A Little Rumney Climbing & a Stach Stopover

K and I took advantage of one of our cyclical off weeks and pulled together a trip back east to see my sister (aka Sissy) and her fabulous Connecticut residing familia.  We also threw in a few days at what most consider the east coasts premiere sport climbing destination.  You may not guess it since few of us west-siders leave our abundance of flawless stone to climb the moss covered, canuck crawling crags of the east coast.  Kidding…Rumney, New Hampshire is actually home to some amazing stone and very unique climbing.  We had a blast, I wish we had more time to spend in the area.  Beautiful place for sure, my sis may be visited more frequently so we have an excuse to go back to Rumney.

So after a few days climbing in NH we made our way down to CT.  First thing first, I needed the Stach’s (sis and Matt) approval of K, my future wife to be.  They approved!  Jaide and Brodie, my adorable niece and nephew also seemed to be huge fans of miss K.  Chalk up the approvals, the wedding looks like a go!

The visit consisted of countless steamers, the kiddos pebble wrestling (rock climbing) for their first time at Chatfield Hollow, crab catching beach fun at Hammonasset beach, adult only story telling sessions around the fire pit and…..enough said check the pics.  If your wondering were the pics of sissy and Matt are…..well I’m wondering the same, they were camera shyJ  Just wait there will be plenty of black mail-ish pics from the wedding, I’m sure! 

Like always click on pics to see better resolution 

Photo caption Contributions:  If your feeling clever therefore would like to re-caption any of the photos,  leave a comment on the post.  I will then re-caption the photo followed by your name.

Self Inflicted Bunny Ears - meet Jaide and Brodie

:) 

Boy of Many a Funny Face

Styling in the Forest

Looking for the Buried Engagement Ring!

We Forgot..... the Beer Face

Tides a Coming In

Crabby

Who wants Crabs?

Pebble Wrestling - Brodie and Jaide

Asking for round two before back on the ground

Must of Found the Beer Face

Tour de Colorado - Segment #3

Segment #3 — Little Scraggy Trail-head to Wellington Lake Road
Additional Bonus Riding —Segment #4 to Lost Creek Wilderness Boundary, Redskin Creek, Gashouse (726), Homestead (728), Sandy Wash (730)
Riders: Chuck, Kristin, Drew

The CoT

Date: August 4, 2012

Ride Type: Shuttle - 1)Little Scraggy 2) US Forest Service Workstation, Buffalo Creek Town

Chosen Direction / Route: Little Scraggy trail-head to Wellington Lake trail-head, 1.9 miles of segment #4 to Lost Creek Wilderness boundary, return on COT segment #3 to Redskin creek junction to Gashouse, climb to Homestead, ending with excellent descent of Sandy Wash to the town of Buffalo Creek 

Mileage: 31.4 miles (13.4 COT section #3 one way)

Elevation Gain: 4215' with 5211' of downhill radness

Average Pace: 11 min/mile

Total time includes breaks: 6 hours

Trail description: A glorious segment of the COT!  First 9 miles or so are for the most part downhill.  Followed by a short climb to the segments high point, and segment #3's end (Wellington Lake Road).  For a bonus ride segment #4 its an additional 1.9 miles will get you to the Lost Creek Wilderness Boundary.  Once you decide to return, its all downhill to the connection with Redskin Creek Trail.  Here you have two options either retrace your ride back to Little Scraggy Trail-head or enjoy some of Buffalo Creeks best singletrack.

Interactive GPS track recording for COT segment #3:

View Segment #3 — Little Scraggy Trail-head to Wellington Lake RoadUntitled in a larger map

Our GPS tracks overlaid onto Google Earth 

Elevation with corresponding speed profile

Homestead's Granite Slab Riding

Heart Rock Corner

The fastest portion of the COT - ride for your life

Don't Brake - Granite shreds tires

Drew rollin on his new "Clown Wheels"

Muffins of the Granite Variety

High Elevation Engagement

Last week was amazing...

...for my FIANCE and I......yup that's right we got engaged!  Ill save all the emotional sappy stuff for those who wish to call/meet for a beer and get the details.  Ill try and keep it short and concise then let the pics do the talking.

The Ring :

• self designed Celtic braid, custom made by Mr. Gene Bauer an artist and goldsmith of 30 years.  Gene's studio is in Golden, CO as may soon contain framed photographs of Kristin's rings.  

The Process:

• Kristin mentioned and found some artwork of a Celtic braid/weave.  We sat down with Mr. Bauer to inquire about taking on the design.  Soon after I choose to cut Kristin off from any further involvement in  the ring designs....for surprise sake.  
• After several meetings Gene and I came up with the final designs.
• 3 months later Gene finished what he called one of his most challenging pieces.  
• At this point I mislead Kristin in believing the rings were in wax and still a ways from being done due to continues design problems.  There were a few other misleading bits of info...like planning to have a lakeside conversation with Mr. Casey during an upcoming family get together in Minnesota.  

