No Reservations: Colorado Cruisin'

It's been a few weeks that we've been in beautiful Colorado now and there's been so many rockin' adventures and so few wifi hotspots that I've fallen behind here in Bloggerland.  

July is Colorado month for Geof and I.  I think we'll only miss a few days, but we have otherwise been here ever since June 27th (or somewhere around that time...I'm losing track!).  We headed to CO to spend some time with our great friends Brian and Kelly, and since we got here a touch early we got to catch up with Julia and Russ in Denver (thank you for the fantastic hospitality!!) and bag our first 14ers.  We decided Grays (14,270 ft.) and Torreys (14,267 ft.) Peaks would be wonderful starts to our mountain season.  To the trails we headed!

Geof on top of Grays Peak

After high-fiving Grays Peak, we ran down to the saddle and then scrambled up to Torreys Peak.  This climb was the first time I'd ever been over 14,000 feet and it felt pretty good.  Things got kind of sludgy feeling once over 14,000, but nothing a little Gu couldn't fix.  It was enormously rewarding to stand on top of these peaks.  

The way down was super fun as it meant we could finally let loose and RUN!  I stopped a few times to take pictures of columbines...I freaking love those flowers!

Colorado Columbine

The next day we drove down to Pine, CO to see Kelly finish up at the North Fork 50k.  Her first ultra since giving birth to their son, Caleb!  Geof and I got to the start/finish area a little ahead of her finish so we stripped down to our running clothes and hit the trails to check out some of the course.  That is some beautiful country down there!  The North Fork 50 is definitely on our list; they did a great job!  Kelly had a great race and we all sat around and rehydrated on Colorado beers and burgers before heading to Breckenridge for a few days. 

Mmm, super yummy Breck food

Brian was looking to join us in getting some more vertical so the next day we headed to Mohawk Lakes.  Kelly had Caleb in the carrier and they hiked while Brian, Geof and I sucked air.  It's a gorgeous, gorgeous hike and I highly recommend this one.  We, of course, ran it :)  Climbing up past old mines, an old mining hut, a waterfall and four high alpine lakes we hit near 13,000 feet (we went further than the hike description suggested) and rolling thunder before we turned it around to head back.  The run down was awesomely fun and coming back down through the pine forest was glorious!  My heart was singing!  

Mohawk Lake I

Alongside the waterfall on the way to the Lakes

Photo credit: Brian Gaines

The next day (what? a rest day? what's that?) Brian and Kelly led us to the Gold Hill Trail up the road in Dillon and we went for a nice recovery hike along the Colorado Trail.  

Photo credit: Brian Gaines

The Brelly headed out the next day to continue on their own Colorado adventure, and Geof and I went back to the Gold Hill trail to kick off our long run from Dillon to Breck and back.  

Going through my photos (there are SO MANY) I noticed I got a bunch of the sky.  Colorado skies provide an endless amount of visual stimuli...not to mention the mountains....

The next day we bid Breck goodbye...but first we took in all the Fourth of July festivities and walked around town for a bit.  That town knows how to celebrate Independence Day, hooweee!

Breckenridge ski slopes in the background...sans snow.  So cool.

We were ready to get back on the road.  Julia mentioned that the approach hike to Kit Carson Peak (a 14er) was phenomenal so we aimed south to the Sangre de Cristo range.  It was getting late so we found a nice little campsite along the Arkansas River, in Buena Vista, CO.  We finally got to use our new sleeping platform, and the weather was perfect for it...

After a great night of sleep, and a little rain, we packed up and made our way to Crestone, CO...a teensy, teeny, tiny little town waaaaaay out there.  To get to Kit Carson's Willow Creek trailhead we had to take a bumpy 4WD road up.  We opted for the shorter/easier route...the Willow Creek approach, which was supposed to be 11.2 miles roundtrip.  Totally doable.  Except that I was scared out of my britches about the class 3 designation the trail was given...um, I'm kind of a whuse and exposure and scree skiing aren't two of my favorite things just yet.  But, when in Rome.  

I pulled out my Leki trekking poles for the first time ever and we hit the trail around noon.  

I was terrified, but up for the challenge.

This was some of the most rugged country I'd experienced to date and Geof stayed close by rather than running up ahead on some sections.  When he turned to me and said,"I don't know how to say this without scaring you, but I think we need to stick together today."  Message received.  We were officially in wild country and who knew was was lurking around the many corners we were turning on this trail.  We whooped and hollered our way up the trail, smacking my poles together every so often, clapping, talking loudly.  No worries, we only encountered a few other souls on the trail so I wasn't too worried about ruining anyone's peace and quiet :)  Hello, bear country.

