2023 Adventuring Year-in-Review

In the past I’m not sure how I’ve felt about year-in-review posts, but I think of all years, it is needed for 2023 for personal reasons. It is so easy to get bogged down in the minutia and mundane of every day life that one forgets exactly how awesome things were!

January

For many years my friend Seth has arranged a group mountain bike ride up Towers Road in Fort Collins, so I decided to show up and hike with my friend Tom. What a way to kick off 2023! January was spent with a lot of time on the trainer riding on Zwift, and I joined in on my friend Alan’s “29th-ish Birthday Ride” that he does annually. We rode 65 miles through northern Larimer County. Tom and I then hiked Greyrock Mountain over the long holiday weekend in mild winter temperatures. I topped off the month snowshoeing at Happy Jack, an area I have ridden my mountain bike a gazillion miles, but have never explored by foot.

I also got creative, and made my own passport stamp book since I rapidly filled up some regions in the standard little one. Now I can just stamp in chronological order!

February

February started off with a hike up Deer Mountain, one of Rocky Mountain National Park’s more reasonable mountain hikes. The next weekend I did a short snowshoe at Corner Mountain outside of Centennial, before jumping into the Snow Dawg fat bike race at Happy Jack (yeah, still occasionally casually racing bikes!). 

Presidents Day weekend was for adventure! Tom and I decided to take a little road trip, seeing Capulin Volcano National Monument, Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument, Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, and Palo Duro Canyon State Park. We also saw some Route 66 sights near Amarillo, Texas, before heading north to hike to Oklahoma’s high point, Black Mesa. Fast and furious weekend of exploring new things!

I rounded out February exploring some of the hiker-only trails on Pilot Hill outside of Laramie and skiing in the sun at Snowy Range Ski Area.

March

Continuing to do bike racing retirement poorly, I raced in the Chubby Chaser at the beginning of March, coming in 2nd which is way better than I thought I’d accomplish! The following week I traveled to Oregon for work for a commercial film shoot, which was an outstanding few days of great food, company, and learning all about how professional filming happens! The team appreciated my insight into the area as I could help pick out restaurants in Hood River and point out waterfalls in Columbia River Gorge. On the official last day of winter I hiked Hewlett Gulch, and finished out the month with a long hike at Curt Gowdy State Park, exploring the trails that encircle Crystal Reservoir.

April

In attempts to make more adventure buddies, I joined some ladies from a Facebook hiking group for a snowshoe trek up Coney Creek to Coney Flats in the Roosevelt National Forest. The following weekend was closing weekend at Snowy Range Ski Area, so I donned my fuzzy llama onesie for one last day of shenanigans on my “slippery sticks” for the season. 

When another Mount Saint Helens summit attempt looming, the next April weekends were all focus on putting solid elevation gain into my legs, starting with hiking Crosier Mountain via the Rainbow Trail. On Earth Day I met up with the same ladies from my Coney Creek snowshoe for an attempt of the “Boulder Skyline Traverse.” It was super snowy, but I have great company in Maryam. Together we knocked out South Boulder Peak, Bear Peak, and Green Mountain before descending down to a trailhead… not quite the traverse, but the “Boulder Trifecta” instead. It was still 4,400 feet of elevation gain, nearly 13 miles and over seven hours of hiking… the perfect training I needed! As a final round of training, Tom and I summited Mount Olympus and Emerald Mountain outside of Estes Park.

May

Three words: Mount Saint Helens!!! On the third trip to try to climb this volcano, I made it to the summit! Whew!

May would be when I would take one of my big trips of the year, road tripping to the southern Colorado National Park Service units. I started off on May 20th with Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, and then traveled to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, Hovenweep National Monument, Yucca House National Monument, Mesa Verde National Park, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Chimney Rock National Monument, and Great Sand Dunes National Park. 

June

A few of my friends from work, Janice and Taylor, took a big interest in hiking and this was the start of “Cirque Du Sore Legs” (though the name would come later after many miles together). I accompanied Janice on her first hike, trekking to Hidden Falls at Curt Gowdy State Park. Welcome to the dark side, Janice! The next weekend we returned to Curt Gowdy, hiking to El Alto.

For a few years now I have wanted to ascend Medicine Bow Peak on a snow route, and Marie and I finally made it happen on June 10th! I then headed out on a work trip to the western end of Wyoming, complete with briefly popping into Grand Teton National Park. High snow levels meant not a lot of hiking, sadly.

In mid-June I traveled down to Trinidad, Colorado, with Tom to race Pony Xpress Gravel, entering the 85km category and coming in third in my age category. We had planned to stay over and climb West Spanish Peak while in the area, but the race left both of us exhausted so we journeyed home after the race. I wrapped up the month exploring Wild Basin in Rocky Mountain National Park, venturing towards Ouzel Lake. 

July

Finally the day came, July 1st in fact, to hike Mount Elbert – Colorado’s high point and the second highest point in the contiguous United States. Though my legs were sore, I joined my hiking crew for a hike of Arthur’s Rock the next day (giving truth to the Cirque Du Sore Legs name). Next up was Tour de Wyoming, a six-day bicycle tour that started in Buffalo and went up and over the Bighorn Mountains twice. It was hard, but great seeing this part of Wyoming via bicycle. To wrap up July, I spent a night in the backcountry of Rocky Mountain National Park’s Glacier Gorge.

