Tasting Excellent Local Beer in Ridgeway, Colorado

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This is the last of the three articles I wrote for the website Trazzler which is no longer. It's not a ride or hike, just a stop we made on a rest day between climbing 14ers. Photos are from a trip in 2009 For most, the town of Ridgeway is where your turn to go to Telluride or go straight to Ouray. Just off the main road, there’s the Colorado Boy Pub & Brewery. I had pints of the Stout and the IPA, and tasters of the rest. The stout and IPA were excellent. The Irish Red Ale was better than average. The Blonde Ale and Best Bitter were ok, but I wouldn’t get a pint of them. The food selection is simple, four different Paninis with chips, about $7 each. They also have free popcorn to go with the beer. The pints were $3.75 ($4.25 for the IPA) and tasters are about a dollar. They also had mini etch-a-sketches on all the tables. It's a small place, with only 5 tables and small bar, but has a great pub atmosphere. The Colorado Boy Brewery Ridgeway Has Some Nice Views of the ...
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Mt. Yale Hike (October 2010)

I haven't posted any 14er hikes this year, so here's one. Three of us hiked up Mt. Yale, about 10 miles west of Buena Vista, Colorado, in early-mid October. It is one of the collegiate peaks in the Sawatch Range. At 14,196 it is the 21st highest mountain in Colorado. Colorado did not get much rain this summer, but in October the skies started to open up. The mountains had a nice dusting of snow making for some nice views when we were there. We started at the Denny Creek Trailhead and went up the Southwest Slopes - the standard route. The trail roughly follows Denny Creek until the one turn we had to make. There the trail got a little bit steeper. The further in we went, the steeper the trail got. Near treeline we started going though the snow. It never got more than a few inches deep. A GPS track of the route helped out where we couldn't see were the trail went. There is a reroute on the trail starting just below tree line, but with the snow it was hard to follow and we ended up on the old trail on the way down. Once we crossed treeline we hiked up the ridge to the left of the peak. From there it turned was an easy rock scramble up to the peak. The hike was 9.5 miles/15.3 km and 8 hours round with a vertical climb of 4250 ft.

Mt. Yale

Late Bloomers

View While Climbing up to the Ridge

 Blown Snow Along the top of the Ridge

View from the Top 1

View from the Top 2

For more info about hiking Mt. Yale go to 14ers.com.

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