Just Like Riding A Bike

You know the saying “it’s just like riding bike”, when someone refers to doing something that should be like second nature? Now, add mountains to this equation and you have my next adventure post.

I’ve been able to ride a bike for a long as I can remember. As my main source of transportation as a child, riding my bike was something I enjoyed doing. I would patrol the streets of my hometown for hours during the Summer on my purple and blue Huffy. So when Derek insisted that we go mountain biking in Crested Butte one day, I was so pumped. Obviously, biking in the mountains is COMPLETELY different than the flat streets of my hometown, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

We were sitting at Sarah’s house in Gunnison after our Green Lake Hike, trying to decide what adventure to take on next. We threw in the idea of going paddleboarding or canoeing at Lake Irwin, maybe another hike or mountain biking. We both agreed that mountain biking would be blast. Sarah has suggested before she left for her hike to do the Hartman Rocks, just outside of Gunnison. So that was the plan.

The next day we wake up, head back to The Bean Coffeehouse for round two of breakfast (Derek didn’t try to steal anything this time). He went with a breakfast burrito again and I chose homemade oatmeal. It was the perfect texture, topped with fresh fruit and cinnamon… sooo good! Then it dawned on us… it’s Sunday. None of the bike rental shops in Gunnison were open, therefore we could not rent mountain bikes for our adventure. After a little research, we found a shop open in CB and decided to head that way.

Located right on Elk Avenue in CB is Big Al’s Bicycle Heaven.  We walked in and asked to rent some mountain bikes. The price was great for a half day rental of the bikes and helmets. After some paper work and taking some information, we waited outside for our bikes. They showed us the ropes and asked where we were headed. We had no idea. They suggested, since it was our first time, to go to the Lower Loop and Upper Lower Loop, just outside of CB.  It sounded like the right place for us. We put our helmets on and took off back to the truck. We loaded up the bikes and pulled up the directions to the trailhead, then were on our way.

It was the perfect day for some mountain biking. The trailhead is right off a main highway outside of CB. We parked, put on some sunscreen, packed our bags and took off. The trail is used for mountain biking, as well as hiking. It’s an easy hike and we met a lot of older folks on the trail that were going on their daily walks. We decided against the helmets, which I will soon learn was a big mistake. We took off down the trail, which seemed fairly simple at first. Soon we were looping through tight fits between trees, over some rocks and a slight downward slope. Derek just took off. (If you haven’t read my past blogs, Derek is a freak of nature. Literally he’s good at EVERYTHING. It’s not fair.) I was a little more timid on my bike at first going over the rocks, but once I got a feel for my bike I was ready to roll. We stopped for some water and pulled out our GoPro’s. I used the chest harness and Derek put on my head attachment. We passed by some water and came to a dead end. (You can see a small clip of this on my instagram @whaddupliv)

 After flipping around, we biked in this open pasture until we came to a little section where the trails split. You could go through the Woods Walk or towards the Upper Lower Loop. We chose to stay going towards the Upper Lower Loop.

 

The trail began to lead us upwards and it was kind of difficult for a little bit. (Those three times I went to spin class with my friends, Paige and Tatum did not come in handy.) I struggled hard. Even after shifting gears, my little legs pedaled as hard as they could and I was making no progress. Derek had to hop off, too, at one point and we both took a break to get some food and drinks in us. He wanted to me take the lead, but I knew I was going to slow him down, so I insisted that he go first. As I was pedaling along, the trail began to narrow. I was admiring the scenery, taking my sweet swim on the bike. Next thing I know, I looked up and Derek was gone. I kept on trucking and came across to bikers coming towards me. They looked much more experience that I did, so I pulled off the trail and waited for them to pass. It was two Swedish ladies and they were so kind! They asked if I minded taking their picture and I said, of course. They also told me I had a radical braid. (LOOK AT HOW CUTE THEY ARE!)

I picked back up and headed on my way. As I was heading down the trail I came upon a large group of rocks on the trail. Feeling confident in my biking abilities I has just acquired I tried to maneuver around them. My front tire got around them, but unfortunately my back tire did not.

Insert: Why didn’t I wear my helmet?

My bike flipped off the side of the mountain (which wasn’t that steep, THANKFULLY) and I went with it. My leg was caught on the inside of the bike and I rolled about three times before I stopped. I looked up (praying no one saw this happen) and noticed I was the only one on the trail. Thank you, God. I picked my sorry self up and wheeled myself back onto the trail. My knees were scraped, but that was the extent of my injuries. I biked a little bit further and finally caught up to Derek. “What took you so long?” he asked. I told him about the picture and how I took a tumble. We sat there for a while, taking in the scenery. It was perfect.

