9/8 MOVED to GATES CABIN in GOTHIC
Hiked over West Maroon pass again for my shuttle. The fireweed is in its full red of fall colors
We had started moving our stuff into Gates cabin earlier in September, but tonight was our first night in Gothic. We had been living the summer with Zach and Mary at their place in Pitchfork
9/11
Bro and I biked Teocalli Ridge. The high peaks are white with snow! A little bit of yellow in the Aspens
9/14
Aspens are starting to turn yellow around the valley now
9/16
Biked the 401. It was really awesome as CBMBA had just did trail maintenance, but then at the end I got hammered by hail and snow.
We drove to Salida for some fun fall mountain biking. They have lots of good purpose built trails. We had yummy burritos at Mo Burrito in Salida and camped in Gunter outside of Salida
9/17
Did a fun loop trail, but on the way back to the van, I really got poured on! Went to taco tuesday in Salida for lunch. They have a great deal $2.50 tacos for large tacos (not just street tacos)
9/19
Colors are really popping in areas. Had a great ride on Strand
9/21
First day of significant snow in Gothic. We walked around town in the beautiful snow
9/22
Super beautiful with the yellow aspens, white snow on the ground (~4-6") and blue sky as well as fog lifting. I hiked up to near the top of Mount Crested Butte for amazing views. Later in the afternoon, Elisha and I did some hiking up Washington Gulch
9/23
I did a long bike ride today (27.7 miles) to maximize fall colors. I started over at Walrod Gulch by Cement Creek, went over the pass to 409, up and around Strand, and then Deer Creek trail to Gothic
9/24
We went on a local camping trip to Brush Creek where the aspens were just popping. We had such a beautiful campsite. We of course also did some mountain biking in the area and had a campfire at night, watching the stores
9/25
I did another long bike ride doing concentric circles in the brush creek area: strand loop, strawberry loop, ferris loop, and strand bonus loop. The aspens of course were amazing
9/26
Zach and I did a spectacular fall color ride on waterfall trail up cement creek
9/27
Did one last gorgeous fall color ride in CB before driving over beautiful Kebler pass to Montrose to meet Mel (our friend from shuttles in Antarctica) and her boyfriend Kevin. After a dinner of Taco Bell, we met them and their dog pickles at a hotel in Montrose
9/28
We drove to Ouray, where we parked our cars and hopped in an SUV to be taken towards Telluride over Last Dollar Pass. Near Last Dollar Pass we were dropped off to begin our Sneffels Traverse backpacking trip. The first day we hiked to North Pole hut, nestled below a cool mountain with beaver ponds around
9/29
Today we hiked to Blue Lakes hut, near the foot of Mount Sneffels. There was a super beautiful meadow with views of Sneffels right before we got to the hut
9/30
Elisha and I started early and did a side hike up to Blue Lakes. We had been there before, but it is just so amazingly beautiful that it was worth the trip, especially since it will soon be permitted. The lake just shimmers are most amazing blue. We hiked up above the lake for even better views. We then hiked back to the cabin and began the hike to Ridgway Hut. To get there we went over a pass with amazing views of the Sneffels range.
10/1
I got up early and hiked back up to the pass, and then continued on to climb a peak that had tremendous views of the Sneffels Range as well as back to Montrose. Back at the cabin, we had a fancy breakfast with waffles and bacon.
The hike to Burn Hut was absolutely amazing. We went through grove after giant grove of aspen trees all right at peak, or maybe just a day or so past as it was actively "snowing" yellow leaves. We found Burn hut situated in a little grassy area surrounded by yellow aspen trees. After settling in, we went for a hike amongst the aspens and for some beautiful views. We came back and just laid in the grass looking up at the aspens. For sunset, we went back to the viewpoint with some wine.
10/2
Mel and Kevin took a shorter route to Ouray as they were feeling tired and not as in much of shape. We took the long route that went up and over a pass and had nice views. We hiked past some old mines eventually had some cool views looking straight down at Ouray. After arriving in Ouray, we drove to Ridgway and had Gnar Tacos, one of Elisha's favorite places. We then drove to Estes Park
10/3
We spent the day hanging out in Estes. We biked to town and then on the bike trail to the golf course to watch the Elk rut. We had lunch at the Nepalese restaurant. In the evening we drove into Rocky Mountain National Park to watch the elk rut
10/4
We got early morning burritos from Kissing Moose Cafe and then did a really cool hiking loop. We started at Bear Lake, hiked up Flattop Mountain, past Hallett Peak, and up Otis Peak before descending via Andrews Glacier to Andrews Tarn and eventually Loch Lake. Once up on the divide, we passed by Tyndall and Chaos Glaciers to get to Andrews Glacier.
