Colorado Trip

I'm writing this entry from a mountain-view chalet at the Steamboat resort. I had vacation from Jan 6-12, and Sara doesn't start work until Jan 14, so we decided to come out and visit my brother, Eric, in Denver for the week. Eric moved to Denver over two years ago, and he took the week off work to ski with us.

We arrived at Denver International Airport on Saturday, Jan 5, and spent the first night getting all settled in. We also went to the 5:00 PM Mass at Eric's local church to free up Sunday for skiing. We had planned on driving into the mountains for our first day of skiing, but I-70 was closed so we just went hiking instead. Eric and his girlfriend Maria guided us through some areas of the Red Rocks amphitheater just outside of Denver. After this we drove up to Boulder and walked through the town, stopping at BJ's for dinner.

That night we bought tickets for Arapahoe Basin, but again I-70 wasn't open Monday morning so we chose to ski at Winter Park instead. This turned out to be an enjoyable, though expensive alternative, with lift tickets at $85 per person.

We rented this chalet at Steamboat for Tuesday and Wednesday nights, so Tuesday morning we left Denver for Steamboat Springs, stopping at REI on the way to pick up rental nordic skis. We stopped at Rabbit Ears Pass on the way up to Steamboat Springs for a little back-country cross-country skiing. The Walton area was absolutely beautiful, though poorly marked. We tried to ski the 3A loop by staying in others' tracks, but ended up turning back after an hour or so because we weren't sure we were still on the 3A trail.

After driving the rest of the way to Steamboat Springs and unloading into our chalet, we went downtown to the Tap House bar on Lincoln & 7th to watch the Wings vs. Avs game. The next morning we headed out to Steamboat for another perfect day of downhill. The weather could have been better -- 12" of snow fell during the course of the day, and there was no sun at all -- but we still had a great time. After we'd put in a full day on the slopes, we ate a quick dinner and headed out to the Strawberry Park hotsprings for a relaxing soak in the mineral water. This was quite an experience -- after a long 2-mile drive through steep, curvy, snow-covered dirt road we reached a small cabin where we paid our admission of $10/person. From there we walked a little further down the road to a dark stairway, leading to the springs. There were no lights anywhere, and I really wish I'd brought my head-light. Although the temperature was only about 20 F and I was only wearing sweat pants over my bathing suit and a wool sweater, I wasn't too cold. Not until I shed everything but my swim trunks, at least. But I was soon basking in the 144 F mineral water, taking the nip out of the cold air above. I should note that this area was "clothing-optional after dark," but no one was using flash lights in the water, so if anyone was nude, I couldn't tell. Surprisingly, after an hour of bathing, leaving the water and changing out of my bathing suit did not feel terribly cold. There was a certain lasting warmth that the water imparted that kept me warm long after I left it. We changed outside right next to the hot springs since there was no locker room or other facility to change in. But again, it was very dark so nobody was very worried about exposing himself.

We drove home, we all showered to remove the faint smell of sulfur in our hair, and everyone else went to bed. I decided to write for a bit first, and here I am... Our plans for tomorrow are to get up early and go back to Rabbit Ears pass for more XC skiing. This time I downloaded a topographic map with the different trails on it and re-drew the trails on Garmin MapSource so I can tell roughly where I'm going using my GPSMap 60csx. After sking one or two of the loops, we'll head back, pack up, and drive back to Denver. Right now, CDOT is still stating that I-70 is closed at the Eisenhower tunnel, so we may have to take US-40 back the whole way. I've never gone this route, but from the maps it looks harrowing...

Well, that's it for now. I'll add pictures, pdf maps, and gpx files soon!