Colorado -Take II

Colorado - Take II 

 

 

The Peaks Trail

Breckenridge, CO to Frisco, CO

12/8/12

 

10 miles, 3 hours & 40 minutes

 

28 Days to Africa

 

Good fortune continues to shine down upon us as we prepare for our grand adventure and the Kilimanjaro Challenge.  We are less than a month away from departure for Africa, and we continue to be surrounded by such kind and generous friends and family.  This past weekend we were able to make a return trip to Colorado for a second go at training above 10,000 ft altitude.  Deb and Greg were presented with an unexpected opportunity to stay at a friend's cabin in Breckenridge, CO.  Since we had airline vouchers for volunteering to be "bumped" from a flight on the way home from the last Colorado trip that were sufficient to cover the cost of this flight, we couldn't pass up the offer.  Thus, for the cost of a rental car, food, and a cleaning fee, we were able to make another trip to the land of thin air and sunshine.  

 

After arriving, getting settled and going to bed on Friday night, we set out on Saturday morning for a hike that would take us from Breckenridge to the neighboring town of Frisco, CO. The hike is called "The Peaks Trail" and it is a 10 mile long trek through trees and over streams along the mountainside. A light layer of snow contributed to the majesty of the trek without significantly slowing our pace or dampening our enthusiasm.

 

Ten miles of hiking gave us time to cover the familiar conversations about our excitement for the African journey ahead of us, our commitment to being as prepared as possible for the challenge and the day-to-day activities of our lives that we don't always have time to share during the hectic work week.

 

 

We were happy to have the trail predominantly to ourselves.  There were tracks to indicate that others had traveled portions of the trail, but aside from pine squirrels and a few birds we saw little other evidence of activity along the trail. 

 

The terrain for the trek was gentle in comparison to our hike up Mt. Elbert in October.  The altitude was above 10,000 ft and there were portions of the trail that did require some steady inclines.  But, it was nothing quite as treacherous as our previous hiking experience in Colorado.  That being said, it was not a walk in the park by any stretch of the imagination.  The temperature was cold and periodic snow flakes and gusts of wind reminded us that we were in training mode.

 

 

Our hike ended in the town of Frisco, which Deb joked is where the people of Breckenridge move to when they age.  She based this statement on its proximity to the interstate and the fact that she likes to pull Greg's leg about such things upon occasion to keep him on his toes.  One of the great features of connecting the communities around the Breckenridge area is a free shuttle bus that connects the various local towns to one another.  It was at one of those stops that Deb and Greg each enjoyed a bag of Raisinets while waiting for the bus to take us from Frisco back to Breckenridge.  Once we were back in Breckenridge, we hopped aboard a free Gondola from the town up to the top of Peak 7 where we had parked the car at the trail head for The Peaks Trail. 

 

 

Queen Of Peace School Supply Drive

Queen of Peace School Supply Drive

Queen of Peace School

Madison, WI

12/1/12

35 Days to Africa

We are very grateful to the students, school, and parish of Queen of Peace in Madison, Wisconsin.  The students, their parents and the faculty of Queen of Peace generated two barrels full of school supplies for the people of Africa.  In addition to our travels to Africa, one of the faculty members at Queen of Peace is also going to Africa this winter.  The two full barrels were split between our group and the faculty member's group, and that means we now have four boxes of school supplies to help stock the classrooms at the education center being built in Tanzania with the funds we are raising.

Greg and his three siblings are all alumni of the school, which is situated just blocks from their family home.  Queen of Peace provides an education for kindergarten through eighth grade.  The school is run by the Parish and is attached to a Catholic church, which offers services throughout the week.  The parishioners of Queen of Peace have a long history of supporting endeavors that improve the lives of others and strengthen local and global connections.  

When we began our efforts in earnest to raise funds and collect school supplies for the people of Tanzania, Deb had the great idea to ask family members who have connections to the field of education.  She hoped they would be willing to connect with schools or teachers who could contribute in some fashion to the cause.  Greg's mother connected with staff at Queen of Peace and it was quickly discovered that Queen of Peace had a high level of interest in conducting a school supply drive since there was also a teacher at the school who is traveling to Africa this winter.  

Queen of Peace School set up a barrel at the school to collect the supplies and marketed the school supply drive through the Parish Bulletin, newsletter and word of mouth.  We are deeply touched and appreciative of the efforts and generosity of the students, faculty and parishioners of Queen of Peace.  We look forward to presenting the supplies to the teachers and students who will be using them.  We will be certain to share with them the origin of the supplies and the deep commitment that the Queen of Peace community has for the people of Africa.

A special thanks to Lauren at Queen of Peace for being a wonderful point of contact, and to Greg's mom for making the connection and helping us to achieve our supply raising goals.  We are indebted to all of you for your kindness and generosity.
 

