Some thoughts and discussions from me.
Colorado’s Birthday Weekend + Weekly Spin Playlist–8/4/14
Good morning, lovelies! I hope you all had a great weekend. This weekend was Colorado’s 138th birthday, so I made sure to honor it rightly so 
The weekend started bright and early on Friday morning, as I drove down to meet this chica for a trip up to the mountains. Our plans were to drive out and hike a bit of Loveland Pass, and then spend the rest of the afternoon kayaking.
This would have been my third time hiking the steep incline at the pass. The first time, we almost made it to the top (but there proved to be too much snow! <—awww, what a FUN day) and the second time, we made it all the way up. (<—another super fun weekend!)
Anyway, as you can see from the picture above, it looked a little different up there this time around. We immediately noticed the plummeting temps, heavy fog, and rain. Honestly, it felt a bit like a winter storm up there! And then we heard some thunder, which was our cue to head back down the mountain. Womp womp.
Unfortunately, the rain and thunder kept up, so our kayaking plans were thwarted. Actually, I was game, but then I pictured myself out in the middle of the lake in 40 degree temps and rain – and then added a likely flare of Raynaud’s to the equation, and came back to reality. So instead, we headed to Tommy Knockers for some burgers and beer. Not a bad consolation prize if you ask me!
I got back home around 4, and since we had a few hours until our dinner reservations – and my mountain adventure hankering hadn’t been quelled yet – I drove to the nearest mountain to my house – Rabbit Mountain, for a 4-mile trail run.
It started out great, but if it was an adventure I wanted, it was an adventure I got. About a mile or so in, I spotted a cute little rabbit hopping a head, and stopped to snap a picture of it. I now consider this my lucky rabbit, because about 2 feet in front of me in the middle of a trail was…(dun, dun, dun)…a rattlesnake!
EEK!
I’ve seen a few before on runs and hikes, but never alone. I quickly turned around and took a different route along the loop, and ran the fastest I’ve ever run on a trail. I had the heeby jeebies the entire 4 miles back to the trail head, and of course, imagined rattlesnakes at every step on the trail.
Luckily, I made it back to the trail head in what was likely record time for me – sans a deadly rattlesnake bite. Turns out the best way to get faster is to imagine rattlesnakes jumping out and ankle biting you for the entire run! Ha!
When I got back home, I realized it was probably a good thing I ran super speedy, because I was always running super late (ahhh, typical Paige.) I immediately showered and met up with a group of friends at a brewery down the street before we headed to dinner. However, I think the super speedy run combined with a beer on an empty stomach made me a bit nauseous, because I felt fairly ill until our food came. But it was still fun 
When Saturday rolled around, we met up with some friends to hike the Brainard Lake trail to Isabelle Glacier. This is one of my favorite hikes (however, I’ve been told I say that about every hike, haha.) Shane and I first hiked it last September, and we were bummed we found it so late in the season, because it’s a truly beautiful hike complete with tree-lined trails, multiple waterfalls, and several beautiful lakes.
lunch of PBJ, aka the best hiking lunch ever.
This time around, the guys brought their fly fishing gear to try and catch some fish (to no avail) while we girls kicked back and relaxed.
Apart from us losing the guys for a good two hours on the hike back (yay for miscommunication!) excitement on the hike included stumbling upon 2 moose at the end of the hike!
I’ve only seen a moose one other time in Rocky Mountain National Park, so seeing it was pretty darn cool!
We spend the rest of the night hanging out at a friends deck (facing the mountains – swoon,) and then Sunday was more relaxed, with a make up client + online training in the morning, and just cleaning and relaxing the rest of the day. I just love lazy Sundays!
Moving on from weekend shenanigans, let’s get a little bit a fitness in this post. Since I received good feedback from last week’s spin playlist suggestion, I thought I’d continue the theme on this Monday.
Weekly Spin Class Playlist – 8/4/14
If you have Spotify, you can access the playlist (with extra songs tacked on to make it a 50 minute workout) here.
I’m off to find some trails to run on (and hopefully not play with any rattle snakes this time! ) Have a great Monday, everyone.
What was the best part of your weekend?
What was the last wildlife animal you encountered?
I’m so jealous of all the hiking you do! And the rattlesnake story is terrifying – I remember camping up in Northern Ontario when I was a kid and hearing a rattler when we were out on a hike, but we never spotted it. Probably the closest I’ve come to a dangerous creature was going up a gondola up Whistler Mountain in BC – It was right below us, but still quite a ways down 😉
Sam @ Better With Sprinkles recently posted…Scenes From the Weekend 08/04/14.
I’ve come across snakes (though none of them were rattlesnakes) on different walks and hikes and they’ve always creeped me out. I don’t know what it is about them, but it’s not good.
That hike to the lake looks gorgeous!
Fiona @ Get Fit Fiona recently posted…August Goals
I need to do that hike! It’s beautiful!
Becki @ Bites ‘n Brews recently posted…One of Those Days
you look super cute in a hat. love that zedd song!
Omg the moose! I’ve never seen one in real life! Josh is in Connecticut right now and he went with his parents on a moose tour in New Hampshire. He said it was so much fun!
Erin @ Her Heartland Soul recently posted…Weekend Snapshots 8.4
Wow! You go to see all sorts of awesome wildlife this weekend. We saw several moose throughout our time in Utah. I was always so amazed by them because I had never seen any growing up in AZ. I never knew that moose are actually super dangerous. I guess their eyesight is bad, but their hearing is excellent and they are super fast. Interesting, eh? So glad you had a great weekend and were able to enjoy the great outdoors! Keep it up for me while it’s still too stinkin’ hot here!
Ashley @ My Food N Fitness Diaries recently posted…I Actually Took Pictures of Our Weekend
I’ve never hiked alone and it’s something I definitely want to try!
Julie recently posted…MIMM: Life of a Carnie #diyhashtagproject
Sounds like an awesome weekend (aside from the rattlesnake)! I agree that a PBJ in the mountains is the best food ever.
Cassie @ Rural Running Redhead recently posted…Fall Classic Marathon Training: Week 9
Eek! So scary! I grew up in rattlesnake territory but luckily have never been close enough to get bitten. However, we had several dogs that did including our small Jack Russell and they always pulled through. So scary though!
Beautiful pictures EXCEPT for the rattlesnake:-0 We had a possum in our backyard one night and geckos are everywhere, neither are scary. But alligators, sharks and panthers are here, and I don’t ever want to see them as close as that rattler was to you!!
OH EEEMMM GAAHHHH I’d flip if I saw a rattlesnake which would probably get me bit 🙂 but a moose now that is way cool. I swear you guys are part of the reason I’m constantly telling D we need to move ha!
Amanda – RunToTheFinish recently posted…Is your workout causing you to gain weight?