Conundrum Hot Springs Backpacking Weekend

I was craving a backpacking getaway weekend, and so I booked a ticket to Colorado to go hiking with my best friend from college, Betsy, and my sister, Jenny. I flew in to Denver Thursday night after work, and Betsy picked me up from the airport. We had some girl talk before we hit the hay.

Friday morning and I went for a run in City Park. It is beautiful. I was LOVING all the greenness, everywhere! I had to run 8 miles for my training for the Temecula Half marathon I’m running at the end of October. It was fun to be at a higher altitude (although Denver isn’t in the mountains, but it’s still higher than sea level), but because it’s flat, I was running sooooo much faster than my typical min/mile in San Diego. I averaged 9min/miles for all 8 miles. It felt great!

 

After that, I had a little photo shoot with Betsy’s kitties, before heading to a local coffee shop to get some work done.

There is the cutest bike shop/coffee/bar a few blocks from Betsy’s house, called the Denver Bicycle Café. I got some good work done there, and then had lunch at The District next door. My lunch was amazing! I had a delicious sandwich and a Strongbow for lunch. J I was lovin’ it. Then headed back to Betsy’s to get some more work done.

Took a nap at around 5, before Betsy got home at 6. Oh my goodness. I hadn’t taken a nap since probably before I got employed again. It felt sooooo good. I was knocked out cold. Then we cleaned up and headed to REI to get some last minute stuff for our weekend backpacking trip.

We had dinner at the coolest place, Linger. I’m obsessed with it. The food was fantastic, and they have a really cool rooftop bar. The bar is a “food truck” bar. Who knows how they got it on the roof, but it’s awesome. Then it was home to pack our backpacks for our hike. My sister drove down from Fort Collins late Friday night, and slept at Betsy’s, so that we could all wake up early Saturday morning and drive to Aspen together.

I had never been to Aspen, and was excited to see a part of Colorado I hadn’t seen, because I have been nearly everywhere else. The drive was beautiful, and all the Aspen trees were starting to turn yellow. It truly felt like fall. Sometimes I miss the seasons living out in San Diego, but I just LOVE the ocean. We parked at the trailhead, grabbed our bags, and started walking. 🙂

 

I was soooo excited to disconnect from the digital world for a bit, and just be in nature. No headphones, no phone, no t.v, nothing. Just Betsy, Jenny, and I and nature. I LOVE to camp and hike, and hadn’t done so in too long. Every step of the hike, I just felt so in love with nature. It was beautiful. Betsy had been wanting to do this hike, and I was of course so excited to do it too. She had picked out a hike that takes you to these beautiful natural hot springs up in the mountains. We couldn’t wait to get on our swimsuits and sit in the beauty of nature. The hike is 9 miles to the hot springs (8 miles to the start of campsites). It is 2,400 feet of climbing, and we had to cross rivers and waterfalls. We had our balance challenged a few times, and I just couldn’t get enough. All I could think is I need to do this more often. After a little over 4hrs of hiking, we got to the Conundrum Hot Springs, and it was packed. It was seriously like a party on top of a mountain. It was crazy! Everyone was camping, and sitting in these beautiful hot springs. I just love that everyone had to do this amazing hike to get there. It was cool to be surrounded by like-minded individuals who love being in nature and adventures and fitness! So, we got on our suits and hopped in with everyone else!

 

 

Because it was like a mini-city, it was tough to find a campsite. We ended up having to camp in a non-designated camping area, just like a few others, but we got to sleep to the sounds of the rushing rapids of the river. It was unreal. Seriously, I thought, is this real? Is this real life? We get to do this! How amazing.

