Tag: hiking

I Go to Argo and We Spend Time in the Mountains

This past week, my aunt and uncle visited from New Mexico and it was wonderful to see and spend time with someone other than my dad, mom, and sister for a change. While they were here, we spent some time in Idaho Springs and Georgetown and also at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. I go, you go, we all go to Argo! Let me share. 🙂

My aunt and uncle drove in Monday afternoon and that evening was a pretty chill one. We hung around the house and caught up with one another. After all, the last time we saw each other was around Thanksgiving! We usually see each other over Christmas break and sometimes spring break, but things were different this past year, and so those visits didn’t happen. Fortunately, we were able to make this work, with all of the craziness in the world, especially with this virus.

Tuesday morning, we drove up to the small town of Georgetown to catch the Georgetown Railroad Loop train ride. We were required to wear masks at the park, which was an experience in itself, but it felt wonderful to be with family and to be outside! We were the first on the train and it was fun to pick where we sat before anyone else got that chance. We chose to sit in an open top car, which was ultimately a great choice because we got to experience a little bit of a breeze and the sun which was nice. I didn’t realize how much I missed the beauty of the mountains until this train ride. Colorado is a beautiful state and I feel so lucky to call such a gorgeous state my home. Following the train ride, which was about an hour and fifteen minutes long, we stopped for lunch near a lake where some fishermen were hard at work. It was a pretty spot and the chicken croissant sandwiches were a perfect lunch that day. Side-note: If you’re ever looking for something yummy to try, I HIGHLY recommend the chicken salad and croissants from Costco. That’s a pretty good meal if you ask me.

Following lunch, we drove about twenty minutes back to Idaho Springs for a tour at the Argo Mill and Tunnel. This was a place that reallllly taught me not to judge a book by its cover. Driving in, I’m not going to lie, I thought the tour was going to be horribly boring and lame. It was actually quite the opposite. The Argo Mill was the only mill in the United States around the time of the gold rush to pump out any gold products with 95% efficiency, which is a REALLY high number, especially for its time. The Argo Mill was able to produce so much gold because they used a combination of mercury and cyanide to pump out A LOT of gold. The mill’s interior was built from the wood of EIGHT redwood trees and still stands today. Most if not all of the mill is maintained to this day and it was incredible to see how permanent, strong, and truly powerful the mill was. I can only imagine what it looked like in its glory days. While there, we had a wonderful tour guide, named Brooks, so if you ever get a chance to check out the Argo Mill and Tunnel, I recommend it and if you can get Brooks, he’s a super knowledgeable guy, both on mining and on the Argo itself!

There were two stories I really enjoyed from our time at the Argo. The first was about a teacher. At a time when the mill worked consistently, women were not allowed to work there let alone travel in the mine. There was a young woman who could not get to teach at her school without traveling through the Argo Tunnel, so she took a mine cart to then get to a platform that would take her to her classes. There was one day where her skirt got caught on a part of the wooden platform as she was headed up from the tunnel and to escape doom, she twirled out of her skirt, exposing the wire hoop under. Luckily, someone was able to lend her another dress and she got to class. Now, THAT was dedication. The second story was about a water burst at the mill. There are a series of pockets or wells near or under or around the Argo Tunnel and while working in the tunnel, it was assumed that there was twenty feet of dirt and rock between the tunnel and wells, when it was actually only ten. There was a bunch of water in the wells and the pressure was so great that it burst through the layer of rock at an insane velocity. Four men working in that area were killed. Three miles down the tunnel, near the entrance, another man was working and heard the sound of the water coming. Fortunately, this man made it out, but the water had caught up to him by the time he made it to the mouth of the tunnel. I’m horrible, haha, I don’t remember any names! The water shot out of the tunnel at such a velocity that it crossed the valley and sprayed across the valley at the same velocity and with the same insane amount of force for six days. It was apparently, A LOT OF WATER. A really, really, really, strong and supported concrete wall now holds back all of that water.

Stories like these and more are some of the things you will hear about and learn about if you take a trip up to the Argo Mill and Tunnel. While the mill may really not be the most exciting thing in the world, it was certainly interesting and a good change of pace from what I usually like to learn more about.

