Running into the Unknown

I have a strong disliking for running.

Let me elaborate on this hatred.

I would prefer to sit with shorts and a tshirt in -20 degree weather than go running. I would prefer to get stung by a jellyfish than go running. I would rather lift 190 pound deadlifts than go running for five minutes. Moral of the story? Running SUCKS. Who wants to be panting and sweating and feel like they're on their final minutes of life?

Well....apparently a lot of people.

However, today was a day where I am going to comletely contradict every single word I said above. Today, I actually enjoyed running. A lot. (No this is not a typo)

Yesterday, when I was on my usual adventure of driving around pretending I know where I'm going when I'm really just wasting all of my gas, I drove too far down Baseline Drive and ended up near 55th Ave and passed a sign that said Bobolink Trailhead. Since I have this uncanny infatuation with hiking and new trails, I made a sharp turn into the parking lot and realized there is a 3.8 mile trail that goes to South Boulder Creek. From what I could see from the trailhead, it was like the trail went into the unknown, which of course, intrigued me. So I made a promise to myself that I would run that trail today, which I did (And I am damn proud if I do say so myself)

First, let me explain that today's weather forcast is 82 degrees and sunny. Not one cloud in the sky. And knowing this, what did I wear? Black yoga pants and a black tshirt. No, I'm not emo. I'm just stupid. So talk about sweat. Okay, we won't talk about it, but I did...a lot.

The trail, was alluring; angelic. Wetlands to my left, the Flatirons to my right, bridges, small fast-moving rapids, plethora of colors from the grass, flowers, and trees all around me. It's as if  I just never wanted to stop running. Every single person I passed on the path smiled at me or waved. There were women riding their bikes with their dogs running alongside. There were couples riding their bikes together. In a way, it was like experiencing a moving phototgraph. If I didn't stop a million times to take photographs, I honestly don't know if I would've ever stopped running (until I reached the end of the trail, that is). As a whole, I ran about 3.5 miles, which is quite peculiar since running here should be harder than back home in NJ because of the altitude, but at home, I could barely run 3 miles. I guess when you are distracted by views that are mesmerizing, the distance is just a number.

There are just days that completely put me in a state of awe. I drove down the street to find an art store and end up finding a trailhead that gives me the push to get up every morning and run. I think when surprises like that happen, it's the world throwing a curveball your way. Every day is a new surprise if you go out and allow yourself to find it. Happiness, to me, is a scavenger hunt. You know what you're looking for, but you're not going to get anywhere if you don't go and actually look for it. So when you have those days where you are bored and hate that you have nothing to do, you can only blame yourself. Go out. Drive. Anywhere. Just go and find a new surprise. Who knows? It could be right out your back door.

That being said...I challenge you. I challenge you to go out one day with no intentions, no plans, no work to do. Go to the mountains, a park, your driveway, I don't care. And just do something. Explore, bring a book, bring music. Go running, write, play music, enjoy the view. I highly doubt you'll be disappointed.

The Royal Arch: It had a crown and everything!

Well this post is ridiculously overdue.

Go ahead, hate on me for not updating.

No, but really. Honestly, nothing all that exciting has happened these last few days. I had an amazing opportunity to work an event so I have been doing tha the past 2 days and tomorrow, I've joined a gym, gone there, applied for jobs, and, well, that's about it. Climbing has been nonexistant mainly because I think I pulled a tendon in my left ring finger so I have it taped up and decided to actually try and stay off of it for a week. Clearly I don't think things through first, because I always get hurt.

BUT! What I can talk about is me and Paul's first hike. It was a 3.6 mile roundtrip hike up to the Royal Arch which is this insane rock formation that is just a huge arch that overlooks the entire city. It kind of reminds me of the arch from The Giant Rope Swing youtube video (which, if you haven't seen it yet, I suggest you watch it...NOW. Pause reading my blog, go to Youtube, crank up the volume and watch.)