 

It started to rain while we were in the hot springs, so after a few hard ciders, and people starting to get naked. Haha. Yes. It’s a “hippie” hot spring, where nudity is allowed if you so choose. We headed back down to our campsite to cook dinner in the dark and the rain. My sister brought a mini stove, and we had bought dehydrated meals where we just add water. And let me tell you, they were soooo good! Seriously. Sooo good. We had garlic mashed potatoes for all of us to share. My sister had pasta primavera, and Betsy and I split Meat Sauce Lasagna and White Bean Chicken Chili. I was shocked at how good the meals were. And we had Bananas Foster for dessert. After our bellies were happy, we climbed into our tents, and listened to the rain and the river. My dream. I just love falling asleep to any kind of water. It’s so peaceful and soothing, and just makes me happy. It was pretty cold. I slept in a hat, long sleeve, long pants, tall ski socks, and a down jacket. And then snuggled into my sleeping bag (I had borrowed Betsy’s friend’s sleeping pad, which man those things have come a loooong way, they are like mini air mattresses, haha.) I fell asleep pretty fast.

It stopped raining during the night, but then as soon as we woke up at 6:45am, it started raining again. And all I could think about was how much I was loving it. I just love the rain. It felt good, and made me feel alive. We packed up our tents and backpacks in the rain, and then headed out onto the trail again. It was pretty muddy, but beautiful. 9 ½ miles later (longer on the way back because we got a ride from where we parked to the trailhead, and this time we had to hike to the car), we were back at the car and in reality. Stopped at Whole Foods for a warm sandwich on the way back to Denver, stopped by Betsy’s real quick to pick up some of my stuff, and then straight to the airport. Haha. Didn’t even have a chance to shower. I’m sure the people on the plane are loving how I smell. 😉 (I’m writing this on the plane right now)

It was a short trip, but it was just what my soul needed. A weekend in nature with some of my favorites. I can’t wait to do it again, hopefully soon! And it makes me sooo excited to go camping and hiking in Thailand. Ahhhh! Only 2 months til I leave!

If you are looking for a rad hike to do, I highly recommend doing this one. It was an unbelievable hike and the hot springs are worth it! The party was awesome, but I would love to do it again on a weekday when there are less people, and we could have the hot springs all to ourselves. I bet it is crazy tranquil and lovely.

What a fun weekend! I hope you all had a good weekend too!

Xoxo!

Katie

The Morse Family Biography Intermission

So, I thought it would be fun, while I’m sharing why each one of my family members inspires me to have them share one of their favorite stories about me. First there was an email string that started with this:

“Okay, which one of you is going to tell her she’s adopted?”

“And she does everything with the wrong hand.”

“And her real name is Peace.”

My whole life my family has teased me…I mean that’s what you get for being the baby of the family I guess. So…they would tease me that I was adopted because I’m right-handed. My dad, mom, sister, and brother are ALL left-handed.

As for the “Peace” story…well let’s just say I decided one day that I no longer wanted to be called “Katie”, and I wanted to be called “Peace”. WEIRD. We have it on video. It’s hilarious. They even made t-shirts for one race saying “Go Peace!”.

Anyway, here’s what they had to say:

My Dad:

Why Katie is an early riser and punctual:

I never had to wake Jenny up. From a very early age, Jenny preferred being
responsible for getting up on time by herself. I used to go in and squeeze
Ty’s big toe until it bothered him out of his sleep. I would go in to
Katie’s room to wake her. She would say she was going to get up and then go
back to sleep. I told her I wasn’t coming in more than once and if I had to,
I’d be back with a bucket of ice water. It happened, I woke her and she said
she was getting up. I left, she didn’t get up, I filled a bucket full with
ice water and threw the whole bucketful on her in bed. It was never a
problem ever again.

My Mom:

Classic Katie-

When I was Katie’s Spanish teacher in high school (awkward time for both of us) she shouted out to all her classmates one day, “Hey, guys! We don’t want to do this homework, do we?”

I have never forgotten that hilarious moment when Katie just could no longer handle being the dutiful and respectful student in her mom’s classroom!!

