Rock Climbing...

This was from a few weeks ago with some friends at the cliffs near Golden, CO.

Brady showing off his flexibility on the most difficult face of the day.

Maciej checking on Gary below.

A view from the top. The clifs are near the top of a large mesa that overlooks the town of Golden. In this picture, you can see Denver in the background.

Another view from the base of the cliffs. The cliff base is really quite high up the side of the mesa, as you can see here. The buildings below are a water treatment plant and rail yard.

Maciej going up one of the first faces of the day with Edward doing belay. The belay man is constantly watching the climber so that, in case of a fall, he can stop the climbers descent by simply changing the angle he holds the rope. A climber puts his life in his belay mans hands. At the bottom, before the climber starts up, both he and the belay man check each others knots and harnesses to ensure that everything is tied in and clipped properly. Climbing is an awesome display of trust and athleticism. Climbing a shear rock face that most would consider to be physically impossible is a pretty cool feeling too.

Brady and Ed at the base with Maciej on his way up.

Indian Peaks Wilderness

I took a hike with some friends two weeks ago. We went to the Indian Peaks Wilderness: a massive swath of land through which the continental divide runs through, brining with it these lovely mountains. The hike started at 8AM and we knocked out about 8 miles roundtrip, most of which was through deep snow. That was rough without snowshoes which turned out to be a seasonal rental from the university athletic center. Obviously, people at the athletic center don't go for hikes in the mountains in May.

These pics are mostly just to show what it is like up there...absolutely gorgeous. We started at a base elevation of around 10,000 ft and worked our way up to about 12,500 before turning back due to weather.

Lake Isabelle; still quite frozen in May...I wouldn't walk out on it though.

Most of the peaks in the Indian Peaks Wilderness are named after Native American tribes.

Looking back at where we came from...way down the valley and around the bend to the left another mile and a half or so.

Kauai, Hawaii

So this is a bit late coming, but here it is: Kauai, Hawaii. I was there at the end of February for a conference for work, ISSS-8 (International School for Space Simulations). The school kept us fairly busy, but I got a few days to explore the island...and it was amazing.

Chickens. These tasty creatures were introduced to the islands by Europeans (of course). Other than humans, no predators exist on the islands to keep their population controlled, and being the tropical paradise it is, the chickens flourished there. Now they are all over (including the beaches), and despite what every child is told...roosters do not just do their cock-a-doodle-dos in the morning...they do it in the middle of the night too, which is no fun when trying to sleep.

So, Kauai is supposedly the most ruggedly beautiful of the Hawaiian islands. It is no longer volcanically active, but those volcanoes that were there left an amazingly beautiful island. The pics here should help demonstrate that. As always, however, these pictures do little to no justice for the real thing! So this is just one of the random, perfect beaches one can stop at while taking the Kuhio (Kings) Highway along Kauai's north shore. These are scattered all along the side of the road, separated by rugged, rocky cliffs. All of this makes the drive a lot of fun too...just remember to pay attention to the road every once in a while, however hard it may be.

Another beach on the north shore, Secret Beach. Its really not that much of a secret though (as you can see by all the people). Although, I must admit, compared to beaches I have been to on the mainland, Kauai's are quite empty, and it is no problem finding your own massive patch of sand. Secret Beach is famous for its surfing and nude hippies. It is in quite a secluded spot which involves a short hike down a small cliff from a dirt road. Nudists enjoy this beach so much that there are signs posted letting all know that it is indeed illegal to shed your clothes no matter how secluded the beach may be! Pretty funny! The lighthouse on the cliff in the distance adds quite nicely to the whole place as well.

Sunset from a beach along the north shore near Waimea

Same beach near Waimea. There was a family of Hawaiians here that were barbecuing on the beach. The people of Hawaii have an amazing place to live, and they definitely seem to know that and appreciate it.

A valley on the northwest shore, part of the famous Na Pali coast. This corner of the island is a massive series of these rugged ridge lines and lush valleys, making it one of the more popular spots for helicopter tours.

