April 24th - 28th : Annual Day Zero Pacific Crest Trail Kick Off (ADZPTCKO)

On April 24th - 28th, I attended the Annual Day Zero Pacific Crest Trail Kick-Off (ADZPTCKO)

The ADZ is for the purpose of ushering off current year PCT hikers on the trail with good vibes, good information and off on the right foot (or sometimes left? ) to start their journey.

At OH-GOD-EARLY in the morning, Love Barge and myself left Colorado to fly to San Diego. We were picked up at the airport by our fellow CDT 06er/Coloradoan Princess of Darkness. She and Disco drove out to San Diego and are about to start their PCT journey. This will be Disco's second PCT hike and POD's Triple Crown completion hike.

Disco and POD had some last minute items to take care of in San Diego. LB also wanted to visit a family member in San Diego. Our arrival to the KO was a bit delayed, but the side trips proved to be interesting. "Uncle Tommy" is an older New York Italian transplant and reminded me of people I know back home. The accent, the mannerisms, and his obvious love in getting to see his great-niece. You could also tell LB was happy to see her relatives as well.

We finally arrived at the KO. It was awesome to see people I have not seen in a while. Saw my fellow PCT 2002er and good friend Yogi. We both worked the registration desk. Of all my ways to volunteer at the KO, working the registration desk is my favorite. I love to talk and mingle..working the desk lets me see a lot of people.



At OH-GOD-EARLY Friday morning, I dropped off POD and Disco for the start of their PCT hike. LB also joined them for the day.


I went back to the KO, shot the breeze and worked the reigstration desk for a bit. Saw many people I knew for online, previous hiker gatherings and just being on trail. Many people at this point..and I was glad to see them all!

Went to bed fairly early Friday night (11-ish) and had a nice Saturday just hanging out.

One of the funny things about the KO is how long it takes to walk from one length of the campground to the other. What should be a 5 minute walk would often take me an hour because of all the people I would bump into!

One of the funniest parts of the day was Henry Shire's reaction to LB's "vintage" and well..er..loved tarp tent. Henry just stared in disbelief!



The best part of Saturday evening was seeing Eric Ryback's presentation of his 1970 thru-hike. The amount of people he inspired is countless. Despite the different gear and trail experiences one thing showed through Ryback's slideshow: The joy of being out in the wilderness for months at a time never changes! Ryback reminded me of Scott Williamson: Low key, humble, happy to share his experiences. It was a great show from one of the acknowleged pioneers from our little tribe.

I had planned on a mellow Saturday, but I wandered over to the cabin campfires. I ended up staying up to 4am and er, indulged quite a bit more than I am used to. My body also reminded me Sunday morning that I am about to turn 34 and not 24. :O I think seeing so many friends, both old and new, made it so I did not want the weekend to end.

If I took anything from this weekend, it does not matter what year you hiked, what kind of gear you carried, whether you are a section hiker or a thru-hiker ..we are all united in our love for the trail, the journey and the experiences. We are all hiker trash.

I love the KO. It has become my favorite hiker get-to-gether by far. I thank the organizers for another great event, I was glad to see all my friends, and I wish the PCT class of 2008 a wonderful journey.

Continued Happy Trails!

Photos can be found here

April 21st - Full Moon Frolicking - Hogback Lollipop

Another full moon jaunt!

This time, according to the Farmers' Almanac, it was a Full Pink Moon.

The hike this time took place on the Hogback found in North Boulder.

The evening started off with a bit of cloud cover on the horizon that obscured the moon a bit.

No matter, we enjoyed a scrumptious feast of wine, cheese, crackers, spinach dip and more all while looking over the Boulder skyline.

As we made our descent, the moon rose above the clouds. Sure enough (probably because of light pollution!) the moon was pink.

Another wonderful full moon frolic.

April 19th and April 20th, 2008 - Some "redwax skiing" and a White Ranch Walkabout

There is still an insane amount of snow up in high country. Arapahoe Pass, not far from my house at the crow flies, is about 140% snowpack level this year (as of April).

Since the flu from earlier this winter curtailed some of my skiing, I decided to get in some spring skiing.