How sweet is this piñata my mom got me?!?! (Side note: I LOVE piñatas;)

My Sister:

A few years ago, Katie and I were flying together out of Chicago to meet the rest of the family somewhere. She stayed the night at my house because we had to get up at 4 or 5am to take the L out to the airport. We were both struggling with suitcases and still mostly asleep, and at the entrance to the train, I tripped up the stairs very dramatically. Katie was behind me and thought it was the most hilarious thing she had ever seen. She laughed up the stairs, onto the train, the whole way to the airport…and when our flight landed–she and I didn’t sit together, she was a few rows up from me and across the aisle–she stood up and made eye contact with me, which triggered more laughter, even several hours after the incident. But the fantastic part is that as she was laughing and gasping out the image of me tripping up the stairs, she threw her head back and smacked it on the overhead bins! Her head bounced forward and she had to catch herself on the seats to stop her from falling into the aisle and other passengers. Now I have the image of her head bouncing off those plastic overhead bins forever 🙂

Also, many years ago when I was going to school in Boulder, Katie came out to visit for her spring break. She really wanted to snowboard for a few days. Although she hadn’t done it before, she was confident that she would learn really fast and be able to keep up with me on my skis. The whole drive to the mountains, she was talking about all her friends who had learned to snowboard in like an hour and how she was a much better athlete than all of them, and she would just be a natural, it would be so easy. Having spent a few days attempting to snowboard myself, and then abandoning the sport forever, I tried to warn her that it could be hard, that we didn’t have that much time and she already knew how to ski, so she might enjoy that more, and basically suggesting that she rethink this whole thing. But, no. We stopped to rent her a snowboard and she insisted on renting it for three whole days, absolutely firm in her belief that she was going to be amazing instantaneously. We got to the hill. We got up the lift. Katie spent one run falling on her butt. She moved slowly. She fell down a lot. By the time we got to the bottom, her butt was so sore (and granted she does have an old tailbone injury, but she hadn’t expected to fall even once) that she said she was done and would not be doing any skiing or snowboarding for the rest of the trip. The next day, she was too sore to get out of bed. There’s a moral in here somewhere. P.S.This year when she came to visit, we went to ski, but it was so cold that we again called it quits after one run.

Pretty much the only time I was standing all day 😉

My Brother:

Katie went to gymnastics camp for a week in the Poconos, and returned with a full blown southern accent. We could only determine that this accent was to be southern in origin because Katie told us so. It sounded more like a severe speech impediment, but we were also vehemently told by our unreliable narrator that this accent just naturally evolved over the course of her 5 days at gymnastic camp and it could not be reversed or helped.

Stayed Tuned for Part III of The Morse Family Biography….

Colorado Part II – Illegal Pete’s, Vday, Karaoke and more…

Highlights of Part II of my trip in Coloardo:

– Illegal Pete’s (TWICE)

– Many Frozen Yogurt dates (3 in 8 days)

– Karaoke

– Running in Washington Park

Sunday through Thursday I stayed with my sister in Fort Collins. So, I bought a guest pass for the Fort Collins Club, where my sister works out, so that I could get my workouts in.

Monday – Swim and Row

I had never been on a row machine before, so I was kinda pumped to try something new. Here is what I learned:

1. I have no grip strength

2. My arms got tired FAST = arms are weak

3. I’m competitive even on the row machine – was trying to row “faster” than the two dudes next to me 😉

Tuesday it was off to Boulder, one of my favorite cities in Colorado. Why? Because Illegal Pete’s is there. What is Illegal Pete’s you ask? It is the best burrito restaurant I’ve ever been to. Yes, I know it’s a bold argument, but I’ll tell you why. It’s really simple too. After putting all the ingredients in the burrito, they MIX it up! Yes, they MIX it. This makes it amazing because you don’t get a bite of just one ingredient, like every single other burrito I’ve ever ordered. So, every bite had a mix of chicken, black beans, pinto beans, guacamole, lettuce, salsa, cheese, cilantro, and onion. YUM! 

