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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Thunder Montain Hike (June 2011)

Thunder Mountain is not far from the shore and forms part of the once side of the Mendenhall Valley. There are two trails up the mountain which merge about half way up. The one I took is from the valley and is rougher. The trailhead for this trail is about a quarter mile from where I'm living now. There are is an short wetlands ecology trail there as well. The trail starts off on a boardwalk and quickly changes to planks. 

Planks Through the Welands
Once a the trail crosses a creek it becomes very steep until the junction with the Heintzleman Ridge Route trail. After the junction the route gets a bit easier until the  tree line. Most of the trail is marked by ribbons with multiple ribbons at the junction. 

Red Bellied Sapsucker
 Once I got up to Heintzleman ridge there were great views into Lemon Creek Valley.

Lemon Creek Valley

Heintzleman Ridge
I took the trail out to the top of Thunder Mountain where there are views of Admiralty Island and the Mendenhall Glacier.

Fritz Cove and the Mendenhall Wetlands
I found a perfect reclining rock for eating lunch with view of two glaciers and eagles flying around. It was tempting to stay there. Several eagles rode a thermal up on the side of the mountain landed about 100 feet from me.

Juvenile Eagle in Flight
The lower part of the hike was quiet, I saw no one on the lower trail. Above the junction, I passed several people. The hike was 6.9 miles (11.1 km) long with about a 2700 ft gain.

Location: Juneau, Alaska, USA

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