Skiing in the spring means an early start with variable snow conditions. Red wax is called for. But, red wax and variable conditions suck (to use a technical term) :) So I was lazy and grabbed my waxless fish-scale skis. Waxless skis are great for spring skiing.


So off to Brainard I went. A little cool in AM, but it heated up quickly. I did about an ~11 mile tour. Between my waxless skis and the clumpy snow, did not get a good glide in as I normally do.

Skill, it was quite nice to be playing in so much snow so late in the year.

Lots of snow up to 10k or so feet!

Though the skiing was fun, it proved to me that I am ready to be hiking again. Ready to take little equipment, walking in shorts and basking in the sun.

It can be difficult to find foothill hikes that I have not done before. Though I love the foothill hikes in Boulder, variety is good. After my hike to White Ranch recently, decided to explore it a bit more.

White Ranch only has 20 miles of trails, but a lot of variety. Rolling hills, open meadows, and cool rock formations. The day was a perfect spring day with lots of pasque flowers and sand lilies. Being a multi-use area, lots of mountain bike were present at well. I also extended the trip a bit by missing a turn off. Doh! :)

Overall, a nice day if a bit longer due to my Homer Simpson moment...Ahem.

April 11th, 2008 - Boulder Super Slam

For the third year in a row, we've done a tour of the Boulder Open Space on foot. It is a traverse of the Boulder sky line.

In 2006 and 2007, we called it the Boulder Grand Slam. Essentially doing the Boulder ridge line by taking in Sanitas, Anemone Hill, Flagstaff, Green Mountain, Bear and South Boulder Peaks. As measure by GPS, it is about 18 miles and 8400' elev gain or so.

This year, we decided to up the ante and do the Boulder Super Slam. Besides the previous years' ridge walking, we also did the Mesa Trail , climbed up to South Boulder Peak, hiked our way north and looped back around from Sanitas via a road walk to Chautauqua.

This loop hike ends up being over 26 miles and 10k ft elev gain in a day. A stiff little walk to say the least. A great way to shake the rust out and get ready for the hiking season.

I started the morning by picking up Josh and we made a quick trip to King Soopers. Josh decided a great way to start an athletic endeavor was from the Homer Simpson school of thought: Donuts!

Mmmm...donuts!

Thus fortified, the ten of us made our way down the Mesa Trail. If there is an outdoor super highway in Boulder, it is this popular trail. Well loved by the local trail runners, people out for a casual jaunt and people hiking all day fueled by donuts, Pringles, Snickers and Goldfish crackers.

The hike started early enough in the day that the highway was not too well used. We climbed up Shadow Canyon and started encountering snow! The saddle between S. Boulder and Bear Peaks was especially snowy.


We summited the highpoint of the day, worked our way down to the saddle again, and started the first of many ups and downs on to make our way to Bear Peak. The view from Bear Peak had a good view of the rest of the ridge we were about to climb up and over for the remainder of the day.



We climbed down to the valley and up to the snow covered Green Mountain. Back down a bit and we finally reached some snow free trail on the way to Flagstaff. Phew!

After Green Mountain, we thought the day would be easier. We were wrong. :)

The "summiting" of Flagstaff was easy, but on the way down we were able to get a good look at the climbs ahead of us: Anemone Hill, Red Rocks and Sanitas.

Anemone Hill is Boulder's "forgotten peak". Which is a shame. It is lightly used, has wonderful views towards the Indian Peaks and makes a great out and back hike for a quick workout or casual stroll. It also has 1200'+ elev gain from base to "summit". Add in Sanitas (1300' elev gain) and a the road walk back there was still almost 3000' elev gain to go. Phew!

We still had a ways to go!

After crossing Eben G. Fine park, we scampered up Red Rocks and made the "Gee, I forgot how steep this climb was" climb up to Anemone Hill. We enjoyed the views and readied ourselves for the final push: Sanitas.

Mt. Sanitas is perhaps the most highly used outdoor spot in Boulder. A stiff little hike that gains 1300' ft. Normally, it is a hike I do not think twice about in terms of difficulty. After gaining over 8000' and walking 17 miles? A bit more of a challenge. :) We still passed people on the way up. Maybe the thought of our last summit (and some more Pringles/Snickers) spurred us on?

