A couple of weekends ago, Rocco and I decided to hit the road once more for another epic weekend of long mountain biking/tall mountain hiking. We decided Aspen would be a cool place to visit and experience. I got off work at 4 on Friday, went home, packed, and hit the road. We ended up camping in a cool secret spot I know about in the Gunnison National Forest close to Paonia Reservoir. We got in late, and I didn’t feel like pitching a tent, so we slept open air. It was chilly and crisp-a clear sky. It was also absolutely amazing looking up at the stars through ponderosa pines.

We finished the drive to Aspen early Saturday AM and hit up the farmers market where I said hi to a friend I know there. Unfortunately, I had left my biking shoes at home, but fortunately, I found a really cool shop there in town, The Hub, that let me borrow a pair that fit close enough and gave me some tips for a long ride.

I suited up and hit the trail, where upon I rode long and hard for 7 hours before returning to town. I met back up with my friend for coffee, then decided it was time to leave town and go find a campsite. I picked up a six pack of local brew, and the cashier recommended a cool camping spot up the road a ways. Rocco and I get to the turn off, and the sign says our camping area is 6 miles away. It is a forest road, and 4WD is recommended. There is also a paid campground only 1.4 miles down the road, so I get going thinking I might give that a try if the road gets too rough for my 2WD Mazda B2300.

It didn’t take long and sure enough that road started to get pretty rough, and had me questioning whether I should be on it. I reach the campground, and its full. Feeling the spirit of adventure, I decided to trudge on and and push the limits of my truck and off road handling capability. 4WD would have been really nice, but truly, all you needed was high clearance and skilz, both of which I had. We made it the 6 miles and found a really sweet dispersed site off the road and set up camp. I didn’t know how high we were, but I knew it was much higher than the night before, and it was much colder, I pitched a tent for me and the dog to cuddle in.

Sure enough in the morning, everything was frosted over. There was even some ice under my therma-rest. First freeze of the fall that I have experienced. I was a little unprepared for it to be that cold, and my hands and feet got quite numb as  I broke down camp and packed up. The morning sun revealed to me that we were only a few hundred feet below treeline (roughly 11,000′), so we were indeed pretty high up there.

The morning sun also revealed to us some pretty amazing changing Aspens.

So yes, we made it back to the highway just fine. It took us up to Independence Pass, 12, 096′.

From here, we dropped down to the town of Twin Lakes. I got some coffee at the general store, and inquired about the trailhead for the next big adventure, a hike up to Mount Elbert, the tallest peak in Colorado at 14, 433′. We drove out to it and began the 6 mile, 5,000′ 3.5 hour ascent to the top. The views at the top of Colorado are pretty nice.

While the summit was pretty awesome, I don’t feel like it was the most spectacular part of the hike. That came in the form of fall Aspens totally on fire with changing leaves:

After the hike up, a little of which Rocco and I ran, we decided to run down, the whole thing. What took 3 and a half hours to get up only took 1.5 hours to get down. We were blazing, and having a blast! After getting back to the truck, Rocco had some water while I had one of those Aspen beers I bought to celebrate cresting yet another 14er.
We got back on the road and chartered our course through Buena Vista, Monarch Crest, Gunnison, and Montrose. I had hopes of making it to Orvis Hot Springs in Ridgway to soak at least an hour. With the pedal to the metal, I got there in enough time for an hour and a half. Even sweeter, I got in for free using my charm and good looks.

After a nice hot soak, I didn’t feel like driving another hour and a half to Durango over crazy mountain passes at night, so we drive a few miles down to Ouray and found that same sweet camping spot from the weekend before. It was surprisingly warm for 11pm, so we went open air once again, and it was another awesome night of sleep before waking up at the crack of dawn to make it back home and start the work week. Another awesome adventure in the Caveman books…