The hike, located in Chautauqua Park, also where you find the infamous Flatirons, was about 1200 feet up in elevation but at the top we were at a total of about 6,800 feet. Here's the kicker. Again, I totally forgot about the altitutde. Well, I didn't forget, but for some reason, I didn't think it would affect me. Welp, I was wrong. Typically I can hike 15 miles in a day with tons of hills, heat, humidity, and a pack on my back, and really not have any major issues. Well about 1 mile up this hike, I was dying! I mean, stopping to catch my breath every few hundred feet, chugging water, no humidity, and a lot of steep stairs. It's crazy what the altitutde will do to you. Again, like everything I did in Boulder, the hike was absolutely beautiful, despite the ridiculous amount of stairs, heat, and ridiculous scrambles we had to go through.

 Flatirons

 

Stairs to Hell

Once we got up to the top of the mountain and finally reached the Royal Arch (there is actually another summit that is called the "false summit" because everything  gets there all excited to be done and you find out you have another huge hill to actually climb before you can see anything) So after our quick, yet necessary, moaning and groaning about the fact that it was scorching hot and we weren't done was over, we continued on and finally, after about 15 more minutes, we saw the Royal Arch, and holy shit was it incredible. The view was surreal, the arch was as if it were a frameand the view of Boulder was the art that was placed in the middle of it. Kind of like stepping into a painting. There were perfect sitting rocks everywhere so Paul and I sat down (I found  this perfect little spot for my butt. I never wanted to leave), and enjoyed the view for a while amongst a ton of chipmunks. It was truly unbelievable, even if it was a short but brutal hike.

It really does blow my mind every time how absolutely beautiful nature is. The simplicity of the mountains, and the serenity of all the nature surrounding. Boulder is truly an amazing place. I haven't had to to really explore outside the city yet, but I do have a list, and I will accomplish that list no matter what.

"It's the Moments that make the Journey"

Estes Park Explored like Lewis and Clark

Before I even post about my last two days of inexplicable adventures, I just want to say something that I think everyone should think about:  

There is someone out there that has helped me realize what I need to do in life and has shown me that you venture on journeys because there is a reason behind it. There is a meaning for the decisions that you make, and even if you don’t recognize them now, you will. “You have to measure yourself at least once.” – Into the Wild

I know I’m no expert in moving or figuring out where you should go in life, but I think the one piece of advice I can say confidently is; explore your options, take risks, and make mistakes, because those are the factors in determining where your life will take you. You can come up with every excuse in the world as to why you can’t live your dream, but the only real thing stopping you is yourself. Every problem can be worked around. A plethora of opportunities are waiting and the only thing you really have to do is go and dive in head first.

So, sincerely, thank you (you know who you are), for helping me realize this and allowing me to share it with everyone that I know is at a phase in their life where they are just as stuck as I am.

*** Two Days Later ***

About 5 minutes ago, I reread the piece above so I could remember where to continue on my blog, and for some god forsaken reason, my memory has been obstructed by the views of the mountains and the delicious food I have been constantly consuming (I really just don’t want to admit that I can’t remember what I did 3 days ago). So I’m going to eliminate one of those days and talk about the only thing I can remember: My trip to Estes Park.

Paul (my roommate), my friend, and I had the intention of going to Estes Park to venture into the mountains in search of the boulders that the Estes is famous for. What we didn’t account for was the weather; but let’s back up to the beginning of the day. The drive up there was about an hour, taking Route 36 up to Rocky Mountain National Park. But here’s the thing about Colorado that always makes me end up in a state of awe. Boulder is a busy city. Not a New York City, I’m going to get hit by a cab while attempting to hold my cell phone, beeper (do those even exist anymore?), ipad, ipod, and laptop while jay walking across one of the busiest streets, busy. It’s busy in the sense that there’s always something going on. It’s almost as if Boulder is never at a stand-still. Every day you will see bikers in groups of 20 riding along Pine Street or musicians and jugglers occupying the areas on Pearl Street, entertaining the children that are holding their ice cream cones in one hand and holding the hand of their parent in the other. Food carts and farmer’s market filled with people from as early as 8am. You can’t turn a corner here and not find something going on. It’s consistent movement, in a mellow way, 24/7/365. So here is my sales pitch to you on Boulder: *said in a Mr. Moviefone tone of voice* “If you love the outdoors and want to get away from the rambunctious noise of the city but still want liveliness in your everyday life, Boulder is the perfect place for you! Climb a mountain, grab some food at a local coffee shop, and listen to street musicians all in one day!” (Did I convince you to move?)