We arrived at Willow Lake and I pulled out my phone where I had taken a picture of the trail description.  The trail had officially petered off.  None of the trail was marked at any point so there were no markers to look for and no cairns.  We tried a few different animal trails to no avail before finally pulling out a compass to direct us.  Okay, I've never done this before and the Girl Scouts only taught me how to build a dollhouse, not orient myself on a trail.  This was new territory for me in many respects, but I felt pretty badass using a compass to point us in the right direction ;)  

Geof at the south end of Willow Lake...we needed to get over to the waterfall in the distance

Eventually we found a very vague little trail that petered off again, this time into a boulder field.  Luckily, Geof's eagle eyes saw a cairn part way across the field (which spilled steeply into the lake below).  We picked our way across, crossing paths with a couple coming back (yay, confidence!) and finally made it to the waterfall...and thick black clouds moving toward us from over the peaks in the distance.  And now we were totally exposed.  We looked around some and found another cairn.  Then another, then another.  I glanced at my Garmin and saw we were over 5.6 miles in putting us over the originally stated round trip mileage.  Huh, weird.  We were nowhere close to being done.

Geof now standing on the other side of the lake, near the waterfall.  Pretty!!

What's he doing back there?

We hemmed and hawed a bit, glancing around us.  It was clear we either had a long way to go still (and 2,000+ ft yet to climb), or we were going to need to climb straight up a face.  Something was amiss, and a look at the late hour, and watching the clouds move quickly over us, followed up by a loud crack of thunder we hightailed it out of there.  Not worth it!  So, we made it to about 12,000 feet and nearly 12 miles.  The run down was fabulous and fun.  We never did get rained on, but we watched the weather from back down in Crestone and decided we were very glad we turned when we did.  

I checked the trail description against our map back in the car and found where we went wrong...we were following a much more technical route once we hit the waterfall and were well off course.  Ah well, we'll be back, and we'll start at a much earlier hour next time :)  

Great Sand Dunes National Park was in the area and since we had some time left in the day we decided to head over to check it out and see what the camping was like.  

SO COOL!  There were just like the high mountains, except made out of sand, and surrounded by high peaks; it was heavenly!  It could not be adequately captured on camera, so believe me, you HAVE to see this place!

Geof ran down into a sand valley waaaaaay below me

Our quads and calves were sufficiently burned up from all the running around and up and down in the dunes after an hour or so and the sun was beginning to set so we headed towards the campground to see if there were any sites available for the night.  The campground (within the park) was great!  Big sites, tables, bear boxes for food, clean bathrooms and super quiet.  When we arrived, we met our very first bear...a cute little guy just looking for slugs.  Guess we'd be making use of our bear box!!

Sunset over the Great Sand Dunes

I slept like a friggin' baby that night, even though I was totally spooking myself :)

In the morning, we had a craving for some Leadville action and much thinner air, so we closed up shop and headed out early so we could set up camp in Leadville in time to squeeze in a run around Turquoise Lake and enjoy a High Mountain Pie for dinner :)  Priorities!  

The Sugar Loafin' campground in Leadville is pricey (for camping) but was exactly what we needed (and how can you turn down nightly ice cream socials?!), so we checked in for two nights.  After a nice easy 8 mile run along the shores of Turquoise Lake (so beautiful), our much needed pizza recovery dinner, and two bowls of ice cream at the social, we slipped into our tent...to "enjoy" two straight days of rain.  

Well, there are few greater motivators than crappy weather combined with a tent.  We needed to climb high and get the blood pumping...

Paige, out.

No Reservations: A Taste of Home

Home sweet home.  I love home :)  And that's where we were headed next...

On the way, we made a tiny detour to have lunch with Stacy of Wilderness Running Company.  We had an awesome lunch at the Painted Pony in St. George, Utah.  Great to see you Stacy!!  

We also took the Kolob Canyons scenic road to get a quick taste of Zion National Park, per Stacy's recommendation.

We spent five days back at home in Salt Lake (the longest we've been home since we moved!) and got a bunch of super fun responsible adult-type chores done, and just plain hung out.  We also met up with the Park City Trail Runners on Geof's birthday for a long run on the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase course.  A nice introduction to PC trail running!  Rather than blathering on about how awesome home is, here's a little photo journal...