The next day of my aunt and uncle’s visit we went up to Rocky Mountain Arsenal and walked around Lake Mary and Lake Ladora. It was pretty, but very dry. It was also hot because we made the foolish mistake of heading out around 10 am, when the sun was already really starting to beat down. Thank goodness for water bottles though, am I right? While the views were great, and the company was even better, let’s just say that I was really happy to get out of the heat. When we got home and when my mom got home from work, we had a really good dinner and then played Just Dance together on our Nintendo Switch. It was a lot of fun.

My aunt and uncle had to head out on Thursday morning which was sad, but it had still been great that they got to come. And if you guys are reading this, we look forward to having you again and I’m so glad we got to spend a couple of days with you!!

If you get a chance to and you’re in Colorado, check out the Georgetown Loop Railroad, Argo Mill and Tunnel, or Rocky Mountain Arsenal. Or all three! Do what you please. 🙂 Have a good week and I’ll see you next Sunday!

June 28, 2020
Baños! And Not the Kind You Might Be Thinking…

I ran out of creative ways to say hello to the city I visited. I think what I did works though haha. Like with Quito, I could say hello and with Otavalo, heyo was fun, but I have nothing for this one. Anyway, the next city we stopped in during my study abroad to Ecuador was Baños!

The full name of the city is Baños de Santa Agua (or Holy Water Baths in English), but for short, it is referred to as Baños. This was a pretty touristy town but it was still super cool to visit. We did a lot of fun stuff here. The geography of Baños was very different from anything we had experienced before. We were still surrounded by mountains but the area was much more jungly than before. That was partly due to the fact that we were at one of the gateways to the Amazon jungle.

On our way out from Otavalo to Baños, we visited Rose Success, one of the many rose farms in Ecuador. It was really cool to see all of the greenhouses and be around SO MANY roses. In Ecuador, roses don’t have as much value as they do in the United States, because they are in abundance there. You could buy a dozen roses for $2 there as opposed to the at least $12 you would spend on the same bouquet here. Crazy! After our business visit, we stopped at Pujili Market which is one of the many fruit and vegetable markets in that area. It was so cool to see that much fruit and all of the unique products sold. We got to try some passionfruit and that was pretty weird but good at the same time. And I learned the proper way to eat mangoes that day too! If you’re ever curious, let me know and I’ll teach you.

The next stop on our journey to Baños was a painter’s house and we had the opportunity to watch him paint a traditional Ecuadorian painting. These types of painting always include the condor (the national bird of Ecuador) and a volcano. There are typically other features commonly seen in these paintings including llamas and working people. The tradition behind the paintings is really fascinating and if you ever have time to learn about it, I highly recommend it! The arts and crafts tour continued with another stop at a pottery place where we had the chance to make our own pieces using volcanic clay. We created our pieces in a traditional way. To do this, we had to take a chunk of clay and then press it into the mold we were given. Mine had a farmer with some llamas in it. 🙂

Following that, we stopped for ice cream in a town called Salcedo, which specializes in dairy products because of all of the cows they have there. The coconut ice cream was reallllly good. And then after dessert, we had dinner and then arrived at our new hotel, the Alisamay Hotel in Baños.

That night, I’m pretty sure I got the WORST sleep I’ve ever gotten in my entire life. There was this dang rooster at the house next door to our hotel and it screeched all night. I’m not even exaggerating. He must have had a lot to say. Regardless of the lack of sleep I got, I still had a really fun day the next day.

On January 8th, we started our day off with a hike to a beautiful waterfall. The hike wasn’t anything too taxing which was nice. The views of the waterfall were spectacular too. And after the waterfall hike, the physical intensity picked WAY UP. We went to this spot where you could zipline across a canyon and then zipline back. The ziplining was SO different from the ziplining I’ve done before. Instead of sitting in the harness, we were hoisted up once the harness was attached to our chests and the line and then our feet were placed into what I will describe as a baby harness. With this zipline, I basically flew like Superman. It was really cool but kinda painful. I can’t imagine how the guys felt doing this. Yikes… When we got to the other side, we were taken down from the line and had to carry all of our gear up a mountain (I’m not really exaggerating. The hike was intense and my lungs hated me for it haha) to then get reattached and fly back the other way.