Do you love to deviate away from a topic? Well, obviously I do. So let me get back to my original purpose of that whole paragraph. Boulder may be a busy city, but if you drive on Route 36 or any highway for that matter, within 10 minutes, you are in the middle of nowhere. You have zero cell phone service; you see no form of civilization. It’s just mountains. Pure beauty for miles and miles. Something you can’t find in New Jersey. As we drove, we saw ranches, elk, and mountains. The temperature dropped by the minute and you could start to see snow at the peak of the mountains in the distance. No matter how long I live here, I know that the landscape in Colorado will never not take my breath away.

We finally arrived to the Estes Park welcome rock, which is, of course, where we stopped to take our obligatory touristy photo in front of it so we (or maybe just I) could post it on every possible social networking site available.

Our original plan was to go to Lumpy Ridge where there was supposed to be some easy and harder climbs so all of us could be satisfied. We were told by a worker at the outdoor store that just look for the twin owl rocks and that’s where we have to go. Strangely enough, there are these two huge rock formations that look EXACTLY like two owls looking at each other. We were all in shock that we actually noticed them because we aren’t the most observant people. But when we saw the owls we clearly stopped to be tourists again, took pictures, and continued on to the entrance where we saw a sign that gave us the depressing news that the area was closed due to raptors (Yes, I immediately thought Jurassic Park and wanted to make a raptor sound so badly but I really need to keep my friends, so I withheld). We then decided to turn around and go back to the guy from the store and ask for the next best option, which was Endo Valley. We headed down the main street of Estes Park to a gate where we paid to enter a dirt path that took us to a campsite where we could park and hike a path to what would be the bouldering area. What we didn’t realize was that even though it was 70 degrees in Boulder, that doesn’t mean it’s 70 degrees an hour away. That being said, it was 55 degrees and the rock was still wet from the snow that melted from the day before. And as we continued walking up the mountain, our breathing became a lot heavier due to the altitude and exactly what we feared happened: snow started to trickle down. I’m pretty sure that within that 3 hour period from being in Boulder and getting to that point, we had experienced all 4 seasons in one day. About 20 minutes later, my Sanuks were soaked along with my socks and as my breathing was becoming heavier and heavier, we hit a foot of snow with more coming down. That’s when we realized that bouldering may be out of the question. I decided to back out of any bouldering that day, even if rock was dry, because I really don’t want to reinjure myself trying to climb something I’m not capable of. So my friend and Paul tried two climbs but with the rock being wet and the weather just not doing it for us, we decided to bail and just explore town for a little bit. We realized we have all the time in the world to go back, so it’s just going to have to be an adventure we take on another day.

 

(Please excuse how awful i look in this photo. I swear I'm much better looking)

When we got back to Boulder, and after the hour long nap I took in the car (Those winding roads and quiet mountains sure can put a girl to sleep), my friend and I decided to grab our crash pads and head into Boulder Canyon to see what we could get in last minute because everything was mostly dry. We first headed to this hiking trail that had these angelic red rock cliffs. They weren’t really boulder(able), but we still put on our shoes because they stick better and climbed up some 30-40 foot rocks. The view was what made the easy climb worth it and being outside at any point in the day overlooking the city is just inexplicable. We then moved on to a boulder that was on the side of Boulder Canyon Road that we saw in a guidebook. The climbs would’ve been good, but the landing spot wasn’t the safest and the beginning footholds were wet which we didn’t consider. And to top it off, it started raining, so we just decided this wasn’t our day and went home.

 

 

Some may say that day was a complete bust and some may say it was a waste of time. But I saw it as another travel experience. Another day to explore what surrounds me. I may have not been able to climb, but I saw 4 seasons in one day, I sat on a 40-60 foot rock formation that overlooked the entire city from a 360 degree view, I was able to spend the whole day outside with great people, and I can cross Estes Park off my bucket list (not for climbing of course).

 

I like to see the glass half full. If one day isn’t the way you expected it to be, that just gives you the opportunity to make another day that much better. You have your whole life to do the things you want, but if something doesn’t turn out the way you wanted, then turn it into something even better.

Jumping Jehosaphat!!

I bet you read this title and were so curious as to why I would name this post "Jumping Jehosaphat." Well, there is no reason. Actually, I'm not even sure myself as to why I chose it. But it was going through my mind at the moment and I thought, "why not!?"

But now I feel obligated to give you a lesson as to what the origin of this phrase is; so here we go:

In Jerusalem, there was a wealthy king that went by the name of, you guessed it! Jehosaphat. One day, an army from the land of Koopastan, came to take away his princess and mountain of gold coins. But Jehosahat wouldn't stand for that! So he challenged the most fearless man of the Koopastan army to a one-on-one combat. Right before the battle, Jehosaphat took down some powerful mushrooms (yeah, we are all thinking the same thing). Legend has it, that when he consumed the mushrooms, he doubled in size and leaped onto the Koopastanian man and crushed him. Apparently, the mushrooms had some sort of chemical property that made is muscles grow and made him have a powerful strength. From then on, songs were created by the townspeople about him being "Jumping Jehosaphat"

The End.

As much as I'm sure you thoroughly enjoyed that educational lesson about something you never actually cared about, I will continue on to talk about my adventures in Boulder (which i'm sure you also don't really care for). Which, for the last 2 days, have kind of been non-existant.

Here's the problem. When you are someone that enjoys doing things outside, especially if they involve rock, and it's not sunny or dry, you really can't do much. So for the last two days, that has pretty much been my life.

Tuesday: So tuesday was actually a beautiful day. Sun was shining, rock was dry, and it was warm out. Problem: Everyone in my apartment went to Denver that day, which left me in Boulder with no one to climb with (I haven't gotten to the point where I have made friends yet) So I used my day to run errands. You know, get my oil changed, pick up household items. Every possible thing you don't want to do because it's boring, I got done for the most part. But I realized how nice it was out and that I couldn't waste it inside. So I grabbed my Osprey pack, water, a journal, and some music and headed off to Boulder Canyon for a walk. I went to the exact location where I went climbing the day before and there was a paved path where pretty much everyone goes running or biking. I'm sure the trail goes for miles on end, but I decided to go about 4 miles just to get an idea of the area and I knew it was going to rain later on in the day. But it was beautiful. Even with cars on my left zooming by on the Boulder Canyon Highway, it still felt like I was out in the wilderness with nothing around. Birds were chirping, wind blowing, climbers everywhere, sun brightly shining giving me the lovely sunburn that I have today. To this day, it just blows my mind that something this scenic still exists and there are people that don't even want to get out of their house to explore it. They would rather explore the inside of a mall (Something I will never understand).

 

 



Wednesday: So yesterday sucked. Not in a, "I hate boulder, I want to leave" way. But a, it's raining all day and thundering and lightning and I can't bike anywhere nor do I feel like moving.
My original plan was to go with our friend to Estes Park and get in some climbing or even just check out the place because it's supposed to be an incredible spot for crag and just outdoor activities. But time got the best of us, because I got a dresser on Craigslist (best. buy. ever) and was applying for jobs that we just decided to lay off Estes and go another day if we had time. So the way in which I occupied the rest of my day was kind of ridiculous. I chilled in my room for a few hours and then got bored but it was downpouring so I returned a book of mine to REI and then came back and my friend decided to take me to the outside of my apartment building and we used the facade to learn how to place gear, set anchors, and belay from the anchor (The things rock climbers do when they're bored). By the time all of that ended, it was about 3pm and decided to go climbing a little bit later on at The Spot. The Spot is a rock gym that is strictly bouldering. There are high ball problems and low ball, top outs and some that were not, and even a crack that was really sick. The grading system was a little bit off to me but I actually had a pretty good time. I have a feeling a lot of my friends will be made there. However, I am beyond sore because I don't know the last time I actually attempted to boulder. The remainder of my night consisted of me, a book, almond milk ice cream, and Netflix. Be jealous of my overly-thrilling night.

Well this is the most mundane post of all time if I've ever seen one. But the next week is supposed to be in the high 70s and sunny every single day. So be prepared for hopefully many pictures of rocks, the mountains, and me on my awesome new bike which i haven't even had a chance to ride yet (bummed)