We both were getting hungry and tired and decided we would head back. The trail looped back around and we were on the path to head back to the trailhead. We biked for 2.5 hours and were so tired. We loaded our bikes back up then headed back into town. We dropped our bikes back off at Big Al’s and decided to stop in to a restaurant called Secret Stash Pizza. Holy goodness was this amazing. I’m not even sure what we ordered but I remember that it was fabulous. The inside of Secret Stash is just cool as hell, too. I’ll post more about it in a later blog from our recent trip to CB.

After biking on rough terrain for that long, you can probably guess we were sore. Oh, we were SO sore. I couldn’t sit on my butt comfortably the next two days, I was THAT sore. I had to ease myself down onto a chair. The pain was such an awkward feeling pain. Next time, I know to stand up in my seat a little more often. It was so fun though and I recommend that anyone who wants to try mountain biking to do it. It was definitely a fun experience and I hope we get to try out the Hartman Rocks the next time we go to Crested Butte!

 

 

 

 

The Lake That Wasn’t Green

Last July, Derek and I packed up his dog, Blue, and headed to Colorado for a week. Our first stop was to Gunnison. Tucked away in the Gunnison National Forest lies the small town, home to Western Colorado State University. Derek’s step-sister, Sarah lived there at the time, so we decided to pay her a visit. After a long 10 hour road trip, we reached Gunnison.

Needing some fresh air after being in the car for 10 hours.

Sarah works for Travel Crested Butte (https://travelcrestedbutte.com/), therefore her familiarity with all of the best hiking, skiing, mountain biking and the best food in the area is top notch. She and her team had just finished a promo video over this Green Lake hike so we decided to do it. Sarah was headed out the next morning to do the hike from Crested Butte to Aspen (which we hope to do one day!) If you want to see how her journey went, go check out the Travel CB website, they have tons of reviews on hikes, skiing and other things to do, as well as places to stay and eat. Oh, and if you haven’t ever been to CB, just go. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early and prepared for our hike. We grabbed some breakfast at this place called The Bean Coffeehouse and Eatery in Gunnison. They have some of the best breakfast items I have ever eaten. Seriously, breakfast burritos the size of my face and full of deliciousness. Not to mention the coffee was fresh and incredible, too. As we’re standing at the register, Derek notices they have some stickers on the counter. We try and collect stickers from all over when we are on our trips. He grabs one and tucks it into his wallet, completely oblivious to the sign with the price on them. I poke him and say, “you know those aren’t free, right?” The girl at the register looked at him, giggled a little bit and he slid it back to it’s place.  After breakfast, we stopped and picked Blue up from the Sarah’s house and headed to our trailhead.

The trailhead for Green Lake is just outside of CB, which is a short 30 minute drive from Gunnison. After winding through the mountains and fighting about directions – shocker – we passed over a small body of water, Lake Irwin,  where several people were camping or getting ready to go out and canoe or fish. Even though it was the end of July, the 60 degree weather doesn’t warm the water up enough for me to even THINK about getting in that. A few more miles and we reached the packed trailhead parking area. We got out, put on our new hiking shoes (Thanks, Mom and Al!), packed my backpack with water, snacks, sunscreen (yes, I applied some this time), and made sure our phones and GoPros were charged. I gave Derek a GoPro as an early birthday gift, so we have two now for our trips. On our way to Gunnison, we stopped and picked up the doggy GoPro harness for Blue. We strapped him in and headed on our way.

Blue and Derek ready to hike!

We began our trek and Derek goes, “I think we’re going the wrong way.” I had zero clue on which way to go so I agreed and we turned back to go down another trail we had passed.  We began down this road, which was someone’s private property (oops…) and decided we were definitely on the wrong trail. Again, we turned back and headed up the way we started. This trail is also on someone’s property, but wasn’t marked as much like the other. Blue led the way, stopping to sniff and pee on EVERYTHING. We passed several people coming down from the hike, all of which were fascinated by Blue’s GoPro camera strapped to his back. There’s one thing you all need to know about Blue and that is that he minds his own business. Doesn’t matter if it’s another dog or a human, Blue gives them about a second of his time before he moves on, but he does love attention. He was in heaven.

We made several stops, even ended up at the bottom of a small waterfall that Blue enjoyed thoroughly. Derek turned his GoPro on and put him into action. The view of being able to see what he sees is so fascinating. He gets himself into so many different spots that Derek and I can’t. Plus, he’s not afraid to get in the water!

After what seemed like such a short time, we reached the end of the hike. The last bit is a lot of broken rocks. They were all so unique and pretty; full of dark reds and browns. We reached our final destination spot. The Lake. The lake that is named “Green Lake” but it actually isn’t green at all. It was much chillier the closer we got to the lake and there were several hikers up there, also. Everyone had set up little spots to hang out and enjoy the beauty of the lake. We walked a bit and chose a spot right off the shoreline. Blue was so eager to get in the water, so Derek found a stick for fetch. After an intense game of fetch, we relaxed and took in the fresh air for awhile. It was absolutely beautiful. And, yes… There was still snow in July.

