Beautiful Colorado Drive and Hike with Video

I put together this artsy video with some of the adventures Derek and I have been up to recently. I was gifted a GoPro for my birthday and decided to break it in, hope you enjoy the beautiful sights and sounds (Derek wrote and played the song)! It’s my first video, so show it some love.

The first clip is from Black Hawk, Colorado, a gambling town. Derek and I went there for my birthday because we had never been to a casino and decided to give it a try. We quickly found out that it wasn’t for us. I won back the whole $30 we sank into penny slots and we decided to leave after that. Maybe if we actually knew how to play some of the tables it would have been more fun, but I definitely wasn’t getting any of that adrenaline or excitement at the possibility of winning money. We then headed back down before it got much busier and really loved the rainy drive back.

Devil’s Backbone Hiking Trail

Devil’s Backbone is located in Loveland, Colorado. The hike was very enjoyable and easy for a Colorado hike. I specify for Colorado because one time my lovely father took my boyfriend at the time and me on a fourteener (feet) hike with him. I was concerned and anxious because I’ve never climbed something like that before and thought it might be too daunting for my couch potato booty. My dad assured me it was very easy and that some guy on the internet said it was so easy you could take a wheelchair up it. I was ecstatic, this sounded like the best way to cross a fourteener off my bucket list.

We get up at 5 am, get to the trailhead at 7am, and start hiking. It was NOT “so easy a wheelchair could go up it” (read this in a mocking voice with exaggerated air quotes). It was practically bouldering (like rock climbing but with no ropes). But that’s not the best part. After hiking for 3 hours we are near the summit and it starts to get gloomy. Plus, since it’s at a high altitude, it’s freezing near the top. Then it starts to lightly drizzle. We try to book it the rest of the way up because we are almost there, and why stop now. We get to the top, are very happy with ourselves, take a few minutes to soak it all in, and head back down.

As we are heading down I sprained both of my ankles. Both of my precious ankles. Possibly the two most important joints need to descend a freaking mountain (besides maybe the knee). We had only started going back about half an hour before this, so we still had two and a half hours of ground to cover. Mind you that time was calculated with everyone having functioning ankles. I was half carried half dragged down the mountain for the next four hours in pouring freezing rain by my dad and then boyfriend. When we got to the car my ankles were so swollen it took quite a bit of effort to get my hiking boots off. I have yet to hike another fourteener.

Hiking Trail of Devil’s Backbone

Devil’s Backbone was a quick 20-minute hike each way and had no evil rocks trying to take out my ankles. I love when a hike is easy and a has a rewarding view. Also, it’s called Devil’s Backbone because it is all red rock, and the way the rock sticks out of the ground looks like a backbone. Pretty straightforward once you know. I hope you enjoyed the video! Follow me on Twitter and Instagram (@mollykamper) for more lovely views and updates!

Share with me one of your interesting hike/nature stories in the comments below!