hiking with Chaos and Mayhem

chaos and mayhem make great hiking buddies, after phish left town dave had to work on a Saturday so I hit the trail with the monsters. Hope Lake is above Trout Lake and around 5 miles round trip.

so we loaded up into the 4runner

and let the wind rip through our fur.

Chaos knows that as soon as we hit a dirt road that's there is fun to be had....

Mayhem knows enough to be excited if Chaos is...

now if only mayhem can teach chaos how to drink from a camelback too...

but they both look adorable in their backpacks. Chaos carries the light treats and toys while Mayhem carries the puppy water to help tire him out... as if 5 miles wasn't enough...

Chaos and Mayhem enjoying the views

Chaos loved the swim in Hope Lake while Mayhem would rather cruise the shoreline.

And the wet pups hike back to the car after a fun few hours...

Chaos is such a poser... mayhem needs a bit more work... otherwise this would have been a great shot.

Mayhem went to play with his friends for the rest of the weekend while Chaos, Dave and I had a mellow Sunday. We're once again having a very busy August and trying to get a lot of things done with the dogs, work and upcoming trip to Sugarloaf. We did manage to get a good night out with our friends and watch one of my favorite Colorado finds, singer Rob Drabkin.

We first saw him when he opened for Tim Reynolds in 2007 at the Sheridan Opera House and I've love his music ever since. If you like Jack or DMB then I suggest you check him out.

Phish in Telluride

Dave's favorite band of all time came to Telluride and in early April he camped outside of the Sheridan Opera House overnight in a snowstorm to get tickets for us and he wasn't the first in line, the local judge was.

Sam and Big Dave also hit town for the phistoric show and the boys made a big weekend out of it and had some good times at Alta Lakes, on the golf course and just puttering around town. Chaos and Mayhem even got to bring their friend Stella with them to the lake on Saturday and I enjoyed a walk around it with the three amigos.

The shows were on Monday and Tuesday nights and town began filling up during the weekend and some Phish folks even came early enough to partake in Telluride Jazz Festival.  The area was well prepared and the influx of 8,000 people wasn't too disruptive.
Phish Weekend Photos

My first Phish shows were filled with good people watching. I've been to a lot of shows in town park and most of the festivals have a very social aspect but Phish had the whole park moving and a huge light show that bounced off the canyon walls. The canyon provides great acoustics and Phish provided monster speakers. The gates opened in the late afternoon and the show started after 7:30pm as the sun began to creep out of the box canyon. I knew a couple of songs each night but really enjoyed the people watching. There were hippies, yuppies, babies and everything in between. KOTO did a beer booth but sadly New Belgium still doesn't have a gluten-free brew so it was off limits for me.
The first night was just Sam, Dave, Dave and myself while the second night had a whole crew. We lucked out and the weather held both nights from the rain that's been pounding us lately. It was a big week and I think we all could have used a weekend to recover from Monday and Tuesday... except for Chaos and Mayhem who had a few quiet nights at home while we hit town park. This weekend our couches are empty and we're looking forward to a quiet weekend at the Telluride Festival of the Arts and enjoying some gluten free beer at the Grand Tasting.

rainy days

we're on a pattern of rain here that we haven't seen since the summer of 2007. This year we are actually getting full on rainy days. In the last two years we pretty much just got small afternoon showers that lasted less then a hour and this season we have woken up and gone to sleep in rain.

There really is a box canyon at the end of this road but today it was fully engulfed in the clouds. If you look really carefully you can also see a bit of Mayhem in the 4Runner.

I did manage to get these shots of the monsters on a reccent sunny day

Chaos loves to pose for the camera... I think it's all the treats he gets for it...

Mayhem requires a fast shot and you might getting him standing still...

or you can just get a nice view of puppy bums scampering down the trail.