The Loneliest Monk

From the Forest. I can't wait to meet you.

The latest that Tyler or I had ever been in Colorado. My first time climbing in the San Juan Mountains. And probably the closest either of us had been to real mountaineering. Handies Peak proved to be an incredible challenge.  

Departure time of 3:15pm. By taking driving shifts through the night Tyler, Nicole, and myself were able to arrive in the Sangre de Cristo Range the next morning at 4:30am. After catching a few hours of sleep we donned our backpacks to make the trek to Willow Lake. Our goal? The summits of Challenger Point and Kit Carson Peak.

2,800 miles traveled but everyone of them worth it. From driving through the San Juan Mountains, experiencing the incredible beauty of Zion National Park, the iconic Delicate Arch, and back through the soaring peaks of the Sawatch this trip cemented our love of road tripping. 

Back to Colorado but this time returning with a few summits under my belt. A great 7 days spent exploring the Sawatch Mountains with Tyler and Sean. Five part series below - The Sawatch Sweep!

The Cobb River opened my eyes to the potential of fast water via smaller water ways previously left unexplored. Tracking through Split Rock Creek with Jacob and Chris was a by product of this pursuit. Great time through some new terrain Don't miss Chris's kayak dismount/jump mount.

Fresh off the Big Sioux River I receive a call from my good friend Sean. The Cobb River outside of his home in Mankato is in prime condition. With no need to to unload my kayak I made my way into Minnesota. The Cobb proved to be an absolute blast. Fast water, big drops, and a unique obstacle via a downed tree. Highlights below.

The day started off normal enough.  My buddy Jacob was finally going to get a chance to get to try the kayak he bought last fall and I was excited to introduce him to one of my favorite activities.  To cut down on the commute we were going to do the Grandview Road to Klondike Dam route (7.8 miles). It didn't take long however for Jacob to realize that trips down the Big Sioux are not without incident. The recent patch job on my kayak lasted all of 15 seconds.  With water coming in quick I pulled off at the nearest sandbar.  What a great first trip for Jacob I thought.  We had barely made it 50 yards down the river and my spotty patch job was going to cause us to turn back and go home.  But we were both not ready to throw in the towel quite yet.   After examining the leak we were both doubtful that we had something that could keep water out of my kayak for the next 7.8 miles.  But after after discussing we managed to come up with 3 items that could save Jacobs maiden voyage

First truly nice day of spring appeared in the forecast and found me unprepared.  With my kayak still not water worthy on the 29th I scambled after work to try and finish the patch work that I had started.  To my dismay the drying time recommended was 24 hours.  Plans canceled.  There will be other nice Sundays. Fast forward to Sunday early morning sitting on the roof of the apartment reading a book, sipping some coffee, and nursing a small hangover from the night before.  Sun shining on me I thought to myself "what the hell are you doing; don't waste a great day like this - load up your kayak and get on the river!".  So that is exactly what I did. Too late to organize anything with my fellow woodsmen my wonderful wife agreed to pick me up at the end of my route.  A quick text picture of where she could find me after my call and I was off. I picked a section of the river that I had never been on before - Gitchie Manitou State Preserve to the Grandview County Road

Spring fever must have hit because a high of 33 degrees is not an ideal temperature for the first canoe trip of the year but that did not deter Tyler and I from our first trip of 2014. We set out late morning after meeting up at Tyler's apartment.  The plan was our classic route; Klondike Dam to the Highway 18 Bridge a total distance of 8 river miles. It was a beautiful morning and it felt great to be back outdoors again but it was COLD.  Chunks of slush littered the river that had formed from the freeze the previous night. It felt like we were paddling through a slushy.  With only one pair of gloves Tyler and I took turns with either a right or left handed glove to keep some feeling in our hands. This was the earliest that I had ever been out on the Big Sioux River and it was really cool see the river in such an early stage of spring.  Tell tale signs of springs approach littered the river but the amount of birds that we saw was a dead give away.  Unknown to us until afte