 Geof testing out the pool slide

Dinners, just how we like them...awesome

View from the back porch...

Meghan, Lee, Bethany and Geof atop Tri County in Park City, UT

Atop Jupiter Peak

Bethany, me, Lee, dude, Meghan on Jupiter Peak

"We made it!  Thanks for waiting!" :) I actually had cuts on my hands and legs from scrambling up that final climb.  Yikes!

Lucy watching Geof water the lawn...clearly a very entertaining event

 Geof installing the fresh new Utah plates, YAY!!!

After our time in UT, we needed to get back to the Midwest for a wedding and an anniversary party!  A taste of our former 'home' :)

 Congrats to Chris and Sarah!  A beautiful wedding in St. Joseph, MI (and who doesn't love a photo booth?!)

Happy 70th wedding anniversary to Ed and Carolyn Dunmore!  Yes, 70 YEARS!  Amazing and totally awesome :)

Uncle Jim took us to the shooting range to test our our skills.  Turns out we have a few skills ;)  Thanks, Jim!

Then, we managed to convince Uncle Jim (Jim Dunmore & Sons Home Improvement - Clinton, IA) to build us a sleeping platform in the bed of our Tacoma.  It fricking ROCKS.

We managed to squeeze in some good ol' humid Midwestern runs, and even banged out our first track workout in years!  That was a blast :)

And that was that!  

Next up, beautiful Colorado.  Sweet, sweet Colorado...

Paige, out.

No Reservations: Flagstaffing

After checking out of New Mexico we laid tracks to northern Arizona to spend some time with an old college roommate of Geof's and to get to know Flagstaff a little.  Neither of us had ever been to Flagstaff so we were both really excited to check it out and do some running in the nearby mountains.

On the way, we stopped off at Petrified Forest National Park to buy our yearly parks pass (everyone should have one of these, and go see your national parks!) and to see what exactly petrified wood looks like.

Turns out it's pretty scary...

After our petrifying experience, we were on our way to Flagstaff.  Brandon and PP were most gracious of hosts and put us up for a couple of nights.  They are busy periodontists and had a full schedule, so we adventured about the next day and caught up with them over dinner.  PP is a killer cook and fixed us some home cooked Thai food that was to die for, and the perfect post-mountain run fuel.

Brandon suggested some trails to try out, and after some coffee and hanging out with their kids, Braden and McLane, we packed 'er up and drove up to the Snow Bowl to begin our ascent of the highest peak in Arizona: Humphreys Peak, in the San Francisco Peaks.

Turns out I was operating on a bit of a caloric deficit so it was rough going for me most of the climb.  Good character building :)  The trail was relatively easy to follow on the way up and quite technical most of the way.  There were a few points where we weren't sure which way to go due to a lot of brush and fallen trees.  But, we managed.  It was pretty warm and I was having trouble finding my groove (probably because I was starving and didn't realize it).  We were climbing about 3,300 feet in less than 5 miles, starting around 9,000ish feet up.  I wanted to run but just couldn't crank it out.  So, I plodded along and Geof waited for me at points :)  

Plodding along...

After a short while (that felt like FOREVER) we reached the top, and were greeted by a GAZILLION flies.  It was a really, insanely cool view up there at 12,633 feet; we could see the Grand Canyon from up there!  A nice gal offered to take our picture...

And, Geof signed the summit register for us...

After a few minutes and munching on some trail grub (a stale Clif Mojo bar, yum), we headed down.

Things got kinda fuzzy here as it became increasingly difficult to follow the trail.  Not once but TWICE we managed to go completely off trail and found ourselves sliding down the side of the mountain on a thick layer of scree...  I decided it seemed odd as I didn't recall having to scramble up that stuff on the way up.  I glanced around, gripped by a sudden bout of acrophobia, and noticed a trail sign maybe 200 yards up.  I let Geof know and we began scrambling back up.  I was nearly frozen I was so terrified (I let myself look down; bad idea).  It wouldn't have been a terribly awful tumble, but the thought of falling down a mountainside was somewhat fear-inducing.  I grabbed everything in reach, slowly pulling upwards.  One step up caused you to slide three steps back down.  By the time we reached the actual trail I was pretty exhausted from being so scared and my shoes were filled with trail debris.  

