A Week in Colorado

I spent last week in Colorado, both for work and play. Over the years, the number of people that I am close to, both family and friends, who live in the Denver/Boulder area seems to have grown somewhat exponentially. I flew out a few days before my conference so I could spend time with several of them. I met up with my brother Friday afternoon and we drove up to Roxborough State Park. Roxborough's claim to fame is the upright rocks of the Fountain Formation, a sandstone formed around 300 million years ago during the Pennsylvanian Period. This formation also forms the Flatirons in Boulder, Colorado, and Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.

We didn't have a lot of time to explore because the park closes at 5 p.m. in the winter, but we were able to walk around for about 45 minutes. That was enough to get a few nice views.  

This is looking east from the trail. There is a 12-point Mule Deer Buck in the center of the photo. Unfortunately, I only had my small camera with me, so I couldn't get a good picture of him.

On Saturday, my brother and I went hiking in Castelwood Canyon State Park. The park includes ruins of Castelwood Canyon Dam, which failed in 1933. The canyon itself is a pretty jumble of boulders and a clear, babbling creek.

 Looking down towards the canyon.

 Aspens along the canyon trail.

 Dried Oak leaves.

This boulder is interesting because it fell off of the cliffs above (as a side note, those are full-size trees around it). Then the lake formed by Castlewood Canyon Dam deposited sediment around it, partially burying it. Once the dam failed, the creek eroded the sediments away on one side of it, leaving it as it is today.

I spent Saturday night with my friend from Tangled Up in Denver and her family. Then, on Sunday, I visited friends who moved to the Denver area from DC. We took a drive up towards Mt. Evans Sunday evening. 

The road was mostly clear. As we were driving up, we did see a snowplow on its way down. 

Echo Lake, which, according to Wikipedia, is at 10,600 feet. It was cold. And beautiful. We turned around at Echo Lake because it was getting cold and headed back to Idaho Springs for dinner. We ate at Tommyknocker Brewery, which clearly survives on the quality of its beer rather than that of its food. On Monday, I met up with my coworkers and began a week of a conference, meetings, and good restaurants in Denver. I had a great time, especially seeing my brother and friends and exploring, but I'm glad to be home.