A few random pictures from my hike in Boulder, Co. last week. I was there for work but we had enough time that some of us were able to manage a 7 mile hike to a height of 8800ft above sea level. It was weird, the altitude winds you pretty quickly, but once we got to the top it was well worth it. Plenty of drinking water and some energy/protein snacks helped keep us all moving. In all there were about twelve us in the group. The other sixty or so people went on the beginner or intermediate hikes, and probably felt much better after wards. Then again, we got this view and they didn't...


One of the coolest things about getting to the top of the peak was the random stuff that we were able to see. This lone squirrel was just going to town at the top of the tree that you can see in the first picture. I was able to zoom in on him a bit. What a cute little squirrel. Hooray!

As you come down the hill, you get a nice view of the mighty city of Boulder. I believe that was were Mork and Mindy was filmed, but don't hold that against it. It's a nice place, even if it is ripe with dirty hippies. Seriously. I saw guys dancing to the Grateful Dead while playing frisbee in the park and just about wanted to puke. Or at least steal their frisbee. That said, if you don't mind exlporing the city a bit you can find a couple of good record stores and score Jerry Reed LPs for your girlfriend at a fair price. If that's your thing.

Another thing to be aware of is that Boulder is definitely bear country! They make no qualms about letting you know this when you come into the park and warn you not to approach the bears. We didn't see any (I was hoping to see a mountain lion or a bear or something but we had to settle for squirrels, deer, and a frighteningly buff sixty year old dude who was doing push ups by himself at the top of the mountain) but the stickers on the garbage can prove that, yes, I was in bear country. Go me.

Here's a peek at the peak. It was a good hike and man did I feel it the next day but it was definitely worth it. Why bother going all the way to a hippy town like Boulder if you're not at least going to get outside for a bit and see what makes it interesting in the first place? Sure there's a shopping strip and a lot of neat bars to hit but you can get that and more in NYC (and believe it or not, you'll spend a lot less doing it). You don't get big ass mountains in NYC though. We had them in Portland, and that was pretty rad, but work didn't fly me to Portland (yet - it's on the books for August of 2009 so Portlanders mark your calender now as Alison and I want to plan a vacation around it).

On the way up and the way down you see some neat rocks and outcrops, formed by the movement of glaciers thousands of years ago. At least that's what the guide said. The guide was cool. He was in his sixties and his calves were like the size of my chest. He was in super rad shape and kept telling us about how when he was in college everyone would smoke weed on the front lawn of the campus.

So yeah, here's me. On a mountain. Looking rugged and in dire need of a haircut and sporting a couple of nice pimples. Since I got home, the pimples went away but I still have to get that haircut, lest I wind up smoking weed on the front lawn of a campus and developing freakishly large leg muscles.