Not 10 or 15 minutes later a fairly identical scene played out.  I was a happy camper.  

But, we survived :)  And the descent managed to take the same amount of time as the ascent.  That was a tough climb, but well worth it.  Summiting was very rewarding...and so was getting back to the truck.  

We spent the afternoon walking around downtown Flagstaff, checking out local shops and hunting for the best local beer on tap.  A guy at Peace Surplus said Beaver Street Brewery was hands down the best.  Off we went!  The beer was fantastic, and we arrived during their happy hour so it was also a great deal :)  Four thumbs up.

I was exhausted from the day but was happy to wolf down PP's thai cooking, dance around the living room with the kids while we watched Footloose, and then pull Braden around in his sleeping bag (he was pretending it was a race car) until bedtime.  It was fantastic fun :)  

The next morning we bid the Bailey's farewell, packed our bags back in the truck and began the long ride home.  We were finally going to have a few days at home to do some laundry, take care of some business, get our new Utah licenses, register the truck, meet with my school advisor, and take care of Lucy while R & R headed out of town.  

I was pumped to get home!!  

Paige, out.

No Reservations: New Mexicoing

So, where was I?  Oh yes, the Wheeler Peak ascent...

We first stopped by Williams Lake to check out the coolness of an alpine lake at 11,040 feet.  Then we proceeded to head up the trail, nearly summiting before realizing there was suddenly no trail before us.  Something was amiss.  This mountain was too low.  If there were bushes we would have been whacking them on our way back down whatever mountain we were on.  We ran into a couple of folks who seemed to know what they were talking about and informed us that Wheeler was in fact on the other side of Williams Lake.

Oh.  Oops.

So we finished bouldering our way back down to the lake where we found the Wheeler trailhead and finally began our ascent.  It was slow going for a short bit but we found our groove and pushed on.  Breaking through tree line was breathtaking, both in the view and for the fact that it was intensely windy up there!  A gentleman asked if we had jackets because it was pretty cold and even more windy up top.  We did.  Before long, I pulled mine out and was quite happy to have the wind protection.  Over 12,000 feet I found that I felt really good.  We were slowed to a fast hike by now.  

We were greeted by throngs of marmots and very few wildflowers (I was hoping to see more flowers). Mostly it was just super rocky with sweeping views of the mountains to our right.  It was gorgeous.  I never really knew how one could find a trail through a pool of boulders, but it's actually pretty easy to do.  Just look for the flatter rocks... :)  The trail became nothing but boulders before long and was a narrow trail notched out of the side of the mountain.  As long as I didn't look to the one side I was fine. It was a looooong way down if one were to slip.  There were a couple of small pockets of snow on the way up, so I made sure to step in them just so that I could say I stood in snow in June :)

It was gorgeous way up high and as we made our way along the saddle ridge and upupup to the official peak it was amazing to look to either side and see mountain peaks spread as far as I could see.  You can apparently see Colorado from the top of Wheeler, but I hadn't a clue which direction it was, but I surely saw it :)

On top of Wheeler...mmm mmm good

Geof signing the peak register, letting folks know the GnP were there

The way down was awesome, running the whole way.  It's easier coming down, but it's still a little bit of a lung workout.  I loved it.  I didn't want it to end.  We made our way back to the truck after about an hour long descent and rustled up some grub: tortillas with spinach, turkey, havarti and salsa.  Diet Pepsi never tasted so good.

At 13,161 feet, the highest point in New Mexico, Wheeler Peak was ours.  And with around 3,400 feet of ascent in 4.5 miles I was quite pleased with the day.

Now we were sweaty and tired, and generally in need of showering.  Or at least a good hand washing.  We made our way back to Taos and the Youth and Family Center where we heard that we could pay $2.00 for a hot shower.  It was our lucky day.  We arrived two minutes after closing time, but they ushered us in anyway and let us shower for free.  Boom.  

Now we were just plain hungry.  And we were hoping to squeeze in a visit with fellow ultra runners Steve and Deb Pero before heading out of New Mexico.  Hoping it wasn't too late, I gave them a call and they were more than happy to have us over for a visit, yay!  

**

I forgot about this part, but on our way to Wheeler Peak we drove on the giant bridge over the Rio Grande.  I haven't seen the Grand Canyon yet, so this was pretty big to me :)   

The Rio Grande is waaaaay down there...

