the day i decided that i hate mountains and rocks...

Ok, so I only hated them for a day, but the hatred was rather strong. On Tuesday, I climbed my first 14er. Which is a mountain over 14,000 feet in elevation. Since there are two right next to one another we decided that we should hike both in the same day. It was pure torture. At least for me. I had great hiking buddies though and I really appreciated their patience with me. The fact of the matter is that I, Dani Taylor, hiked with my own two feet up and down two 14ers. Grays (14,270) and Torreys (14,267) were dominated on the 10th of August, 2011 by me!

a day in the life...

So this was my day today.

Started it with a hike up in the Rocky Mountain National Park:

yep. still snow in august.

 my favorite hiking buddies: jerry & diane

 see...here's my walking stick.

and then ended it with a performance by the Grand County Characters at the Rowley Homestead:

They perform every week and every other week I am the staff in charge of the show.

I swear there are millions of these little buggers everywhere...

taking a break on the porch swing...

The Rowley Homestead...

The end.

holy quickness batman...it's almost over!

Only two more weeks left here in Colorado for the summer....sad. Anyways....here are some pics to highlight my summer.

Nine mile mountain is one of our hiking trails. I usually take guests up here for a sunset photography hike.  We have a ton of wildflowers on this trail and the view is amazing.

Snow Mountain is what the YMCA resort here is named after. It has 5 peaks, but I have only gone up to 1st peak so far. My plan is to hike all 5 next week on one of my days off.

We went up to Chickoree Lake in the Rocky Mountain National Park for a guided hike and saw this newborn elk lying near the parking lot. 

My hiking buddy for Chickoree Lake and his pet snail.

Chickoree Lake.

I am about 20 minutes away from Winter Park. I am definitely coming back in the winter to snowboard.

I am about 30 minutes away from the Rocky Mountain National Park and we take guided hikes up here every week.

This is the waterfall trail. These pics were taken on June 1st and there was still snow waist deep up near the waterfall. 

Sheryl and me doing the giant's ladder during training. This is one of the elements on our high ropes course.

Making my walking stick with Jerry and Diane. I spent at least 5 hours on it, but it is spectacular. I will have to take a picture of the final product.

We played water kickball during our 4th of July Carnival.

We went up to Grand Lake to watch the 4th of July fireworks! We sat on the rocks and had an amazing view. They even shot off fireworks from a boat about 100 feet in front of us.

My family came to visit me and we went for a hike up to the waterfall. I think Gil had it best by being in the pack instead of walking the trail.

Janelle, Sarah and I went down and explored the Garden of the Gods and Colorado Spring on one of our days off. It was so hot that day...we missed the cool mountain air.