Senior Trip: Road Trip Through Colorado – Day 7
Woke up today after hearing people yelling "Hey there's a bear!" Apparently a bear walked through part of the campground, and unfortunately none of us saw it. After a rushed breakfast, we were at the Sand Dunes at 7:00. This was a good thing for two reasons. One, no one else was there yet and would be for about another hour, and two, the sand was not burning hot yet.
The Great Sand Dunes were pretty amazing! Next to some tall mountains that we are used to, lies mountains upon mountains of sand. We spent the first hour or so exploring the dunes and summiting the tallest of the dunes (that we could tell). The unique thing about these sand mountains, is that they are always changing. If we were to go back next year, they would look completely different, and the tallest point might be located far from where it was today. We started off climbing towards the tallest of the dunes, taking pictures of the formations and trying to slide down steep slopes on cardboard (which doesn't work). Once we got to one of the taller ones, we played a game of king of the hill. This was fun because it was very hard to get hurt in the sand and we could pretty much just through each other down the slopes with little or no pain. At one point, I tackled Dylan low with his legs, he fell backwards and then flipped me over himself with his legs and I went tumbling down the mountain of sand. This game quickly got tiring, because climbing in sand takes a lot of energy out of a person. Following this game, we buried Dylan in the sand.
Next we continued our trek towards the highest peak in the sand dunes. It is a little harder than it looks because the sand moves under your feet and absorbs a lot of the energy. Once we got there we could see the entire sand dune area. I would have taken a picture, but by the time I got up there sand particle had gotten in the lens area, preventing it from being able to open when I turned it on. Soon we started the most fun part, the way down. Some of us would sprint down the steep hills, some would roll down and some would slide. We got to one place which was basically like a "sledding hill" where we went up and down many times. By this time, there were a lot of other people coming to the dunes, just in time for us to be done.
Playing in the sand dunes was a lot of fun, but it came with consequences: sand. The sand was everywhere! Pockets, ears, hair, nose, fingernails, neck, toes... The park had some outdoor showers (like you would find on a beach) for us to wash off at. The water was freezing cold and it was hard to get completely clean without private showers. We continued to remove sand from our hair for a few days.
After we were finished seeing the sand dunes, we began the drive to Denver. The big city was very different from what we were used to seeing. We walked around the "16th Street Mall" which is a road full of shops, and only buses can drive through (and the buses were free!). In the middle where the median would be, there were pianos that anyone could play. Dylan enjoyed this idea and took advantage of the opportunity. Soon after, we left the mile high city.
Boulder, Colorado was next. Dylan had told us that this was the most liberal and progressive city that we will have ever seen. He was right. We spent the time walking around the "Pearl Street Mall" which is much like Iowa City's Ped Mall, an outdoor strip of stores with only pedestrian traffic. This area was full of life, with tourist, vendors, street performers, and homeless people. T, Andrew and I stopped at one street performer's show. His name was "Blue" and he juggled fire and knives. He was very energetic, outgoing and friendly, which made for an enjoyable show. Somehow, he chose me to help him with one of his stunts. I went out there, he introduced me to the crowd, and then explained his stunt. He was going to stand on my shoulders and juggle fire. Fortunately he didn't weigh much, so it was pretty easy to hold him up. All I had to do was hold onto his ankles, and then he juggled fire sticks! It was a lot of fun.
