CENTENNIAL STATE ADVENTURES – Colorado (July 22-31, 2023)

My trip to Colorado in July 2023 was a good balance of strenuous mountain hikes, fishing, and chilling out reading and watching Season 3 of The Witcher on Netflix. I also spent a lot of time driving (thankfully the scenery is so awesome so that wasn’t so bad), and squeezed in a trip to Mesa Verde National Park.

I got to see the southwest corner of Colorado for the first time, including the beautiful San Juans and the towns of Durango, Silverton, and Ouray. It was also my first time visiting Colorado in midsummer, when the grass was still mostly green, the wildflowers were in bloom, and there was still some snow accenting the high mountain slopes. My past trips were late summer and fall when things were brown and the snow was gone (although those golden aspens are beautiful that time of year!).

I flew in to Denver from Detroit on Saturday evening (July 22). After a very long wait in line at the Fox Car Rental center, I was on my way. I stopped in Aspen Park for sushi and vegetable fried rice, and again near Fairplay for a one mile run at dusk. The beautiful sunset was too much to pass up!

I booked a room at Monarch Mountain Lodge just west of Salida and Poncha Springs for the first four nights of my trip. That placed me at the southern end of the Sawatch Range, allowing me access to several fourteeners (mountains with summits above 14,000′ elevation). My plan for Sunday was to hike up Huron Peak with a group of friends. After a very early alarm clock and hour drive, I met them at the trailhead for a really fun day of adventure. I took so many photos that I summarized that summit hike in it’s own blog post:

Click here for the Huron Peak summit hike blog recap: https://joshadventures.com/?p=5302

After summitting Huron Peak, my tenth Colorado 14er, and grabbing lunch with Christine and Julia, I went back to my resort room to chill out for the rest of the day. I slept in Monday morning, and briefly considered climbing Mount Sherman (one of the shorter 14er routes in the area), but I was still pretty tired from Huron Peak so I decided to drive all the way to the upper Colorado River in Parachute to fish. On the way, I stopped at the Collegiate Peaks overlook near Buena Vista for a relatively speedy 5K run on the mountain bike singletrack. It provided great views of Mount Princeton and some of the other Sawatch Range peaks.

I had picked out my first fishing spot, a public park in Parachute, CO, in advance. When I got there, I realized it would be tough to fish because the current was ripping. But there was one spot near the boat launch where there was an eddy, and I flipped in a baited hook. It didn’t take long to get bites, but I missed the first few hook sets. When I finally connected with a fish, I was excited to find a new species on the line.

I only got one fish at that spot, but it was a colorful specimen of a Roundtail Chub. After an hour at that spot, I checked the map and found another public boat launch. I moved to that one and it was a better fishing spot, with a little side channel and a deep pool with slower water to cast my line into.

I caught four additional Roundtail Chub at the second spot, before grabbing dinner in Parachute and heading back to Leadville. Driving through Glenwood Canyon was fun. I made up my mind to climb Mount Elbert, the highest mountain in Colorado and in the Rocky Mountains, the following morning. Therefore, I decided to book a room in Leadville so I would be near the trailhead in the morning, saving me a couple hours of driving.

I stayed at Old Tale Inn in Leadville and awoke at 4:00am to climb Mount Elbert. It would be my first solo attempt at a fourteener, so I was a little bit nervous. Stormy weather, wildlife, and the effects of high elevation are all things to watch out for when hiking any fourteener. Fortunately, Elbert’s Northeast Ridge trail is a Class 1 route (meaning there is a well-defined hiking trail all the way up to the summit so there’s very low risk of getting lost or falling off a cliff). Mount Elbert would be my 11th Colorado fourteener. This adventure gets its own blog recap:

Click here for the Mount Elbert summit hike blog recap: https://joshadventures.com/?p=5306

I was up and down Mount Elbert by 9:30am so I had time to kill before meeting up with my Michigan friends Matt and Tanya for lunch in Leadville. I grabbed some coffee and a cheese and avocado croissant this café in Leadville to pass the time. When Matt and Tanya, and their son, finished their train tour I met them for a delicious lunch at Tennessee Pass Café. We also poked around in some Main Street stores including the Leadville 100 shop and The Rock Hut. Matt was in Colorado to run the Never Summer 60K but unfortunately had to DNS that race due to a flat tire. At least they got to do some scenic hikes.

