Entries about usa

overview / intro

During the spring, we decided to escape some of the lock down blues and venture into nature for some hiking.

It's a great time in the spring to have cooler temps (but you warm up when hiking) and to see some snow cover, but it's not too deep so that you can still walk through it. The skies are usually clear and bright during this time too. We saw a handful of people on each hike, but there's so much space that everyone could keep adequate distant and enjoy the nature within their own groups.

White Ranch Park:

• in Jefferson county near Golden
• hiked part of the Belcher, Maverick, and Longhorn trails
• https://www.jeffco.us/1437/White-Ranch-Park/

Deer Creek Canyon Park:

• in Jefferson county near Ken Caryl
• hiked Meadowlark and Plymouth Mountain trails
• https://www.jeffco.us/1208/Deer-Creek-Canyon-Park

North Table Mountain:

• in Jefferson county near Golden
• hiked the Mesa Top and Table loop trails
• https://www.jeffco.us/1427/North-Table-Mountain-Park

Pictures

see more on Facebook Murk Travels albums
USA Colorado ablum

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

Looking Back

2019: It's been another fun year, what else can I say. I continue to travel the world and experience awesome unique cultures. I also travel a bit around the US for work, family, camping, or other adventures. I continue to push myself with physical and mental challenges, as well as trying new potential hobbies and building up my skills.

This year was marked by a lot of newness. I have a new lady in my life, the lovely Sharon and her 9 year old Lucien (and Felix the cat). I got to witness a cousin get married and bring in a new family member. I met my brand new niece Cara, a newborn life from Renee and Matt Klein. I took dancing lessons, handgun safety classes, passed work certification tests, and had a first sailing based vacation. There was new tattoo work, new camping and hiking adventures, new add-ons to the 4Runner, a new home, a new pet, and new entertainment. I completed my first ski trip and successfully went down a mountain (a short green run, but didn't fall on one of the attempts, so I'll consider that a victory). Also met new co-workers, friends, and neighbors. Played some new board games, card games, and Xbox games.

I look forward to more of the same in 2020. Already have a trip planned to Israel. Hoping for others to either France, Morocco, Philippines, and around the US. I hope to continue to enjoy work, family, and life in general.

Activities

Things that happened in 2019:

Big Travels

• Japan : Tokyo - Kyoto - Osaka - Nagoya - Hakone
• Norway : Oslo and the Lofoten region (sailing)
• Sweden : Stockholm & Malmo
• Denmark : Copenhagen

Quick Trips

• Austin Texas - for a wedding
• Boston Massachusetts - for work training
• Chicago Illinois - for a concert weekend
• Colorado Sand Dunes National Park camping
• Des Moines Iowa - for family
• LA California - for Sharon's work training
• New Mexico - end of road trip to start the year

Challenges

• Leadville Trail marathon
• 14er hike - Gray's & Torrey's
• 14er hike - Blanca peak
• Intro to pistol and handgun safety classes
• Intro to Salsa, Bachata, and Zook dancing

Events & other activities

• Breckenridge retreat weekend
• Chicago Open festival : concert of Tool, System of a Down, Prodigy, Meshuggah, Gojira, and 9 other hard rock / heavy metal bands
• Denver concerts: Gojira, the Roots, Slipknot
• Denver RAW artists - support Gabby
• Denver Travel and Adventure show
• Elitch Gardens amusement parks
• Jury duty
• Movie on the Rocks (Red Rocks)
• new family: Cara and Chelsie
• volleyball leagues
• Ski trip to Eldora
• Universal Studios Hollywood amusement park
• Water World water parks
• work certification : Agile Product Owner

previous year reviews:

• 2018
• 2017

Pictures

see more on Facebook Murk Travels albums

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

Blanca

This peak is part of potentially 4 that one could down in southern Colorado near the Great Sand Dunes. Again, this is a hike that I needed the 4Runner. There's 7 miles of road up to a lake to where the real hiking trail begins. I drove about 4 miles of the road before it got really rough - the truck could have handled it, but my off roading experience isn't quite up for that challenge yet. We camped out overnight in a protected pull off site and starting early the next day.

Even a 6 am start was tough going to cover the 3 miles of rough rock road, and then another 4 miles up what is basically a big pile of rocks. There were definite steep drops off some cliff faces, and exposure to high winds as we climbed up a ridge to the top. One section was pretty much boulder climbing and many minutes I just laid low and hung on to whatever rocks were closest.

The goal for the day was to also do Ellingwood, which shares part of the same approach, and there's a ridge connecting the too. However, we were exhausted, it looked even tougher to climb and we couldn't find where the path split off (remember that it's a pile of rocks with a rock path going up it and piles of cairn rocks to guide your way, so it's tough to spot which are the real rocks to follow). Later, we're glad we headed down early as we got a downpour of water for the last 2 or so miles of hiking. What a fun challenging hike, one of the toughest ones I've ever done.

Relive video of the hikes

Grays & Torreys link: https://www.relive.cc/view/vr63JEV23dO
Blanca link: https://www.relive.cc/view/vRO7GpVG5KO

Pictures

see more on Facebook Murk Travels albums
and 14ers album

One of the easier sections of the road to the trailhead. This is after we parked, and didn't see any vehicles after this point.