We also swung by the Earthship Biotecture community to check out some coolness.  The visitor center was closed when we got there, so we just walked around for a bit.  It was seriously cool.  There were a few piles of "junk" in front of some new constructions...that "junk" is what they were building the homes with.  So cool!

This was the "gate" outside the visitor center.  Those are beer and wine bottles stuck in the adobe wall.

**

Okay, so after our delicious free shower in Taos, we got on the road and headed for Jemez Springs and the Peros!  We stopped in Los Alamos to grab some dinner and then began the beautiful drive through the mountains to get to their house.  Around ever corner it was new scenery.  Sharp turns on steep and winding roads, soaring cobbled walls, smooth adobe walls carved by time.  Trim and naked pine trees reaching for the skies, scoured by fire in recent years.  Pine needle padded forest floor with evidence of new growth just beginning to reach up from below.  The Valles Caldera appeared seemingly out of nowhere.  That was incredible.  A flat, green, enormous expanse of land.  The trees grow up to a point and then suddenly there's nothing.  It's a volcano!  There were cows out grazing on its lush green floor and the sun was setting off in the distance.  It was picture perfect.

The Peros were amazing hosts and we enjoyed some of Steve's delicious home brews and Deb's homemade pico de gallo as we sat around the living room chatting and catching up.  It was awesome to meet Deb finally and to get to know the Peros some more.  Kevin Z. was a new face and we enjoyed getting to know him as well.  We'll soon be neighbors as he's just relocated to Salt Lake as well!  Yay for new ultra running friends!  While we had intended to just camp somewhere in the area (there were a number of awesome campsites along the way) the Peros invited us to crash at their place for the night.  It was great to sleep in a comfy bed!  Deb even made us breakfast burritos in the morning and Kevin whipped up some lattes for us.  Sheesh, we were so spoiled!  We are super grateful for the hospitality and had such a ridiculously good time with them.  Thank you Peros!!

Steve had to work early, but we wrangled Deb for a photo before we left :)

After leaving the Peros, we began to make our way to Albuquerque, with another trail in mind.  But first we stopped in downtown Jemez Springs to get another cup of coffee at Highway 4 Coffee and to stop in and see some of Deb's work at the gallery.  

Per Rob Corson's and the Peros' suggestion, we were making our way to the La Luz Trail, on Sandia Peak.  We'd heard a fair bit about it and knew it was supposed to be pretty difficult.  We were pumped.

We arrived at the base of the mountain, at the lower tram, around 12:30.  It was HOT with full sun.  After being warned by more than a few people ("You want to run UP and then tram down?" "Yes."  Most people do it the other way around...you're gonna need A LOT of water.") we filled up our hydration packs, grabbed some food and began the climb.  Of course, we didn't realize we had to take a 2.3 mile approach trail just to get to the actual La Luz trail.  This section was completely exposed and rolling/climbing a fair bit.  Holy crap it was hot.  We were both a little crestfallen by the time we made it to the trailhead, but we pushed on nonetheless.  There was no way I was going back through that garbage in that heat :)  I'd rather climb.

What a treat the trail was!  It goes through four different "zones" so you get a variety of terrain and trail flavors.  The Canadian zone was my favorite: steep, rocky, aspeny, piney, and a much cooler temp. 

A trail with a view:

The Sandia Mountains are known for these spindly things...very cool looking in person

That's Albuquerque down below

I felt a little rough from the previous day's climb up Wheeler, and my breathing was a little off, but eventually I found a groove, somewhere near the top :)  It was really amazing how much the trail changed from bottom to top.  Nature is freaking cool.  We reached about 10,200, where you can either continue to the crest of the mountain, or head to the tramway, about a mile or so away along the ridge.  Geof was out of water and I was completely trashed by now so we opted to head for the tramway instead of bagging the peak.  We topped out at 10,378 feet and 9 miles (3,775 of ascent) and as we made our way down the side of the mountain on the tram my legs began to stiffen and revolt.  Whew, I was wiped!!  I'm glad we opted not to run down.  I would have had to have my legs surgically removed.

After La Luz, we stopped at Trader Joe's (the biggest TJs I have EVER seen!!) for salad fixins and ice then headed to the other side of the Sandia range to a little campground, Turquoise Trail Campground.  Luckily they had plenty of space and we cozied up to a lovely little spot nestled in the trees.  It was clean, quiet, a touch rustic, and had great bathrooms!  I love classy restrooms :)

The next day we decided to get fancy and hung out at Napoli Coffee in Albuquerque to catch up on all things e-mail and Facebook :)  The coffee was SO GOOD and the proprietors were fantastic peeps.  Two thumbs up Napoli.

