Snowmass Lake

Finally!!!! I have tried several times to get to Snowmass Lake, which lies at the base of Snowmass Mountain, and now I realise I got a lot closer just hiking than I knew at the time. This time we rode the horses – it still took just over 3.5 hours from the Snowmass Creek trailhead to the lake and just over 3 hours to get back. It was so worth it – this is breathtakingly beautiful!

We are so lucky to live surrounded by such beauty so I was stunned to see just how spectacular this lake is. Right before the lake there are falls that seem to come down a solid rock face about 30-50 feet high. A guy was fishing the hole at the bottom and actually caught a fish while we were watching!

I was surprised at how many campsites there were at the lake and how many people we met who had camped for the Labor Day weekend. Some of them had come over Buckskin Pass which links this to the Maroon Bells. There is a sign on the side that we came up warning that one may not tether horses within a quarter mile of the lake so we took some pictures and briefly enjoyed the views. There are also campsites located right where that sign is so I am guessing that if you are riding that is where you would need to stay.

The beaver ponds on the way are also very beautiful. They are about 1 hour (hiking) below the lake on the Snowmass Creek trail. We saw lots of marmots just above the beaver ponds calmly sunning themselves on rocks in the wildflower-covered meadows. Some were a lovely golden colour that I have not seen before.

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Capitol Lake on horseback

On Friday we went up to Capitol Lake on horseback. This is the first time my daughter has gone the whole way to the lake. Capitol is my favourite mountain in the area and there is at least one other post on this blog as well as the header photo! It is so spectacular as the sides are so very steep. It is over fourteen thousand feet and a guy who took our photo was setting up to hike the knife edge ridge the next day. It will be his 53rd colorado fourteener! He said he started in his twenties and is now in his fifties. Wow.

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Home Improvements

Today I finally got this amazing window film installed by Peak Solar Control. It provides a 50% heat block and 99.9% UV block. My windows are great for the view but definitely let way too much heat in during summer and also let the heat out during the winter. Now they won’t! The film is called Vista and is Energy Star rated. I am applying for a rebate offered by Pitkin County – watch this space!

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American Lake

Stephi and I were going to hike Cathedral Lake but changed our minds and went up to American Lake instead. With bug spray!!!! And we even lent our bug spray to other hikers who were in the position I was in last Saturday. American lake trailhead is about 11 miles out of Aspen on the Castle Creek Road. It is a super easy trailhead to get to – right off the paved road. We did the round trip in 3.5 hours with lunch at the lake.

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Avalanche Creek

Time for another hike up Avalanche Creek. The trailhead is about 45 minutes from my house. I hiked out for about three hours then turned back. I am guessing I was about halfway to the Avalanche Lake. The wildflowers were beautiful but the bugs were awful!!!! I was very happy to see Carl heading towards me with the horses – and riding pants 🙂 A great ride back to the trailhead and a good reminder to me to take bug spray!

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Birthday!

It was my birthday on the 16th and my daughter decorated the house as a surprise! I am still finding confetti all over the place!

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A weekend ride

We rode Carl’s horses up into the country behind Redstone. This time we went further than in my previous post and we camped way out by Huntsman Ridge. I think a bear was watching us as we found fresh bear scat about 100 feet away from our camp in the morning. As we rode down from camp a deer was nestled in the forest. She didn’t think we could see her and made no attempt to move despite our dogs being with us. The dogs did not see her at all.



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Horse riding at Capitol

Capitol is my favourite mountain in the area. It has a knife edge ridge which some people hike (not me!) and a beautiful lake at the base. There are two trails that meet up about 4 miles in. It is seven miles to the lake. The header picture on this blog is taken at the meeting point. We rode out on one trail and back on the other on Sunday. The picture is taken at the trailhead and Capitol is the mountain right behind my head! The wildflowers are stunning and so are the waterfalls as there is still so much snow melting. We had two fun river crossings!

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Waterskiing at Ruedi

We are so lucky here. About 30 minutes from Basalt there is a reservoir called Ruedi. This is also the location for the Aspen Yacht Club! This photo was taken quite early in the morning – around 7:30am – as we were determined to get some skiing in before any breeze came up. The water was glassy and smooth – perfect 🙂

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Last weekend – rafting and skiing!

Wow – where else can you go rafting and skiing on the same weekend? I love living here:) We went rafting on a section of the Colorado known as Ruby Horsethief. As we were able to get on the river at Loma on Friday we were able to have Saturday as a layover day and did two really cool hikes. Our friend Carl wanted to take his boat so ours stayed at home this time. He does have a cool boat! 

We camped at Blackrocks which is one of my favourite river camping places.

 

    

   

 

 

 

Then on Monday we went skiing on Aspen Mountain which was open for skiing all weekend! We were super lucky with the weather and skiied in sunshine all but our first run! Unbelievably good snow cover and lots of fun bumps to play in.

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