Gordon Gulch Winter Hike

We ventured out for a winter hike over the three-day weekend. We're only moderately prepared for winter weather, so we haven't gone out a lot. We don't have any traction or micro-spikes for our shoes, I don't have waterproof warm gloves and we haven't bought any hand warmers or anything to throw in our backpack. But the sun was out, it wasn't windy or too cold , and the trail we picked was mostly flat so we decided to go for it.

                     
We parked at the end of Primos Rd. and took NFS Non-Motorized Road 233.1 for about a mile out and a mile back (this connects to many other "trails" on the online map look like they are non-maintained roads?). We were the only ones on the trail although we saw lots of evidence of other hikers, and dog tracks (and poop). The trail follows Gordon Creek which looked mostly frozen, but there were some open water spots where quite a few American Robins were congregating. I also spotted my first Golden Crowned Kinglets, a pair, flitting around on a tree right on the trail.

My eBird checklist.

Road trip into our new backyard...the Rocky Mountains.

After my Dad and Julia left we continued to do a lot of unpacking and organizing. It's hard to feel motivated to be settled when you don't know how long you will be living somewhere. 

Paul had a couple of weeks before he started work and so we tried to make the most of our time by getting out and exploring. These are a couple photos from our first trip "up to the mountains." We stopped in Nederland, the first town you get to after going up Boulder Canyon. We found a sandwich shop with good Yelp Reviews and a view of the creek and talked with the person at their local visitor center who gave us a bunch of maps and brochures. Then we loaded back up into the car and hit the highway north towards Estes Park. 

My two favorite people.

Mountain peeking out!

Highway 72 (which turns into Hwy 7) is knows as the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway. It takes you right into the mountains, the continental divide and you really feel like you are driving at the edge of the world. It's really beautiful, but that's an understatement. And of course I like to geek out about the history of the area. I feel like I barely scratched the surface of Chesapeake Bay history when we lived there, and now I am jumping forward 100 years to the pioneers and gold mining. So many interesting stories to learn.

We found our way into Estes Park, which is sort of the gateway into Rocky Mountain National Park. We didn't go into RMNP, but parked and walked around Estes Park, had some ice cream, bought a book on Colorado wildflowers, then took the faster freeway route back to Boulder.

Ice cream break in Estes Park 

Driving through the mountains you see the endless possibilities for exploration and we are so excited to get out there and experience it!