We took on the challenge of doing a little long distance hiking this summer with Becca. Our friend told us the 148 miles of the Colorado Trail from Breckenridge to Salida was extremely pretty, and not too difficult. So off we went.
The first couple of days were filled full of ridge walking. We started out on June 29th, and only ended up going 4.8 miles. It was that, or we had to do 12 miles to get over a mountain and get back down to a safe elevation to camp. The next two days after that we had to walk on the ridge for 10 miles. This is Nick and Becca on a ridge. We loved the Osprey cover we had for her pack. It blocked the rain, wind, and cold. We called it her bubble, and she even learned how to say bubble.
Picture of Copper Mountain Ski Resort from the ridge. We have to make our way down this mountain and across the resort.
Hanging out at lunchtime. Becca is sharing her hot sauce with Dad.
Beautiful picture of the mountains as we climb up Searly Pass.
Tim was 70 years old from Colorado Springs, and he leased these llamas for his thru-hike. Made us realize there are easier ways to do long distance hiking with a lot of weight. Each llama can carry 80-100lbs, and you do not have to pack food for them. Becca loved seeing the llamas!
Becca took a nap like this in her carrier at least once a day.
Hiking with her hiking stick.
Playing in the stream with Dad. It didn't matter how cold the stream was, she loved playing in the water.
Playing in the tent.
We thought this might be the Mt. of the Holy Cross, but now we think it wasn't.
Hiking with Dad.
Hiking and hiking
Becca always had to try to hike with our poles, but it usually ended in frustration because they were so big compared to her.
Taking another nap.
Twin Lakes. The only town the trail went close to. Nick had to hitch into Leadville and Buena Vista to pick up food, while we waited in the woods.
Taking a break at the little store in Twin Lakes. We rarely let Becca eat junk food before this trip, but now she is a junk food addict.
Sagebrush by Twin Lakes. Once we started this leg of the trip it started to feel more like a desert.
I am not having fun. We just keep climbing and climbing.
Beautiful mountains
Nick was wearing Becca's pj's on his head, and she started trying to style them like they were his hair.
A happy day. My pack weighed 48lbs with full food and water, and Nick's weighed about 42lbs with water, clothes, and Becca. At least my pack didn't shift all over, try to stand up, try to climb out of the pack, and demand more cliff bars all the time.
This tree looked very interesting.
Salida should be off in the distance.
My lip was sunburned while walking the 10 miles above tree line the first few days. It does not feel good at all.
Walking down the trail as we leave Buena Vista.
Pretty Chalk Cliffs by Buena Vista.
Becca loves patting her big belly.
She doesn't want to put her shirt back on.
Aspen trees
A meadow.
We finished the 148 mile section on July 11th. We camped about a mile from hwy 50 the night before, and then Nick left in the morning to hitch back to Breck to get the car. It worked out really well. We were all in the car eating a nice, big subway sandwich by 3 o'clock.
The Colorado Trail marker
Wrecking havoc on our hotel room in Gunnison. We never really explored the western side of Colorado, and since we finished the trail early we decided to take a round-about way home. That hotel room was so nice...with a shower, hot breakfast, beds, television...it was great!
Stretching her legs by Crested Butte. She definitely picked up on us hiking with our poles.
Nick and I by the Paonia Reservoir.
A waterfall that reminded us of Zion National Park off Hwy 133.
Coking Ovens. We passed one of these ovens while we were hiking, but did not know what a coking oven was. Apparently they used this ovens to cook away moisture and other stuff from coal before shipping it to Pueblo.
Supergirl eating her breakfast cookie at the Avalanche campground.
We decided to do the touristy trip to Hanging Lake by Glenwood Springs. It was really beautiful, but sad to see how people do not respect it.
Nick and Becca by Spouting Rock above the Hanging Lake.
Becca
The canyon where the lake is located.
A catepillar that Becca wanted to play with.
Downtown Chicago. The Willis Tower (previously called the Sear's Tower) is the tallest building in North America.
Uncle Rob's condo on Eagle Lake in Wisconsin.
Becca attempting to crawl in the lush, green grass in the Petrifying Springs Park.
Nick and Becca lounging in the grass.
Becca's new crawling/yoga move. She can hold that leg up for quite some time.
Dipping her toes in the Petrifying Springs. She is lucky her toes did get get petrified.
Dipping her toes in Lake Michigan. It was a little cold, but she loved watching the waves.
There were a lot of these old barns around Wisconsin.
Some of the Orthey family.
Sam and Becca.
Uncle Rob's family.
Nick's grandparent's old house in Milwaukee.
The first time Becca and I saw the Mississippi River.
A pretty neat house looking over the Mississippi.
Excitement over petting the cat statue.
Becca not taking a nap in a crib that is about 100 years old.
Visiting cousin Diane in Minnesota.
Nick, Judith and Becca at a nature place in Rochester, MN
Becca trying to touch a Timber Rattlesnake.
Amazed by the fish.
In awe of the turle
A bee in the butterfly gardens.
The main building at the Fermilab where Kayle works in Chicago.
Nick showing his architectural photography skills.
It takes a lot of concentration for me to understand how people came up with this idea for the accelerator tube under the ground, but Nick seems to really absorb this info well. This is the tube that is laid in a huge circle under the ground where they run protons through at almost the speed of light.
This is where Kayle works. He actually works in one of the buildings on the other side of those trees. The tube is laid in a ring that runs outside of this picture a bit.
Becca standing on some important stuff. in the tunnel. Actually we are not in the tunnel, but just a replica of what the tunnel looks like.
Kayle sitting at his desk making a very important discovery.
I can't describe to you how big this pit is, but each one of those blocks in the back of the room weight about 8 tons. Behind that huge wall of gigantic concrete blocks, hides a Compact Muon Solenoid detector...we will just call it a particle detector. It weighs about 13,800 tons!
This is an old part that was in the huge particle detector machine. It was, and maybe still is, radioactive. All of this is very hard to imagine, but they do make things that I can understand. Thanks to science like this they were able to make diapers so absorbent today. They were able to improve the formula for superabsorbent polymers until they made a diaper that could hold copious amounts of liquid and still be thin.
