Bear Peak!

Different part of the peak

I decided to do a local hike for my 5th adventure. Bear Peak is located right outside of the city of Boulder and has an altitude of about 8,460 feet but a net gain of about 2,815 feet. The day and the hike were beautiful, but I didn’t account for how much more water I would be consuming because of the higher temperature at lower altitude!

Avery and I at the summit of Mt. Democrat

Amazing View

Hike 6 was a lot of fun. Got to hike with my good friend Avery. We started up to Democrat (a 14er about two hours away from Denver in the Mosquito Range) at about 8:30am. We planned on summiting three other 14ers that day, however, when we reached the peak, we noticed a storm heading in from the North. We hiked back down to the saddle and decided to bail on the rest of the 14ers to avoid slippery conditions and lightening strikes. Unfortunately we only gained about 2150 vertical feet over four miles, but still had an awesome day out in the Rockies.

Nugget Hill peak with the Front Range in the background

L to R: Matt, Tom, Jess, Alec

Hike 7 was my first night hike! Friends Alec and Jess were coming through town while driving across country and wanted to go on a hike. Our friend Matt lives in Boulder so he joined us. Nugget Hill is located right outside of Boulder in Jamestown. The hike was fun, the sky was clear, the Front Range was visible from the peak, and the Boulder looked amazing! Photo credits to Alec!

Sis and I at "The Cliffs" on the Exit Glacier trail

Bears!

Hike 8 was my first Peaks hike out of state. I took an awesome trip with my sister to Alaska and we hiked the Exit Glacier trail just outside of Seward. The vegetation along the trail was thick, although, the trail was well maintained. The views were spectacular and the glacier to our left looked unreal. We ascended 1950 vertical feet over 2.5 miles and turned around to catch our train back to Anchorage. The highlight of our hike was during our decent. We spotted two black bears playing in the snow! Alaska is amazing!

Until next hike.

Panorama from top of Torrey's... unreal!

Wow! Quite a bit of hiking these past three days. On Friday I hiked 2,850 vertical feet over 3.5 miles (a 7 mile round trip total) to the summit of Mt. Bierstadt. It was a beautiful day and everyone was enjoying it (marmots, field mice, crows, eagles, and of course other hikers)! I began the hike at about 8am and learned very quickly how I should and shouldn’t have prepared! Few things I learned: I know now to 1) pack light, 2) wear sunscreen, 3) wear proper hiking socks.

So after a break on Saturday, I was well prepared for my trek up to Gray’s Peak and Torrey’s Peak. Kyle and Matt joined me on that fine Sunday morning. We were out of the house at 6:15 and on the trail by about 7:45, however adventure started within the first 5 minutes on the road to the mountains. First, on the highway a pigeon smacked the roof of my car… bad omen? Then about 5 miles before the trailhead exit, traffic was stopped because someone’s dog had escaped onto the highway. Finally we made it to the valley to begin the day’s hike. We summited Gray’s Peak, feeling energized, at about 10:45. It was windy but clear skies and beautiful views surrounded us. After about 15 minutes we traveled down the saddle and back up 570ft to Torrey’s Peak. Here we rested, ate, talked with other hikers (hope you see this! Great meeting you!), and stared out at the surrounding Rockies for about half an hour. Our descent brought us down to the car by 3:15. Awesome day! Below is the gold. Love to all – Tom

Summit of Mt. Bierstadt!

A view from Bierstadt...I keep thinking "The Land Before Time..."

Gray's Peak! Left to right: Matt, me, Kyle

Representing the BRUSH GOATS!!! Thanks Ry for the shirts!

Last great view of Gray's (left) and Torrey's (right) peaks. SPECTACULAR day!

Gus and Rocko, two four-legged Brush Goat members of the K9 variety, joined us on our ~6mile hike through the rolling hills of Boulder, CO. Rocko got distracted for 20 minutes by a chipmunk and Gus threw-up near the end… but they led the hike for most of the way! Much of the forest had been destroyed by fire but we hiked into areas that remained untouched. Demitry, Julia, Ry, Sara, Sarah, and I hiked past some beautiful scenery, including South Boulder Creek, which was raging by us for a portion of our trek.

The weather was great (although a bit overcast), the company was awesome, and all had a great time!

Below are some photo’s of the day courtesy of Sarah. Thanks for your support folks! More updates coming soon!

Got our POP flags! Thanks Emma!

Trail Guides

South Boulder Creek Trail

Woo! We kicked it off interestingly….

This past Saturday team Brush Goats went on our first hike! We started off with a short hike just to get our feet on the ground. We were all quite surprised when heading to Boulder we ended up driving through a snowstorm… BUT THE MIGHTY GOATS TREKKED ON! We arrived at the Chautauqua Park Trailhead at about 10am to begin our ascent into the mist. The hike was great and the Royal Arch was beautiful!

Great job team!

The ascent

The Royal Arch!

FIRST HIKE - ROYAL ARCH - @ THE PEAK!

Awesome job team!

1/2 Team Brush Goats!

This (mostly) sunny past Sunday, team Brush Goats had our first meeting a mile N.W. of Denver! The team members got to know each other and dove right into planning the beginning of our approaching season… It’s gonna be a GREAT one! After business was taken care of, we ascended an astonishing 10ft to the peak (our roof…) for the above group summit photo.

I won’t give away any plans just yet, but our future photos and blog posts will tell all as we hike in some of the most beautiful places in North America. Looks like our first hike will be West of Boulder in late April in light of Earth Day!

Stay tuned for more goodness and how you can help!

Baaaaah,
Tom