boulder lake, gore range, colorado

After a 2.5 mile hike, we arrived to Boulder Lake. We hiked along the right side the next day. Our campsite was on the left side of the lake.

[ boulder lake ]

Martinez likes to carry heavy packs for fun. Good to know.

I spotted this bee inside a flower on our hike.

A short distance up the part of the trail intersects with the 55-mile long Gore Range trail.

A nice Aspen grove was nice to walk through...
You could hear the leaves rustling with every breeze, reminding you why you were there.

The classic shot of Boulder Lake


dinner, with lime. butter, yum.

Pretty nice to have this so close to where I live. I want to make an annual late summer trip somewhere in the Gore.

baker's tank wildflower hike, breckenridge, colorado

delphinium

I rode up Boreas Pass road and explored some mystery trails that ended up petering out. I did climb above the Baker's Tank for a little while before a very unridable steep appeared next to this field of wildflowers. I decided to skip the climb and take pics instead.

You could almost see the summit of Mt. Baldy...

I drove the girls here a few days later and hiked them to it. It was about a 15 min. walk. Just exploring different singletracks I found this field of flowers I had never seen before in breck. It's fun to just keep exploring the local trails to find something new everytime.

mt. helen, 13,164

Kevin eyeing up the intro to the climb on loose, small rocks that was like ball bearings on an already steep angle.

Mt. Helen is just south of Breckenridge, between Mohawk and Crystal lakes. About 1/3 of a mile onto the wheeler trail you go hard left into the trees and find your way to a gulley that is the main way up and down.
[ mt. helen ]

Class four scrambling on this section. But, we really didn't see anything too much flatter anywhere near where we were, so up we went.

The gulley we were looking for is just up and to the left. We were worried we were getting pulled too far right. On either side of Mt. Helen are steep drop offs, so we were trying not to find any cliffs to climb up. Instead we found thousands, if not millions of flowers the whole hike up.

The ball bearings were gone, but we had a ways to go.

Kevin showing me how big his last fish was. Yeah right Kev.

Summit Views... ahhh... Looking down on Crystal Lake. You can see the road just below it.

The ridge to Father Dyer Peak. For another day...

14er Mt. Quandary was to our south. The ridge in front of it goes to Pacific Peak.

Kevin reaching the rock shelter / wind break on the top of Mt. Helen!

These flowers were blooming at 13,164 feet. Amazing.

The camera leaves the photographers hands for this shot...

This succulent was growing just below the summit.

upper mohawk lake from mt. helen

We decided to go with gravity after fighting it on the way up and jogged down in spots.

project fence, part one

the wire under the gate has been removed, a little cat-modification.

sides are see-through mesh

front is made from spaced pickets

the 50/50 look

dina wants to rip out the bush to her right and put in a stone patio area all along the front

project fence, part two

the shady spot next to the porch and tree

note the gate, and the location of the garden. we'll have to relocate it.

Dina imagines a cutting garden possibly in this grassy spot next to the fence.

or a reflexology foot path?

fire pit has potential

french creek flowing next to the fire pit

Dina happy that there's no dog bombs waiting for her!