Greg and Val, friends from Chicago (who now live in Santa Cruz) came to Ft. Collins, Colorado to celebrate their marriage. It was a great day filled with a lot of familiar faces and delicious vegan food. The celebration was at Greg's parents house, the after party was downtown Ft. Collins and the next morning we road bikes to Odell's Brewing for some sunshine, live music and craft beer.
This years Trader Joe's work party (aka TJ's Prom) was in Denver at the Museum of Nature and Science. We got dressed up and enjoyed a sunset over the city.
My work schedule is going to be getting pretty busy starting in August. So before that happens Eric and I are trying to squeeze in a few more adventures. A couple of weeks ago we snuck out of town in the middle of the week to go backpacking in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range.
We wanted to revisit a trail we hiked last year. This time around we had the proper lightweight gear, boots, and trekking poles. We were feeling much better about conquering the difficult Horn Creek Trail.
It is one of the most beautiful trails I have ever been on. During the 6 miles hike you pass through pine groves, aspen groves, fields of flowers (complete with butterflies and hummingbirds) and follow along a snow melt feed creek. At the end of the trail is a stunningly clear lake stocked with cut throat trout.
We made it to the top and were able to fill our water canisters up just before a storm rolled in. We made it off the peak and down below tree line to safety just as the rain and hail started. Luckily our tent was already set up and we were able to take cover (and take a nap). The storm cleared and the rest of the night was lovely. It was a little tricky finding dry wood, but we managed to get a fire going and sat up and enjoyed the stars.
The next morning we woke up and headed the .5 mile back to the lake for some fishing. It was my first time fishing with my new fishing pole. (Thanks Phil and Becky for the birthday money that helped me purchase my pole). We could see all the trout swimming around, but they didn't seem to want to take our bait. So after many attempts we called it a day, packed up our gear and started the trek back down the mountain.
