Adventure Travel Photography Blog
Our final hike on our Mountain Travel Sobek Tour of Portugal Historic Villages began at Lousã Castle on the outskirts of Lousã. We followed route PR2 – LSA to two schist villages, Casal Novo and Talasnal. The 3.2-mile loop hike through the Serra da Lousã was lovely.
HAPPY HIKING!
Well, I left Wyoming with a bang! I couldn’t be happier with my final hike of the summer. Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest is a hidden gem! I can’t believe I overlooked this place when I lived only 3 hours away in Denver. The Lakes Trail is fantastic.
The biggest city closest to Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest is Laramie, Wyoming, approximately 45 miles east. Fort Collins, Colorado is about 1.5 hours southeast and Denver 3 hours. As a result, day trips are good options, though camping along with mountain cabins dot WY-130.
Additionally, two very small towns flank both side of the forest, Saratoga to the west and Centennial to the east. Centennial is equipped with a small general store and a restaurant. Saratoga is much bigger. It has a gas station, some restaurants, hot springs, a museum, a grocery store, and a nice dog park.
HAPPY HIKING!
My first 24 hours in Wyoming were a little rough. I drove through two hailstorms. While looking for a camp spot, I got stuck in the mud and had to get a tow from some nice cowboys. And finally, Annie cut her paw and lost her brand-new bear bell on our first hike to Grouse Mountain and Ice Caves. But, after waking up to a magnificent sunrise, breathing in the fresh mountain air, and spotting deer, pronghorn, and grouse during the first two hours of my hike, I’m quickly reminded why I venture into the wilderness. #thatsWY
HAPPY HIKING!
For the first time since Memorial Day, I finally got to reconnect with Jim, Diana, and Danelle to hike Kettle Ponds. My fellow hiking buddies, along with Zoe the dog, were staying up in Breckenridge Saturday night. Annie and I arose early Sunday morning to meet them in Silverthorne, CO at the trailhead.
HAPPY HIKING!
Pennsylvania Mountain is a 13,000 foot mountain located near Fairplay, Colorado. Access to the trail head is via a well graded dirt road. When I arrived early on a Saturday morning, I was the first car in the cul-de-sac parking area.
HAPPY HIKING!
I have been wanting to hike to Lake Isabelle for a long time. For some reason, however, I only think about it in the winter time when the gate is closed which requires many extra miles along the road. Finally, I timed my hike to coincide with opening day at Brainard Lake Recreation Area.
HAPPY HIKING!
Thunderhead Trail is the most popular hiking route on Mount Werner, the ski mountain in Steamboat Springs. The point to point trail travels 3.3 miles from the base of the mountain to the summit.
GO HIKING!
I changed up my hiking scenery this past week. Instead of heading toward the Rocky Mountain foothills near Bailey, I ventured toward the foothills near Loveland, Colorado. Here, I hiked the trail to Stone Mountain.
GO HIKING!
I just recently posted about South Park Trail and the hike I completed the following day, Bruno Gulch, intersects this trail at a location farther south. That tidbit of information isn’t terribly important if you are only looking for a short and easy hike, but if you are looking for more distance, these two trails may be hiked together as a point-to-point.
GO HIKING!
Another month at home in Colorado during COVID equals another weekend at Estabrook, our family ranch near Bailey, Colorado. This time, a friend of mine, Tina, came up from New Mexico. She is a nuclear scientist, and I really enjoy our intellectually stimulating conversations. Such chats have sometimes been lacking during my retirement years.
Anyway, she is also a hard core hiker and definitely ran me through the ringer during the early hiking season in Colorado. While she is already in better shape than me, she had additional advantages. She lives at a higher altitude in Albuquerque, and has already been enjoying hiking weather.
Aside from the usual hike we do on our property, we set out on two more hikes for the weekend. The first was Shelf Lake and the second was Rolling Creek.
HIKE AWAY!