Reagan Fuller

RV: Western Slope

By Brandon07.23.2017A Day in the LifeLeave a Comment

Traveled out to the Western Slope (That’s Colorado for the west side of our state) in the RV for the next adventure. Stopped at our favorite town on the way — Glenwood Springs. Been going to this pool forever. Always enjoy it. We go to small hot springs more often but you gotta go to the world’s largest in the summer.

We also went to Glenwood Caverns. Another favorite. The kids didn’t remember much of the caves. I always enjoy the tours into the caves. Just amazing inside. Pictures suck in there.

How do you really photograph a cave?

Such weird formations that took millions of years to form.

Reagan and I took a selfie on the overlook.

There is the town down below. You can see the world’s craziest swing there on the ledge. I posted a video on Facebook of the kids on it. It is totally insane. Swings you out over that canyon.

More cave stuff.

Random shot of tour. That guide was really good. Dan the Cave Man.

Then there was this new ride. A giant swing. On a cliff. I hate the swings even in normal locations. My stomach just says it is getting too old. This one was ridiculous. They would swing you out over the canyon and if the cable broke (not that it would), you would basically fall a few thousand feet down to the Colorado River.

Kayla would ride with hands up. I swore to her to hold on so she didn’t fly out of the seat.

Ride the alpine coaster? Sure! Always fun. Can’t use your phone on the ride so I just took one shot on the climb back to the start.

Another shot of the valley below. Facing west. That is I-70 winding its way out.

Kim rode the sweet zip ride. They put you in the chair and back you up the mountain and let you fly back down.

After our time in Glenwood Springs, we headed further west to meet up with Tim, a friend, who lives in Grand Junction. It was pretty out there. Not such a fun place in the summer. First time we turned on the A/C in the RV to cool it down for the night. We decided to go with urban indoor adventures for the day. Here is a compilation Tim put together of the events.

To escape the heat, Tim took us up on the Grand Mesa. It sits at 10,000 feet so it was 40 degrees cooler than Grand Junction just 30 miles down below. It is the largest flattop mountain in the world. You drive up on top and it unveils a big forest with tons of lakes. So we got out the toys and played in the water. Tim made us a small video.

“I going to get one of these”, says Tim.

Cooper came along in the RV. Our dogs didn’t come on the trip so it was fun to have a surrogate 4 legged friend for the day.

Nature’s TV trays for holding your lunch.

Sydney likes the board. We didn’t have these when we were kids. We had black intertubes. Your butt would have been cold.

Later at dinner, Sydney believed she found good luck when her knife could pick up her spoon.

Before we headed out, Tim took us out to the desert to shoot guns. First time shooting a rifle. That was a kick.

Thanks the for the visit, Tim. It was good to see how they live on the Western Slope.

Mountain Biking Adventure

By Brandon07.14.2017VlogLeave a Comment

Wherein we ride bikes in the woods.

Mount Massive (14,421′)

By Brandon07.13.2017AdventuresLeave a Comment

Distance	11.8 miles (on Strava but should be more like 9 based on our route)
Total Time	7 hr 0 min
Summit Elevation	14,421 feet
Elevation Gain	4,268 feet
Route	Southwest Slopes via North Halfmoon Creek
GPS Analysis	Strava

I usually try and hit one 14er each summer with the kids. Reagan somehow got it in her head when we did Elbert that she needed to do Massive next. I wasn’t too pumped because Massive is long and sort of boring. But that would complete her local Leadville 14ers so that made some sense. I then remembered that a lot of runners like to descend the southwest side during Nolan’s attempts. I had never been over there so I cracked open the Roach book and realized this was a better option. Less trail. Fewer miles. The kids are slow at that stuff because they only move one speed.

The weather all week sucked. Thunderstorms every day. I kept watching because we had the luxury of going when we wanted and there is nothing worse than aborting an attempt with kids. So suddenly a window opened for today and we went for it. Even though the trailhead is close, we were still up at 5. Left around 6:15. Hiking by 7 AM.

I chose to take Roach’s advice and park at the junction of the 4WD road. However, I quickly discovered that next 1/2 mile is easily covered in the truck. The road is single lane but nice and wide. Just some rock inclines. Then plenty of parking at the trailhead. Noted for next time.

It had rained the night prior and the low clouds were still hanging when we left for the trailhead. However, within minutes of starting up through the basin, we saw blue sky. It was going to be a good day.

The trail meanders through the basin for a bit then you hit the big right turn to head up to the Massive ridge. The books said it was possible to miss but I found it pretty easy. There are no other right turns before this. It is pretty obvious right at the end of the clearing. Marked with a cairn and a sign as well.

Then you just go up. The footing is good. Better than say, Sherman. Sort of back of Hope Pass switchback-ish at times. We just kept at it. The kids were having a good time but struggling a bit here or there. No training leading up to this so this was the speed for the day.

We kept at it for a few hours and hit the ridge. I knew things would be easy going from there. You just wind along it searching for the high point which is a bit of a distance north on the ridge. We were all alone on the summit. Stayed for maybe 20 minutes and headed out. The clouds were building and the kids are slow on the down so I wanted as much time as possible. Ended up just being a sprinkle with no thunderstorms or danger on the descent.

Overall, a great day and a successful summit. I was glad to help the kids check another one off their list. I will be excited when we get to do one that is new to me someday so we get to increase our totals together.

My Garmin watch was dead today so I just used the Strava iPhone app for the distance. It overshot according to everything out there. The sign at the trailhead said 3.4 mi (I think) to the summit.

The girls make their own videos for their YouTube channel. So I got out of that job!

Here is the story in pictures…

There was an Army helicopter crash near the trailhead in 2009. Many in Leadville remember it because it occurred just days before the Leadville 100 that year and a portion of the course was closed to the public to work the crash scene. The race was re-routed that year and has never returned to the original course.

A shot of me just ahead of the girls. You can usually spot Reagan in the pink shirt pretty easily. That furthest mountain in the upper left is Mount Elbert, tallest in Colorado. Mount Massive is number 2 by only 12 feet.

We started down in that valley floor along the creek. You might see if it you zoom in. Here we are just working our way up 3000 vertical feet of hillside. Sometimes rock, sometimes grassy.

Getting up pretty high now. Somewhere in the 13,000′ range. Starting to see the peaks to the west. Lots of good 13ers out there that are not as climbable as our 14ers.

Random pano from the saddle on the summit. Massive has five 14,000+ peaks on this ridge. We are just hitting the highest as that is considered the summit.