We decided to get up and take in the views that were behind us. Several hikers were on the ledges getting their photo ops, so we waited our turn. You could see for miles. The grass was so green, the sky was so blue. We were at the top of one of the waterfalls we had passed on our walk up. I can’t really put into words the beauty of it all.

It was getting close to noon and hunger started to set in. Trail mix and beef jerky just doesn’t fill you up like a pizza does. We began to head back down and I told Derek I wanted to grab a rock to take back as a piece of the hike. We have decided to do this for the rest of our hikes; just a little something to remember the hike by.

Blue led the way back down, but you could tell his little legs were getting tired. The parking lot was definitely not as full when we got back down. Lake Irwin was busy when we passed. Several people out on paddleboards and canoes. It looked like a blast!

{If you ever travel to CB during the summer and are looking to do some hiking, this hike is for you. It’s around 5.5 miles round-trip and the elevation gain was around 1,365 feet. It’s an easy hike with a lot of great views, waterfalls, and wildflowers on the way up. Unfortunately, right now it’s closed because it does fall on someone’s private property and they are working things out with owners. Check the Travel CB website for updates on this hike, as well as go through their other hikes. They have a hiking guide with 40+ hikes and all of the information on them.}

Once we made it back to town, we parked and walked down Elk Avenue (the main drag of CB) and looked for food. CB is super dog-friendly, so we found a restaurant with outdoor seating called The Brick Oven Pizzeria and Pub. Can you only guess what we got to eat?

Our First 14’er

Obviously, in our first year of dating, Derek and I had a lot of “firsts”. Our first awkward hang out, our first date, our first fight, and our first 14’er. It was an unexpected “first” for us, but it was definitely one of the most memorable moments in my life. Everything you could do wrong when it comes to hiking a 14’er, we did. If you aren’t familiar with hiking, there are a few things one should do before they hit the trail. Making sure you have enough food and water, the proper clothing and footwear, applying sunscreen…. you know, the basics. Derek and I, on the other hand, decided to do this hike on a whim, therefore our preparedness level on a scale of 1-10 was at a solid 3.

Located outside of Breckenridge, Colorado is Quandary Peak. Known for being a beginner level 14’er, this peak reaches 14,256 feet. Derek and I had just spent the day hiking North 10 Mile (which I’ll cover in a later blog post), stopped for grub in Breckenridge. Whilst eating our pizza and beer (and if for the life of me I could remember the name of the restaurant I’d give it a shout out for AMAZING pizza), Derek was doing some research. That’s something I have learned about him, he loves to research. Derek looked up from his phone and says, “there’s a 14’er real close by named Quandary Peak, we should hike it.” I had no idea really what that meant, but I casually took a swig of my beer and said, “ok, lets do it!” We decided, after we finished eating, to go check out Quandary. We pulled into the parking nearest the trailhead and got out. Assuming we were just “checking it out” I climbed out of the truck. No, Derek was ready to take this bad boy on, right then and there.

Let me remind you, we just finished hiking ten miles.

We packed up and started up the slick and slippery trail. One important tidbit I forgot to add. This was Memorial Day weekend and the trail was still covered in snow. Confused and exhausted from our morning hike I said, “I don’t think this is a good idea. I’m so tired and my legs are dead.” We were slipping and sliding up this entire trail, struggling to make any progress. We decided to turn around and give ourselves a rest. Once we got back to the truck, we hopped in and drove farther down the road so we could see the summit of Quandary. Derek pulled out some binoculars from his console and began spying on the hikers. They looked like ants fighting their way up a hill. “That’s going to be us,” he said with the biggest grin on his face. I, weary and a little nervous, agreed.

Flash forward to the next morning; we wake up early, around 6:00 AM to get ready for our big hike up Quandary. Remember when I said, we did everything wrong you possibly could when it comes to preparing for a hike? This is where it starts. We layer accordingly, but I only had on a pair of LuluLemon leggings for my bottoms and we both only had a pair of tennis shoes. There’s still a foot and a half of snow on the mountain. We made sure to have enough food and water (a must for us), sunscreen, extra layers, gloves, charged phones, my GoPro, and small first aid kit. Let’s do this.

We make it to the trailhead, check the time – 7:15 AM – and head up. It’s just as slick, if not more, than it was the day before. We’re gripping on to trees and try to ice skate our through dense forestry. After about a mile of this, we open to a clearing. Derek found a single pine branch he turned into his walking stick. I look up to what I thought was the summit and think, “oh this won’t be bad at all” and we start our 2 mile ascend up the ridge.

