On Saturday, Amanda and I headed out on our annual Fall Colors trip. This year we decided to do some exploring around Kebler Pass and Ohio Pass.
We started out our day by heading over to Lost Lake. We hiked up to the lake and took some photos along the way.
Reflection in Lost Lake Slough
Amanda took this one of me
Part of the trail to Lost Lake
Looking up at the golden Aspens
We have arrived
Well, it looks like my footwear needs are finally met for a while (until I need something warm for the snow this winter…). I have needed a good pair of sandals for a while, and I finally picked up a pair today from REI.
I ended up getting the Chaco Z/1 Unaweep sandals in black. Made by a company located in Paonia, CO (not too far from GJ)….unfortunately they are no longer made locally.
So far they are comfortable, but only time will tell how much I like them, and how well they hold up. I just wish I had them yesterday on the river!
A little late on this report. Two Sundays ago I decided to do some hiking at the Colorado National Monument. I left home without much of a plan, and when I got to the park I decided to hike to Devils Kitchen…then a little bit of No Thoroughfare Canyon. Finally I took the short Otto’s Trail to an overlook of Monument Canyon. I have been meaning to use the 50mm Canon lens I bought at the beginning of the year more, however I always seemed to lazy to change lenses. To force myself to try using this lens more, it was the only lens I brought for my camera on this short trip. It was definitely weird for me to not be able to zoom in or out. Anyways, here’s some of the photos I took during my hike with the Canon ‘nifty-fifty’ lens 🙂
Devils Kitchen
Since I’ve been doing more and more hiking, I decided that I wanted to give trekking poles a try and see how well they work out for me. Obviously I didn’t want to go out and spend a ton of money on something I may not end up using, but I did some research and found out that Walmart actually sells some poles that are pretty decent by Outdoor Recreation Group. They have camlocks, are height adjustable and seem to be of pretty decent quality for the price (only time will tell on that, though).
Hopefully I’ll get a chance to try them out very soon and can give them a better review.
Since Friday I have worn my new Keen’s to work, in the mountains and in the desert. Yesteray in the mountains, I made sure to test the waterproofness by walking through a few streams. I got to do a few miles of hiking in them this morning in the canyons and washes at the Colorado National Monument. I also did some minor climbing in them on some sandstone.
Overall, I am very pleased with their performance and their comfort. Now I just need to see how well they hold up in the longer term 🙂