 

We then stopped off at a coffee shop, because I needed to do some work…

Clownin’…#goofball

Wednesday – Met up with my friend Kim, who is also an Oakley Women’s Ambassador…

Thursday – I headed to Denver to visit my friend Betsy – Thursday was Valentine’s Day…and what better way to celebrate than with a Vday Brunch at Lucille’s. Then we both had to work, and we met up later for a fro yo date!

 

And we watched the movie “360” – really good…although we both didn’t feel like we had closure at the end…

Thursday was also quite snowy, and while inside at a coffee shop, I couldn’t resist the urge to go catch snowflakes…

 

I also received this sweet message on Vday, which made my day!

She is the sweetest Valentine I’ve ever seen. Love my niece, London.

Friday – I went for a run in Washington park. It was windy and cold. And I didn’t take my phone because I needed a break from technology. It was peaceful and I loved every second of it. It was then time to hit the local neighborhood bar. Betsy and I met up with a couple of her friends, and it just so happened to be Karaoke night…

Before I continue about our Karaoke performance(s), I just want to say…I have never seen more good looking men all in one place. That goes for Denver in general too. Seriously, single ladies, move to Denver 😉 My friend Betsy said, that’s why it’s nick-named “Menver”. I have never heard of that, but seriously there’s a lot of men, and a lot of good looking men at that with midwestern values 🙂

Okay…back to Karaoke…Betsy and I had our fair share of Karaoke performances in college, so we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to sing together. We had the “great” idea, as we always do to sing songs, that we “think” are going to be awesome crowd pleasers and then…fail. Our “brilliant” idea this time was to sing “What’s Going On” by “Four Non-Blondes”. We started out strong, we had some people say “I love this song”…and then the “oooing” begins. There is so much oooing in this song, it is stupid. Nevertheless it mad for a not so entertaining Karaoke song, but probably an entertaining performance…we did get a standing ovation from a few people.

Then I tried to sing “Good Girl” by Carrie Underwood. NEVER try to sing a Carrie Underwood song for Karaoke, not sure what I was thinking. Thank goodness this was late in the evening:)

Saturday was my last day in Colorado so first up was a fun run with Betsy. She is training for a half marathon, so we headed to Washington park, her favorite place to run.

 

After a loop or two around the park, we headed back to her place, cleaned up and went downtown because Betsy had never been to Illegal Pete’s, which gave me a great excuse to have a Round 2!

Round 2! It’s sooo good!

 

My sister came and met up with us, and then we walked to our favorite book store “Tattered Cover”. I LOVE this independent bookstore. I could spend hours there. Of course I walked out with two new books.

I had an awesome trip! It was so good to see my sister, and my friends Betsy and Kim. I will definitely be back again soon! As for training for the week, it was a recovery week, so I enjoyed having the extra time to spend with some of my favorite people.

Now I’m two weeks away from my first tri of the season, Desert International Triathlon. Time to get back to work!

Pancakes, Froyo, and Colorado Part I

Highlights of the week:

1. National Pancake Day

2. National Frozen Yogurt Day

3. Hill Repeats with coach!

4. Colorado

Tuesday night, I had a dream. A dream about pancakes. It just so happened that when I woke up in the morning, on Wednesday, it was National Pancake Day. I couldn’t believe it…pretty sure my dreams predict the future 😉

Then my friend, Nicole, texted me Thursday morning, and told me it was National Frozen Yogurt Day. First off, I was like, I swear it’s National “XXX Food” Day every day. But let’s be real, fro yo is my favorite food. It has taken over my LOVE of ice cream, which you can read about here, mostly because self serve fro yo is the best. You can try all the different flavors a place offers, put on whatever toppings you want, mix and match flavors. It’s A-mazing. So, I wasn’t going to miss out on the chance to celebrate my favorite food.

