Entries about hiking

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

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

Mt Bierstadt overview

I completed the Mt Bierstadt hike/run on July 14th, 2018. It was the 7th 14,000+ foot elevation peak I've done since moving to Colorado. This excursion took me about 2.5 hours for the 7 mile round trip out and back hike that has about 2,700 feet of elevation gain.

The hike started around 6 am, which was later than I normally start. And this is a popular route, since it's easy to get to, there is a well marked trail, and it's one of the lower options on the difficulty scale. So, all that meant that I had to park really far away and had to pass lots of people on the trail as I mostly ran up and down the entire way. It was not an overly exciting hike or route, so minimal picture taking.

Recommend:

• Start early to get a spot in the lot and avoid the crowds
• Make sure to have a local map or study the trail ahead of time
• As always, bring water and snacks with you
• Can view Mt Evans, and optionally reach it via the Sawtooth. But only attempt that if you have planned for it with time and supplies.

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.

On the climb up:

At the peak:

Previous 14er hikes:

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

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

Mt Evans overview

I completed the Mt Evans via Mt Spalding loop hike on July 8th, 2018. It was the 6th 14,000+ foot elevation peak I've done since moving to Colorado. This excursion took me about 2 hours for the 5 mile round trip out and back hike that has about 2,000 feet of elevation gain.

The hike started around 5 am, which was in the dark for about 30 minutes. Most of the hike is along a ridge to Mt Spalding, and then just below the ridge that runs to Mt Evans. There is a road that most people take, where you can drive within 100 feet of the top. So a few people were at the top ahead of me. I finished around 7 am.
This is a popular 14er, but most people drive and don't take the hike, which is a shame because of the extra views you get ... and the potential to cross paths with some mountain goats. The trail however is not very well marked on the backside of Mt Evans. You generally scramble over some rocks and make your own path and watch for cairns (rock piles) that generally show you the direction you should be heading. The entire trail loop is above treeline, so it's pretty much rock and small plants. On the way down it's mostly small loose rock to complete a loop, or you can backtrack the long way via Mt Spalding again. The parking lot was packed when I returned.

Recommend:

• Start early to get a spot in the lot and avoid the crowds
• Make sure to have a local map or study the trail ahead of time
• As always, bring water and snacks with you
• Between Spalding and Evans you can get a great view of the Mt Bierstadt 14er peak

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.

Summit Lake at sunrise

Mt Evans peak from the trail

Looking toward Mt Bierstadt

Mountain Goats

Panoramic from Mt Spalding

Elevation shot at the peak, looking towards the parking lot where people can take the easy way up and drive

Previous 14er hikes:

• Democrat, Lincoln, Cameron, Bross
• Quandary

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

Elevation

Bogota sits around 8,500 of elevation, and we got up over 10,000 feet with some hiking in the surrounding countryside. Lucky I had some experience with that in Denver and the Rocky Mountains.

Highly recommend:

• Bogota Free Walking Tour
• Botero museum
• Monserrate hike
• Chicaque Natural Park

Other sites to check out:

• Gold museum
• Emerald museum
• Graffiti tour
• Coffee / food tour
• Zipaquirá salt church

Trip Map

Pictures

more at : Colombia album

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

Cities and Castles

Our final destination on our tour of Germany was the large metro and capital of Bavaria, Munich. It has so much history and tourist attraction options, it's tough to summarize what your options are. This is the second time I've spent 3 or 4 days in Munich and mostly saw all new stuff this time and still haven't run out of things to check out. This time included a couple day trips a little further outside the main city center.

We went north to check out the Dachau concentration camp memorial site. Another day we headed south to check out some of the most well known German castles and their local small villages.

Highly recommend:

• Marienplatz
• Christmas markets
• Dachau memorial
• Linderhof castle
• Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles
• Theresenweise / Oktoberfest grounds

Other sites to check out:

• 1972 Olympic site
• Nymphenburg palace
• BMW museum
• Royal Residence & theater
• Hofbrauhaus and other brew pubs
• several local churches, universities, museums, markets, and parks

Trip Map

Pictures

Munich Christmas markets

Bavaria countryside & Oberammergau Passion Play site (only happens once every 10 years since the 15th century)

Linderhof castle

Hohenschwangau castle

Neuschwanstein castle

Videos

The Hofbrauhaus beer hall

Linderhof castle

Neuschwanstein castle

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