More Than Skiing

There's not much else besides skiing and snowboarding to do outdoors in Colorado in the wintertime, right?  Wrong.   There are lots of outdoor activities you can do, and most of the time you will warm up quite nicely doing them, too.

Apex

Go for a hike.  Traction devices come in quite handy during winter hikes.  They range from $15 yak-trax to $60+ ice blades (and then there are the full-blown crampons, for some serious ice hiking / climbing) to keep your footing secure on slippery trails.  With a little added traction on your feet, your options are endless.   There are trails all around town.  On the West side, there is Apex trail, Eldorado Canyon, Alderfer / Three Sisters trails, and lots more.  On the East side, there is the Platte River trail, Cherry Creek trails, Castlewood Canyon State Park, Barr Lake, etc.  Want to get out of town?   Hanging Lake is amazing to see when the falls are partially frozen and the winter wonderland surrounds you between the red walls of the canyon.

 

Try snowshoeing.  Did you know that snowshoeing burns almost 500 calories an hour?  That's about as much as cross-country skiing.  You don't have to go far to snowshoe, either.  There are multiple places around town where you can rent snowshoes, or check Craigslist for deals, too.   While the roads are mostly empty on a snowy day, you can just walk down your street to the nearest park and walk around.  Take the pups, they will thank you for it.  Deer Creek trails are popular with the snowshoeing community after some of the fresh, white stuff falls.  The views from the summit are worth the extra effort it takes to get there.  Even if you don't make it all the way to the lookout point, there are breathtaking scenes all around.  Just remember to look up from your feet every once in a while to take it all in.  For a shorter trek, Green Mountain is just a little over one mile to the summit, but it is steep.  Want to go a little further from the city?   Head to Kenosha Pass near Bailey, or Mayflower Gulch near Breckenridge.

Take a spin on ice skates.  When was the last time you went iceskating?  There is no place better for iceskating than Evergreen Lake.  They have both figure skates and hockey skates for rent, and eight acres of groomed ice on this 40-acre lake reserved for skating.  Check with them before you go, since they are known to close on occasion when the ice warms up too much to be safe.   Otherwise, they are mostly open from November until the end of March.  (Opening this year is scheduled for December 19th, due to the late arrival of winter.)  Bring your own skates and save.

Options to play outside in the Colorado winters are endless.  State parks tend to be less crowded this time of year, too.  Whether your thing is cross-country skiing through Rocky Mountain National Park, or ice fishing on gorgeous Gross Reservoir, just get outside.  This beautiful state has so much more to offer in winter than just skiing and snowboarding, so why not give it a try?  Wear layers and bring sunglasses and get out and explore!

Bug Monitoring

If you spent any of your childhood in the eastern half of the US, then you probably spent a few summer evenings chasing fireflies. It was always a challenge to try to catch them (without squishing them into glowing guts), put them in a jar, and not release any that you had already captured. I can remember running around in the grass, barefoot, chasing these magical creatures.

It seemed to me that fireflies, or lightning bugs, weren't as abundant as I got older. This indeed is the case. Their populations are dropping due to a myriad of reasons. Here in arid Colorado, fireflies are almost as elusive as Bigfoot. Most native Coloradans have only heard of these scientific wonders, or have only seen them when visiting other states. Our climate proves to be too dry for the bioluminescent insects. It is a rare summer when they make an appearance in Colorful Colorado.

The plentiful rain we've had this year has a silver lining – or, rather, a greenish-yellow glow. Lightning bugs have been spotting some grassy fields in Boulder recently. I received a tip on their location from the crazy, awesome folks with Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks. Since my Sweetpea and I volunteer with OSMP as bat monitors (I should tell you more about that sometime), we got the inside scoop. We traded our bat monitoring for bug monitoring last weekend and spent the evening trying to catch fireflies. This time, instead of trying to net them and carefully put them in a jar to observe up close and personal, we were trying to catch them on camera. With their dwindling populations, this seemed like a better choice; plus, I was a little wary of rattlesnakes in the tall grass.

Yes, we are technically adults, but we spent a couple of hours on a Saturday night watching in wonder at the glowing critters. Why can't we still enjoy simple pleasures that we did as kids, just because our birthdays are adding up?  We even returned for an encore performance the next night.

If you want to escape from adulthood for a brief time, then try hunting for fireflies. Look for tall grasses in an undeveloped and undisturbed area. They like rotting wood and moisture, so even small pools of water will do. Bring a camera, or just your sense of wonder and imagination. Afterall, when was the last time that you saw glowing animals (without mind-altering chemicals)? If you do spot them, you can even be semi-adult-like and report them here.

May your summer nights glow!

And It Snowed

“Look at those big, beautiful snowflakes!” I arrived in Colorado exactly three hours before the official start of Spring. And, it snowed. As I pulled my loaded car up to the curb, exhausted from the 10-hour trip with ancient kitty and my Pyrenees-mix and the remainder of my things, it snowed. I think I was still wearing a tank top and flip flops, because it was much warmer when I left my former home. Here I was, starting a new life in Colorado – which boasts of 300 days of sunshine per year – and it snowed.

In April, we were getting ready to go look at what would become our new home together, and it snowed. Six inches of the fluffy white stuff covered everything by morning. I offered to go start the car so that it could defrost and be easier to scrape the windows. My Sweetpea suggested that I just dust the car off with the broom he kept by the garage. What?!? It doesn't work that way where I come from. Sure enough, the dry snow fell off the car with no effort at all. “This is awesome! I've never seen snow like this before!!!”

May 12, 2014 - that's right - MAY

It was Mother's Day weekend, and it snowed. Not in the mountains. Right in town. Noticeable snow. Accumulating snow. We actually considered loading the kayaks and hitting the lake while the giant flakes fell. Problem was, it wasn't just falling, it was blowing sideways. Scratch that plan. I'm hibernating. When will summer get here?

September it started again. Briefly. Just a light dusting – but geez, it was only September! October made the record books with no snowfall in town. It actually held off until mid-November. A measurable amount of snow hit the Denver area the week before Thanksgiving. I'm a little bit weird and actually LIKE to shovel snow. I didn't have to go anywhere or drive in it, so it was kind of fun. I can do this whole winter thing.

A few flakes escaped throughout Christmas morning. By mid-afternoon, the predicted dump of snow was falling. We are west of town, close to the mountains, and ended up with around 10 inches of the white stuff by the time it quit. A few days later, we got another four inches. Did I mention that our driveway is steep enough to kill a sledder? And, is in the shade? My new ICEtrekkers came in the mail just in time. Without them, I couldn't get up the driveway. And it snowed, again. I don't love shoveling as much as I thought I did.

Until last March, I had lived almost my entire life where summers are in the triple digits for triple-digit number of days and winter might not bring any snow at all – but there were the deadly ice storms. All the Coloradans would just laugh if you mentioned that you could never live in Colorado because of all the snow. “It melts the next day,” they said. “You'll be in a t-shirt even before it melts.” Snowy Colorado is just an anti-tourism ploy to keep the masses away and keep the breathtaking scenery to the natives. Those bastards can come shovel our driveway.

Then, we went ice-skating. On a real, frozen lake. In the middle of postcard-perfect mountains. An eight-acre section of Evergreen Lake is dedicated to ice skating and stays frozen solid through at least March. Solid enough to drive a Zamboni on it.

Then, we went for a snowy hike, or three. I saw waterfalls half-frozen under a brilliant, blue sky. I saw trees laden with snow so thick they looked like white palm trees. I trudged through foot-deep snow to scenic overlooks. I witnessed the magic of the dry snow sparkling in the sun as gentle breezes shake the branches.

I hiked in my Xtratuf Alaska boots with my new ICEtrekkers...and a tank top.  And a grin brighter than the snow in sunshine.

And then, there were snow-garitas. Snow ice cream was a rare treat when I was a kid. Snow-garitas are dangerously available, especially since our porch is in the shade. Let the other side of the street get the melting rays of sun. We will sip our snow-garitas and warm our bellies with home-cooking.

And it snowed, again. I learned the two-shovel method of clearing the driveway from watching the neighbor. I love shoveling snow again. And, I am loving the Colorado winter.

Ask me again next month...