The Proposal Plan: 

• Travel to Ouray/Silverton shortly after getting off work.  Camp at Ice Lakes Basin trailhead.  Then in the AM mountain bike the 3,080 vertical feet and 3.5 miles to Ice Lakes Basin, an area regarded by many as one of Colorado's most stunning alpine basins!  Ice lakes basin contains 4 lakes (one blue, one green and one with a rock island in the middle), countless waterfalls and an abundance of wildflowers.  I knew if i didn't propose mountain biking there was a chance K wouldn't go for it:)

How It Went Down:

• We were able to bike to the lower Ice Lakes Basin before things got to steep and to rocky to travel via bike.  From here we stashed the bikes and hiked the final 0.5 miles.  Once coming upon Ice Lake, I looked around for the right spot....I wasn't feeling it and we didn't have the area to our selves.  So I suggested we hiked a bit higher to the next lake, one of CO's hidden gems.  Most people are so overwhelmed by Ice Lake they don't bother checking out Island Lake.  She was down with the plan so we hiked a bit further to the most majestic lakes I have seen!  It was perfect....well minus trying to convince Kristin to come down the final 5 feet to the waters edge.  As she was very happy with her view from up above, luckily she fell for the ol "please babe, I want to take some pics from down here"........The rest is history:)     

Night cap - prior to the big day

To One Knee - GPS tracks

Lower Ice Lakes Basin - we changed our wheels for hiking near the huge black headwall near photos center

Skunk Cabbage - the waterfall  is the drainage from Ice Lake

Caribbean Blue - Ice Lake

Columbines

Question soon to be popped - Island Lake

She has no Idea

She Said YES

Gorgeous - the rings not to shabby either

Among the Wild Flowers

My Fiance

Great Rides & Great Peeps - CB Mountain Biking

Post Trail #401 Filth

Generally known as the birthplace of mountain biking......

Crested Butte, Colorado, does not disappoint!  Well until its time to load up the bikes and pull out of town.  CB has it all: techy, cruisers, steep, amazing high alpine scenery,......I could go on forever or just go get a taste of it yourself.  If the biking isn't enough of an allure, maybe downtown CB will be.  What a rad place to end your ride.  A few of our favorites include: The Brick Oven Pizzeria (great tap selection), Pitas in Paradise, and Dogwood Cocktail Cabin (an absolute must).

Day 1 — Upper Upper to Strand Hill to The Brick Oven Pizzeria

Click to enlarge

Date: June 22, 2012

Riders: Anne, Tom, Kristin, and Me

Mileage: 17 miles

Elevation Gain: 2200' (click for elevation profile)  
Average Pace: 14 min/mile
Total time includes breaks: 4 hours

Trail description: Upper is a mix of rocky and flowy, providing good views of the town of CB as it traverses underneath Mt Crested Butte.  A short spin on CO road 738 gets you to Strand Hill then an enjoyable fast flowy downhill among endless aspens. 

Day 2 — Bear Creek to Doctor's Park to hot tub and pizza to go

Click to enlarge

Date: June 23, 2012

Riders: Penny, Aaron, Anne, Tom, Kristin and Me

Mileage: 21 miles

Elevation Gain: 3200' (click for elevation profile)
Average Pace: 14 min/mile
Total time includes breaks: 5 hours

Trail description: A vast network of trails defines the Taylor Park arena, expect slightly lower elevation, and dryer conditions then the CB area proper.  We shuttled from North Bank Campground to Spring Creek Reservoir - allowing for two great descents down Bear Creek and then Doctor's Park. Due to the extremely dry winter, the Taylor Park area was uncharacteristically dry...moon-dust like conditions.  Aside from the dry conditions the two down hills were awesome, I cant wait to return under better more packed conditions.    

Day 3 — Trail #401 to Dogwood Cocktail Cabin to Pitas in Paradise

Click to enlarge

Date: June 24, 2012

Riders: Anne, Tom, Kristin, and Me

Mileage: 10 miles

Elevation Gain: 1900'(click for elevation profile)
Average Pace: 15 min/mile
Total time includes breaks: 2.5 hours

Trail description: The CB mega classic, cant say enough about this trail.  High alpine meadows with unbeatable views! We choose to leave a vehicle at Copper Creek trailhead near Gothic and shuttle up to the "Plug" just before Emerald Lake.  

The Pics:

Alpine Splendor - Trail #401 - day 3

Creek Skimming - Aaron - day 2

Famed Downhill - Doctor's Park - day 2

Anyone seen my Snorkel? - Anne - day 2

The Hand-off - Kristin, Anne - day 3

Girls Peaked Out - Penny, Anne, Kristin - day 2

AT&T full signal - start of Trail #401 - day 3

Skunk Cabbage Cruiser - Tom -day 3

High Alpine Meadow Beauty - Trail #401 - day 3

Skunk Cabbage Speedster - Anne - day3

Splashdown - Kristin - day 2

The Beetnik's  - Aaron, Tom, Anne

The Poco Loco's - Anne, Kristin, Chuck, Penny

Trail Map:  CB riders don't leave home without this one.  Once in CB stop by Big Al's Bicycle Heaven to pick up a copy, 13.00.