Summer Love

I'm lying under one of those comforters you only find on Germanic beds - fluffed and generally found neatly folded lengthwise so as to expose a perfect boarder of white sheet. The bed places me in the South Tyrol region of Italy and the heart of Dolomite mountains. I'm here on what one might call a proper vacation, visiting my father and step family at their beautiful mountain valley hotel. Hotel Perwanger. There are flowers sprouting from the balconies and I when I look out the front window I'm greeted by the often misty spires of The Schlern. I've been looking at this mountain for years now and have always pondered reaching its top from the door of the hotel. With the mountain rising more than 5700 feet in front of me it's always been a dream  until now.

I woke to a light rain this morning and began to get excited for my planned adventure up and around The Schlern tomorrow. In the wake of this excitement I was overcome with a sense of gratitude not only for this adventure to come but namely for the ability to peruse such dreams, those who share similar motivations, and best of all the most fantastic last month of adventuring in the books. Before diving deeper into my Dolomite frolics it seems only appropriate to take a moment to recall memory of July:

I kicked the month off by returning to running after two month hiatus due to injury. I ran the Northfork 50K in Pine, CO and had a ball. I had a smile my face the whole time and managed to win which was icing on the already delicious cake. It's simply so good to be back running full power at such a wonderful and well organized race. Best of all however, was knowing I was 100% healthy for summer!

First stop of summer adventures was the Tetons with my friend a Claire and our pups. The Tetons are extra special to me as the site of first ever backpacking trip and a wooden framed poster of the Grand and a moose hang above my bed as a constant reminder of their awesomeness. We set up camp in Victor, ID at the home of two amazing people - Jenny and Gene. To give you idea of how awesome these two are, I hope to be like them when I grow up! Their wonderful company (along with that of Steph, Rob, Kim and Steve) and delicious food every night made the best trip ever just that extra bit better. As a horse back trail guide I crossed paths with last week told me: "If life were any better I couldn't stand it!"

Between runs with Jenny and Steph, and mountain bike rides with Gene and Rob, the best two days of Claire's and I's trip came back to back, starting with a bike ride over Jackson Pass and along the park's main road. The ride was quite simply the most beautiful road ride I've ever been on - Jackson Pass was a great climb; the dirt, twists and turns on Wilson-Moose road top any roller coaster I've ever been on; the views of the Grand were stunning; if only the ride towards Signal mountain could have never come to an end... All the while during the ride I couldn't take my eyes off our next day's plan: summiting the Middle Teton! We picked up some rental ice axes and crampons on our way home from the ride and excitedly spent the evening watching Scottish you tube videos on basic self arrest while meticulously packing bags (complete with CO Skratch Labs patch) and laying out our sweet new Denver Run House Trail Team shirts.

The trip up the Middle was incredible. So good that I don't really have words. While awe, stoke and a general feelings of bliss was freely flowing through my veins, my proudest feeling associated with our summit comes from the fact that we made it up the slightly more technical summit (due to lots of snow and melt-age) as a solo team of girls. Not only did we navigate challenges well as a team but we totally annihilated the summit as well, moving quickly and efficiently up the mountain. Not to beat our own drums too hard but we were psyched to make it up and down the mountain (with plenty of time for photos, snack breaks and views) in the estimated amount of time it should take just to reach the summit. It was one of the best days of my life.

As if a trip to the Tetons couldn't get any better, we nailed the grand finale by stopping through the northern unit of the Wind River Range on the way how for a pleasant 3 days backpacking. We hiked in a short ways from the Green Lakes Trailhead and set up camp in a private meadow where the dogs could go wild. From camp the next day we took the most pleasant, mellow run down the Highline Trail, following the Green River (it's really quite green!) to the base of Square Top Mnt. Beautiful once again. And on our way out we saw a badger!

Back in CO it was a quick 3 day turn around that included a trip up Mt Audubon (the mountain my grandparents honeymooned beneath!), watching Germany win the Wold Cup with the perfect goal, a PHENOMENAL Avett Brothers show at Red Rocks that's somehow landed us with VIP seats, a trip to Soapstone Natural Area to lay ground work for a camera project tracking black-footed ferret and bison reintroduction, and completion of the double Shadow Mountain loop with Katie in preparation for her Leadville 100 debut. This was my biggest day EVER on a bike - kind of funny given my history - and damn was it fun!

Next up my BFF Ari rolled into town with good old Homer dog and Mara joined us fresh in from 10 hard days racing in Italia. We packed in the parking lot of REI Denver and hit the road for Durango to commence a 6 day backpacking trip in the Weimenuche Wilderness the following day. The trip was amazing once again. While Mara made the wise choice to turn early and rest her tired body for bike races yet to come, Ari and I ventured forth to complete the most challenging of all our backpacking trips to date. The Weimenuche was stunning. Again - few words can describe an experience like the total stillness and contentment that come along with a life contained in a backpack. Joesy ran the hardest I've ever seen her run and experienced the pains associated with trying to attack a porcupine while Homer showed massive gains in strength from his first trip to the Cloudpeak Wilderness last year; meanwhile,  Ari and I shared laughs and the kind of good times only friends with long histories can.

All this eventually lands me here, under this comforter, giddy as I think of the next two months (and quite honestly a life time) of continued adventures...