I enjoyed the zipline experience but would I ever do it like that again, probably not. There was something just so fun about the ziplining I did in Hawaii that made it better than what I experienced in Ecuador. And now you might think, wow, that’s a lot to do in one day. Did you go to bed after? The answer to that question is no. We hadn’t even had lunch yet!

After the zipline, our bus drove us up to La Casa del Arbol which is this treehouse at the top of one of the mountains in that area. It’s owned by a man who keeps an eye on all of the volcanoes in the area and if one of them begins to show signs of eruption, he notifies the government. At this place, there was this swing attached to a treehouse and you could swing “off the edge of the world”. It was a cool experience and as a disclaimer, we were not going off the edge of the world, it was more off the side of a decently steep hill. It wasn’t even a cliff. And we only had to pay $1 to get to the park! Pretty nice right? I enjoyed the swing, but I really enjoyed the view more than anything. It was gorgeous up there.

And with our incredibly long morning complete, we FINALLY had lunch. It was around 2 in the afternoon when we finally got to a market to grab some food. The food, by the way, was INCREDIBLY good. I’m not sure if it was good just because I was starved or it was actually good. I’m pretty positive that it was a combo.

With that busy day coming to a close, we then headed back to the hotel to shower and relax and then went to dinner at this really nice hotel with a restaurant called the Luna Volcan. I got to try ceviche for the first time here and I was really pleased with how much I liked it. Thanks for the recommendations, Dad 😉

The next day, after another sleepless night thanks to Señor Rooster, was quite relaxing. We only had a half-day left in Baños and we had the chance to do whatever we wanted that morning. Some of the girls and I went to this spa that wasn’t too far from our hotel called Huellas Natural Spa and the experience was pretty good. The massage I had was probably one of the best I’ve ever had, and while the manicure was pretty mediocre, the service was still great and I was shocked at how decent it all was in general for $45. I had a facial, full body massage, and manicure. After the mini spa day, we went to lunch at this place called Honey that had massive milkshakes and extremely yummy paninis. I don’t think I’ve ever had a milkshake that contained that much sugar in my entire life. I definitely crashed on the bus later.

We had a chance to explore Baños until about 3:15 that afternoon and then we were off to our next city, Riobamba. That’ll be a story for next Sunday. Have a great week and I’ll see you all next Sunday! 🙂

February 16, 2020
Seeing Fall Colors at Rocky Mountain Arsenal

Another weekend at home made for another fun adventure with my family. This weekend, my sister had to hike for one of her classes, so we did that! We ended up going to Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Commerce City and hiked around several of the lakes there.

Saturday was a beautiful day here in Colorado. It was a little breezy but it was still shorts weather (yay!) so all was good. Our first hike was around Lake Ladona which is one of the larger lakes at Rocky Mountain Arsenal. There was a large, paved main path and then heading into the grass, there was a more narrow and natural trail. I decided to take the more narrow trail that lead through the grass. I thought we were going to get lost while on this trail but thank goodness my dad was paying attention and found an easier dirt trail along the way! Along the trail, we saw deer hoof prints, cattails, a variety of bushes, and of course trees. It was wonderful to see the trees displaying their orange, yellow, and red tones for fall. That’s my favorite part of fall. The trees are always so pretty!

As our hike around Lake Ladona came to an end, we got to pass directly over the lake see more plants and algae. I was hoping to see some frogs, but they weren’t around unfortunately. After finishing up the loop around Lake Ladona, we headed over to a smaller lake, Lake Mary. Lake Mary had a lot of beautiful trees and the view around this lake was gorgeous. There were plenty of little areas to go exploring around Lake Mary too, which made it more fun.

