pan out.

Mt. Massive

Old General Store

We drove around and did a little off-roading looking for places to explore. Leadville is rich in history like Estes Park and there are old buildings and mining treasures all over. One day we rented bikes and rode the Mineral Belt trail 12 miles around the perimeter of Leadville. We saw the old general store and awesome views of surrounding mountains. We took it counter clockwise and it was pretty steep on the Western side so allow plenty of time for breaks. Along the path there are plaques detailing Leadville historical facts or notable figures. If you stop and read them all it paints a picture of this wild west mining town during the boom time.

Mineral Belt

While we were trying to find the Mt. Sherman trail head we encountered this sign and road block. We tried to reach the trail head twice, the first time we there and didn’t see the signs.

It is not like RMNP where trail heads have huge green signs and paved parking lots. After some searching on the internet we realized that we were in fact at the right location. The next day we tried again and ran into two guys who had a stroke of bad luck and two dead vehicles. We ended up taking them back to town. After wards, it was simply too late in the day to start climbing a Fourteener. We decided it wasn’t our time to climb Sherman. We are ready for the next time.

Road Closed Ahead

Obstacles in the Road

This week in June our community comes together under the co-direction of Terry Chiplin and Belle Morris and puts on the Estes Park Marathon, one of the premier high-altitude races in the country. This weekend of events includes a fun run, 5K, 10K, half and full marathon.The courses are all beautiful, if you love to compete you do not want to miss this event.  I had two runners this year so I was crew, cheerleader, mom, wife, and volunteer today. My daughter who is in 8th grade ran the 10K and my husband ran the marathon. Since he is training for the Leadville 100 Trail Run, this should have just been an easy run for him except for the weather.   The forecast was for rain and a cool 36 degrees. We don’t mind the cold, but wet is another story. It wasn’t just sprinkling, it was a downpour.  The dedication of the volunteers and runners was inspiring.  Cold and wet, but both kept going until the end.   Two new items this year were the chip timing and the promotion of going cup-less.   All runners were given a chip to tie on their shoes and at certain intervals on the course they had to run over timing mats which record their splits and finish times.  Also all the half or full marathon runners were given small plastic pouches called HydraPouches that clip on their belts so that they can just fill them and not have to get a paper cup each time.  My husband didn’t use his because they only hold about 3 ounces and that is not enough.  One of the major problems at the aid stations was the drinks, iced down water and Gatorade.  The runners were frozen like popsicles and needed warm liquids, but no one thought of this.  I was running home to get warm water to fill my husband’s bottles because his hands were blue from carrying ice water.   My husband did have a scare and the aid station medic tried to get him to drop because he got too cold and was shaking uncontrollably, but after sitting in a warm truck for 30 minutes he was ready to finish it out.  The volunteers were just outstanding, I can’t say enough about their dedication and concern for the welfare of the runners.  My husband got an Estes Park Marathon finishers medal and is still grumpy about his time of 5 hours, but you never know what mother nature is going to hand you in Estes Park.  My daughter set a new personal record for her 10K time and finished first in her age category.  Being 13, she doesn’t have much competition because all the teen runners run the 5K instead.  I was very proud of her. You can check out the results on the EP marathon.org website.  I didn’t take many photos because of the rain.  Here are a few from the start line.

Estes Park Marathon 10K Start

Video of the start, I don’t think the staff realized that by letting the runners step on the mat it started the clock. My daughters started her watch at the countdown and she was 2 minutes off and so were some other people we talked to at the finish.

My husband, Alan, and his friend, Michael Hodges, ran up to the Alpine Visitor Center on May 19th before the road opened.  They drove to Rainbow Curve on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park and parked there to start their run.  It is 17.25 miles round trip to the visitor center and back with 2000′ of elevation gain.  They did have to deviate from the road because of the snow removal operations going on. Here is a short video of some amazing snow I think you will enjoy

What is an Estes Park Snow Day?  Here it means that we have a foot of snow on the ground,  it’s still snowing and quite possibly the weatherman is going to be wrong, but we aren’t sure which way.  Last Wednesday was our first day of canceled school for the year.  You can check your calendars again, yes it was October.  I can never get my kids up in the morning, but at 7:30 am they were outside with me shoveling snow and for the rest of the day sledding and building forts.  Fortunately it stopped snowing that evening so we missed the 3 feet that was forecast.  Across the rest of the state it continued to snow that night and the next day with up to 2.5+ feet in some areas.

In Estes, we have our own little micro-climate.  We are completely surrounded by mountains and usually that works in our favor.  When big storms come through we almost always get less snow than the Front Range.  It was a regular work day for me so I headed to the office, later at the grocery store it was a social occasion I saw so many people I knew.  The snow didn’t keep most folks home.  There was school on Thursday, all the roads and paths were cleared.  The park department is so great usually the walking paths are cleared before the roads are.

walking path

I could have gone snowshoeing or hiking, but decided since it was so pleasant on Thursday I was going to take Haley for a run and we ended up at the dog park.  She loves the dog park and pulled me the last quarter mile.  When we got there she was so sad, there were no other dogs there. She really didn’t know what to do with no dogs to chase.

She loves the snow and dove into a snowbank on our way back.

snowbank

Mt. Olympus

Elk on 18 hole golf course

Well now as I write this almost a week later it was 60 degrees and breezy with beautiful blue skies. Other than the January winds there is not much that keeps us inside. Please visit us in the winter, you will be not be disappointed!

I am really behind on my trip reports and even more behind on getting out into the park. I am embarrassed to say how long it’s been since I hiked. That should tell you a lot right there because now snowshoes are required for most of RMNP. Well, here are some photos of a hike last fall in the Lumpy Ridge. I have a couple more to post today from last week.

Lumpy Ridge trailhead

For a great hike deep into the Lumpy Ridge try the Lumpy Loop Hike starting at the Twin Owls trailhead off of Devils Gulch Road. It is an 11 mile loop connecting several trails and at the end taking you by Gem Lake and back down to the TH. There is elevation gain to work those legs and a lot of runnable trail if you like to trail run. The views are spectacular as you descend from Gem Lake, well at the start too.

Longs Peak and Divide Views

Unique Rock Formations

This odd rock formation greets you right at the start.  We call it the Man Riding Dolphin.  I would love to hear what it looks like to you.  The day my husband and I went there was some snow through the trees on the Northern slopes of the Lumpy Ridge but mostly it was clear.

Snowy Trails

It is kind of a long hike and is perfect if you want some solitude.  I hardly ever see more than a handful of people on the trail (aside from Gem Lake-sometimes its busy).  See you on the trails.