Road Trip out West
I had a little bit of leave saved up and an itching to be in the mountains, so after Christmas my brother and I headed out on a road trip through the West. The basic idea was to fly into Las Vegas, drive East to Taos for a couple of days of skiing, spend New Year's at Philmont, drive North to Denver, hike a 14er, maybe ski a day, then go home.
We slept the first night at a state park just over the New Mexico border. It felt great to wake up in a tent to a crisp, clear morning. We didn't stay long, though, as the road and Taos were beckoning.
Ahh...the mountains.
Taos was more mogul-filled than I had anticipated, but by the second day of skiing I found something more along the lines of looking for. I don't have any photos of it, but the afternoon I made a few runs down the Kachina Bowl, which was full of sweet steep runs that made me wish I'd hit them up sooner.
Stephen rocking it on skis. It was the first time he'd been on two planks in about 7 or 8 years, so it started off a little rocky. He was solid by the second day, though. After a long holdout, Taos is opening to snowboarders March 19 of this year. Too late for Stephen, though.
You'll notice the snow on my hat...it wasn't placed there intentionally.
After New Year's at Philmont we took a hike out to Lover's Leap. We were out earlier than most of the other hikers, for good reason. It was 14 degrees at the start of the hike. We hiked the road out to Lover's and considered returning via the trail, but some of our party was unaccustomed to the cold, so we ended up going back via the road again.
A ranger from Stephen's time at the ranch named Danny hiked with us out to Lover's Leap. Pretty cool dude.
While it was cold enough for my brother's goatee to gather frost, my stubble sadly garnered none.
The Tooth, as seen with snow on the ground. Unfortunately, unhikeable due to icy conditions on the trail up.
Due to high avalanche danger, climbing the 14er was canceled. With a day to fill, Stephen and I checked out Boulder and too a walk up Boulder Creek. This is from Stephen playing around with his camera.
When the trail got slow, we scrambled around on the rocks for a while.
Stephen bouldering. How literal.
Me doing a little bouldering.
We ended up spending our second Colorado day out at Vail. This is Steve, whose hospitality we enjoyed both in Denver and out at Vail.
You can pay $15 for a spaghetti lunch on Vail. Or you can split $5 and eat summer sausage, cheese, and crackers. Scrumptious.
Stephen, back in his natural environment on a snowboard.
A shot of one of the bowls. I'm the little dot skiing down.
Overall, the trip turned out pretty awesome, and a nice change from the flat, snowless land of Florida. I look forward to being out in the mountains again.
We slept the first night at a state park just over the New Mexico border. It felt great to wake up in a tent to a crisp, clear morning. We didn't stay long, though, as the road and Taos were beckoning.
Ahh...the mountains.
Taos was more mogul-filled than I had anticipated, but by the second day of skiing I found something more along the lines of looking for. I don't have any photos of it, but the afternoon I made a few runs down the Kachina Bowl, which was full of sweet steep runs that made me wish I'd hit them up sooner.
Stephen rocking it on skis. It was the first time he'd been on two planks in about 7 or 8 years, so it started off a little rocky. He was solid by the second day, though. After a long holdout, Taos is opening to snowboarders March 19 of this year. Too late for Stephen, though.
You'll notice the snow on my hat...it wasn't placed there intentionally.
After New Year's at Philmont we took a hike out to Lover's Leap. We were out earlier than most of the other hikers, for good reason. It was 14 degrees at the start of the hike. We hiked the road out to Lover's and considered returning via the trail, but some of our party was unaccustomed to the cold, so we ended up going back via the road again.
A ranger from Stephen's time at the ranch named Danny hiked with us out to Lover's Leap. Pretty cool dude.
While it was cold enough for my brother's goatee to gather frost, my stubble sadly garnered none.
The Tooth, as seen with snow on the ground. Unfortunately, unhikeable due to icy conditions on the trail up.
Due to high avalanche danger, climbing the 14er was canceled. With a day to fill, Stephen and I checked out Boulder and too a walk up Boulder Creek. This is from Stephen playing around with his camera.
When the trail got slow, we scrambled around on the rocks for a while.
Stephen bouldering. How literal.
Me doing a little bouldering.
We ended up spending our second Colorado day out at Vail. This is Steve, whose hospitality we enjoyed both in Denver and out at Vail.
You can pay $15 for a spaghetti lunch on Vail. Or you can split $5 and eat summer sausage, cheese, and crackers. Scrumptious.
Stephen, back in his natural environment on a snowboard.
A shot of one of the bowls. I'm the little dot skiing down.
Overall, the trip turned out pretty awesome, and a nice change from the flat, snowless land of Florida. I look forward to being out in the mountains again.
posted by Slim at
6:29 PM
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