Road Trip: Bahia Honda State Park, Florida Keys, Marathon

When we knew we were visiting the Keys, I had to find the best beach for us to do some snorkeling.  Bahia Honda State Park boasts one of the best beaches in the country; and has miles of sandy beach (don't be shy with the sea wall) and teal blue water for miles.   Josh and I only had 4 days in the Keys, so we spent every minute doing something fun; and one whole day was dedicated to swimming and hiking in two of the Keys State Parks located near to our resort.  After spending the morning and afternoon nature viewing and hiking in Long Key State Park, we were eager to cool off with a swim and we drove the 30 miles (which takes 45 minutes on the 2 lane road) to Bahia Honda State Park.

Survival Belts and Wrist Bands made from paracord

Paracord survival belt, find them for sale here.

While I started this blog to be about hiking, I wanted it to encompass everything about hiking, including gear.  One thing that I am very passionate about is supporting independent artists and small businesses providing great products  made locally rather than running to get the cheapest item at Walmart.  Over the years I have shared my favorite hiking gear that I take when I hike, including handmade items for the trail made locally or by myself.  Now, I am very excited to offer these survival belts on my website; they are made by a small company located in Kalispell, Montana and are both useful and stylish; very Colorado!  The belts are made from 70+ yards of woven paracord that can unravel in seconds for use in any survival situation; you can also use the metal pieces of the belt.
Now, you might think; 'what if I need to use the belt; then its unraveled and gone.'  Fortunately, Survivor Geek will remake the belt at no charge if you share your story with them; and if you want to take it apart 'just because,' then they will remake it for half the amount of the belt.

New Years Resolution to loose weight? Take a Hike! Here's a list of Front Range trails.

Royal Arch, Boulder.  A great hike for any season!

Did you make a New Years Resolution to loose weight or become more healthy and active?  It's already 3 weeks into January, are you keeping up with your resolution?  I sure haven't been very good at it this year. I thought you might need some inspiration as well;  so here is a list of trails in the Front Range area that are great to hike in the winter; on many of these trails you can accomplish hiking to a peak, an arch, a rim and lots more.  Not only is hiking a great outdoor activity, it gets your heart pumping and makes you feel great; plus you get the change to see amazing Colorado scenery, especially in the winter. Here is a list of some of my favorite places to hike that are great during any season, but the winter season offers less crowded trails and a spectacular winter wonderland after a newly fallen snow; or this being Colorado it will often provide you with a sunny day in the 60s. The Front Range offers numerous place to hike year round, but I am the kind of person who would rather hike to a peak, point of interest, or at best I'd prefer to hike a loop trail rather than an out and back.  One of my favorite mountains on the Front Range is Bear Peak which is west of Boulder.  Standing on the summit provides you with incredible views of the Continental Divide Mountains to the west, Indian Peaks Wilderness, Rocky Mountain National Park, and James Peak Wilderness.

Green Mountain Summit, 6,800 ft, and a pack of coyotes

Bright Blue Colorado Sky; photo on etsy

On Friday, I really needed to get outside and hike; I had been cooped up in the house all week working on a new line of hats and hiking belts for my website, but what I really needed was to get outside and try them out.
It was a balmy day in January, but very windy, so I decided that I'd stay close to home and head over to Green Mountain.  North Green Mountain is visible from my front deck, and I can see numerous trails on the north side of the mountain, but I haven't driven through the neighborhoods to locate those trails on the mountainside before.  I decided Friday was the day, and I drove south across 6th Ave, and up into the neighborhoods on the North side of Green Mountain in search of the access to the Open Space.
After driving around for just a short time, my trail finding skills proved successful, I found the neighborhood access which connects with all of the trails visible on the north side of the mountain; stepped out of the car into the wind and decided that I'd hike to the top today!

Where will we go from here....

I started Hip-Threads.com back in 2003-2004 with the help of my good (saintly) friend Heather who created my website for me.  And before Hip-Threads.com came into light, I sold my handmade patchwork clothing at concerts, festivals and shows across the Midwest, and Colorado.  Once my website was up and running; I continued making patchwork clothing and accessories; eventually I started making jewelry, then soap, hats, knits, and more.   These new items kept getting added to Hip-Threads.com and with each new craft came new products until I started to feel like my website had a lot of stuff with no theme behind it.  My sales had dropped and I wasn't seeing quite as many hits to my site or inquiries.
Then last year, when Josh was offered a job that afforded me to quit my job and focus on my business and I was thrilled!  I had visions of sewing all day, cutting all night, cooking, gardening, blogging, and all the 'free' time I'd have.  But somehow, it didn't work out that way;  and even though I kept creating, my sales were slow and I wasn't succeeding as I had hoped, and it's really made me re-think this business and what I need to do to make it successful to me.

More Snowshoeing! Clear Creek County's Winter Fun!

Glittery snow sparkling in the sun

I have been dreaming of a white Christmas since September, when we decided we would stay in Colorado this year for the holidays instead of going 'home' to Michigan as we usually do.  Unfortunately for me, the Front Range didn't get a drop of snow, and in fact, it was in the mid 50s with sun and I was hot in my sweatshirt and jeans taking the dogs for a walk.  Josh and I decided since the snow wasn't going to find us, we were going to find the snow, and we drove into the mountains on I-70 west in search of some snowshoeing weather.  It wasn't hard to find a lot of snow about 35 minutes west of Golden, the mountains got slammed with a storm that measured in feet.  We drove to the Bakerville Exit off I-70 and there was plenty of snow on the south side of the highway to snowshoe on the Bakerville/Loveland trail that spans 5 miles.  It's popular in the winter for cross country skiing, snowshoeing and even some winter hiking.  In the summer, this is popular for mountain bikers and hikers.

Snowshoeing in Clear Creek County, Hermans Gulch, Rocky Mountains of Colorado

Views of I-70 below, looking west

All last week, I had been planning our next snowshoeing hike; the weather is supposed to get bad today, Sunday, so we had to hike on Saturday.   Then Saturday morning came and instead of getting up early and getting our day started, we managed to sleep in past 9am, and then made a leisurely breakfast, making it out the door by 12 noon!  I still wanted to snowshoe, even though it was nearly 60 degrees in Golden and we could have hiked on a beautiful January day.  The weather was still warm and nice in the mountains, said our SUV's gauge, until we hit Georgetown, the sun was hidden by ominous clouds, and the temperature dropped 20 degrees; it's snowshoe time!