July 30, 2025

Embracing the summer bod that comes from roasted marshmallows, mountain house calories, burgers and fries after hikes, and salty summit snacks. 

July 29, 2025

Went to the temple today and a tender mercy came in the form of a name. I was proxy for Ethel Mountain. Yes her last name was mountain and it made me feel seen. Out of all the names in all the different booths, I went in the one with her name ready. 

July 28, 2025

I love how the Lord can make beauty from ashes. The sunrise you could see up the canyon this morning was beautiful. Many shades and layers of sunrise colors - orange to pink. It was extra colorful because of the smoke from wildfires in the state. With that smoke came a more colorful sunrise. Compensating blessings. 

Isaiah 61:3 - To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes⁠, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness⁠, the planting of the Lord⁠, that he might be glorified.

July 27, 2025

Can we just talk about the miracle that was Darren hiking 60 miles on his hurt foot that this week has limited his walking around the block? So thankful for that miracle and the good memories we have on the trail and the cool places we saw together. His foot started hurting like it does 2 days before we left for Colorado.

July 26, 2025

I was thinking that after seeing a bighorn sheep on our drive out of the canyon after a hike yesterday that in the last week I have seen all the good wildlife - marmot, moose, pika, mountain goat, and big horn sheep. 

July 25, 2025

Oh dad. I miss you. You were my hype guy and I really miss that. Took Sadie and Mason to Culver’s for lunch because that’s what you would have done. (And then played Dr Mario with Mason.)

July 24, 2025

I enjoy most hikes. But every once in a while things beyond my control come together to make a perfect hike you know you’re going to remember for a long time. Thursday’s hike to Timp Basin was just that. We had overcast skies for the hike up, flowers galore, a moose, goats, pikas, blue sky views, beautiful mountains, and awesome hiking companions (Kenz and her friends Syd and Cassie). Don’t forget the post hike Gandolfo’s sandwich to wrap things up. 

July 23, 2025

One night backpacking in the Uintas with some new hiking friends. It was relaxing and easy. The fish in the evening jumping at Clyde Lake were cool. I kind of thought I would have had just as good a time hanging out at home though. Also it reminded me that I quite like my old friends. New friends are nice and fun but old friends just fit better. But I guess you have to give new friends a chance to become old friends. The corn dog we had on the way home was delicious. 

July 19, 2025

Woke up to a beautiful scene of mist coming off the lake. Also woke up to everything of ours being wet. Thankful the rain came on our last night. We packed up the heavy wet gear and hiked the 7 miles out back to the trailhead getting out at 11:00. Matt and Kenzie were not far behind and then we hit the brewery for a burger and fries. That is the way all backpacking trips should end. Thankful Darren took me to Titcomb Basin. 

July 18, 2025

Got to experience a Winds afternoon rain today. It cleared up and we had a blissful hour or so of rock sitting or fishing with no mosquitoes. Then the rain came back. We spent the evening in the tent watching old videos and wishing we would have hiked all the way out. Hobbs was pretty for the little bit we saw it. 

Us at 3pm - I’m so glad we’re staying at Hobbs and not hiking out. 

Rain forcing us into the tent at 6. 

Us at 9pm - we should have hiked out.

July 17, 2025

Day 2 - I made it to Titcomb Basin! It did not disappoint. Seeing this place with my own eyes was incredible!

In addition to the amazing rock spires there are rocks on boulders. (Or is it boulders on rocks? Either way it’s cool and I really like it.) Also cool is how many flowers - red, purple, pink, yellow, white. Then you have the lakes. So many lakes. Add the ponds and streams and this basin is so beautiful. The lack of people here is awesome. We saw a few people in the basin but nothing like what I thought and they have been spread out so it feels like we have it to ourselves most of the time. 

Darren wanted to hike up to Mistake Lake and fish. There’s no trail to it but he’s been here before so we went and it was fabulous! We had this beautiful lake to ourselves. We spent a few hours with Darren fishing and me staring at the jagged mountains that seemed even bigger from higher up.  This is a place I will remember and think of often. 

On our hike back to camp Darren stopped to fish at such a picturesque spot. I soaked in a few more views. 

Spent the evening trying not to lose my mind with the mosquitoes. Even with the headnet. I thought of Sadie as I ate chicken Alfredo for dinner. 

Watching Darren fish at Mistake Lake after seeing Titcomb Basin and getting a new bird is a fantastic way to spend a Thursday. 

July 16, 2025

It’s time for another backpacking escape. Wyoming for Titcomb Basin. I’ve been wanting to go here for many years since Darren first showed me his pictures of this place. We stayed in Pinedale last night in the cutest “Cozy Cabin” that Matt and Kenzie found. We’ll be backpacking with the Sprouls. 

We headed out with a plan of just see where we get and somehow we ended up at Island Lake - 12 miles in. This puts us in a great place for Day 1.  Island Lake is big. And pretty. I like our campsite on the east side on some rocks. We're sharing it with so many mosquitoes.

