After a long week with many, many moments of “gah, I wish I could just turn the internet off” I spent my weekend doing exactly that. Sure, I had my phone on me and yea, I double tapped posts on Instagram but in the grand scheme of things…the internet did not matter!

It started with a friendly meet up with Chris and Marissa in Boulder. It was a freaking gorgeous day with bluebird skies and temperatures that should have left us in September. We spent some quality time frolicking around trails and making fools of ourselves before we decided we’d earned our weight in fries + beer. I guess the internet isn’t all bad if it gets you friends like these crazies…

After inhaling more than my share of food [and stealing a toddler’s leftover in a to-go box… #donotjudgeme] I headed west for the mountains. I was in search of snow…but not very optimistic as I didn’t pack any legitimate snow gear. A few Summit County resorts are open [Loveland, A-Basin, Keystone] but the majority of the runs are still grass green! Heck, I didn’t even wear my jacket to dinner with my Saturday night…it was just that warm, even at 10,000+ feet! Where the heck is winter?! [spoiler: it’s showing up this week!]

The mountainous version of my weekend started with a trip over Loveland Pass on my way to Silverthorne. I was hoping to catch the sunset and I timed it perfectly, except for the gigantic mountain range the settled between me and the actual colorful part of the sunset. Even so, it was insanely beautiful and peaceful at the knoll above the Loveland Pass parking area! It was refreshing to just lay out on the rock and let the wind drown out the traffic as the sky darkened! Even more proof winter hadn’t fully arrived yet?! I was perfectly comfortable at nearly 12,000 feet in just leggings + a puffy…and it was stupidly windy!

As the sun continued its descent I drove down into Silverthorne where I met up with friends/invited myself over. Sunday morning made up for all the colors I missed out on during Saturday night’s sunset – if only I’d had the energy to wake myself two hours earlier for a sunrise summit! Next time! After a let’s-see-who-can-eat-the-most breakfast two of us decided to make the most of the day and go snow hunting [the others took the “responsible adult” route and kept working on a remodel project]. We packed up our bags, loaded the dog into the car and headed for the Peak One trailhead in Frisco.


Mt Victoria is off to the left, Peak One is in the distance. Yea, that’s why we opted for just Mt Victoria.

Our goal was a summit of Peak One. Well, that’s what we said on the way to the trailhead but my true goal was a happy Achilles + some snow worth frolicking in. At the end of the day we got…a Mt Victoria summit, an only-slightly-annoyed Achilles and almost no snow. Eh. I still can’t complain, the weather was beautiful, the hike made my legs earn their keep and no outting is boring if half your time on the trail is spent sharing “worst impression made in a foreign country” stories…


That face…that’s how we felt about more climbing. Our hike up was much quieter than our scramble down!

Besides, it was a STEEP climb! Anyone who knows anything about me knows…I just might excel at whining. Turns out it takes just a ONE hike with me before you’re warning others of this fun little fact. But this whining streak I am apparently on is not actually my fault. You see, I never want to disappoint someone or fall short of their expectations so I do my best to live up to the “she whines a lot” reputation I seem to be building. This hike was no different. We made it approximately 200 feet from the car when the first whine escaped. “My feet are hot!” Oops.


Our summit photos…and yes, that is exactly what the front pockets of the UD Wink are for [Mt Dew + snacks!]

On the plus side; uphill hiking = not so much talking. By the time we made it up Mt Victoria and decided we were happy with our day I was done whining about the climb and had moved on to squeaking awkwardly on the descent. There wasn’t much snow but what did exist was hard packed on steep, rocky terrain. There was a lot of slipping, sliding and “oh, hi there tree” moments.

We created the next big thing…lightweight, removable traction contraptions to strap onto your shoes with hiking down slick packed snow. I think we’ll call them MiniSpikes! [Yes, I know there are MircoSpikes and YaxTrax and all that jazz but neither of us packed them…clearly because they weren’t invented yet, not because we’re idiots.]

Did I have a good weekend?! Heck yes, sometimes the simple weekends are the best and you can’t go wrong with mountain explorations + a nobody-thought-I-was-smart-enough Settlers of Catan win! Am I super pumped to be back in the land of the-internet-is-always-on? Heck no, but it’s a short week…up next is a trip to Portland and I hear there is a backpacking trip on the agenda!


6 Comments

Amy · November 10, 2021 at 7:53 pm

Congrats on winning Settlers! You are a good game player 😉 Beautiful pictures!

    Heidi Nicole · November 11, 2021 at 2:21 pm

    I think I have a lot of luck on my side with that stuff — people get all competitive and I just sit quietly, counting victory points! 😉

The Padre · November 11, 2021 at 9:26 am

Totally Epic Post!!! Thanx 4 Sharing The Photos!!! Cheers

    Heidi Nicole · November 11, 2021 at 2:21 pm

    Thanks! The mountains never disappoint when it comes to stunning photos!

Winter is here! · February 1, 2021 at 10:27 am

[…] want to. It was cold. The gym would still be there after work. My back was weirdly achy after Sunday’s hike. The bed was warm. The cat looked comfy at my feet. You get the […]

Finally...a Snow Day at Keystone! // Heidi Kumm · February 1, 2021 at 10:41 am

[…] it was refreshing just to see snow after knowing how bare the runs were just a few weeks earlier when I hiked near Peak One with a view of Keystone’s back […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0