Later, Andrew, T and I went to a place called "MaiBerry" and got some strawberry lemonade. We had never heard of it, but it was very good! I would highly recommend it. Shortly after that we decided to go look for a campsite since it was getting late. The other three guys wanted to stay longer, so we drove to the closest campsite we could find. It was in Lyons, a town about 20 minutes from Boulder. Pulled in at about 9:30, didn't look like there were many people camping there, which made sense because it was a Monday night. I went up and knocked on the door of the Campground Hosts' RV. He was an older guy with a southern accent. I told him I needed a spot, so he grabbed for his reservation book while asking if anyone in the party was older than 21. I said no. He said we can't camp there. I asked why. He said that one time a group of kids came and had a party with alcohol and he doesn't want that again. I assured him that none of us ever drink alcohol and that we would be going to sleep right away and not cause him any trouble. He reconsidered, and grabbed for the book again, and asked how many people we had. I said six. He then scoffed, and said that I would have to go somewhere else, as he does not host parties at his campsite. At this point I was furious with the guy, because now it was dark, we had driven all the way there to get the spot, and we no longer had a place to stay. I pleaded with him once but he insisted that he didn't want to talk about it anymore. So I left without saying anything. I'm still angry with this man. Never go to "Lyons Meadow Campground" in Lyons, Colorado.
So, the three of us had to drive back to Boulder to pick up David, Dylan, and Robbie, and drive all the way to Fort Collins, about another hour away. I had not eaten dinner yet, and by this time we were all irritable. We ended up staying in Fort Collins and it was fine, but I still cannot believe that guy at the campground. His loss though, he didn't get our money.
Senior Trip: Road Trip Through Colorado – Day 4
The original itinerary had us hiking 6 days straight without getting to the car. This would include summiting Mount Elbert and Mount Massive. After the strenuous climb of Mount Elbert, we figured summiting one fourteener was enough. We got the mountain climbing experience and the accomplishment of summiting the second tallest mountain in the contiguous 48, so we were ready to move on. We decided to make this more of a road trip and see other parts of Colorado (hence the change in title).
Waking up at 8:00 was a pleasant change! We all felt very refreshed after a good long nights sleep. We ate breakfast and packed up the tents. After some arguing on how to best pack the car for a road trip, we were on our way to the Glenwood Hot Springs. On our way we drove through Independence Pass and Aspen, two places with nice scenery.
Me standing on the overlook above Independence Pass.
When we arrived in Glenwood Springs we parked at the Hot Springs resort and had lunch. After suiting up, we were ready to go swimming in a naturally heated pool. When we got to the entrance we found out that it cost $16.75 per person. Three of us still wanted to go and three didn't. An argument ensued. The "no" side argued that $16.75 was way to much to go swimming in a pool. The "yes" side said that vacation experiences can cost money and sometimes costs must be put aside in these tourist attractions. In the end we got back in the car and drove another hour to Grand Junction.
In Grand Junction we found a State Park on the Colorado River. The argument over the Hot Springs disappeared when we decided to take a swim in the Colorado River. We had fun building a dam out of sand and shale on the side of the river where a small spring dumped in. Then we took a ride to find the next closest place downstream, where we would float to from the state park. David didn't want to, so he drove the car to the take out place and the rest of us took a swim down the river. Swimming down the Colorado was extremely thrilling, with the small rapids every now and then that we got to float through.
The next destination was Ridgway State Park in Ridgway, Colorado to spend the night. The campground was full, but the lady at the park office called the sister campground three miles up the road to reserve the last spot for us because, "she couldn't look Dylan into the eyes and tell him she had no more spots." This campground was located high on a hill with a great view overlooking the valley and mountains. After a spaghetti dinner we were off to sleep.
End Day 4.
Senior Trip: Hiking in Colorado – Day 2
We woke up at 8:00 A.M. and ate cinnamon rolls from Silver Grill. Dylan had woken up earlier to go get them for us. After packing everything back into the car and thanking the Fellers, we were off.
Noah, one of Dylan's friends from when he lived in Colorado, came with us. After picking him up we began the 3 hour drive to Leadville, Colorado. I drove the Suburban and Dylan rode with Noah. Now I had never driven in the mountains before... it was quite an experience. I got to learn to downshift down steep drops. It's a lot more fun than driving in Iowa. During the drive we drove through the Eisenhower Tunnel, a long Interstate tunnel and the highest point that the Interstate gets.