Our hike had lakes and flowers and lakes and mountains. It also had a few marmots so that’s cool. 

July 15, 2025

Happy Mason's birthday.  For his bday I saw the best sunset of the summer so far driving though Big Piney Wyoming. 

July 12, 2025

What a lovely chill weekend. Watched a movie and had pizza last night, got caramel apples with the girls today, and played Bananagrams with Kenz tonight.  Cam and Sadie crack me up as they snapped this pic while picking up pizza.

July 10, 2025

Noises in the middle of the night woke us up. We grabbed the bear spray and yelled out the tent. Turns out a deer can get the adrenaline going. Thank goodness it was “hooved”. 

Today was our last day and last pass. I ended up really liking Buckskin.  This pass was amazing and expansive just like the other passes.  I really liked the view of Snowmass. We had marmots and pikas cheering us on as we got closer to the pass.  It was a lovely and chill hiking approach (while still up of course) and again the views were amazing.  It was incredible to look around and again see mountains after mountains. I obviously can't put into words the beauty we saw because I keep using the same description.  Just trust me that this trail took us through some of the most beautiful views I've seen. 

The downhill back to the car felt so long. You cannot convince me to ever do the loop counter clockwise. Our way was definitely the way to do it. We came across the crowds that we had not had to deal with for 4 days so we hit the road and stopped at Underbelly Burger in Glenwood Springs for lunch.

This was a backpacking trip I will always remember. So amazing and so hard and so thankful I could do this with Darren. 

July 9, 2025

Tackled Trailrider Pass. Boy was it hard. Mostly the first half. Brutal up. Then we came to a lovely valley high a top a mountain with a nice (yet steep) trail to the pass - and it had flowers. Again beautiful views at the pass including alpine sunflowers. Snowmass lake was also beautiful. Reminded us of the Enchantments. Snowmass mountain was also cool. We headed down with columbines swaying in the breeze on the other side. It was a gently decline until bam - there was a super sketchy boulder crossing with a little snow that I almost freaked out in the middle of. Like really freak out. But I did it and I did not like it one little bit. We hung out at the lake for a bit soaking our feet and relaxing before hiking to our campsite. What amazes me is how different the mountains are as we move through this hike. And it’s funny how Darren’s favorite and my favorite are different. 

Spent the afternoon down at the meandering river - Darren fishing and me sitting on a rock watching the water go by. He said he caught the fish using one of my dad’s old lures. Sigh. I have been thinking of them all day and hope they saw what I saw because it was beautiful. And I’ll bet they helped me through that boulder pile. 

July 8, 2025

Today was a two pass day. We headed up to Maroon Pass and getting there was so lovely. The environment distracted us from the elevation gain. Not far from camp we came over a rise to a beautiful scene. Green rolling hills with red mountains plus flowers and the sound of running water and birds. It’s incredible (and hard). Cue the deer as he walks through the meadow.  Then the marmots came out to play. Sigh. Don't forget about the mountains surrounding you on every side.

Then it was an uphill push to the top of Maroon Pass. The views from the top were jaw dropping incredible. I loved it so much. Flowers and clouds and green and mountains upon mountains. This view will stay with me and it spoke to my soul. 

Making our way over to Frigid Air was beautiful as well. Flowers and views. There was even a large patch of alpine sunflowers.  The climb up to the pass was steep. Someone forgot to put switchbacks in. But it wasn’t too far and then we had another amazing view. It so cool when you have such different mountains on the two different sides and you can see it all. And I love me a tarn that I could see from our snack spot. 

Making our way down the pass was beautiful as well with more flowers and views. Then came the slog. 4 miles of kind of hot and down which my knees do not like. The last 4 miles were harder than the first four (mentally for sure). We just put our heads down and trekked to find a campsite.  We found one with less of a view than yesterday but the flower field we went through just before it was cool.  Some might even say "bananas". The columbines were so tall.  Thank goodness we had the afternoon to recover because our bodies were exhausted.  We ended up getting in the tent about 7:30 and were asleep before 9.

July 7, 2025

Happy my birthday! I’m excited for my birthday party on the Four Pass Loop. We stayed in Aspen last night and started out nice and early heading up West Maroon wading through streams along the way. This place is so beautiful and it’s only Day 1. We saw a few pikas who wished me a happy birthday. We made it to camp somewhat early (noon) and spent the afternoon and evening soaking in the gorgeous birthday views. Saw a camp site marmot and shared our spot with a deer. It was a bit cold for a minute so our birthday mountain house dinner was nice as it warmed us up. 

July 4, 2025

Things just feel not right right now. Our country is messed up, I just accepted a new job and will no longer be able to call myself a librarian, no celebrating the 4th with my parents, and just other stuff. 

At least I got to hang out with Kenz and Cam today and get some gelato.