So I figured I'd post a few photos of our rides over the past few weeks, so you might get a small taste of the bliss I've been enjoying!
First of all, this is my beloved bike path. This is my "meet up" spot with CatMan where our many adventures begin:
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| Bike Trail along the South Platte River in Denver |
There's been a lot of wildlife out on the trails recently, but alas, the animals tend to be quicker than my camera is, so I haven't gotten many good shots. But there were two young deer hanging out by the path last week who were remarkably tame, so I got a good shot of one of them.
Aside from the deer we've seen foxes and coyotes (more on that later) as well as the standard squirrley squirrels, "foofers" (cottontail rabbits) and "meepers" (prairie dogs). We've also rescued a few garter and bull snakes from certain "squishitude" as they were sunning themselves on the path.
One of our favorite destinations is Chatfield State park which is the southern most point of the South Platte bike trail.
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| Chatfield Lake - which is really a reservoir |
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| The Swim Beach at Chatfield |
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| Prairie south of Chatfield looking toward Waterton Canyon |
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| A random old cottonwood tree that I liked |
Another of our favorite destinations is to head west up Bear Creek toward Red Rocks and the town of Morrison. That was our destination today and it was a beautiful ride, though I have to say the uphill section is a long hard slog. There's about 700 feet of elevation gain over about 7 miles to get to the top of Dinosaur Ridge, and while that wouldn't be too bad if it was a steady slope, it's more of a rolling up and down sort of thing with some seriously difficult "ups!"
By the time we got to the top of Dinosaur Ridge I really thought I was gonna keel over from a coronary. It didn't help that some spry young racer fellow zipped past me like I was standing still. Sigh. Anyhow, when we got to the top CatMan took pity upon me and we stopped for a rest and a geology lesson.
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| Rocks at the top of Dinosaur Ridge |
Anyhow, from this point there was only one more big hill left through Red Rocks Park - so I guess when you factor that in, it's about an 800 foot elevation gain, but there is a nice downhill rest before you get to Red Rocks.
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| Red Rocks Park seen from the top of Dinosaur Ridge |
Anyhow, from Red Rocks we rode through the little town of Morrison and then up and over the Bear Creek Dam (OK, I lied, that's another pretty big hill) and then we cruised home on the Bear Creek bike path.
So there's a place where the bike path goes through a big prairie dog colony, and the little guys were "meeping" up a storm today! Seriously, they were all sending out their little warning call so I figured something must be up. Then I saw what looked like three big gray dogs running through the field, only as I got closer I saw that they were actually coyotes who were apparently there for a little snack - which explains why the prairie dogs were freaking out!
I tried to take a photo, but coyotes run pretty fast, so here's what I got:
What? You don't see the coyotes? Actually you can't even tell that this is a prairie dog colony from this picture! Well, if you look just to the left of the pole in the center of the shot there are three tiny gray dots, and those are the coyotes - I fear you'll have to take my word on this one!
Anyhow... that's what I've been up to. What have y'all been doing with yourselves? I hope everybody has found a way to enjoy the beautiful late spring/early summer!
Wow...you live in a really beautiful part of the world. I love the light and the space in the photos. And running water - seeing rivers with actual water in them here is a bit of a rarity. Wow again at doing such epic bike rides!
ReplyDeleteEverything is incredibly lush and green right now, it isn't usually like that, because Colorado is really more of a high desert climate. But the altitude makes for beautiful blue skies, and it's been a really wet spring and the plants are just loving it - and so am I! I can't escape the feeling of being surrounded by blue and green these days.
DeleteBeautiful shots! I love how far you can see - it's so flat here and trees mostly block your line of vision. Enjoy that rain! We don't have much in our 7 day forecast and I know lugging my watering can around will lose its appeal quickly.
ReplyDeleteA yoga teacher I follow on instagram recently visited Boulder (which I think is near you?) and posted a bunch of cool shots of her doing yoga outside. Thought you might see some familiar places :)
I have to say, it's been a really nice treat not to have to water as much as we usually do. The only things I've bothered with are the seedlings, transplants and tomato plants... and the "lawn" (heavy emphasis on the quotation marks) is still remarkably green!
DeleteBoulder is just north of us. I almost moved there at one point because it's sort of a hotbed of left wing thought - they call it the People's Republic of Boulder! :-)
Beautiful scenery. I'm glad that you and Catman have been able to get out with your bikes and see some of it. I totally know what you mean about the animals are quicker than my camera. Or at least me using my camera. I have a lot of "empty" shots or blurring ones trying to capture some interesting critter.
