Mount Gunnison was calling as we three 13 year old boys laid our plans and set out on our next Colorado back country adventure. We had studied our Forest Service map and convinced our parents that we knew what we were doing. It seemed fairly straightforward. We would follow the Forest Service trail about a mile toward Minnesota Pass from Beaver Reservoir up the East Fork of Minnesota Creek. To get there you headed southeast from Paonia, Colorado following Minnesota Creek along road 710. Paonia, Colorado, was a quiet little town about 25 miles up in the mountains from Delta, Colorado following highway 92 and 133. Growing up in the area I saw Paonia valley as a Shangri-La. The mountain ringed valley provided a glorious abundance of apples, peaches, cherries, plums, and pears, and the 4th of July was a community celebration called “Cherry Days”.

Completing the Shangri-La illusion, southeast of Paonia, Mount Lamborn and Landsend Peak form an amazingly close mountainous backdrop for the town. East of Lamborn, above Minnesota Creek, Mount Gunnison stands tall, remote and seemingly inaccessible. We three boys meant to change that perspective, taking on the peak, or at least taking a good shot at it. Ron, Larry and I laid out our provisions across the living room floor, checking our lists and divying up the loads accordingly. Larry with his weight training had the dubious honor of the heaviest pack load. Ron and I split the remaining supplies.

Our adventure forty some years ago was outfitted in a pre-modern camping gear era – at least in our lives. My Boy Scout backpack was an open bag into which everything was piled, our tent a piece of tarp strung between two trees. And my bedding – a couple of wool blankets that Mom thought couldn’t get too badly damaged. Interesting the way the world and our expectations change over time.

My folks dropped us off up at the Beaver Reservoir dam, and the adventure began. We excitedly covered the first mile of the trail quickly. Around a mile, a side trail turns sharp left leading around the side of Mount Gunnison, over to Coal Creek on the other side. That was not for us though. It appeared on the map that you could head directly east at that juncture, following HooDoo Creek as it led up a draw toward the summit of Mount Gunnison. You could see the beginnings of a trail heading up that direction – the trail we chose to follow.
(more…)

Dynamism and physical activity are the fundamental requirements of a true sporting holiday. Sport lovers are often demanding of an active holiday with plenty of physical activity and well-being for the body and the mind.

Doing physical activity also on holiday is the special mission of the Hotels for sport enthusiasts. From triathlon to bicycle racing, these hotels propose the active holiday and make sure that every sports need is satisfied.

The hotels on the Adriatic Riviera offer four ways of practicing sport while on holiday:

- Cycling holiday
- MTB holiday
- Triathlon holiday (Cycling + Swimming + Racing)
- Holiday in the swimming-pool (swimming)

The Hotels for sport enthusiasts offer targeted services for each type of holiday.

Hotels for riders and bike services for road racing holidays and mountain bike holidays: technical equipment, specialized guides, cycling-tourism tracks, and participation in the various cycling races organized locally.

These are the bike facilities:

- bicycle storeroom
- Pre and post-training buffet
- A minibus
- Cycling itineraries (maps of the itineraries in the inland area) selected and divided according to level of difficulty.
- Technical assistance – Tailor-made bicycle hire
- Fitness and massages
- Laundry service.

For the triathlon enthusiasts, there are special cycling/swimming/racing tracks to train every body part and experience the adrenalin of sport at 360°.

The service for triathlon are:

- bicycle facilities
- bicycle guides
- swimming facilities
- running facilities
(more…)

Lanzarote offers a wide variety of beaches including white and black sand, placid and ruffled waters and these are, as you would expect distributed along the entire coast of the island.

Further articles posted by me discuss in more detail the best beaches in each of the seven municipalities (articles 11 to 17) and these form part of a much wider portfolio of information I’m providing to help holiday makers.

So, where is the best beach then ?

As my ‘home-from-home’ is in the south of the island in Playa Blanca in the municipality of Yaiza, I am somewhat biased as to where the best beach is and for me it is without doubt, Papagayo. Judging by the research I’ve done on the Internet, I am not alone in this opinion, so no matter where you are staying, I would suggest that you should not miss this one out.