Of course I got my usual, Cake Batter and Peanut Butter, with oreos, cookie dough, coconut, and strawberries. YUM! And went to my favorite fro yo place, Yummy Yogurt, in Solana Beach.

Fortunately, early in the day I had gotten my butt kicked by Beth, Keith, and Jose at Torrey Pines. My whole goal was to just not let the three of them catch me. Let me tell you it got CLOSE. We got to Torrey Pines, and we were all going to do 4-5 repeats. So, we all take off, and immediately, I’m like shit…I’m going to get passed. I would go back and forth in my head, don’t let them catch you, oh shit, they are going to catch you. Although it got REAL close, I made it! Not gonna lie, felt pretty good, since they are all pro’s, but it made me hungry to get faster and stronger. That is why I love to workout with other people. It fires me up. No pics from this ride, it was all business 🙂

Then it was off to Colorado on Friday…

My best friend from college, Betsy…

Before Instagram and Camera + existed…just the real deal old school camera…#nofilter

…picked me up from the airport. Immediately it was girl talk and catch up time! Betsy had to work on Saturday, she’s a Vet, so I woke up early with her and headed out on a run. Betsy lives right near the Cherry Creek Running path, which is beautiful and easy. I haven’t ran on something this flat in a really long time. It was great running weather too. 40’s and sunny. Needless to say, I was happy 🙂

It was a nice change of scenery, and a great way to kick off my week in Colorado. My sister came down and picked me up and we headed to the mountains for the weekend, and Betsy was just going to meet us there later Saturday night. They were expecting a big snowstorm this weekend, and well they got it. Our drive up was a bit scary, mostly because my sister drives a ’96 Jeep that is essentially dying, the four wheel drive doesn’t work, it starts shaking uncontrollably at 75mph, two of her doors don’t open, they are stuck shut, she has to hit unlock/lock 3x in order for the doors to either lock or unlock, and her mechanic told her that the bottom could drop out at any time. I was like, “is there an “eject” button?” At least her heat works 😉 The second reason is because it was a complete white out on the drive up.

Love my Stance Socks!

But, we made it! We decided to stop in Frisco, one of our favorite towns, and grab a bite to eat. So, we stopped at my favorite breakfast place, The Log Cabin, and the coffee shop Rocky Mountain Coffee (my new favorite coffee shop) for a muffin and hot chocolate.

I was pumped to be able to wear all my Oakley Women’s snow apparel again this year!

It was time for some winter activities. We headed to Keystone for some outdoor ice skating. Neither one of us had ice skated in a few years, but I wanted to try and do every cross-training winter activity offered in Colorado. So, this was step 1.

My sister practicing her ice skating skills 😉

Seeing if I have any ice skating skills left in me.

Rocking out our Oakleys while ice skating 🙂

We had worked up a bit of an appetite after a good hour and a half of pretending we were Disney on Ice 😉

BUT…here is where the weekend got interesting. What is the best way to spend 3hrs in Colorado?

1. Getting locked out of your running car in a snowstorm

2. Skiing in-16 below windchill

We may look warm and snuggly, but at this point I couldn’t feel my fingers or toes, and was starting to feel nauseous from the pain. Due to the pain, I couldn’t think straight, and picked up some random dude’s skis thinking they were mine for this pic…we were cracking up.

3. Driving 30 miles in 3hrs – the traffic was soooo bad on I-70 on the way back to Fort Collins from the mountains that we seriously had only driven 30 miles in 3hrs (we even left at 3, before the traffic usually gets bad), and we still had a lot of miles to go. It ended up taking about 5 1/2hrs to go from Breckenridge to Fort Collins which is normally a 2hr drive. It was PAINFUL. We saw people watching movies on their ipads, people practically sleeping and driving at the same time, people put their car in park a few times, we tried making friends with a few people, we sang out loud, and laughed a lot though, it was some quality sister bonding time.

Dinner with my sister and Betsy…

The Colorado adventure continues this week…