ReplyDeleteHa! You should have seen the dozen disastrous shots trying to photograph a bunny at one of the rest stops. There was only one that was in focus, but the only part of the bunny that I managed to get into the frame was the ears!
Deletethose are gorgeous pictures! What a lovely ride.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazingly lovely right now - I feel so blessed to be able to enjoy it.
DeleteIt all looks so green! I just don't think of Colorado as being that green.
ReplyDeleteI have a question for you, Cat. I'm curious, were you and CatMan bike enthusiasts, both before meeting, is this something you two took up together, or did one of you "convert"?
I know... it's incredibly green because of the very wet spring we've had. There's a hill near where I grew up that's called "green mountain" but usually "brown hill" would be a more accurate name. But at the moment, it's actually vibrantly beautifully green!
DeleteIn terms of the biking stuff, it's kind of a complicated story. I guess the short version would be that I converted, though I always enjoyed biking even before we met. I remember running into him on the bike path once when I was still with my Ex, so that would have been several years before we were together. But I was never as serious about it as he was.
CatMan was in a pretty serious mountaineering accident about 5 years before we met, and he still has a lot of fallout from that to deal with, including back and neck problems, one leg slightly shorter than the other, and a serious nerve injury that limits his mobility and, when it flares up causes horrible pain that's difficult to control. So it's really only been in the past 5-6 years that he's figured out how to deal with his situation well enough to be physically able to ride again.
So it's sort of like he's re-discovering cycling - only on a much less intense level than he did it before (before the accident he did things like ride from Denver to Colorado Springs.) And for me, it's been a trip in the other direction - taking something that I enjoyed fairly casually and ramping it up to a level I never thought I would be able to enjoy.
It's funny how fate works. I mean, I would never wish that accident upon anyone - especially him. But if it weren't for that, I doubt he and I ever would have met, let alone gotten together. When we did meet, it was not through cycling, it was through music. I often marvel at the fact that if he weren't seriously hobbled, there would be NO WAY I could ever hope to keep up with him!
That looks beautiful! It's getting hotter than my ideal for biking, unless I get out first thing in the morning. I definitely don't cover the miles you do!
ReplyDeleteWell, recreational trail riding is a whole different animal from riding for transportation. What feels like a long trip on my "errand bike" is actually less distance than I cover just getting to the trail on my road bike! I still haven't quite figured out how to marry those two aspects of riding.
DeleteAnyhow, it's certainly starting to feel like summer around here too - though it's been miraculously cool so far. We've only had one day above 90, though yesterday was close. But fortunately, when it's hot we can ride west, like we did yesterday, and it's much, much cooler as you get into the foothills. Even so, I went through two bottles of homemade Gatorade on our ride yesterday and had to stop several times for an additional slathering of sunscreen!
Thanks for teaching me about concretions. Who knew layered rock could create pearls?
ReplyDeleteYour quest to circumnavigate the lake reminds me of early explorers.
I love your bike trail and might go biking myself if I had one of those nearby. I have been to Red Rocks, but I got driven there and then walked.
Aren't those concretions wild? It's really hard to believe they're a naturally forming phenomenon.
DeleteWe still have one more possibility for circumnavigating the lake. There's a path that goes across the dam, and on Google Earth you can see what looks like a dirt road taking off from there, and if it's in decent enough shape to ride on, we might be able to hook in from there to some of the campgrounds on the far side of the lake. We tried it last week, but got stopped by a maintenance crew spraying weed killer. Guess it will have to be an adventure saved for another day!
How gorgeous! But I can't show this post to my husband who has been forced off his bike for the next couple of months. I can see why you like to ride so much with all that gorgeous scenery and miles of trails. Total envy!
ReplyDeleteYup... I'm really spoiled, and soooo grateful to have the time to be able to get out and enjoy it all!
Deletep.s. Hope it's nothing serious keeping TBG off his bike. It sucks not to be able to ride in any case - sending my sympathies. :-)
DeleteIncredible shots! We live right by the greenbelt in Scottsdale, but it pales in comparison to that kind of beauty. And this time of year, there ain't no bike riding happening in the DB40 household. Thanks for sharing those pictures.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm guessing that winter is the preferred time of year for cycling down in your neck of the woods! I'm not sure it would be medically advised to try to ride in the kind of heat that you guys regularly experience! :-)
DeleteThat’s a lot of riding! Those Red Rocks Park roads are steep, so you are a strong rider for sure. The pictures are beautiful, and it’s a reminder to me that I live in one of the best places in the world for cycling (I’m in Denver). And everything is so green this year! I need to get out more before it all turns brown, and it’s too hot.
