Colorado Trip: Part Deux

Fall River Road drop off!



Thursday: Our first rest day. While Patti hung out in the coffee shop working away on her dissertation, I decided to take T-Schohl's local beta and head to Old Fall River Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. This was a gravel, one-way uphill 11-mile long drive with switchbacks and sheer dropoffs with no guardrails on either side of the road. The road led to Fall River Pass at 11,796 ft elevation where I was able to see some of the most epic views of the trip so far. The air was thin, the wind was blowing strong and as much as I felt like I could get blown right off the mountain, I felt like I was on top of the world.







I had such a great time driving up this road, jammin Big Blue out to Don't Let Go by En Vogue, and taking in this magnificent scenery. These little rest day excursions on climbing trips really help me to refocus and realize that climbing is not the most important part of the trip.



On the way up to Fall River Pass

Fall River Pass
On top of the world!
 On the way to the 420 boulders
Thursday night, we hung out at the Visitors Center in town where there was a nice picnic table to cook dinner on right near the river. We enjoyed wine and dinner while watching a beautiful sunset. Life is good!

Friday: We woke up early and headed to Ft. Collins to meet up with T-Scholl and drive out to Poudre Canyon. The drive from Estes to Ft. Collins was about 1hr 15min plus about another 1hr or so out to the boulders. No cell reception for the hour drive out there definitely made you feel a bit vulnerable. Matt showed us some really classic boulders including the Hatchery boulder, the 420 boulders, and the Gandalf area. The area reminded me of desert with the cactus and heat. The air smelled of fresh sage and pine. Although it was hot (about 85 degrees) there was no humidity and literally every problem we got on was classic and fun. The movement and the rock were just STELLAR! Over our two days there, Patti managed to put down Puffing Stone v(?), Scuba Steve v5-6, Marlin v7, and Scarface v6 which were all phenomenal. I was able to put down Puffing Stone v(?), Scarface v6, and Against Humanity v7. We definitely had a bit of a scare going across the river to the Gandalf area to get to Against Humanity. The river was high, deep and running FAST. Patti crushed it first, which gave T-Schohl and I more confidence to get over. Thank god we made it, cause for a min there I thought for sure I was headed downstream for good! 

I wasn't able to take many pics from Poudre Canyon but we did manage to get a lot of good video footage. 

Sunrise at our camping spot

Saturday: We left Poudre in time to get back to Ft. Collins for the free New West Fest music festival. We were able to catch Valerie's belly dancing show and watch Ben Harper perform! Ft. Collins is a pretty cool town, for sure the hottest temps we've had so far this trip.

Sunday: Rest Day #2. After much contemplation of going back to RMNP or trying out Mt. Evans, we have decided to rest today and grow some skin back. Tonight, we will head to Idaho Springs so we can check out Mt. Evans on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for the last leg of our trip! Super stoked to see yet another area of Colorado! It has been a great adventure thus far.

Big move on Scarface, such a cool boulder!

Location: Poudre Canyon, CO

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