After spending our holidays gorging on cookies and chips and a *few* drinks here and there, it was time to leave home and brave the cold in order to shun some of the love around our waists. We did the first hike of 2014 in the beautiful but very windy Rocky Mountain National Park (35 miles NW of Boulder) this past weekend. The 40 mph gusts made for some interesting hiking conditions in the drifting snow. I had done the same trail 2 months ago and the deep snow made it feel like a different trail altogether. The lakes were completely frozen over. The trail and the signs was buried under snow so it was hard to follow the actual trail.
It’s late but we wanted to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! Hope your 2014 is filled with joy, love and fun adventures.We aim to hike more this year and perhaps attempt a 14er in summer which would involve waking up at 3am in the morning and getting to the trail head by 5am to beat the noon thunderstorms. Perhaps I need to practice waking up early first, something I am really really really bad at (adding to the long resolutions list for 2014!)
How cool and crazy are these guys!? Only in Colorado…
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_24193166/pair-who-walked-colorado-14ers-expect-hit-58th
Location: Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, CO
Trail Head: Bear Lake Trailhead
Trail: Nymph, Emerald and Dream Lake, 3.6 miles RT
The same trail just 2 months ago:
troupinaround.wordpress.com 
You guys don’t fool around when it comes to the hiking. Holy snow!! Love the black and whites.
Thanks Shelley! It is definitely hard to force myself out of the house in the cold weather…but once I am out, I am glad to experience the peace and serenity in the snow and the woods. Thanks again!
How do you even walk in such deep snow?
You can use snowshoes…we didn’t end up using our snowshoes instead used these cleats that attach to the shoes. The snow was packed down on the trail so it wasn’t hard to just walk with regular hiking shoes. Now if you off the trail, you catch yourself falling in deep snow which ofcourse happened to Dan a few times..
Well, as long as he didn’t lose his sunglasses 🙂 Hope to see you guys stateside soon! Keep hiking, you both are an inspiration to souls trapped in mundane routines.
Thanks dude. Good luck on your new venture! That is a remarkable achievement. Visit us during summer before your school starts so we can take you hiking to all these places.
-Shru
and Dan just recently got new sun glasses. That was a Christmas present (not from me..I learnt my lesson!). Let’s see how long the sun glasses stay with us ;0 🙂
It is so great that you two can explore such beautiful mountains together! Thanks for posting pics — I truly miss Colorado!
Marme
Thank you, Marme! 55 and sunny today. Totally doesn’t feel like Jan this week. I am sure that can change very fast here 🙂
Love that 4th image (b&w), very brooding atmosphere up the valley!
I’d be too scared to go out hiking in that sort of weather..probably because we don’t get anything like that down here I guess. Looks like a blizzard could hit at any second! Gorgeous spot though.