Pine, CO to Vail, CO

July 24, 2018

Pine, CO to Vail, CO

Shrine Ridge Trail

Drive time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Breakfast

I wanted something simple this morning, so grabbed Dave’s bread and toasted it and added an apple pie jam we brought from Maine. Sooo yummy. Had a couple of dates as well as we ran out of fresh fruit.

Shrine Ridge Trail

To think that something this spectacular is mere hours away is amazing to me. Our friends weren’t sure if we wanted to go for another long drive after our trek from RI, but we want to see as much as we can! When we got there, the trailhead parking lot was PACKED! On a Tuesday! This is how you know it’s prime wildflower season. We strapped up and got going in. Tons of dogs on this trail and the 3 dogs we brought with us did very well with all of them. Almost like they all knew to behave or they would miss out on the hike!

Speaking of dogs, I should’ve introduced you earlier. There are 5 of them total in the house now!

Here is our pup Bear.

And his sister, Patch!

Here is Magellan, who just had surgery on his foot so he has it covered up. He is 13 years old and the biggest teddy bear!

Here is “Kev’s dog” Zeb! He is just the sweetest with the cutest block head ever. He’s my pal and he knows it.

And this is Zeke! Zeke is still young enough to come on the hikes. He actually had the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on a dog, but of course he’s camera shy.

Okay, now onto the hike. Just for reference, we are pretty close to sea level at our house, maybe a few hundred feet above. We live on a peninsula less than a half mile from the coast. At Kevin and Chris’s house, they are at 8,300 feet ABOVE sea level. That essentially means there is less usable oxygen the higher you go up. We are figuring that we have about 1/3 less usable oxygen up where we are. Even though Jason and I were in pretty good shape before we came here, at times we would take 20-30 steps and need to stop to breathe deeply and catch our breath. Kevin and Chris have been living here for 22 years, so they have definitely accumulated to these conditions. Our puppies were taking breaks too, so we felt better knowing it wasn’t just us who were feeling it! I was using hiking poles for the trip so I will say that 99% of the pictures today were taken by Jason. Here are a few of the favorites. (There will be many, sorry!)

Indian paintbrushes were everywhere! Such beautiful scenery no matter where you turned. We got to 11,700 feet on this hike! Pretty high up there! The highest mountains around us are 14,000 to give you an idea.

Lunch

We found a brewery with a dog friendly patio near by called Angry James Brewing. We heard they were BYOF so we stopped at Chipotle to grab lunch.

I got a sofritas (tofu) bowl with brown rice, black beans, hot and mild salsa and guac! Hmmm so tasty.

But when we got there, they did serve food! So after about 2 hours of trying some beers, I needed something else to snack on.

They had a little place located inside that was called “Cultivate”. Most of their menu was leaning toward vegetarian, but their fresh summer rolls are vegan!! Rice paper on the outside with carrots, cucumbers, greens, and apricots! The peanut sauce was also spectacular! Mmmm the best!

Drive home

The drive back home felt quick comparatively to our recent drives. We unpacked, showered, and had some chips and salsa for dinner since Chipotle does really fill you up. We planned our hike for the next day and headed to bed. Great first hike in Colorado!