So Tired. What a weekend. Pic content.

Camped in the Collegiate Peaks area of the Sawatch range. Did some riding, drinking, high alpine pass driving, and was very jealous of the kayakers. I'm dying for a kayak now.

Had to stop and watch some kayakers in Buena Vista before heading up Cottonwood Pass to our campsite.




Sunrise


Some mountain as seen from my bike ride.


Riding on the Colorado Trail.


Mt Yale from the Colorado Trail.


Had to drive up to the top of the pass. It was a whopping 36F up there at noon.






Mt Elbert, highest in Colorado, 2nd highest in the lower 48.


Drove up Independence Pass too.




Watched some more kayakers at the whitewater park in Salida on the way home.

crap. forgot to change my photobucket settings. damn this forum and its cropping of pics.

it's all good. you can right click view image, and they're fine.

Too lazy for that. Re-do it all PRONTO.

Also I meant to put this in the photography forum for anyone that can move it.

i want your life.

Those are some fantastic views

Just booked a rafting trip up there for the first weekend in July.

fuck you

we're only doing brown's canyon. class III. my brother has never been rafting before. i'd like to do some class V stuff myself.

i have no class.

That looks like such an awesome weekend. I went down to Banff myself. It was pretty shitty out unfortunately though. Just above zero, sleety, snowy, etc. Did a little hiking, but nothing extensive. Probably going to go back in August for a real camping trip though.

Definitely want a kayak too. Looks like so much fun. I'd probably go with a touring kayak though, instead of white water.

ryguy79 wrote:we're only doing brown's canyon. class III. my brother has never been rafting before. i'd like to do some class V stuff myself.

The stuff we did a year ago in Banff were class IIIs, I think.

I can't wait. We were broke/not working the first summer when we moved here and last year had just bought our house, so this is the first summer we have time/money to go rafting.

thewalrus wrote:

Definitely want a kayak too. Looks like so much fun. I'd probably go with a touring kayak though, instead of white water.

I've already started scoping craigslist for used whitewater boats. It looks so awesome in person.

We also fell in love with the area. Thinking about maybe moving out there in a few years if we can find jobs. Salida is a really cool town. Great old historic downtown, surrounded by high peaks with the arkansas running right through it. The whitewater park in the last two pics is two blocks from downtown. Skiing an hour away and year round mountain biking, in the valley in the winter and the high country in the summer. My kind of place.

ryguy79 wrote:

thewalrus wrote:

Definitely want a kayak too. Looks like so much fun. I'd probably go with a touring kayak though, instead of white water.

I've already started scoping craigslist for used whitewater boats. It looks so awesome in person.

We also fell in love with the area. Thinking about maybe moving out there in a few years if we can find jobs. Salida is a really cool town. Great old historic downtown, surrounded by high peaks with the arkansas running right through it. The whitewater park in the last two pics is two blocks from downtown. Skiing an hour away and year round mountain biking, in the valley in the winter and the high country in the summer. My kind of place.

Yeah, that sounds prett much perfect to me too.

The g/f and I are going to go camping at the end of August, so I'm scouting out some prices for tents / gear. You have anything you'd recommend? This'll be car camping / day hiking. Right now I'm scouting out some stuff over at LLBean.

For budget car camping gear where weight doesn't matter I've had good luck with Coleman gear. We have 2 coleman tents, sleeping bags, and an air mattress. I've also got an old coleman stove from the 60s or 70s that still gets the job done. It was my grandpa's, then my dad's, now mine.

We used our massive coleman tent this trip. I would have been ok with our old 3 person, but Ginger wanted to try this one out. My mom got it for us when we got married. I think she was thinking long term...it was the first time we camped with it. stupid huge. I think its an 8 person.







For reference, I can stand up in it without touching the roof.

That's a pretty sweet tent. How long did it take you to set up?

fffuck that kayaking looks like so much fun.

Omni wrote:That's a pretty sweet tent. How long did it take you to set up?

15 minutes or so. it wasn't too bad. it would be a pita with one person though.

Yeah, I need to get a tent soon. I was thinking of going for a 3 person. Any suggestions?

Omni wrote:Yeah, I need to get a tent soon. I was thinking of going for a 3 person. Any suggestions?

I've been looking at 3-person Sierra Design tents. Not sure if I want to go 3 season or 4 though. They have a couple on sale at the camping store at the Mall here, still, a little pricey.

I like this one personally:

http://www.sierradesigns.com/tents.display.php?id=72

thewalrus wrote:

Omni wrote:Yeah, I need to get a tent soon. I was thinking of going for a 3 person. Any suggestions?

I've been looking at 3-person Sierra Design tents. Not sure if I want to go 3 season or 4 though. They have a couple on sale at the camping store at the Mall here, still, a little pricey.

I like this one personally:

http://www.sierradesigns.com/tents.display.php?id=72

Unless you're actually planning on winter camping i wouldn't go 4 season. They're generally way more expensive. One of my mountain biking/rock climbing/snowshoeing buddies and I have been talking about a winter backpacking/snowshoeing trip so I've been looking at 4 season tents lately. Not cheap. You could get a 3 person tent at a sporting goods store for < $50 or spend over 500 on a 4 season like you posted.

Omni wrote:Yeah, I need to get a tent soon. I was thinking of going for a 3 person. Any suggestions?

I have the coleman sundome 7x7. Got it at the sports authority during their tent sale a few years ago for $25. Can't beat that.

http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colemancom/Detail.asp?Product_id=2000000134

Its held up fine through some pretty intense storms.

Anyway, based on $ value and how often i'd actually use a 4 season tent, I want one of these.

http://www.rei.com/product/739349

or

http://www.rei.com/product/739354

ryguy79 wrote:

thewalrus wrote:

Omni wrote:Yeah, I need to get a tent soon. I was thinking of going for a 3 person. Any suggestions?

I've been looking at 3-person Sierra Design tents. Not sure if I want to go 3 season or 4 though. They have a couple on sale at the camping store at the Mall here, still, a little pricey.

I like this one personally:

http://www.sierradesigns.com/tents.display.php?id=72

Unless you're actually planning on winter camping i wouldn't go 4 season. They're generally way more expensive. One of my mountain biking/rock climbing/snowshoeing buddies and I have been talking about a winter backpacking/snowshoeing trip so I've been looking at 4 season tents lately. Not cheap. You could get a 3 person tent at a sporting goods store for < $50 or spend over 500 on a 4 season like you posted.

Well yeah, I was thinking about doing 3 season, but we might end up doing some winter camping, which would make the 4 season make more sense. Realistically I can't see spending 500 on a tent right now.

I've never gone winter camping but I'd love to. I have been camping late in the fall when it was in the teens overnight and i was pretty happy to have a 0 degree bag with a hood. It gets pretty cold in a 3 season tent in that weather because they usually are mostly screen under the fly.

complete opposite of the grand canyon when it went down to about 100 at night and i slept on my sleeping pad.

ryguy79 wrote:

Omni wrote:Yeah, I need to get a tent soon. I was thinking of going for a 3 person. Any suggestions?

I have the coleman sundome 7x7. Got it at the sports authority during their tent sale a few years ago for $25. Can't beat that.

http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colemancom/Detail.asp?Product_id=2000000134

Its held up fine through some pretty intense storms.

Yeah, I'm not looking to go too crazy and a 3 season is definitely enough for me. I found the sundome at sports authority for 38 bucks. Most people say it doesn't leak but a few had problems. Do you think it is worth using a sealer on the seams?

I've never bothered with it but i don't think it would hurt.