Hiking Marathon...

Blue skies and sunny days abound in Durango.  The temperatures are cold (in the morning) but the afternoons are usually in the 40s and 50s. Snow does not seem to be anywhere in the near future. Ironically, the South is getting more snow than we are. To my friends in Texas and Louisiana, stay warm.

With the lack of snow, Ryan and I took the opportunity to continue mountain biking and hiking. We ended 2017 and began 2018 with a trio of hikes that totaled almost 30 miles, it was a hiking marathon.

Ryan sporting his ugly Christmas sweater during one of his rides.
Sadly, I did not take any pictures during our ugly Christmas sweater brunch party.
I guess we will just have to host another brunch this Christmas season!! 

I felt it appropriate to post these pictures from a random hail storm back in September. Little did I realize at the time, this may be Henry's only opportunity to play in the "snow."

 The first part of our Hiking Marathon began on New Years Eve day. With my parents in town to watch Henry, Ryan and I went to Telluride for New Years Eve weekend. When we originally booked the trip, Ryan had all the plans to go snowboarding. When the time actually came, the snowboard was left at home, and instead, our hiking boots and bicycles were packed.

A view of Telluride. 

Not too bad of a location for our final hiking lunch of 2017. 

Bear sporting our mountain bikes. 

Thesecond part of our hiking marathon was near Silverton. Ryan and I did this hike back in October, and thought it would be fun to try it again in the winter, see what snow we could find. We found snow, and some pretty awesome frozen waterfalls. 

Here are a couple pictures from our hike back in October. People told us the lakes were beautiful, we didn't realize how vibrant they would be. It was incredible, well worth the long hike. 

Ice Lake

Island Lake

Our hike in January was filled with more snow. The lakes were covered, but the frozen waterfalls were incredible. 

Sitting on the edge of a frozen waterfall. 

Large frozen waterfall  (upper right corner).
We heard large pieces of ice breaking off. 

Trying out my new snowshoes for the first time.
Loved them! Still learning to not step on my own feet. I took some pretty funny falls.

 

Our third and final hike in our hiking marathon took us to a location not too far from Durango. Sadly, we did not take many pictures. Maybe it was because we were too busy ice skating. We encountered a few frozen streams we had to carefully "skate" across. No falls, and no tailbones injured. It is definitely a hike we want to do again when it is not covered in snow. The lakes and streams we passed would be gorgeous. 

Maybe this post about a lack of snow will bring snow our way. Luckily, Telluride and Silverton have received snow in the last week. They are definitely dependent on their snow season. For now, I will enjoy the blue skies and sunshine. But, I hope we have snow before Ryan returns. I don't know how many more cold hiking marathons I can handle. Cold weather and I do not get along.