Travelog for: Aura

Hi Mum,

Today we gathered to say goodbye and wish a safe trip to Batyr, who is travelling back home to Russia .

Hi Mum,

Guess what, I’m in the States ! I’m not sure how it happened. This morning, as usual for a Saturday, smaug tried to wake us up at fairly ungodly hour and threw us in the backpack, where we continued sleeping assuming that we were going to the mountains. A few hours later we woke up driving on a highway in the Rockies, but we were in Colorado rather than west of Calgary as we expected . smaug was busy driving and was not inclined to stop often for taking photos, so we just snapped a few shots of the lovely surrounding …





…before arriving at our accommodation for the week where we found a lovely spot where we could analyse the situation and question sammino about it .

Hi Mum,

It appears we will be spending the week here in Colorado road cycling in smaug’s backpack . Today, to start getting used to the altitude, we went for a ride out of Dillon up to Loveland Pass and we spent most time riding in a very nice valley .



Eventually we reached the pass, which sits at 3655 m above sea level on the Continental Divide . This means that on this side, the north side, water drains towards the Atlantic Ocean (by the way, the view was great ),…




…while on this side water drains in the Pacific Ocean.



Whichever way the water goes, those dark clouds were about to drop a lot of it , with hail and lighting as sides , so we hastily made our way back into the valley.

Hi Mum,

Today we were on the road very, very early to ride up Mt Evans. Since it was a tad cold , smaug was reluctant to stop and take photos and when we eventually had a chance to look around we were surrounded by a treeless landscape .




From there we could already see the summit .



Later we reached Summit Lake, which, as it happens, is still well below the summit .



The view there was great …



…and the summit was getting closer and closer.



Nevertheless, as we gained altitude, we were starting to be short of breath, so we let sammino go outside scouting the route while we stayed comfortable in the backpack . And after some time we eventually reached the end of the road which, at an elevation of 4307 m above sea level, is the highest paved road in North America …smaug pointed out this was very likely as high as he will ever ride a bycicle . The view, of course, was great …a bit hazy maybe .

Hi Mum,

Today we hit the road again and after some time we could see the in the distance Hoosier Pass’s saddle.



On the way we also had nice views over Quandary Peak .



Some km later…



…we reached Hoosier Pass, which sits on the Continental Divide , just like Loveland Pass that we visited a couple of days ago.



As you might have noticed on the sign, here everything is measured in strange units like feet and miles . Since none of us is very familiar with the imperial system we were a bit confused . Luckily sammino had anticipated the problem and installed on smaug’s phone a conversion app, so we spent a lot of time checking it out .



Anyway, feet or meters, from the pass we had a lovely view over the Mosquito Range and the South Platte River valley .

Hi Mum,

Today we rode a nice loop between Copper Mountain, Leadville and Vail . The first thing we saw in the morning were these big ponds. Apparently they are part of a giant molybdenum mine .





Further on we reached Fremont Pass, which sits on the Continental Divide, a feature that we started believing applies to all mountain passes around here .



At the pass we saw the actual mine. The photo does not do justice to its size (and the sun in our eyes did not help ), but it looked like half mountain had been already mined out .



Later on we skirted Leadville and turned on US Route 24 just before entering town.



The road took us through this wide and beautiful valley …




….which eventually lead us to Tenessee Pass. And guess what, this pass is also on the Continental Divide .



Going down from the pass we had beautiful views…



…and crossed this lovely bridge. I better remember to mention that the bridge crosses the Eagle River, or sammino will never talk to me again .



Later we turned again and had our first look at the valley that leads to Vail Pass…



…that we reached a bit later…and, believe it or not, this pass is not part of the Continental Divide . We decided to take a break and stopped at this rest area at the pass.



Eventually we reached Copper Mountain from where we took a final look at the valley leading back to the pass…



…before heading back home for a well deserved hearty supper .

Hi Mum,

Today we went for a short ride near Dillon. The first part of the day we were riding in the Blue River valley .




FYI, whenever we saw it, the river did not seem to be any bluer than most other rivers . Anyway, after a bit we turned right and got on the road leading to Ute Pass, and the view soon improved .




At last, we reached the actual pass which was not really such an exciting place ,…



…so we just headed back home .

Hi Mum,

Since we came back home early, this afternoon we had time to spare . We tried to strike up a conversation with the living room's "resident-eagle", but she did not really pay any attention to us .



So we decided to go out for a walk on the lakeside instead .



We passed by the marina…



…and enjoyed the view over the other side of the lake .




Eventually we came back home where we patiently waited for dinner time to come .

Hi Mum,

Today was our last day of riding, but luckily it was a gorgeous day . Early in the day we were down in the valley in the middle of the trees, but soon we gained elevation and the view improved …




…and it improved even further later on .




Eventually we reached Independence Pass which (it goes without saying ) sits on the Continental Divide and where we had lovely views of the surrounding mountains .





On the way back, we stopped at Twin Lakes to take a look at one of the lakes and at the valley leading to the pass that we had just left.

Hi Mum,

Today was our last day in Colorado. Before leaving we found a nice panoramic spot over Dillon Reservoir .





As we moved to another spot a big eagle came down towards us. She seemed a bit aggressive …



… so we sent sammino ahead to handle communications ...and he quickly shoved us back into the backpack . After what sounded like a rather unfriendly discussion (not that we really understand eaglish ) we didn’t hear anything for a while, and when we came out we had come close to the lake shore .



Eventually we really had to leave and a few hours later we found ourselves at Denver airport, where we killed time watching planes…



…and enjoying a few snacks .

Hi Mum,

this week after coming back from the holiday we were stuck at home since wildfires in the US sent a lot of smoke up here and there were air quality warnings in Calgary every single day of the week . Today it seemed the worst was over so we went over to the mountains for a short hike. To the west things looked OK ...





...and there was only a bit of haze in the east.



Nevertheless the air smelled still very foul , so we did not linger and quickly headed back home.

Hi Mum,

September has been frightfully boring since smaug was too busy at work to take us anywhere . At least October seems to be starting with some excitement . Tonight smaug came home very late, but he had parcel with him, a very TV-like parcel . Of course we were very interested and jumped over it ttrying to open it .



And guess what, as soon as we opened it Hansi Hü, a nice horse from Germany, came out . Of course we wanted to hear everything about his previous trips, so a lot of chatting followed late into the night .

Hi Mum,

today it was a nice day so we tried to go for a short hike . Early on we had to cross the Elbow River, which at this time of the year flows mostly within the gravel of its large bed ...so there wasn't really much water to cross .



As we gained elevation we reached Forgetmenot Ridge, where the wind was blowing at gale force . Nevertheless we managed to take some photos .





However, after a couple of near misses, smaug said that he was not risking to spend afternoon searching for us down the slopes of the mountain , so he shoved us back in the bag and said that for today there were not going to be any more photos .

Hi Mum,

today we went for lunch in Banff . First we had a lovely and big steak .



And for dessert we treated ourselves with delicious ice cream and melted chocolate ...that's what I call a proper lunch .



With a full belly we got on our way home, but we decided to stop a bit at Lake Minnewanka, where the reflections in the lake were beautiful .

Hi Mum,

the weather was not so good this weekend, but today we tried to go for a quick hike in the morning anyway. While we were in the trees we could occasionally see the sun, so we took it as a good sign .



Nevertheless, once we reached the summit, the clouds were closing in from all directions .





Only in the east and in the south it seemed to be still a bit clearer...




...but since it was starting to snow very lightly we decided not to linger and headed back down the trail.