MurkTravels

overview / intro

To end 2018 and start 2019, I planned a road trip throughout the state of New Mexico. I had plans to stop by Sante Fe (for the Meow Wolf exhibit) and Roswell (for the alien museum), but the main focus was to be on camping in the back of my truck and seeing state and national parks: Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, Gila, Bandelier, Carson, Taos.

However, since the federal government were acting like children and decided to shut down, all the parks were closed. I realized after I had started. So I got a few days and nights on the road, but cut the trip short, right after celebrating New Years.

Recommend:

• Meow Wolf, Sante Fe - more coming to Las Vegas and Denver soon !
• International UFO museum, Roswell

Pictures

see more on Facebook Murk Travels events and races album

https://www.facebook.com/pg/MurkTravels/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2415219085378669|Murk Travels - New Mexico album]]

UFO Museum - included a lot of historical and scientific information in additional to alien stuff

Meow Wolf - probably only make sense if you've been there and witnessed the craziness

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

overview / intro

Some more of the places I ran or hiked in 2018:

• Bergen Peak
• Colorado Trail - section 2
• Grand Lake
• Horsetooth Falls
• Lair o' the Bear
• Lake Jasper
• Mt Galbraith
• Mt Falcon
• Red Rocks
• Reynolds Park / Eagle View
• Rocky Mountain National Park
• Walker Ranch

or read in more detail about Ultra runs , Longs Peak , Mt Bierstadt

Pictures

see more on Facebook Murk Travels albums

Horsetooth, near Ft Collins

Walker Ranch, near Boulder

Colorado Trail

Rocky Mountain National Park

Black Canyon, near Gunnison

Lake Jasper, near Nederland

Lair O the Bear, near Morrison

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

listen up

Denver is such a great city to be able to experience live music. Here's where I went and who I saw this year.
Check out these and other concerts I've been at with the concerts playlist on the MurkTravels Youtube.

Bands in 2018:

• Dashboard Confessional
• Dan Auerbach (Black Keys)
• the Roots
• Matt & Kim
• A Perfect Circle
• the Dreamers
• Weathers
• Micky James
• Welles
• the Regrettes
• Brother Ali

Venues in 2018:

• Summit
• Paramount
• Fillmore
• Red Rocks
• Marquis
• Cervantes

Pictures

Not a whole of pics or videos, since I seem to enjoy the concerts at the time and don't take out the phone very often.

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

Races

Some of the individual and team based ultra runs I did over the summer:

Chase the Sun training run - June:

• on summer solstice, tried to run the entire day from sunrise to sunset
• group of 5
• ~ 7 mile looped course near Boulder, CO
• made about 27 miles and 6 hours

Colorado Ragnar trail - June:

• around Snowmass, Colorado
• team of 4, each running 6 times
• course of 116 miles, mostly off-road dirt trails that looped around one main site
• I completed about 28 miles
• team ran for 24 hours
• camped overnight
• high of 95, low of 35

Colorado Ragnar road - August:

• from Copper Mountain to Aspen, Colorado
• team of 10, each running from 3 to 6 times
• course of 190 miles, mostly paved roads or sidewalks
• I completed about 27 miles
• team ran for 30 hours
• rode in vans between runs
• I had the flu the entire weekend

South Carolina Ragnar trail - October:

• around Fort Mill (near Charlotte NC)
• team of 6, each running 3 to 5 times
• course of 132 miles, mostly off-road dirt trails through the woods
• I completed around 28 miles
• team ran for about 28 hours
• camped overnight
• high humidity and "low" of about 75 overnight

the North Face Grand Traverse - September:

• the one long solo race I did.
• Part of a 3 part series (run, mountain bike, cross country ski) throughout the year on the same course
• from Crested Butte to Aspen, Colorado
• distance of 41 miles
• 7,000 feet of elevation gain and descent
• almost 10 hours of moving time
• video : https://www.relive.cc/view/1812896250

the Discrete Cirque Series - August:

• shorter solo race but running up a mountain ski slope
• read more here

Pictures

more at : Events album

all day training run

completing Ragnar road Colorado

completing Ragnar trail Carolinas

Grand Traverse

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempted at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

Ultra Races

Among the many ultra races I did this year, I tried my first race in the Cirque Series. Although it doesn't have the distance of an ultra run (27+ miles), it is a ridiculous challenge. The course is basically up and down the mountain at a ski resort. So in a little over 3 miles, there is a elevation gain of over 2,300 feet. Then once you're at the top, it's a little over 3 miles down and a drop of over 2,300 feet.

When we started it was about 45 degrees with some slight rain. At the top of the mountain it was around 30 with snow flurries in the air. It made for a very chilly run.

Pictures

At the start:

Looking down part way through:

At the top:

Finishing downhill:

the group:

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempted at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

It's Unique

The festival is a mix of music, biking, craft brews, food trucks, and local artists. --> https://www.veloramafestival.com/festival-experience/

A last minute decision had me checking out the action on the last of the three day event. Saw some live music and some incredibly talented bikers doing races and aerial tricks galore. Check out some of the photo evidence:

Pictures

See more of these and pictures from all the events that I attend on the Facebook Murk Travels photos page - Events album.

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempted at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

Longs Peak overview

I completed the Longs Peak hike/run on July 28th, 2018. It was the 8th 14,000+ foot elevation peak I've done since moving to Colorado. This excursion took me about 8 hours for the 18 mile round trip out and back hike that has about 5,000 feet of elevation gain.

The hike started around 5 am, where the parking lot was already packed and I had to park over a mile from the official starting trailhead. With such a long trek, there were many sections to this hike. The first was through some wooded sections (in the dark, so bring a headlamp) and then through some open fields. The trail is wide, well marked and mostly gently sloping up. After several miles of that, you reach the boulder field area. While mostly flat until the end, it's slow going as you have to make your way across huge rock piles. There's occasional markings, but you generally see the end point and head that direction. At the end of this section is the climb up and through the keyhole. It's windy and some tough bouldering climbing.
The third section involves walking on some narrow ledges and doing some minor bouldering. You then get to the trench area, which is a tough uphill bouldering climb with huge rocks and little rocks that can easy start sliding down. Once through that is another narrow ledge section and a final push up a very long and steep incline of a cliff face. There are hand and foot holds here naturally in the rock, but it is still challenging.

Recommend:

• Go on a weekday to avoid crowds
• Save energy, eat food and drink water often
• Decide to turn back if you need to, because every section is tougher than the previous on the way up
• Be prepared for high winds, slippery climbing conditions

Relive video of the hike

link: watch a video and map tour of my hike

Trip Map

Pictures

See this and all the 14er hike pictures on the Facebook Murk Travels photos page - 14ers album.

Previous 14er hikes:

• Democrat, Lincoln, Cameron, Bross
• Quandary
• Mt Evans
• Mt Bierstadt

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempted at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen