Fabienne turns ten today* and believes the Independence Day celebrations are in her honor.
* I estimated her birth date to around 4 July 2007. I picked the Fourth as it’s easy to remember.
Humane Society Of The South Platte Valley Fundraiser Dog Wash
The Brew On Broadway (The BoB) hosts a fundraiser dog wash on the last Sunday each month to benefit the Humane Society of The South Platte Valley. This is the first time this year we have been in town for the event so I took the girls down to the brewery and had baths. Neither of my dogs were happy about actually getting bathed but tolerated the experience. The weather was fantastic and the beer (as always) was great. What a great way to spend the first Sunday afternoon of the summer!
Fabi lies by the pool
Guanella Pass Brewing
The dogs and I went hiking in Guanella Pass again Sunday afternoon. This time we stopped at a new Brewery in Georgetown, Guanella Pass Brewing, first so Lucy did not have a chance to roll in crap like she did last weekend.
I overheard the owner telling some guests they had only been open two weeks. I was impressed with the beers and the facility at such an early stage.
The taproom itself is clean and modern with stainless steel counters. There are televisions if you must watch them but the window seats with great views of the street and mountains are a better pairing with the beer. Summers in Georgetown provide excellent people watching (well, they’re actually tourists… are they really people?).
The patio is currently uncovered (no umbrellas or shade) as they are assessing the “wind situation” in Georgetown. There is an Italian restaurant a couple doors down that delivers and I can attest the meatball sub was very good.
I look forward to many summer visits to this brewery.
Don’t Tell Lucy She Can’t Do Something
A dog crosses a creek on a log WITH ONLY THREE LEGS. I struggle to cross with all of my limbs intact.
I only wish I had pulled the camera out sooner to catch her entire crossing.
Hunting Ground Squirrels
Hiking The Abandoned Rails in Texas Creek
Devil’s Head Fire Tower
This weekend’s hiking trip location was chosen to avoid the awful Sunday traffic on I-70. I picked a spot relatively close to the Denver metro area in the foothills just southwest of Sedalia. Devil’s Head is a rock formation on which is situated the last working fire lookout tower on the front range.
Since I had never visited this particular area I was surprised to find a navigation app routed me to the south of the trail head instead of the more direct route I expected. Ignoring this red flag I followed the suggested route through Perry Park which turned into some of the worst forest service roads I’ve ever seen. I was fortunate that it was daylight and not raining — otherwise I would not have attempted this road. Even in good conditions I was concerned about “high-siding” my truck in a few spots while driving in 4×4 mode.
Since it was Sunday I expected there to be quite a few people hiking this trail. While the parking area had many vehicles it was not completely full.
We started up the trail and I immediately noticed signs that indicated dogs were to be on-leash only. This contradicted several places online that said the trail was dog friendly. Since the girls are pretty good about obeying my voice commands we ignored the sign. I eventually put them on leash towards the top of the trail as we encountered a few families with their dogs, but by that point my dogs were tired and did not pull too much.
Around the first corner we encountered a large blowdown area. According to a sign posted nearby this blowdown was the result of a EF-1 tornado that hit the area in July.
As we proceeded up the trail we did not meet very many people. We made pretty decent progress in the surprisingly cool August weather.
My dogs were running back and forth along the trail, occasionally chasing squirrels and chipmunks along the way. By the time we met the first group of people on the trail they were panting and happy.
The trail itself is not difficult. The forest service has kept the trail wide and well-kept to accommodate the large number of people who visit. There are many places where timber “steps” have been put in to assist hikers with the grade.
At the top of the trail there is a pleasant flat area with two large benches and some shady trees. There is also a cabin for the forest service lookout personnel.
The benches allow hikers to rest briefly before ascending the 143 steps to the fire tower. One might have to wait here to allow some of the visitors already on the tower to descend to comply with the rules.
The steps themselves look daunting at first but are solidly built. Using the handrails is extremely important at this altitude.
I told the dogs to head up the stairs ahead of me, partly to avoid them being directly underfoot. They went halfway up and decided to come back down again.
Once I convinced them to go up in front of me they ran to the top. There are several direction changes on the stairs before reaching the top with a small area for viewing the surrounding area. On a normal day the views must be amazing — on this day the smoke in the air from remote wild fires reduced the view to less than five miles. There were a few people waiting to come down in this area so the dogs had to stop for adoration and being petted. There is a narrow opening between some large boulders to traverse before reaching the actual tower.
When we climbed up to the observation deck around the tower the lookout ranger greeted the dogs and chatted briefly about the smoke and lack of viewing distance. On good days he said you could see nearly one hundred miles to the east. I will definitely return to this spot on a clear day.
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The lookout ranger also gave me a “completion” card for making it to the top of the tower trail. I am now an official member of the Ancient and Honorable Order Of Squirrels. This is probably a big hit with the children who are forced to hike with their families.
We did not linger too long at the top so that other hikers could ascend. We headed back down the stairs where Lucy made more friends.
Fabi chased chipmunks for a while in the clearing at the bottom of the stairway before we headed back down. This shady area would be ideal for a picnic and there are even vault toilets up there.
By the time we made it most of the way back to the trailhead Lucy decided she needed to cool off in a small stream. Both dogs climbed into the water for a few minutes.
The drive home was dusty but uneventful. All three of us napped for a few hours.
The trail is listed as 3.8 miles total but I tracked 5.7 myself. There is about 1000 feet of elevation gain total.
My Dogs Have Been To More Breweries Than You (archive)
This will be a continuously updated post that includes the breweries and taprooms to which I have taken my dogs. I try to tag all of these posts with the Twitter hashtag #drinkingWithMyDogs which you can view via their search tool.
Last update: 07 March 2021
Alternation Brewing Company Denver CO (closed)
Banded Oak Brewing Company Denver CO
Barrels And Bottles Brewery Golden CO
Elevation Beer Company Poncha Springs CO
Oskar Blues Tasty Weasel Taproom Longmont CO
The Brew On Broadway (The BoB) Denver CO (closed)
Chain Reaction Brewing Denver COFormer Future Brewing Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales Denver CO
Wit’s End Brewing Denver CO (closed)
Eddyline Brewing Buena Vista CO
Declaration Brewing Denver CO (closed)
Living The Dream Brewing Highlands Ranch CO
Platt Park Brewing Denver CO
Fermæntra Brewing Denver CO (closed)
Funkwerks Brewing Fort Collins CO
Copper Kettle Brewing Denver CO
Comrade Brewing Denver CO
Crabtree Brewing Greeley CO
Boggy Draw Brewing Sheridan CO (closed)
Brewery Rickoli Wheat Ridge CO
Saint Patrick’s Brewing Littleton CO
Dead Hippie Brewing Sheridan CO (closed re-opened!)
Mockery Brewery Denver CO
Mad Jack’s Mountain Brewery Bailey CO
Strange Craft Beer Denver CO
Prost Brewing Denver CO
Florence Brewing Company Florence CO
Crestone Brewing Company Crestone CO
Soulcraft Brewing Salida CO
Guanella Pass Brewing Georgetown CO
Very Nice Brewing Company Nederland CO
Resolute Brewing Company Centennial CO
Woods Boss Brewing Company Denver CO
Renegade Brewing Company Denver CO
Ska Brewing Company Durango CO
Little Machine Brewing Denver CO
Lake City Brewing Company Lake City CO
Great Divide Brewing Company Denver CO
Ursula Brewery Aurora CO
Cerebral Brewing Denver CO
Jackass Hill Brewing Littleton CO
Station 26 Brewing Denver CO
Goldspot Brewing Denver CO
Zuni Street Brewing Denver CO
6 and 40 Brewery Lakewood CO
Factotum Brewhouse Denver CO
Georgia Pass
With a forecast for temperatures in the mid nineties in the Denver area I drove my dogs up to Georgia Pass for a morning of hiking and much cooler temperatures. While we’ve visited Georgia Pass several times in the past I had never attempted to hike any of the side trails that fan out from the pass summit area. All of these trails are meant for high-clearance 4×4 vehicles so I parked at the summit and set off along the trail with a sign that indicated the Colorado Trail intersected it. There was also signage for something named Glacier Ridge.
The 4×4 trail started off in a tree-lined section which quickly thinned out as we approached timberline. I decided not to take the Colorado Trail as it appeared to head back down hill from the 4×4 trail. Instead we continued toward the bottom of Glacier Ridge.
In the past there was a 4×4 track straight up the ridge but the forrest service has “recently” closed that hillside due the damage that was done to the vegetation. They erected a pole fence and placed a restoration notice sign. From what I could tell it was preventing most people from crawling up.
The hillside to the top of the ridge looked too easy — but it wasn’t. It is deceptively steep and since you are well over 11,000 feet the going is pretty tough (at least for myself). The restoration project replaced the ruts in the hillside with a mat to encourage growth of native wild grasses and flowers while preventing erosion.
The further up the hill I went the rockier the terrain became. At one point I rolled my ankle slightly and rested for about ten minutes to see if there was going to be any swelling. When I stood again and took several tender steps I decided it would be a good idea to head back to the truck. There were also storm clouds gathering in the area and I did not feel comfortable above tree line.
The views from this hillside were incredible. After checking terrain maps of this area later I see that the ridge actually overlooks Jefferson Lake. I will definitely return to make it to the top of the ridge.
As we neared the pass summit area there was a herd of about thirty juvenile mountain goats grazing in the clearing. Lucy saw them and wanted to chase them but she obeyed my commands to stay near me… for a while. Eventually she took off running towards them, chasing them down the hillside before I could pull out my camera.
It had started raining on us as we hiked back to the truck and by now it was coming down at a decent rate. The mid fifties temps had dropped into the high forties so the rain was mixed with sleet. Between the ever-increasing rainfall and my swelling ankle I didn’t think it was a good time to look for the goats so we headed back home.