Chasing the sun up the mountain

One of the many lakes we hiked by

Climbing up Blanca's ridge, with Ellingwood in the background

Proof at the top

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

Gray's & Torrey's

These twin peaks are a somewhat close drive from Denver, but I heard horror stories of the road leading from the highway to the trailhead. If you don't have a high clearance 4WD, then it's another 3 miles each way before and after your hike. These are a couple easier hiking options, but I didn't ever want to add 6 or more miles of gravel road walking. Now that I have the 4Runner, Chris and I decided to knock these peaks off the to do list.

A semi early departure of about 5 am got us to the road. It certainly was rough, but did see some lower cars made it up part of the way. They must have some adventurous drivers. We got near the trailhead for parking and saw quite a few people had camped there over night. Good idea for future trips. The most used path up to either peak is straight forward and has a consistent up hill grind. There's also a Kelso Ridge route option that gets more into class 3 to 4 rock climbing, but we decided to wait on that for a future trip.

The most exciting part of the trip was on the way down. We had to cross a snow field. Previously hikers had crossed and worn down a path, enough so that we could slide down part of it but on a gradual descent section on the trail. We thought that was it, but next saw some people just off the trail, sliding straight down the mountain in a valley. What I came to learn was 'glissading'. Before I knew it, Chris jumped into the snow and started sliding down too. So I followed. It was slick, steep, and scary. We slid for several hundred feet, and then dropped off a ridge and onto an even steeper part. It took a few minutes to probably drop down 700-800 feet of elevation. Quite thrilling, and only ended up with some soaked pants and jackets.

Relive video of the hike

Grays & Torreys link: https://www.relive.cc/view/vr63JEV23dO
Blanca link: https://www.relive.cc/view/vRO7GpVG5KO

Pictures

see more on Facebook Murk Travels albums
and 14ers album

the moon is still out

the sun is on the way

view farther into the Rockies

celebrate

at the top

an easy section to walk/slide down

the steep section we glissaded down - you can't even make out the few little specks of people at the top or the path we slid down

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

sand everywhere

We went down to southern Colorado to check out a strange natural phenomenon. First, there's just this great big pile (30 square miles) of sand sitting in the middle of a circle of mountain ranges. But in May, June, and July, the melting snow runoff creates a temporary river right beside the sand. And there's some 4WD only off-road paths to take, which made the 4Runner happy.

But be warned, the water also brings out the bugs for those months too. and the sand gets HOT during mid day, so the best dune hiking is early morning or late afternoon. We also were lucky to even get a camping spot at the national parks campground. I checked 6 months before our trip and they were all sold out except for a few spots. We even had to move between sites the two nights we were there (luckily they were close).

And it was HOT during our stay (got to 100 degrees), so make sure to have shade and plenty of water. Good time to take a nap in the middle of the day in the tents and then drive around a bit in the vehicle with the A/C blasting.

Recommend:

• bring water to hike up the first peaks of the dunes (will take about 2 hours)
• reserve your campsite as early as possible ... or check out campgrounds that are outside the park
• bring bug spray and sunblock
• enjoy the river during the spring/summer months
• if going off-road, make sure you have a high clearance 4 wheel drive (not AWD) vehicle and a way to deflate and inflate your tires
• cardboard and regular sleds don't work to slide down the sand, but there's a place that rents boards just south of the park entrance

Pictures

see more on Facebook Murk Travels - National Parks 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 attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

...better late than never

Looking Back

2018: What an exciting and fun packed year. It started out so refreshing as I removed some dead weight and things that were holding me back. I tried out so many new things as I start to look into what hobbies to get addicted to next: archery, mountain biking, long distance backpack camping ... I also kept up with the things that I already do a lot of: ultra races, day hikes, global trips, music, and going to lots of random events and festivals.

Plus there was adding new family members, having a fun work environment, catching up with friends, volleyball, puppy antics and so much random things. Check out the summary below and follow the links on some of them to more specifics.

Activities

Things that happened in 2018:

Big Travels

• Trip to Belize and Panama
• Trip to Colombia - Bogota, Medellin, and Cartagena

Quick Trips

• race near Charlotte, North Carolina
• wedding in Des Moines, Iowa
• work training in San Francisco, California
• road trip through Sante Fe and Roswell, New Mexico

Hiking 14ers

• Quandary
• Evans
• Bierstadt
• Longs Peak
• Other Colorado hikes

Ultraruns

• Ragnar Road and Ragnar Trail - Colorado and South Carolina
• Grand Traverse
• Cirque Series @ Arapahoe Basin

Festivals

• Hot air balloons
• Tiny homes
• Velorama bike and art
• Pug festival in Denver

Concerts

• Concert overview: A Perfect Circle, Brother Ali, Dan Auerbach, Dashboard Confessional, the Dreamers, Matt & Kim, Micky James, Reason the Citizen, the Regrettes, the Roots, Shannon and the Clams, Weathers, Welles

Life stuff

• Renting a new-old home in Denver
• Sold my home in Minnesota
• Growing puppy
• New tattoos

Looking Forward

I have a bunch of set plans already, but will also be providing you with some surprises throughout the year.

2019 Goals

Things I'm researching or planning for in 2019:

• Trip to Japan
• Trip to Canada
• More 14er hikes
• New vehicle
• New home
• New hobbies

previous year reviews:

• 2017

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

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