Running shoes, pine branch, skinny sweats.

We continue up and I begin to get fatigued, fast. Derek is a powerhouse. I’m not kidding, I don’t think he is human. I slowly start to fall behind, farther and farther. He waits on me, we take drink breaks periodically. I’m carrying the backpack of goods at this point and he asks for the sunscreen. He applies it to his face and asks if I would like some. I say no and put it back in my bag. As we keep walking, I notice everyone who is either coming down or going up with us has on hiking shoes or snowshoes and trekking poles. Becoming more tired, I start to get upset, feeling as though we are getting no where. My attitude flips in an instant. I proceed to tell Derek that I don’t think I can do it. The snow is slick, the trail is getting steeper and my legs are tired. Derek kept telling me I could do it and asked if I wanted to lead for a bit. I say yes, but its not long before The Powerhouse caught back up to me.

I might look like I’m doing well, but inside I was dying…

After a few more stops, I’m done. My mind is completely made up that I will not make it up this mountain. I tell Derek this and he points out that we aren’t far. Probably another half mile. I tell him I’m done and that I’ll just wait for him to finish the hike and catch him on the way down. He won’t let me. After a come to Jesus meeting, he talks some sense into me. “We’ve come this far, Liv… we can do this!” We decide to find points to walk to, then we’d stop, rest our legs, then find a new spot. I asked him to take the backpack and he offers up his magical walking stick. My mind flipped back and I’m ready to take this on.

 

At this point, we are practically looking straight up the mountain. We pass people coming down and it’s so steep some are coming down on their butts. They notice that we’re only in tennis shoes, then applaud us for our efforts in making it this far with only that. The air is thin and I begin to focus on my breathing. This is working. My calves, quads and glutes are on fire at this point. “Focus on your breathing, Liv” I have to tell myself. We make another stop and we’re about 200 feet from the summit – the last steep push to the top and Derek goes, “I don’t think I can do it.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME! WE COULD HAVE TURNED AROUND LONG AGO IF YOU THOUGHT THAT. “No… we’re finishing this MF’er… we’ve made it this far,” I say to him. He smiles and we both fight our way up the last bit of the hike. I had to stop several times, but Derek got a new wind and begins to jog up.

Like I said, POWERHOUSE.

He reaches the top before I do and he says, “hurry up! You have to see this view!” Sure enough, after trucking my way up, I made it. And let me tell you, the view was worth the climb. You could see for miles. The sky was perfectly blue, the sun was warm and in that moment, my whole world was at peace. I could not believe that we had made it to the summit. The views were absolutely breathtaking. Take a look for yourself.

Views

No Sunscreen on that nose…

Views

Views

Majestic Mtn. Man

WE MADE IT!

WE MADE IT!

 

We spent 30 minutes up on the summit, just in awe of the beauty we were surrounded by. We noticed a storm was rolling in and decided to start our descend. Because the sun had come out and began to warm up the snow, it was beginning to melt slightly. It was slicker than before. Nervous, we started to shuffle our way down. Derek took a seat and tried to scoot, so I did the same. The snow was just perfect enough that I could sled on my butt and feet down the mountain. (Note: I’m still only wearing my LuluLemon leggings. They get a HUGE shoutout for being durable and moisture wicking. My legs were never cold and they stayed decently dry during this butt scooting. Thanks Lulu!) After scooting on our butts for probably half a mile, we decided to try and walk again as it’s not nearly as steep. Our feet keep sinking into the snow and we look like two drunk people walking down a mountain. We would walk, then stumble, get up, and stumble again. I swear we both tore our ACL’s during this process. After an hour of stumbling and sliding, we meet up with a bunch of frat guys who asked us to take a picture. These guys are wearing shorts and Sperry’s (shocker), and they ask, “how much farther do we have to go?” Derek and I exchanged a glance and kind of laughed, “you guys have a loooooong ways to go.”

After finally making it back down the slippery slopes of death in the trees (yes, we busted our asses several times each) we look at my FitBit – 12:38 PM – and walk back to the truck. We sat there quietly, both exhausted mixed with shock and decide on where to eat. Somewhere with pizza and beer, of course.

We actually choose to eat at Downstairs At Eric’s, a downstairs restaurant. We didn’t go with pizza this time, but burgers. Absolutely delicious. As I’m eating my burger I bite into something hard and realize that part of my front tooth had chipped off. Still have no idea how this happened but I looked like a hillbilly the rest of the trip. We went back to our hotel and we both were getting stiff. I look in the mirror and realize I should have put sunscreen on. My face is roasted. The next week after that, I endured the worst sunburn of my life. Snow sunburns are a real thing, guys. ALWAYS WEAR SUNSCREEN. It’s not cute walking around like Leatherface for an entire week.