Getting High…in Altitude

I’ve spent most of the last week cruisin around in the mountains near my home here in Boulder.  The thing I most look forward to in the off season is the chance to enjoy my mountains with out a bike, do some serious exploring and really find some solitude.  I’m giving my Garmin a workout thats for sure.  Normally I am racing through October so by the time I am home and able to go hiking and camping and stuff the aspen leaves are gone and its already started snowing up high!  But this fall I’m obviously not racing right now, so I really get to enjoy my favorite time of year.   This week I did a little mountain biking with Ian and Mikey in Golden, and we rode right through a herd of elk.  Ian and Mikey, the hunters that they are, could smell the elk before we even saw them.  Then we came around a corner to see one sitting right in the gully in the middle of the trail!  It got scared and took off, but we stopped and watched him and another big bull elk only a few feet away bugling.  We were hoping for a fight but it didn’t happen.  I’ve also been taking our dog Karli around in the Indian Peaks.  We hiked 13,500ft Mt. Audobon yesterday, which was nice because it was high above the rainy cold weather in Boulder down below and was sunny and warm up top!  But somehow lightly snowing at the same time.  Gotta love the CO.   Heres a pic of Karli and I on top of Mt. Audobon and Ian and Mikey fixing a mountain bike with a stick and a knife.  Who needs a multi tool?        Thanks for checkin in