August

Cirque Du Sore Legs started out August with a hike around Reynolds Hill in the Vedauwoo area. The following weekend I joined a friend on an impulse road trip to Cooke City, Montana. We rode our bikes into Yellowstone National Park before heading to Cody, Wyoming, to spend the night. The very next day we were heading back to Cheyenne, stopping in Meteetssee for a quick bike ride. Yay for spontaneous, fast-and-furious road trips! 

Next up was two nights at Lost Lake in the northern reaches of Rocky Mountain National Park, with a day hike to Lake Husted and Lake Louise. This was an arduous campsite to reach, but it was so worth it to spend a few days in solitude in this remote part of the park. I finished out August with a hike to Bridal Veil Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park, and a few days later I backpacked into the Siskin campsite in Wild Basin.

September

As part of my two-night stay at Siskin in Wild Basin, I summitted Mount Alice, a remote 13,000 foot peak in Rocky Mountain National Park. This would end up being the longest hike – mileage and time – that I have ever done! I stayed another night at Siskin before backpacking out to enjoy being lazy the rest of my Labor Day weekend. The next weekend Janice and I hiked to Lake Haiyah, Emerald Lake, and Dream Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park. 

I then flew to Washington, DC, for work. I decided to take some personal leave to bookend the trip, and was able to finish out the National Park Service units I had remaining in the region. I was able to take a guided tour of both Frederick Douglass’ house and the Mary Bethune Council House.

I filled the rest of September with mountain biking (my favorite time of year for this activity!). Cirque Du Sore Legs completed a first day of autumn hike in freezing wind chills. The next day I took off on a bushwacking adventure on Pole Mountain, locating the Leg Benchmarks before making my way up to the summit of Pole Mountain. 

October

Before heading off on my big birthday adventure, I snuck in a couple more days on the mountain bike for the year. On October 10th I flew to Las Vegas, and my favorite adventure buddy Eric picked me up to begin a five day adventure through the Great Basin in Nevada. We visited Cathedral Gorge State Park, Great Basin National Park, and Timpanogos Cave National Monument, along with viewing the annular solar eclipse outside of Baker, Nevada. What a great way to turn 40! I was pretty lazy the rest of the month, sticking close to home. 

November

I wish I could write anything else about this month than what I will… On November 4th my friend/former partner, Kubo Kordisch, passed away while racing at the Show Me Rally in Missouri. Those that have read the early blog posts on here will remember him from the “Heidi and Kubo Do Iceland” series, along with trips to Finland, New Hampshire, and the Bighorn Mountains. It was devastating news… well, still is. I’m still processing a lot of emotions and grief. The resulting days, weeks, months have not been easy. Kubo’s endless sense of adventure and living life to the fullest has helped me get through these tough times – things he instilled in me whether he realized it or not. 

The Cirque Du Sore Legs group rallied around me and got me outdoors the next morning after the news for eight miles in Red Mountain Open Space – much needed nature therapy. November was filled with hiking, and the following weekend I made my second trek up Greyrock Mountain for the year, hauling along a Czech pilsner to spend some time in solitary reflection and to toast Kubo. The next day Taylor, Janice, and I hiked up to Mills Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. Keeping with our obsessive hiking in November, the next weekend was dedicated to Ouzel Falls in the Wild Basin area of Rocky Mountain National Park. To round out the month, we jaunted around Turtle Rock at Vedauwoo on the day before Thanksgiving. I spent the long holiday weekend with my parents, enjoying their company and just relaxing.

December

And before we knew it… it was the final month of 2023. Cirque Du Sore Legs started out the month with a blustery hike to Hidden Falls, which I expected to be Type 2 Fun, but ended up we all enjoyed a day on the trails. I then traveled to Houston, Texas, for a work conference, managing to escape to see the Water Wall. As weather turned unseasonably mild, I took the opportunity to hike Mount McConnel in Poudre Canyon.

The holidays were spent in Laramie, kicking off both fat biking and ski season before nestling inside for a white Christmas. I took a bonus day off of work to hike to Sky Pond in Rocky Mountain National Park with some hiking friends, lugging my figure skates along for the ride so I could wild ice skate for the first time. 2023 was topped off with an introduction to ice climbing course from Colorado Mountain School. My guide, Japhy, was amazing, and I was happy to build upon skills I barely learned years ago when I ice climbed in Iceland. In the end I got to tackle, slowly and with a mental breakdown, Hidden Falls in Wild Basin, a nice WI4 climb. 

Several of the things I mentioned in my review still need to be blogged, which I’ll tackle eventually!

On towards 2024!

Ideas are swirling for 2024, but the only firm plan at this time is hiking Culebra Peak in southern Colorado in July as I have a reservation with the ranch who owns the mountain. Since it is a long drive for me, I plan on swinging down to New Mexico to hike Wheeler Peak, the state’s high point, on the same trip.

Otherwise, there are tentative plans for an attempt at Mount Hood in Oregon in June and a hugeeee road trip to Washington and Oregon later in the summer to explore national parks, backpack the coast, and hike. 

Other ideas swirling around include:

• Taylor Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park via Andrews Glacier
• Black Elk Peak in South Dakota
• Fairchild Mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park (probably as a backpacking trip to Lawn Lake)
• Mount Lady Washington in Rocky Mountain National Park

Ha! Those are all mountains! I swear I have other plans, too :) Mostly I just want to see where life takes me!