Big Enough To Be Overwhelming, Still Intimate Enough To Feel The Pulse Of Time, Black Canyon Of The Gunnison

How To Make an Epic Charcuterie and Cheese Board

Cutler Creek

 [05|22|16}

One of the reasons I won’t allow myself to call this a real hiking blog yet is because half of the time we/I didn’t finish the hike because...well I don’t know, at first it felt like there was always something! I also don’t really read maps, use compasses, or have a GPS watch or anything, so those are all goals that I have. In the mean time, I feel that I do need to record my experiences so that I can remember and avoid these sorts of things next time.

Now I’m writing this from a memory of 5 months ago, so I am a giving out a warning that this should be taken with a grain of salt. But I remember the drive there was wack! Nathan has a 4WD truck and we did not feel comfortable driving all the way to the trail head. Pretty sure we had to walk a little more than .5 to the trailhead, and soon after the trail began, a roaring creek prevented us from really going farther--plus we had done the Owl Creek Pass drive earlier that day, which I’ll have to post on another day. 

Here are some directions/descriptions for the trail:

Blog 1

Blog 2

Below are some pictures of the creek that made us turn away and the cool view from the crazy drive.

Careers in Social Work

I got an ask about what you can do with an MSW besides being a therapist.  It is a very broad degree and this is a list of common areas social workers work in.  

hiking in colorado - august 2017

Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad narrow gauge train #The Silverton” in the Animas River Canyon, Colorado, 1959.

Where the forest follows the shoreline. #FilsonLife

Nuns on skis, Norway, 1970s

Snodgrass Mountain

February 20, 2017 (Almost a year ago)

Crested Butte, Colorado

Chad and Kat were visiting us out from Northern Virginia for President’s Day Weekend 2017. We first went to Monarch for them to ski (and I on the Continental Divide trail to snowshoe...another day for that post). So Crested Butte it was, as they had come for the downhill skiing experience of the Western Slope. Glade and I were excommunicated from our family (Nathan) and our friends (Chad and Kat) re: we don’t downhill ski. In the winter wonderland of Crested Butte, however, there is no shortage of nordic sporta dventures to partake in. With an intense need to fill the time with my own exercise, Glade and I headed to Snodgrass Mountain. Snodgrass Mountain is a great trail in multiple seasons. It’s so simple to get to-and I’m directionally challenged. After you pass the ski resort on your right, you’ll see a horse-staging area on your left. Shortly after this is the Snodgrass Mountain Trailhead. This is the about hte last point on the road before it becomes a dirt road. 

I’ve only had the pleasure of doing it once in the winter and another time in the early Spring (mid June. June 17, 2016, actually. So most would consider that summer. Seasons are different in the mountains, lol). It’s a wonderful trail for snowshoeing and cross country skiing alike. The trail is lined with aspen so I’ve heard about the wonders of the hike during the fall (let’s also revisit what this means in the mountains. “Fall”= September 15-September 25. So...again, this is off base from what one generally thinks of Fall). The leaves are changing and what not. Okay and let me get back to the Spring. The wildflowers are pretty insane up on that mountain as well. But if you’re wanting the best wildflowers? Your best bet would be to go some time between late July and mid August. Not that in June there aren’t still flowers. But it’s not the ridiculous show that Crested Butte most certainly will have in store with you if you’re patient enough to wait until the next season (3 weeks tops?). This trail also serves as a mountain biking trail, so just keep that in mind when hiking (off leash most likely--it’s the Western Slope, it’s what we do!) with your furry friends.