South Boulder Peak (Attempt)
After the short hike up Mt. Moriah the weekend before, the Relevance group and I decided to attempt something a little harder. Maybe we choose *too* hard because I was totally not ready for the hike and for the first time in the mountains, my breakfast wanted to come out halfway up the hike.
The hike itself from Eldorado Springs Mesa Trailhead is 6.75 miles roundtrip and gains 2,904 vertical feet. An astounding 2,000ft is gained in one mile through Shadow Canyon (for math nerds that’s nearly a 21 degree slope), try that on your treadmill!
We met at WCON at 9am and were hiking in Boulder by 9:45am. Will, being the outdoorsman of all of us, didn’t bring any food, water, or any of the other “ten” essentials that one should take on a hike. In fact, he was going to do the hike in his cowboy boots and jeans!
About 10 minutes into the hike one reaches the staircase of the Homestead Trail.
We stayed in the shade most of the day (hence the name, Shadow Canyon), however, occasionally we walked passed portions that were in the sun, and occasionally we had to cross the “crick”.
Soon enough the trail got steeper and I was not having a good day. However, as they say, anyday out hiking beats anyday working so while I was having a good time, I definitely was slowing the group down.
Eventually we made it to the saddle between South Boulder Peak and Bear Peak, and I called it quits for the day. The group however continued on. Due to high winds and snow, most turned around, however Will and Geli did make it to the final summit ridge for a brief look over the other side.
On the way back down we made much better time and my stomach finally started feeling better. We were all super hungry but since it was St. Patricks Day, most people had other plans and wanted to get going.
This hike definitely is one of the steepest day hikes around Boulder and a good trail to prepare on for the mountains in central Colorado.
Relevance Retreat
For those of you who didn’t come, you missed out.
Thanks to Aaron and his pastor for allowing us to have a place in the mountains to getaway for the weekend and have some fun.
After everybody arrived at the church *ahem*, we made one last stop at King Soopers to get S’mores, or rather the ingredients to make such a thing. I-25 was still pretty crowded but we made good time and everybody stayed together as we arrived at the cabin an hour and 45 minutes later. Well, two vehicles arrived at the cabin, and one vehicle had a long walk of shame up the final hill in the mud that stopped it in it’s tracks. 
The hot tub was a good idea in theory. You have the mountains…the stars…the cold air…the warm jets, but as the people who actually got in the “hot” tub realized, 90 degrees isn’t very hot, in fact, it makes you colder faster. Regardless, Colleen and I couldn’t believe how long the group stayed in.
Soon enough it was time to unpack and play some games. The drive made us hungry so Aaron and Eric made some Monkey Bread while the rest of us chatted. (Notice that we have enough food to feed us for an entire week, yet we were only there one night.)
After mass sugar consumption the group promptly went into a sugar coma and everybody headed for bed.
The next morning half the group had to leave early, so the remaining group members picked out a hike to go on. Mt. Moriah sounded pretty good, as it was close, short, and just enough of a challenge to be interesting.
After we found the trailhead we got started hiking and soon found out that there was in fact snow still left on the hills. Not necessarily enough to go sledding, but enough to cause one to pay attention as they crossed over it.
As we neared the top, the final section required some scrambling which everybody did awesome at!
From the top we could see that it was starting to snow everywhere around us so we had better head down quickly. Soon enough we were back at the trailhead.
Aaron, John, Courtney, Colleen and I decided to give the local greasy spoon a try. It turned out to be awesome, however the “rattlesnake” jack bites don’t actually contain any real rattlesnake, and I was thusly disappointed.
After a quick cleanup of the cabin, we started our trek back to Denver and started making plans for the next hike. South Boulder Peak this upcoming Saturday at 9am. Meet at WCON if you want to come! Bring water and some snacks as the hike will probably take until 1pm.
We’re Going to Make Great Parents
Andy and Cheri wanted us to watch their kids for an evening. We ate pizza, watched tv and then they crashed. Literally.
And no, there was nothing mixed in with their milk.
