No, not today though. It has snowed off and on for most of the day today, though not much is accumulating. Just gray, wet, and cold. However, this past weekend, we had some awesome fall Colorado weather and tonight was a perfect evening to look back...
Red Rock Canyon trails
We put some dirt under foot at Red Rock Canyon Saturday morning under brilliant blue sky and high 50's warming our bodies - especially after our spell of 20's last week!!! From high atop Lion Trail on the eastern rim, we had spectacular views of Garden of the Gods to the north.
Stopped on the trip down the canyon on the Red Rock Canyon path to watch climbers tackling what we believe is called the Whale Tail. It was perfect weather and the climbers were staking claim to their walls early!
Kathleen enjoying the sunny day as she cruises the Contemplative Trail.
There is still a bit of fall color holding out in the canyon. The view from high on the rim looking out to Section 16 and getting ready to drop in on the Roundup Trail.
How could you not smile - out on a run together under beautiful Colorado sunshine?!?!
Roundup dropping out onto Red Rock Canyon Trail - awesome day!
Ascending Red Rock's east ridge and preparing to drop down the long descent to the trailhead - gotta love downhill finishes, right? We were soaking up as much of the incredible day as we possibly could - as crazy as our weather gets, may not have a lot of these for a while! Got to put 10 miles of fantastic trail under foot on a splendid, bluebird day - sweet!
Shoes - K Nike Structure Triax ESC
S - Asics Trabuco
Hitting the trail - Falcon Style
Steve gathering rays on the Falcon Trail.
Sunday came through with the weather bonanza - Chinook winds over night had drawn warm air up against the mountains and temps soared into the upper 60's by the time we headed over to the Falcon Trail at the Air Force Academy. With the unpredictable mountain weather, you must capitalize on days like these!
Supreme day for running combined with awesome trails - Indian Summer rules!
Kathleen rounding a switchback above the visitor's center.
There was still some water in the stream on the back side - more than usual for this late in the year. It was warm enough to splash through, but wet shoes are no fun less than half way through a run!
Kathleen catching rays while cruising the ridge above the golf course.
Blodgett Peak bathing in brilliant sun! We did not want to finish our run on such a great day. We finished our run in mid 70's and were wishing we could hold on to the moment much longer than our legs desired! We finished a solid 13 mile run and had big, silly smiles on our faces. What a great day! Hope all are having a great week - Happy Trails!
Shoes K- Nike Structure Triax ESC
S - Nike Structure Triax ESC
Last weekend we hopped a quick flight out of Denver and headed over to visit Kathleen's family in Iowa. Her mom's prognosis is on the dim side as it appears she is losing a battle with appendix cancer. We wanted an opportunity for Kathleen to have a nice visit while mom is still able to be up and about. We also know that we are getting to the sketchy weather months between here and NW Iowa and we hit the weather jackpot for our trip. Just two days before we left, DIA registered in the 20" range of snowfall, but we left under sunny skies and mild temps on Saturday. We brought our warm and sunny with us to Iowa as well - sweet! The corn farmers are working OT to get the harvest in, as seen in the pic above. As for the Happy Trails part, if you have been reading for any length of time, there are none here. Well, one 2 mile sort-of trail but that's it. So it was, gulp, road running - and no photo evidence that could incriminate us in the future... No offense to you die-hard roadies, but dirt is where it's at. Period. We slugged out 8.5 miles Sunday and 5.5 miles Monday and that was all we could take. It is, however, sweet running at 1400' elevation when you live at 6800' - it is like having an extra oxygen tank built in!!!
K's dad out mowing the north 40. Well, not quite, but a 2.5 acre immaculate lawn takes a bit of work. Two and a half hours on a Craftsman 54" mower with a couple stogies thrown in and that is dad's "quiet time"!!
We had a really nice visit with the family, and as always, got to spend some nice time with K's brother and family who live in the same town.
Got a nice visit in and had some awesome sunrise vistas over the cornfields. It was bittersweet leaving, knowing that savoring life's finer moments often involves capturing memories that sustain us in the future. So it was that we took off for a return to home - Colorado's mountains. We would be taking a little down time to process and unwind in Estes Park, gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park - stay tuned...