I returned to Monarch Mountain Lodge that afternoon and checked out the trout pond and short trail system there. Mostly, I read and watched TV before going to bed early. Climbing 14ers saps a lot of energy!

Wednesday morning I checked out and hit the road to Durango, where I was meeting up with Brittany for the rest of the trip (she drove up from Phoenix). I broke up the drive with some short runs at a USFS campground along the Rio Grande River and at a scenic overlook near Pagosa Springs. This was all new scenery to me as I’d never been to that part of Colorado before this trip.

When I got to Durango I stocked up on groceries and ran a 10K along the Animas River Trail and through downtown. Durango is a neat city!

From Durango it was twenty minute drive up the Million Dollar Highway to Cascade Village Condos, which I had booked through AirBNB. The place was amazing! And it was great hub for exploring the San Juans for the next several days!

Brittany and I picked out a hike to Ice Lake near Silverton for Thursday morning. We didn’t have to start super early, and my body appreciated that! But it was still a good workout with 8 miles and 2,500′ of gain.

The next fifteen pictures highlight our hiking adventure to Ice Lake. It was an epic climb with water crossings, mountain views, and the most amazing alpine lake! We considered tagging on a spur trip to see a second alpine lake, Island Lake, but with the sky getting darker with clouds and a big day planned for Friday we decided to head back from there.

After our hike to Ice Lake we grabbed food in Silverton. I had to get a picture with the famous Hardrock 100 rock, which finishers of that race kiss to complete the ultramarathon. It’s one of the toughest ultras in the world but probably one of the most scenic, too. It’s a tough one to even qualify for, and then you need to win a lottery entry, so it’s not one I’ll do anytime soon. But perhaps someday?

On Friday morning Brittany and I hit the road super early for Mount Sneffels. The scenery was mind-blowing! It was my 12th Colorado fourteener summit and I’ve captured that day in its own blog post:

Click here for the Mount Sneffels summit hike blog recap: https://joshadventures.com/?p=5309

On Saturday we had a more chill day exploring Mesa Verde National Park. We hit the major sites, which were easily accessible form the well-maintained park road.

After Mesa Verde we returned to Cascade Village and enjoyed an evening at the campfire and small pond there. Brittany had just turned 38 and my 38th birthday was coming up in August, so we had a joint birthday celebration with a toasted marshmallow with candles in it.

I used a fleck of the marshmallow to micro-fish up my 581st fish species, too! The Fathead Minnow. It took some effort, and I gathered the attention of a group of kids that were also fishing this pond.

Brittany drove back to Arizona on Sunday, and I had to get back to Denver that evening for an early flight the next morning. On my drive, I stopped at Molas Lake to run a couple miles. At 10,000′ above sea level, I was feeling it!

I drove north on the Million Dollar Highway through Silverton and Ouray. When I was out of the mountains I stopped at Walmart in Montrose for worms.

I had about four hours to fish on my way back to Denver. My buddy Eli gave me a tip for a spot on the lower Gunnison River near Grand Junction, so I tried there first. I caught another Roundtail Chub, a Black Bullhead, and a small Common Carp, but no new species for my angling lifelist.

After an hour and a half there I packed up and hit the road to Palisade, Colorado. I fished the Colorado River from a riverside park there. I had one good take and messed up the hookset (I was on my phone when the fish hit, ugh…) but failed to catch anything. As a storm rolled in, I put the fishing gear away, repacked my luggage for flying home, and squeezed in a riverside 5K before hitting the road again.

I had to drive through some heavy rain on the way back to Denver, and through some night driving, but eventually made it to a cheap motel near the airport. I got a shower and just a few hours of sleep before having to bring the rental car back. It was an early morning but at least I got home at a decent hour of the afternoon. My Colorado 2023 trip was an awesome and memorable week! Next up: Scotland!