Greetings everyone! We are essentially at the midpoint of our winter trip south and I must say this has been quite a productive start to this year’s Average Year efforts (not updated yet, but link here). Ron was able to meet us down here for a week and recently headed back (ironically on the day the FAA grounded all planes). Now Linda and I need to head back to get all the birds we hid from him hehehe. We’ll be moving our base camp soon and that means connectivity may be in jeopardy. While we get that straightened out, I’m going to leave you in Brad’s capable hands to keep you entertained. In case you notice a green tint to this post, that’s due to the fact Brad has managed to tin a bird neither Ron or I have…I’ll let him tell the story.
Take it away Brad!
As you may have guessed, Jan and I have traveled to Colorado a few times recently. Our daughter lives there so it gives us a very good excuse to frequent Colorado and all it has to offer. During our visit last spring, we decided to check out some local hiking. Many of the guide books lists dozens, nay, hundreds of hikes from casual walks to the much more adventurous challenging hikes, some involving ropes and harnesses. We decided to see what was close by our hotel near Boulder. After a brief All Trails app search, Jan found Eldorado Canyon State Park. We first went last April, but Jan was hobbled by an injury and couldn’t hike far. We headed back this fall to more fully explore. Once leaving the Boulder area, the highways turned into county or village roads (no center stripes in some cases) and then very quickly into unimproved roads. By “unimproved” I mean not paved but graded every now and then. Oddly enough the roads “improved” a bit once we were inside the park (still not paved though). We’ve learned from last April not to make the rookie mistake of stopping at the very first pull-off.

Hit the jump to read more about Brad’s Colorado adventure at Eldorado Canyon State Park!
Continue reading Solitaire Anyone?…by Brad Marks