The whole day, our breaks were minimal. Partially due to brisk and windy weather, partially due to knowing we had more miles to go and did not want to stiffen up too much. At the top of Sanitas, we enjoyed a relatively long break. Worked our way down via the Dakota Ridge and walked through town.

After three miles of pavement (and a short climb) we gratefully made it back to Chautauqua where I revealed my surprise for the day. A cooler of beer and soda waiting in the Mag Wag! As d-low said "I almost forgive you for this hike!" Wotta guy! Wotta friend!

Mickey enjoying a cold one

After chilling a bit in the parking lot, we made our way to the Taj for a much deserve AYCE Indian food buffet. Until 2009!

A few facts sent out via e-mail:

A few stats I dug up:

The Mesa Trail is 6.7 miles long and 1625' elev gain one way.

I guesstimated we did all but one mile of the Mesa Trail. Let's say we did 1400'/5 miles.


Elevation of Eben G. Fine 5400'
Elevation of Anemone Hill: 6618'

So that is 1200+' elev gain from the park, to Red Rocks to Anemone.
Considering that Sanitas is 1300' elev gain it really does add a bit of challenge to do the bonus mileage of Anemone!

Downtown Boulder is 5400'. Chautauqua is at 5680'. So thats almost another 300' elev gain.
Based on a google pedometer site, the walk from the hospital up to Chautauqua (using the route we took) is about 3 miles. A little longer road walk than I thought. :)

The Boulder Grand Slam is about 18 miles and 8300' elev gain. Add in the extra mileage of the mesa trail and the road walk (8 miles/1700') and the total for the Super Slam is ~ 26 miles+ and 10000'+ elev gain. A bit of a walk..'eh? :)

Line of the hike: F*** you! Let's hike. -Mike "d-low" DiLorenzo


All the photos

April 5th, 2008 - Hall Ranch Roundabout

(well, more of an out and back, really :) )

I am going to crib my trip posting:

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Another early spring hike...and to a place I have not been before!

Hall Ranch is a well known local mountain biking area. Views of Longs Peak and Meeker. A variety of terrain for both beginners and more advanced riders and good place to get some riding. (So I've been told. Other than a microbrew from Ft. Collins, I have not done the fat tire thing in ten years. :D)

But did you know there are hiker only trails in this area?

On this hike we'll use the Nighthawk Trail, continue on the little used Button Rocks trail and end at the Sleepy Lion Trail junction. The junction has a nice overlook of the reservoir. Along the way we will see Meeker, Longs, views of the Continental Divide and sweeping meadows. And maybe see more of the early season wildflowers!

We'll have lunch, hike back to where we came and have some sports beverages at Oskar Blues post hike.

The hike is about 13.5 miles and 1700' elev gain.

More info:

http://snipurl.com/232lk
http://www.protrails.com/trail.php?trailID=14
http://www.protrails.com/trail.php?trailID=15

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As you can see from the lovely photo below, it was a great hike. I loved the rock formations. It is definitely a place I am going to add my shoulder season hiking options!


All the photos

The Madness of March

Not too much to write as March kind of passed in one busy blur.

I did some training with the Outdoor Stewardship Insitute for a weekend. The plan is to be a crew leader for some trail/restoration projects. As an avid outdoors person, I believe it is important to give back. Leading a volunteer trail crew is a step in that process.

It was informative at times. But overall, I think organizing and leading trips for CHAOS, organizing my own work shops/slide shows and generally being good with people has helped me with leadership roles. More so than more formal corporate-feeling lectures and role playing exercises found during this weekend. At heart, I'm still very much a product of my blue collar upbringing : Give me the results, enough of the theory. :) I was reminded too much of what I put up with during the week (albeit for something more interesting than mainframe tape libraries to say the least!).

I must admit I HATE workshops on communication practices and what I consider touchy-feely crap. I loved the practice sessions for building check dams, maintaining tread, etc. Then again, that is hands on as well. Overall, I am glad I went to the weekend..but I think I'll learn more by doing to be honest.

Hiking season is starting to come. Started with the usual jaunts in the foothills, did a full moon jaunt up Sanitas , explored White Ranch a bit and did the Eldo Lollipop.

Looking forward to more hikes, backpacks and even a bit of car camping in the coming months.