[Vail, CO, Jul 27, 2022] Unlike Aspen, Vail is modeled after European ski villages, which appealed to me much more. It is a much bigger mountain than Aspen and so it has 2 gondolas. I was pretty sure that there must be a way to go up one, do a hike and end up at the top of the other so you can take that one down. And that’s exactly what we… Read More
[Aspen, CO \ Vail, CO, Jul 26, 2022] I woke up with a hangover, which I was confused about… until I realized that I had 5 drinks yesterday. Those drinks at Catch Steak packed a punch! Luckily, some coffee and breakfast made me feel better. To start our day, we took the Silver Queen Gondola to top of Aspen mountain at over 11,000 ft. We enjoyed the magnificent views from the sundeck… Read More
[Black Canyon of the Gunnison/Aspen, CO, July 25, 2022] The north rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is remote and much less visited. It took us 90 minutes to get to it from Montrose. We knew we were in the middle of nowhere when the pavement ended and a well-graded dirt road began. For a lot of the drive around Crawford, the small town just outside the North Rim, we… Read More
[Black Canyon of the Gunnison/Ouray/Silverton, Jul 24, 2022] Black Canyon of the Gunnison protects the gorge the Gunnison river carved into the Precambrian rock surrounding it. It’s named after John Gunnison, who explored the canyon in 1853 while searching for a railroad route through the Rockies. He wrote the first description of the canyon, although it was obviously very well known to the Ute tribe, which was native to the area. We… Read More
[This blog post will be continuously updated with new information. Last Updated Apr 3, 2023] As more and more national parks institute timed entries, reservations and lotteries, planning your national park trip requires more advance planning than ever. I have yet to see all this information in one place, which inspired me to do it! To compile it, I visited each national park website in addition to relying on my own experience… Read More