Day 6 - Brown's Canyon Rafting

Our group of friends arrived on Thursday evening and we had scheduled a whitewater rafting trip the next day.

Sally getting her life jacket fitted.

Diane getting her helmut fitted and Steve waiting for the fun.

Steve and I outfitted and ready for the bus ride to the canyon and whitewater rafting.

I could not take my camera on the rafting trip and we did not purchase photos this time, although undocumented by photos-- we had a wild ride and great fun!

 

 Look closely for some familiar faces.

This was taken after the rafting trip when we were back in our dry clothing.

On the way back to Frisco, we stopped in Leadville where Steve is posing at the site of possibly the highest elevation high school football field in the USA.  Steve coached football in Colorado back in the 70's and his team played a game at this stadium.

The group posing in Leadville with a group of 14,000 foot peaks in the background.

It was a perfect day for rafting with warm sunshine, cold river water and good friends.

Day 5 - Bighorn Trail

For Day 5 of our vacation, we went hiking on Bighorn Trail near Vail.

In the description of the trail, it said not to be discouraged by the steep climb for the first half mile.  As you can see it was steep!

 

The trail goes through a huge grove of aspen.  It would be magical to walk the the golden aspen in the fall.

 

This was a Mariposa Lily that we found to be beautiful with it's delicate purple and yellow center.  We had not seen this flower often on the trails.

 

For a time our trail was blanketed with fern.

A slow shutter speed photo of a stream along the Bighorn Trail.

We walked in and out forests, streams along the path and then the trail would open up to expansive vistas as we climbed. This photo shows some rocky outcroppings.

Back into the woods with the path lined with Cow Parsnip (white) and Monkshood (purple).

Bighorn Falls in the distance.  The trail did not go very close to these falls.

The great traverse of the Gore Range from a distance.

After about 2.8 miles uphill, I took a break and Steve went on up a ways and took a closer view of the great traverse.

The skies threatened rain the entire morning of the hike, but we got back down before the rain.  We found this hike to be very diverse in nature and enjoyed it a lot.

Day 4 - Frisco to Keystone Bike Ride

On Day 4 of our vacation we decided to divert from our hiking to take an 18 mile bike ride from Frisco to Keystone. 

The ride takes you around the Frisco Marina through a marshy area and the over the Dillon Dam.

This is the view from the marina park in Dillon looking back to Silverthorne.

The view from Dillon looking back to Frisco.

Steve posing with a statue near the Dillon Marina. 

We actually turned around just short of Keystone.  The ride was a great one and I am sure we will repeat the journey again next year.

Day 3 - Booth Lake Hike

On Day 3 of our Colorado vacation, we went to the Vail area for a hike.  This one promised a reward at the end of a two mile hike (4 miles round trip) with a 1500 ft elevation gain.

Beautiful vistas along the hike.  In the photo above you can see Vail ski area in the background.

Steve stopped along the way to check his MotionX GPS iphone application that was tracking our miles and location.

Columbine, the Colorado state flower, were all along the trail.

Toward the end of the trail was Booth Falls.  The photo above is of the upper falls.

This is taken from the upper falls area, right as the falls drop another 40 feet below.

These photos are taken from below the falls and I slowed down the shutter speed to get the time-lapse look of the falls.   This was a moderately difficult hike which was well worth the effort.

Day 1, Part 2 - Old Dillon Reservoir Hike

Later the same morning as the Sapphire Point Hike we went to the other side of Lake Dillon for another easy, short hike to Old Dillon Reservoir.

It was pretty much as advertised....short and easy.  Not too spectacular but enjoyable.

Day 1 - Sapphire Point Hike

On our first day in Colorado, we got up early and headed north for a hike we thought looked fun.  But as soon as we got to the trailhead the clouds gathered, the wind blew and the weather was looking ominous.  Plan B began to take shape.  We would head south away from the rain and take a couple of short hikes so that we wouldn't be three miles back in the wilderness when the heavens opened.

Sapphire Point was a short, easy hike with good views.

Look at those cheeks!  Someone had left food and he seemed to be well fed.

 

No sign of rain here.  Beautiful vistas overlooking Lake Dillon.

Here is Steve just enjoying the view.  It was suggested that this hike is great to take at sunset and we just might do that next week when there is a full moon.  Looking forward to that.