Catching up

"I had a whole conversation with him in the office before he turned around and went away and I finally realized he was wearing rollerblades. I thought he'd seemed taller."

It's 94 degrees in the apartment, so I'm here in the coffee shop (where I just overheard the above) to write. I have had many adventures this spring, and haven't posted about any of them. So here's a start.

 

A shot of Boulder from a hike I did while the trails were all still ice.

  

A strange cloud over North Table Mountain, outside work, one morning.

  

Abby consenting to pose for a picture with the familiar restroom-quiz in New Mexico, where we did in fact go to Santa Fe, stay in a hotel and eat at restaurants, none of which made for very interesting photos.

  

A woman practices slacklining at Cheesman Park, which is my new favorite place. I was lying in my hammock reading a book at the time.

  

Relaxing at Cheesman Park with Kris, and hammocks.

  

One night Kris and I went up to White Ranch Open Space Park to camp. We had our hammocks and ended up setting them up in the horse corral, so that we could see the stars at night. Or possibly just to be silly.

 I went for a couple days up to Fort Collins, where I did two long day hikes in the new open space areas north of the town. Red Mountain Open Space is colorful and dramatic and I recommend it for hiking... it's too bad they don't let you do backcountry camping. I did a 12-mile loop to be back to my car by dark.

 

  

  

  

Pronghorn running away, above.

  

Soapstone Prairie Natural Area, to the east, is another new open space that is probably better suited for mountain biking. It's a bit tedious for hiking, as the trails snaked across the open prairie, taking the longest route to go from one place to another and making detours to go over mounds of dirt. As a hiker I did not want to walk 20 feet out of the way so I could plod over a 1-foot-high mound of dirt. It was a bit silly. However, some photos:

 

  

  

  

  

  

 I had hiked 20 miles on the second day. Above, my feet at the end of the day. They didn't hurt, but they'd been rubbing in my boots and I didn't want any blisters to develop. Unfortunately, after the first few miles, the sticky moleskin pads I put on my heels were coming unstuck, so I resorted to holding them on with tape. I look like an invalid. Mostly I was very hungry and proceeded to eat a can of chili and can of spinach in about 5 minutes once I got back to Jess's apartment.

 I returned to White Ranch to camp on another night, and did some night photography. You can see the lights of Denver.

 

  

 And a cool bug on my hat.

Next, the backpacking trip that Jess and I took to Dominguez Canyons.