A Memorial Day Weekend in Colorado

Lifting the gates that block the highest paved road in America, CDOT welcomed the many visitors to the Mount Evans Wilderness on Friday, May 28th. Cars, trucks and bikes alike meandered their way up the 14 mile long road, most of it above treeline, to see snowy boulder fields, marmots and the top of the Front Range. I decided to wait one day, to not strain myself amongst the possibility of yelling at the tourists waiting for their first photo of a mountain goat. It didn't matter, it happened. However, Saturday was cooler, with a bit of wind and clouds rolling up the steep face of Mount Evans at 14,264 feet.

Trying to force myself upon the summit I saw the dogs and families gasping for breath on the snow laid path to the top, I decided, nah! 'I'll go make some other foot prints in the snow today.' So I drove down a couple of twisting miles to a lower elevation and parked my Subaru around 13,500.

Walking south out along a long saddle, I found solitude amongst the tundra. Venturing towards a rock outcropping, I saw a new perspective of Mount Bierstadt, Evans' sister 14er. The clouds were drifting past, the wind scrambling up the escarpments of rock and ice, yet the day was calm or at least calming.

Casually strolling back across the saddle towards the road, I smelled and saw the moist air, which had lingered on the plains in and around Denver, wafting up the from the valley, dancing amongst the rocks, snow and heavens. The upward thrusting of the clouds mixing with the dry and cool mountain air cascading in and around me was like a passionate dance amongst lovers moving to the rhythms of samba.

However nice the day was, spending it amongst the clouds, I had other obligations to attend to that night. They came in the form of Conor Casey, Omar Cummings and the now hot Colorado Rapids.

Like most nights out at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, the crowd was a little raucous, the wind was whipping around the field from a thunderstorm and everyone was hoping that the Rapids would not become the summer version of the Nuggets and Avalanche; losers.

They weren't. Beating the Seattle Sounders 1-0 made for a nice victory, especially a Western Conference opponent. Hanging out on the field with Jessica Taves and having Shaun Schafer in the stands, writing out a story for their website enterprise, I felt like this summer is all fun and no work. Internship over, shooting for myself, however, I am still trying for good shots, portfolio material if possible, from the a sport I had placed on a back burner some 14 years ago. Now that I am 30 and have the college bug all over again, it is and was important to be on the field for sporting sake, along with my own. The smell of the grass, the lights shining down from the corners of the stadium, the crowd

The night was capped off by Casey's goal some time in the second half, ensuring a victory for a match that might not mean much now but felt like it would later.