Wild(erness) Weekends

What a summer! Sorry it's been a while since my last post... I know you know how life gets busy, especially in the summer! Allow me to skip much of my typical verbiage and catch you up mostly on photos of the past couple of months: 

O and I, celebrating four months of togetherness in early June.

End of May - BolderBoulder 10k - Year 2!

I ran the race in memory of Owen's brother, a fallen Navy SEAL.

As you'll recall, I had a great time running the BolderBoulder 10k last year with a couple of friends. This year, I ran it with my roommate and her boyfriend. We had a great time, Boulder is beautiful, the weather was perfect, and I dominated my personal record, running 6.2 miles in 59 minutes and 32 seconds. Wahoo! (Also, a side note, but with no photos - I ran another 10k in Denver in early July, the Sand Creek 10k, and ran that one in 59:12 - EVEN BETTER! 10k races are my jam!!). 

June - wilderness weekends with Owen

Rocky Mountain National Park - The Loch

Owen and I have been spending a lot of time in the wilderness this summer; hiking, backpacking, camping. June saw us spending a day visiting the picturesque Rocky Mountain National Park and hiking the 6+ mile round-trip trail up to The Loch. This is one of my all-time favorite Colorado hikes, and it was really fun to share it with Owen. We celebrated reaching the Loch's namesake alpine lake by swinging and napping on my hammock, munching on trail snacks, and watching a group of fly fishermen doing their thing. It was a gorgeous, memorable day!

Heaven on earth with this handsome fellow.

Colorado 14er - Mount Shavano, and a visit to the Royal Gorge

At the end of June, I took a Friday off of work and Owen and I hit the road for a Colorado road trip and some camping and hiking. The first stop was Mount Shavano, a 9.25 mile round-trip hike with about 4500 feet of elevation gain; my 2nd Fourteener summit and Owen's 18th (distinct) Fourteener summit! Once again, we had ideal weather. Although the hike was pretty brutal, Owen was a mountain goat heading up the mountain and he took great care of me as I slowed down after 13,000 feet and trudge to the top (imagine my brain cells raving at the high altitude - oxygen, what's that??). I was the mountain goat on the way down the mountain, however, so Owen and I proved an ideal mountain team. 

Beautiful trail

Camping in Aspen groves; SO Coloradical.

At the summit - 14, 235 feet!

Hello, Mr. Supermodel Marmot! There were a ton of marmots at the top.

My handsome Coloradan and mountaineer

Happy, and in my element.

Next stop was an hour or so down a beautiful, classic Western American highway to Cañon City, Colorado, where we stayed overnight at a KOA camp ground, went out for a gut-bomb American diner breakfast in town, and then went to check out the Royal Gorge - America's highest suspension bridge at 1,053 feet over the Arkansas River. The 'park', a for-profit private enterprise, wanted to charge $25 a head to even simply walk across the bridge, but O and I had other plans. There HAD to be a free and better view of the bridge and gorge SOMEWHERE. Sure enough, we fairly easily stumbled upon a great viewpoint, completely free of charge (now that's my kind of price!), and we were the only ones there. It was beautiful. The area actually reminded me a bit of the hill country in Texas, with so much scrub and lots of cute lizards.

"I feel like a lee-zard!" Another animal glamour shot from the weekend.

Sight-seeing train and rafters along the Arkansas River at the bottom of the gorge.

Gorge, Bridge, and Sky

We stopped by the town of Salida on our way back to Denver to explore a new, cute, Colorado mountain town.

Their coffee was LEGIT.

What a glamorous lady moose! This is only the second moose I've ever seen in real life in
my whole existence, and this one was in the exact same spot on the exact
same highway as the first - no joke!!

Next up, in quick succession - weekends backpacking to and camping at Gore Lake, and in Seattle. Here's to summer, the outdoors, and love!