Hiking at Rocky Mountain Arsenal is totally a family-friendly experience. The hikes are easy and there are lots of places to stop to rest and also take pictures! At the visitor center, there’s a lot of valuable information about the arsenal and the animals that call it home. One of Rocky Mountain Arsenal’s greatest contributions is to the black-footed ferret population. They’ve helped bring the ferrets back in numbers and do amazing things to educate society on the cute, little prairie dog hunters.

So if you’re looking for a fun, easy hike, near Commerce City, Colorado, Rocky Mountain Arsenal is the place for you. My family and I really enjoyed our time there. What a fun way to spend time in the great outdoors. Have a good week everyone!

October 14, 2018
A Trip to Triangle Mountain

I haven’t been on a hike in forever. This past weekend, that changed. My roommate and one of my friends and I decided it was time to explore the mountains just outside of Fort Collins. While we were looking for a good hike, my roommate and I stumbled upon one up Triangle Mountain. According to the app we used, it said that the hike was going to be easy, and based on previous recordings, the hike was estimated to take an hour and a half. Sounds easy enough right? Boy were we wrong!

After a quick stop at Rocky Mountain Bagel Works for breakfast (which has really good cheap bagels by the way!), we were in for an hour drive up to the trailhead. Triangle Mountain is located in the Roosevelt/Arapaho Forest not too far outside Glen Haven, Colorado. Once we parked the car, it took us a little while to find the actual trailhead since it wasn’t even marked. When we did find the trailhead though, the only direction we could go was up. Directly, up. Oh my goodness, was that an incline. From the get-go, we were working our butts and thighs and I was doing my best to stay balanced and not fall over. Haha.

As the hike progressed, the view got better and better and it also got hotter and hotter. Thankfully we started early in the morning and came prepared with plenty of water and sunscreen. Triangle Mountain was a challenging but fun hike in that there were multiple false peaks. We thought we had reached the end, only to find that the trail continued! And when I say the trail continued, there wasn’t an easy-to-follow trail but we could easily distinguish where people had walked before us. We hiked through some wonderful shady areas, plenty of grassland, and even up and around some boulders and rocks.

As most would say, my favorite part of the hike was the summit. The peak of Triangle Mountain sits at an elevation of 8,415 feet. That’s pretty high up! I was honestly quite surprised that I made it up all the way, considering I have asthma, or some form of an inability to breathe when I overheat or work myself out too hard. 🙂 The view was gorgeous from the top and the world felt so still. It was a wonderful time up there. At the top, we had lunch and then it was time to head back down.

Heading down was definitely an exciting time. We strayed from the trail quite a ways and found ourselves in a valley with lots of cacti and scraggly, dry brush and tree branches. After wandering for quite a while and eventually having to do some bouldering, we found our way back to the trail and it was smooth sailing from there.

When we found our way back to my roommate’s car, we took some time to cool off in the nearby creek and then began the journey back to Fort Collins. On the way back though, we stopped by this super cute little store called the Colorado Cherry Company. They had a variety of fruit ciders, jams and jellies, pies, strudels, and tea! Most of it was centered around cherries, which makes sense, and they even offered free samples! I got some cherry taffy, peach tea, and honey sticks for myself and my family and then it was actually time to head back to Fort Collins.

Beside the fact that I got beat up by a rock, we got lost for a while, and I got sunburnt even after applying what felt like a bottle of sunscreen, I had a great time. The hike was a good work out and it was different than what I’ve been used to lately.

I will say that even though the app we used (All Trails) claimed that Triangle Mountain was an “easy” hike, that was no easy hike. There’s a lot of challenging terrain and short bursts of intense working-out, so if you want to give this hike a try, be ready for an intense one. It wasn’t what I would describe as hard, but it was definitely NOT easy. Also, to whoever said that the hike only took them an hour and a half, they must be some hiking god because my roommate, friend, and I spent about four hours on the hike. Granted, we did take time to look around and drink water and apply more sunscreen, but still!

As I write this post today, I’m not afraid to admit that I feel a bit sore after yesterday. Will I hike again in college? I hope so! Will I do that intense of a hike again? We’ll see. I just know that after that experience, I will do much more research on the hike in question. I definitely want to know more about what I get myself into. Happy trails and have a good week everyone! 🙂

September 23, 2018