Upon arriving in Leadville we stopped at a Safeway to get lunch, and then headed for the trailhead. We geared up, and began a 2 mile hike to where we would camp. During that 2 miles we went up about 1,500 feet, for a camping elevation of 11,500 feet just before tree line. The hike was a little long and steep, and we had difficulty finding water at first, but it was nothing compared to what was to come. We had rice and peas for dinner with Tony's seasoning and dried apples. The dinner turned out to be pretty good, but we made too much of it.
Immediately after we finished cleaning dinner up, we hung our packs in trees and went to sleep knowing an early morning was ahead of us.
Senior Trip: Hiking in Colorado – Day 1
Woke up today in the dark, 4:00 A.M. After a shower and a cinnamon roll, I was ready to begin the 11 hour drive.
The guys arrived in my driveway around 4:15 A.M. eager to begin the trip. After final goodbyes to the parents, we left the driveway at 4:37 A.M.
Dylan started off driving, most others slept. The ride from Ames to Omaha was uneventful, except for a small incident when were were leaving Ames. As we were turning left from Stange to 13th Street, Dylan missed the "Keep Right" sign and was on the wrong side of the road for a bit. (The group decided this needed to go in the blog 
) No big deal, no one drives that early in the morning. Other than that and some really cool looking fog, the road didn't bring any surprises. Stopped in North Platte, Nebraska for lunch, and a few hours later we were finally out of Nebraska.
We arrived in Fort Collins at about 3:00 P.M. MST. We had some extra time to spare so we hit up REI and Jax. Interesting note, the only two Jax stores in the world there are only 4 or 5 Jax in the world, and one is in Ames, two are in Fort Collins.
After everything we needed was bought, we headed to our first host home, The Fellers. They were extremely friendly and welcomed us with open arms. They have one son, Chris, who is the same age as us and grew up with Dylan. Immediately after meet and greet we all got our swim suits on and jumped in the lake in their backyard. A really nice way to end an 11 hour car ride. Following the swim, we sat down with the family for a delicious spaghetti dinner.
Evening activities included a nice walk around the downtown ("Old Town") area of Fort Collins, a drive up to Horse-Tooth Rock overlooking the city, and dancing at a cowboy bar/restaurant called Sundance. Chris took us to Sundance with some of his high school friends. They had a live band, DJ'ed music, billiards, and a mechanical bull. The country line dancing didn't work out so well for most of us, but we enjoyed watching Dylan and Robbie and others ride the bull.
Tomorrow we leave for the trail, not sure when the next post will find its way to the Internet so stay tuned.
Max and the Gang
UPDATE: Something I left out. While driving through Nebraska, we hit a bird. Here is a picture.
We found out at a Rest Stop in Nebraska, and we entertained a lot of bystanders with out reactions and methods of trying to get it out of the grill.
Senior Trip: Hiking in Colorado- The Intro
I've been lucky to have a pretty solid group of friends, most of whom I've known since elementary school. This spring we all (finally) graduated from high school. You know what that means? Time for a roadtrip with bros! A "broadtrip?"
Several ideas were thrown around as to where we wanted to go, but when Dylan mentioned hiking in Colorado, it was almost as if the decision was made. Dylan is from Fort Collins, Colorado, and he didn't move to Ames until the beginning of our freshmen year in high school. He has been hiking many times in Colorado and was really excited to start writing up our itinerary. After the plan was written up, 7 of us were "down" for going. One would drop out later to bring the number to 6 bros.
We embark on our journey on the Tuesday of July 6th at 4:30 A.M. We will drive 11 hours straight until we arrive in Fort Collins, Colorado. The following day we will be leaving for Leadville, Colorado where we will begin our 6-night backpacking/hiking trip. We will climb two mountains over 14,000 feet: Mount Elbert and Mount Massive.
I am planning on writing daily blog updates each night. They may not be posted until I get back to civilization, but they will still be separated by days. Unfortunately this is all the time I have for now to explain because I need to get some sleep... we are leaving in 5.5 hours. I encourage you to Google those mountains if you are curious. I would have provided links but I don't have time.
Stay Tuned!
Max