ReplyDeleteIn past, fitter years I also tried to find a route around the Chatfield reservoir, but there is a huge wetland in the way. No matter – I can ride from my home to 3 different state parks completely on paved trails, so plenty of places to go. I’m in sad shape right now for cycling, but hope to work up to longer rides from my current slow mosey around the park.
A wetland... so that's the issue! Harumph... :-) We sure are blessed to live here aren't we? I sometimes can't believe how many wonderful trails we have, thanks to the Colorado Lottery dollars. A lottery may indeed be a "regressive tax" but I sure am happy to reap the rewards on such a regular basis!
DeleteLast week we explored the (supposedly) newly finished Sand Creek trail up north. Suffice it to say the word "finished" is a matter of opinion! Guess I'm a road bike snob because I was quite displeased to find that entire sections were gravel, and rather loose gravel at that. Plus, one part seems to have been washed out completely by last fall's floods.
We got about as far as Stapleton (Smith Road) before we hit the "detour from hell" - it was like a detour of an already existing detour, and it required us to haul our bikes up a washed out gravel path... anyhow, by that point it was looking like rain so we gave up and rode home. But my guess is that with all the development at Stapleton, they'll continue to make trail improvements up there - and they're also slated to continue the Platte trail further north in the next few years.
New adventures await! :-)
Oh yeah. You kick my butt with bike riding. :) It's gorgeous--how fun--I, too, love the concretion. Have fun with your biking!
ReplyDeleteIsn't that amazing? Sort of like giant sandstone pearls. And from the images I found when I googled it, this is apparently a pretty hum drum concretion as far as concretions go! :-)
DeleteDenver looks so beautiful that I might just have to move out there. My hubby and I have been town shopping. We are trying to find the best place to live and leave the rat race, so we're looking for a town where there is good transportation, is walkable, and/or bikeable.
ReplyDeleteWe live in a metropolis of 5 million, and guess what? We have coyotes too, even here is compact suburbia. Sometimes when I peek out the curtains deep into the night, I see them frolicking (yes, frolicking!) in the field across from my house. It always catches my breath!
Well, Denver is certainly beautiful, but not exactly a small town. We have a population of about 2.5 million. Parts of the city are really great when it comes to walking and biking... others... well, not so much. In general I find biking for recreation to be great here, biking for transportation though, still leaves much to be desired. But we are certainly moving in the right direction.
DeleteAll that being said, I can't think of any place I'd rather live. Of course, I am slightly biased! Anyhow, I wrote a post about Denver about a year ago if you want to read my "Chamber of Commerce" piece. :-)
http://ecocatlady.blogspot.com/2013/05/denver-colorado-my-hometown.html
p.s. Here's another piece I wrote about 4 years ago about the "moving in the right direction" part:
Deletehttp://ecocatlady.blogspot.com/2012/08/riding-in-circles-memoirs-of-suburban.html
The Belmar District just celebrated its 10th anniversary and it was such a rip-roaring financial success that it's become a national model of new urban development. There are now several similar projects in the works across the metro area.
Thanks for the tips - your posts are great, as usual! We had similar, mall-centric childhoods -- just on another coast under different names. And what 70's goodness those photos are! If only I had a picture of my 12 year old self in my purple check Peter Max pants! Denver looks beautiful and sounds wonderful, but I don't think I could live there because of the .... sunshine. Yes, sunshine! I actually want less sunshine in my life. Ah well, a trip to Denver is certainly in the offing. Thanks!
DeleteYou're so sweet to actually read all of my crazy links! And that's hilarious about the sunshine... but my mother felt the same way and ultimately ended up in the Pacific Northwest. It is a challenging climate for a red head - especially since the altitude makes sunburns even more likely. And I think there's actually a photo of me somewhere wearing green and yellow plaid bell bottoms with a purple and orange striped shirt. OY! :-)
DeleteThose are gorgeous photos! I can't believe that deer was so tame that you were able to get close enough for a shot that clear!!
ReplyDeleteWe often go for bike rides, although we usually top out by about 15 miles, but I never think to bring my camera and stop during the rides to take photos. Our landscape is lovely in a very different way than your landscape is!
Well... there were about a dozen blurry shots of the deer too! I've come to the conclusion that what makes digital photography so much fun is that you can afford to mess up about 90% of your shots, where you'd go broke doing that with film!
DeleteI'm sure your landscape is quite different from ours, I'm betting it's full of trees! :-)