Adam Brucker

A nice little hike in North Boulder that looked a lot easier than it was from the road…

A few wildlife sightings:

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A challenging hike in Boulder under Bear Peak that looked a lot more flat on the map… And again, more climbers on top of big rocks.

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Easy climb up to the top of a local mountain that was completely burned in a forest fire a few years ago. Great views from the top.

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Woke up at 4:30 this morning to drop Jennie off at the airport and rather than go back to bed, I decided to get an early start and tackle a hike that I have been wanting to do here in Boulder for a while.

Parked at Chautauqua and headed up the Mesa trail to the Royal Arch trail. About 4 miles round trip and maybe 2,000 feet of vertical gain. Not the toughest hike but, as the French would say, es la no joke either.

I learned three thing while hiking.

1. Foxes will make the most amazingly unsettling noises when confronted on the trail by two dogs. Think the abominable snowman stubbing his toe mixed with a cat getting hit by the ice cream truck - it was that bad.
2. Older Canadian people will talk to everyone that they meet on the trail and they can’t’ help but tell people that they’re from Canada. Seriously, they can’t help it - “I’m from Canada.”
3. You can get cell reception at the top of the arch. You can even talk for 10 minutes in a loud voice to your boyfriend about what you are going to do later tonight.

A few pics (look for the climbers on the top of the Flatirons):

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For those counting, this show was the first live music that I had seen in exactly 3 weeks - I was not a better man for it…

Guitar hero, Leo Kottke to the rescue on a hot night in the front row at the lovely Chautauqua Auditorium.

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Kottke is an amazing guitar player and a great singer, but might be an even better story teller. The between-song banter was a treat and I particularly enjoyed his riffs on how he writes a song and approaches his craft as a musician.

Here’s a clip from an older LK DVD that will give you an idea of what he’s all about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fKo6aYe4Jg

Musical highlight of the night was the encore, and the one song I was hoping he would play, called “Rings.”

The opener was Louden Wainwright III, whom I’m told is actually less goofy that he used to be. Hard to believe, but fun to listen to none-the-less and the crowd of mostly aging Boomers ate up his act all night.

Fun night out and good to be back on the wagon - tons of great shows coming up this summer.