We then hustled quick to get ready to head to Fort Collins to meet Jake and Elya Hess to go to the Bluebird Music Festival featuring Josh Ritter. It was awesome! And we got to meet Josh after the show and talk to him for a while. We finished the night with Dairy Queen in Loveland before heading back up the hill to Estes.
10/6
There was still some color left up on Kebler Pass, so we took a hike up by horse ranch park
10/7
We were treated to a nice Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) show in Gothic
10/9
I started working more full-time at RMBL doing caretaking duties. These first few days I focused on hauling and stacking wood for the winterized cabin. I also helped with digging some trenches and laying pipe
10/10
We were treated to a really spectacular Aurora show in Gothic
10/13
I finally biked the RFBD (Reno Flag Bear Deadman) loop. It was the last major trail in the Gunnison Valley that I hadn't biked
10/14
Elisha hosted a chili and pumpkin carving party at Scarp Ridge Lodge. Mary and Zach also came. I carved a fox; Elisha carved a gnome bat, Mary carved a snowflake; and Zach made a Trump pumpkin.
10/15
We went comet hunting. Over the first several days the comet (Tsuchinshan) had been too low on the horizon for us to see with our towering mountains. When the comet got higher, we had cloudy skies for a couple days. Today it was fairly cloudy but some areas of clear sky. We finally were able to find it just on the other side of Kebler Pass.
10/16
After a rainy day, it cleared up a bit and I did an out and back bike ride to the top of Deer Creek. I finished the last couple miles in the dark, but was rewarded with seeing comet Tsuchinshan over Gothic Mountain. As well as an amazing sunset
10/17
Got some more snow at Gothic
10/18
We had a late night flight to Portland to go to my second cousin, Desiree's, wedding (My cousin Michael's daughter). We got in late, met Johnny, and drove to the house Uncle Kenny had rented. We crashed on the floor in the poker room
10/19
We had a chill day, visiting a pumpkin path and just hanging out. I also went for a run. Then it was off to the wedding at a nice venue. Good dancing as would be expected with the Halbachs. Then it was too the afterparty at a dancy bar
10/20
We had a free day and drove a loop out to the coast. It was very wet weather. We took a hike in the rain and wind to a coastal beach, then drove to Cannon beach and had clam chowder. The storm cleared right at sunset, and we took a small hike along the cliffs at Ecola State Park where we witnessed a fantastic sunset over the rough ocean and rocky islands. Back in Portland we stayed a cool hostel (Rated #2 in the world or something like that) and walked in the rain to eat Thai food.
10/21 We had a really early flight to Denver. We drove to Buena Vista where I dropped Elisha off for a work retreat. I then drove over snowy and foggy Cottonwood Pass. A little bit of the snow on the ground in Gothic
10/22
Started doing cabin closings today. There are about 54 cabins, some built as early as the late 1890's and some as recent as the early 2000s. Most are cute, and all are very interesting and have their cool little quirks. For cabin closing, our job is to board up the windows and doors, unplug various electronics and internet, turn of propane, and shut off electricity.
10/24
Nephew Ellis was born in the Gunnison Hospital
10/25
I had to go to Gunnison for bloodwork. While there we biked at Hartman's and then visited Zach, Mary, and Ellis in the hospital.
10/27
Today we voted by mail from Mount Crested Butte.
I tallied up my number of days skiing for the '23-24 season.
Downhill days = 64
Back country days = 9
Cross Country days = 13
Total days on skis = 86
I was curious how this compared to my '22-23 season when I worked for SAIL and lived both in Gothic and Mt CB. Here is that info:
# of days downhill skiing = 81
# of days backcountry skiing = 87
# of days cross country skiing (cross country skiing often overlapped with the other types of skiing, and I didn't include it as a day of xc skiing if I was just using xc skis to move around Gothic on my daily work activities tehre) = 49
Total events on ski = 217
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