Punta de Papagayo (to give it its full name), is located at the southernmost tip of Lanzarote. With a surrounding landscape of volcanic ash, crystal clear water and fine white sand, this stretch of the coast , with several small bays and coves is quite simply stunning. Access is gained by first driving across a dirt track road (quite bumpy), then paying a toll (it’s that good, they charge you a small entrance fee), and then walking down the sand banks to the beach as there is no man-made path.

BEFORE you walk down the banks, remember to get anything you need from the one and only cafeteria in this area, as you won’t want to keep trudging up and down, trust me, I’ve done it. The difficulty in getting to the beach is worth it. If you decide to walk along the beach to look at other bays, please bear in mind the fact that some visitors bathe nude at this location as it is permitted. You should not encounter this in the bay by the cafeteria.

If you research this beach on the Internet more widely, you will read statements like ‘wild at times’ and ‘waves can be a little strong at times’, so your instinct will, quite rightly tell you to keep an eye on the children.

I want to devote the rest of this introductory article to a day on Papagayo in the Spring of 2005.
On this particular trip, my wife decided to stay at the top of the cliff by the cafeteria, as we were not planning to stay long. I took my two sons down to the immediate bay as the children were pestering me to let them play in the sand and have a dip in the water (as children do). I did what most parents do on holiday – I gave in to their demands for a peaceful life.
(more…)

This time was different. Previous years I had settled into a tent near the car at the viewpoint below Richmond Peak, a timbered ridge to the north and east of Seeley Lake, Montana. Time and again I had enjoyed the awesome view of the mighty wall of mountain ridge that rose up from the canyon below me, towering over all surroundings – the majestic Montana peak of Sunday Mountain. From the Richmond Peak vantage point the face of the peak, made up of bare slide zones, with a few ridges of trees and brush, appeared to rise almost straight up from the valley floor below. It was not a mountain wall that I would expect to yield a trail, a bit of a cliffhanger path that would lead to the summit.

Awakening that Saturday morning in August though, again at the Richmond Peak viewpoint, after a quick breakfast, I threw my pack on my back. I then hit the trail up the side of Richmond Peak across the canyon from Sunday Mountain. On a previous hike in the area I had found an unmarked trail that departed the mapped trail/abandoned logging road leading up the side of Richmond Peak. The unmarked trail crossed the saddle where the canyon rose to meet the ridge, and appeared to connect with the Sunday Mountain face, and then head upwards – at a sharp incline. I wasn’t certain where the trail would lead, but it sure gave the appearance of providing a possible access route to the top of Sunday Mountain.

With clear blue skies of an incredible Montana August day, the climb ahead would still be a cool one as the sun of the day was to the east behind the Sunday Mountain ridge. No question about it, this was also bear country – Grizzly bear country. The initial distance on this unmarked trail led off through dense, overgrown brush as it led across the saddle. What better place for them to be hanging out than in the dense brush I was working my way through.

Such a huge relief to make it past the dense brush, with no bear tales to write home about. Out into the open I was on the lower flanks of this mountain I had dreamt of tackling for years. As noted, the trail immediately took a sharp turn, upward in a steep climb. Then, veering off to the north across the face, a slightly leveler trek ensued as it angled upward across the face through wonderful fields of bear-grass mixed with a myriad of flowers in a rainbow of colors. It was almost beyond belief – trekking through chest high fields of flowers on the trail to Sunday Mountain.

The trail led across 2 or 3 avalanche draws filled with bear-grass, then doubled back, requiring scrambling up rock ledges, and again leading off across the draws. With another hour of scrambling the steep path, to my surprise I found myself working through a high mountain meadow area apparently home to a band of mountain sheep. My heart beat faster as I realized that this high meadow was tucked in directly below one of the summit cliffs outcroppings. Given the climb to that point, like my heart could beat much faster.

Another 20 minutes of scrambling, and at last, the summit ridge for Sunday Mountain was conquered. The view stretched before me down and back into Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. To get to the Sunday Mountain summit called for another half hour of scrambling, following the ridge up and up until I could go no further, the highest point on the mountain ridge.
(more…)