Waimea Canyon: the Grand Canyon of the Pacific!

Waimea Canyon

Sun going down at Secret Beach

One of the many spectacular view from the Kalalau Trail along the Na Pali coastline...a really really awesome hike!

Tunnels Beach....possibly my new favorite beach in the world...definitely tied for first place with my favs from Fiji and Puerto Rico. The water is crystal clear with reefs and tons of tropical fish (nice for snorkeling). The beach is massive and really wasn't that busy while I was there, and I couldn't get enough of the mountainous backdrop...so incredible.

View from Tunnels Beach

Yet another spectacular view from the Kuhio Highway along the north shore.

This small mountain is called the Sleeping Giant. Think of the highpoint as the nose with the forehead (even equipped with an eyebrow). You can kind of make out a mouth line before the chin. The rest of the body must be in a sleeping bag or something because it doesn't have the "defined" features of the head. I really see it as one of those ancient sculptured heads from Easter Island turned over and seen in profile...hopefully that helps everyone see it!

Sunrise from the hotel.

Rocky Mountain National Park

This is just a really quick update. I am really behind on updating this site and I'm really sorry! School is keeping me way too busy, but we are still getting out and about and taking lots of pics of beautiful Colorado. These pics were taken in October at Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP)

From left to right, Dongwon, Missy, me, Laura, and Maciej below the sign...we are at 2.3 miles (3.7 km) above sea level here.

Demonstrating the wonders of Dongwon's camera (used to take these pics)...yes that is indeed the sun DIRECTLY BEHIND ME!

Tristan and Maciej chillin...literally

Just another view in Rocky Mountain National Park

From right to left: Maciej, Tristan, Laura, Missy and me

Longs Peak on the far left (yea I climbed that...) and some other large peaks in the Front Range seen from the West in RMNP

I love Colorado...

Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods

Pikes Peak in all its glory seen from Crystal Reservior on the way up the Pikes Peak highway.
The highway is a road that allows people to drive all the way to the top...14,110 ft. As a 14er (14,000 ft+ peak), Pikes is one of the highest mountains in the United States.

As can also be seen in the first picture, the Aspen trees have started changing colors...and are they ever beautiful. The bright yellow contrasts so well with the evergreens and bright blue sky.

View down on one of the reservoirs from the road up to the peak.

View looking Southeast from the peak. Colorado Springs is the city seen at middle left.

Missy and I at the top of Pike's Peak.

A cabin on the way up. This is right around the tree line and now houses a gift shop. It is an older building though and was used by early climbers as a shelter. They have some interesting factoids about people who have summited before too. For instance, one man once pushed an egg all the way to the top using his nose. It took him something like 23 days...why anybody would ever want to do this? I cannot say. He has been immortalized though on one of the information placards...but would you really want to be remembered for this of all things?

Another view on the way up. Parts of the road are paved, and some parts are just dirt. There are very few guard rails and when you get up above the tree line, you become very, very aware of this. Its an amazing drive and its tough being the driver. The whole time you just want to be looking all around, but with thousands of feet of air just over the shoulder, its pretty important to keep your eyes on the road!

Another view showing the beautiful colors and scenery we were lucky enough to be surrounded by.

Garden of the Gods, a park along the road between Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak. There are some amazing rock formations here with some awesome hiking and climbing oportunities. The best part is that it is 100% free to visit!

You really cannot get a sense of how high these rocks are unless you are actually there gazing up at them. The colors of the rocks really remind me of Uluru and Kata Tjuta in Australia's Red Centre. These are nearly as large as those, but grand and beautiful nonetheless.

Fortunately, all of the wildflowers are still alive and kicking here in the middle of September.

I nice big crevace. I just loved that tree in the middle in the background. The crevace can be followed all the way up to it too...so neat.

More lovely scenery.

An example of some of the rock colors at Garden of the Gods...that bright white rock and the rusty orange of the others.

Here is the white rock from the last picture. The tree kind of gives you a sense of how large these things are.