Northwoods Training Facility

 

North Woods Training Facility

Presque Isle, WI

11/22/12 to 11/26/12

44 to 40 Days to Africa

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  This year we are giving thanks for our family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and total strangers.  Without all of you, our fundraising and teaching and learning supply drive efforts would not be nearly as fruitful.  We also wouldn’t have the benefit of all your words of encouragement behind us continually driving us forward in our preparations for our journey.  Please keep your stories, insights and support coming our direction in the weeks to come.  We will continue to share our training and other experiences with you related to our charitable adventure.  We are extremely excited to share with you the impact that all of our efforts will have on the people of Tanzania.

For the Thanksgiving holiday, Deb and Greg made a trek to our north woods training facility at Deb’s parent’s home.  Nestled in with our car load of items was a bag full of easy to transport work out items, and we tossed in our weighted Hula Hoop for good measure.  During the day hours, Greg helped his father-in-law cut a new path through the woods.  The work was laborious but enjoyable, and the company was good.  The two worked in tandem cutting trees with their chainsaws, and stacking the wood into burn piles or future firewood piles depending upon variety and condition.  A Thanksgiving night snow fall of approximately three inches made it safe to light the burn piles ablaze on Friday and left the newly created path well groomed.    

In addition to the outdoor work-outs that Greg undertook, there were also evening workouts with Deb in the basement of the family home.  Deb did a great job of designing a workout program that took 45 minutes to an hour to complete and utilized a variety of muscle groups.  Despite several mock whining looks and comments, Greg found the workout to be a definite challenge. 

Meanwhile, in her downtime, Deb read through 83 pages worth of travel advice and other information provided by the travel clinic that is pertinent to our trip.  She learned about the hazards and potential side effects of some of the medications that we will be bringing as well as practical advice pertaining to our time in Tanzania and our brief stop over in Kenya.  We are trying hard to be as prepared as possible in order to successfully climb to the top of the mountain. 

William O'Brien State Park

 

William O'Brien State Park

11/18/12

5 hours, 13 miles

48 Days to Africa

Situated just 34 miles from our home and a little over 10 miles north of Stillwater, MN along the St. Croix River, William O’Brien State Park was land that we thought we’d traversed before but quickly learned it was new to us.  The park featured a steep incline from Lake Alice up to the visitor’s center.  From there we had our choice of a number of routes along trails that are well suited to cross country skiing, but also quite serviceable as hiking routes. 

 

 

What struck us as most beautiful about the hike were the rolling hills and the multitude of different settings that our course took us through.  We hiked in areas with wetlands, hardwood stands, prairie lands, beaver ponds, hillsides and lowlands.  The park was well visited on the day of our trek, but felt far from busy or crowded.  As we hiked, we had a chance to talk about life, our goals, our likes, and our dislikes.  In typical fashion, we also spent a significant portion of the hike talking about Tanzania, Kilimanjaro, and our fundraising efforts.  We are getting closer to our departure date, and the excitement for our journey mounts.

 

During our preparations, we are finding that we are not the first to be undergoing this trek.  We know several people amongst our friends, co-workers, or acquaintances who have climbed Kilimanjaro themselves or know someone who has done the climb.  There seems to be a sense of wonder, awe, and reverence for the mountain and the people who live and work in its close proximity.  We have received sage pieces of advice and been provided plenty of food for thought as we prepare to make our own go at the mountain’s great heights. 

 

After our hike, we made a different kind of trek to a location that we have become quite familiar with, REI.  We haven’t named an official outfitter for our journey, but if we did REI would certainly be a leading candidate.  During this visit, Deb picked up a pair of trail running shoes for light hiking and use in camp.  Greg managed to get $35 off of a pair of trail runners that he had actually purchased a month earlier that had recently gone on sale.  Unfortunately, Deb had already spent what Greg had recouped and more so REI was still the winner that day.  

 

Oh Deer!

Oh Deer !

Fort Snelling State Park

St. Paul, MN

11/11/12

1hr 45min, around 5 miles

For this past weekend's excursion, we decided to stay extra close to home.  Initially, we had plans to head southwest for a hike along the Minnesota River Valley, but time did not permit since we slept longer than anticipated in the morning and Deb had a noon soccer game in Minneapolis.  Once we chose Fort Snelling State Park as our destination, we set out to explore an area we have driven past several times for more than ten years but neither of us has taken an opportunity to explore.  

 

 

The park sits below the grounds of Fort Snelling and consists of 3,400 acres.  Due to our time crunch, we focused on one particular area of the park - Pike Island.  We can summarize our experience in this area in a couple of words....  Oh deer!  At least twenty of them in fact.  There were so many deer on the island that they almost seemed like squirrels or chipmunks.  We rarely went more than five or ten minutes while hiking without seeing at least one deer, if not a group of three or four.  We saw little deer (no fawns though), big deer, medium deer, bucks, does, two pointers and eight pointers.  The deer were neither aggressive nor timid; they appeared to go about their business and were content to let us go about ours.  We did see three hunters while hiking in the park, but they were armed only with expensive looking cameras and an apparent interest in capturing the activities of the local residents.