Before heading out of town, we stopped in Old Town Albuquerque to be touristy and grab some lunch.  

Next up: beautiful Flagstaff, AZ :)

Paige, out.

No Reservations: Westward Bound

**  I'm realizing how much I have to include in these posts so I'm having to break them up more than I originally intended to.  I've gotten a little camera- and word-happy here folks :)  **

So, the sex change capital of the world, and the location of our first campsite out west, was in lovely Trinidad, Colorado.  Funny little factoid that we got a kick out of.  Of course, HappyTrails and Alene got this one right immediately :)

Trinidad was a pretty cute little hub with a lot of life and activity when we rolled into town.  We picked Trinidad Lake State Park very arbitrarily as our first campsite and landed a sweet little spot.  Our tent tucked perfectly down in a grove of evergreens.  It was quiet, clean, and close to the bathrooms (which rocked, BTW; they were cleaner than some home bathrooms I've been in...).

There was even an electrical hook-up, so we plugged in our Christmas lights.  Geof got a nice fire going, too, so we were pretty well lit :)

Camping out west, and up high, has some serious benefits, not the least of which is no bugs and no humidity.  Talk about restful sleep!  It's the little things, like not waking up in a pool of sweat, that make life so wonderful.

A tent with a view...

We invested in a couple of extremely awesome sleeping pads for this trip, and they've already more than paid for themselves.  They are the REI Camp Bed 3.5 XL.  I highly recommend these to anyone looking to do some car camping or even to replace an air mattress.  They rock.  It was even better because we got them on sale.  I do not recommend them for backpacking, though, as they do not pack small and they're heavy, even when deflated.  I digress... :)

Trinidad Lake State Park has a nice little network of trails around it so we partook and enjoyed ourselves some thin air and altitude for breakfast the next morning.

Prickly pear flowers!

We huffed and puffed through the run, making our way along a super technical trail around a cliff that encircled the lake, then down into Reilly Canyon and back up the other side.  It was hot and the sun was beating down on us most of the way.  We realized very quickly we were going to need to let go of mileage/time once we were out west permanently.  It's all about vertical and time on feet out here because you aren't getting super high mileage right off the bat since the air is so thin and there's so much cool stuff to climb!  

So that was fun.  We ate some granola and yogurt then packed it up and moved it out of there.  Our next destination was Taos, New Mexico.  We'd heard a lot about it and were curious to see what the buzz was.  Campsites are first-come first-served in most places so we decided to pick a site before we dug into Taos.  After a 3-4 hour drive we pulled into the Rio Bravo Campground, in Pilar, NM, about 15 miles south of Taos and along the Rio Grande.  The camp host there helped us scope a site that was about to be vacated and while we waited for the party to leave, we chatted it up with this fine fellow.  What an interesting dude!  He gave us some ideas for running, and how to build an adobe house, and planted the seed of running up to the highest point in New Mexico, Wheeler Peak.  Well, that sounded fun :)  Good thing we met this guy, otherwise we would have just run the mountain bike trails across from our campsite, which was just lovely by the way:

The Rio Grande was just behind the bushes there.  Another quiet and clean campsite, but considerably more rustic than our spot in Trinidad, CO

We took the advice of a super nice volunteer at the Taos Visitor's Center and headed to Taos Outback Pizza for dinner.  The restaurant is tucked back off the main road (hence "outback") and had plenty of outdoor seating so we grabbed a picnic table and admired all the customer crayon art on the walls, plotting out what we wanted to add to the mural.  We ordered a rockin' goat cheese pizza and quenched our thirst on some Santa Fe brews.  Fantastic little spot.

Mmmm, food cooked by someone else and on a real table that wasn't the tailgate of our truck :)

We decided to leave a simple signature on the wall before we left:

The Summer of...

The next day we drove up to the Taos Ski Valley, grabbed some coffee at Taos Cow in Arroya Seco, NM, and commenced with the running of Wheeler Peak.  (By the way, Taos Cow introduced me to the caffeinated genius of the dirty chai tea latte: espresso and chai, married in steamed milk.  I was tickled pink to learn of this invention and now I'll never go back to plain chai.)

So, with that, to Wheeler Peak we headed...!

Paige, out.