 

 

 

The landscape for our trek was not particularly diverse, but did offer some unique perspectives on our view of the local park and recreation areas.  Driving into the park, we were greeted by a fly-by from a large airplane landing at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.   At the parking lot, we were looking up at one of the many bridges in the area that take highway travelers from one destination to another without much thought of the land below.  We have ten years of experience on the roads above so we found our two hours down below to be a refreshing change of pace.  Once we were on the trail, we were exposed to the deer in droves and the sounds of trains passing in the not so distant distance.  The trail also at times captured the beauty of the meandering waterways that provided transportation for many people before trains, planes and automobiles existed.

 

 

 

 

The weather added its own unique touch, and for the first time during our training hikes in Minnesota we found ourselves hiking in precipitation.  It rained or sleeted lightly as we trekked around the park.  Although it offered a gentle test for some of our equipment, it posed no real threat to our comfort.  It was also relatively cool compared to other recent hikes, and yet out equipment continued to provide sufficient warmth combined with adequate breathability. 

 

 

Fort Snelling was well worth the visit.  The park offers ample mountain bike trails and sufficient hiking trails to keep most folks occupied.  It had an understated beauty to it and likely that beauty is enhanced when the trees are in bloom, during the fall color change, or once the snow has covered the ground.  On a rainy, dreary Sunday morning, it still held enough interest to capture the eyes of a couple of first timers and its proximity to the heart of the metro area make its presence and preservation all the more impressive.  Fort Snelling was the home and visiting place for many animals and people for hundreds or thousands of years before Europeans encroached upon the land, and the fact that it remains undeveloped (or returned to nature in the case of some areas) speaks well to efforts to conserve some slice of this planet where we are guests not residents.    

Support Team RE/MAX Results

 

Support Team RE/MAX Results

Fundraising Efforts go High Tech

11/8/12

58 Days to Africa

The RE/MAX Results trekking team invites you to view the following video.  The video outlines some of the many motivations that our group has for taking on the Kilimanjaro Challenge.  It also provides valuable information about the ways in which our fundraising efforts will have a positive impact on the community we will be visiting.  We appreciate your continued support and interest in our adventure, and we invite you to consider making a financial contribution to help us reach our fundraising goal of $20,000. 

http://youtu.be/0_RfjHGxpRU

Nomads in Frontenac State Park

 

Nomads in Frontenac State Park

Frontenac, MN

11/4/12

5 hours, 10.3 miles

 

62 days to Africa

 

 

Inspired by the previous week's adventure, Deb and Greg hit the road and headed back to southern Minnesota for another round of hiking.  This week, we chose Frontenac State Park.  The park came highly recommended by our friends Paul and Karensa and featured a challenging hike down and up a steep bluff along the impressive shores of the Mississippi River.

 

 

The portion of the Mississippi River that touches Frontenac State Park is also known as Lake Pepin.  The area was a high end steamboat stop in the years immediately following the Civil War and drew visitors for New Orleans, St. Louis and St. Paul.  The arrival of the railroad to southern Minnesota in 1870 ended the town's heyday but did little to subtract from the areas natural beauty.

 

 

 

We began our hike by descending the bluff down towards the river.  There were steps, a few more steps, a steep slope with rocks and roots along the trail and then a few more steps.  After descending perhaps 300 feet, we followed a meandering trail for about a mile below the bluffs before re-encountering stairs, steps, upwards slopes with rocks and roots and then some more stairs.  We ended up seeing three deer along the trail and when we reached the top of the bluff we saw a herd (gaggle, crew, posse, or whatever you call a group) of turkeys.

 

 

The remainder of the hike was fairly gentle in its terrain, but scenic nonetheless.  We crossed prairie lands, walked through hard wood forest areas, and had a chance to observe areas of the park that had recently undergone a controlled burn.  The charred landscape still had the scent of being burned, and we even saw one pile of sticks still smoldering. 

 

 

As we hiked, we had a great chance to visit with each other and unwind from the hectic week we had just finished.  We talked about our fundraising efforts and the great opportunity we have to make a difference in the lives of people we have never met.  It has been a powerful experience to have found support from those we know well, as well as from folks who we do not really know. 

 

 

We also talked about how cool it has been to use our training as a way to explore new areas of Minnesota that we have yet to see since moving here ten years ago.  We have been very fortunate to have the chance to travel to a wide variety of places throughout the world, but taking time to see more of the local geology and topography has been a fun way to spend some of our weekends. 

 

 

The goal of our trek was to log some significant hours on our feet, and we certainly accomplished that goal.  By the time we returned to our car to head back to St. Paul, we had gone over 10 miles.