Hanging Lake

Bevan and I traveled just outside of Glenwood Springs to hike Hanging Lake. The area is located in the White River National Forest. I had seen picture's of Hanging Lake before & heard a lot of people talk about it in the past. I knew this was one hike that I wanted to do. Bevan hiked this trail last year with his co-workers when they had a retreat in Glenwood Springs. The trail is about 2 miles long & fairly easy to moderate I'd say. It is very rocky in spots & you have to pay close attention when you get to certain points or you will easily fall. It took us about 35 minutes to hike this trail & about 25 to get down since we ran down the mountain. The starting elevation is 6,150 & the finish is 7,250. You are treated to breathtaking views once you reach the summit. The lake is crystal clear & you can see all of the fish swimming around. Very cool!

Here is a view from the start of the trail in the White River National Forest.
Seeing moss in Colorado is not something I really expect to see. Here is a beautiful picture of one of the many waterfalls as we hiked to the summit.Another great shot of the canyon as we are just about to the top.
Here is Hanging Lake. It is very small, I'm guessing about 2 to 3 acres. The water is crystal clear.Here is another shot of the water. The picture is deceiving because it looks like it is very shallow in this shot. I would say the actual depth was about 10 to 15 feet.Here I am at the back of the lake under one of the amazing waterfalls.Here is Bevan getting ready to pounce. Another picture of me in the waterfall.

Biking in Breckenridge

Bevan, Brian, Michael & I headed to Breckenridge for a day of road biking. The weather was great except for a little wind. It was a beautiful day overall in the mountains.

Bevan, Michael & Brian headed down the path to Frisco.
Here is Brian before he turned back to head to the condo. He was able to ride about 20 miles which was great considering his knee & leg were hurting.
You look mah-velous. Here I am doing my best Matlock impersonation in that I'm riding while taking a photo. You can see Copper Mountain in the background.
BEER, DOES A BODY GOOD!!!!!! Nothing like a few cold one's after a ride.

Lake Dillon at sunset.
Great picture as we are coming up to Loveland Pass. Elevation at the Continental Divide is 11,990.

Florida July 4th 2007

Bevan and I traveled back to Florida to spend the July 4th holiday with my family. Talk about a nice relaxing trip. I haven't slept so much in quite a while. My body definitely needed the rest since I have been on the go for most of the month of June. We did the usual things, beach, tennis, boating & fed the dolphins.Go Mitchell!!! My nephew Mitchell showing off his bicycling prowess by using no hands.
Here we have 3 generations. My nephew Mitchell, my great niece Savannah & myself on the beach watching the 4th of July fireworks.
Carla, Alan, dad & mom on the beach enjoying the fireworks.
Here are some of the fireworks that Clark brought down. Fireworks were going off everywhere for about an hour on the beach as everyone had their own. They also had a great firework show from the pier that we could see on the beach.

This dolphin was so sweet. She had her baby that she was keeping an eye on, but she loved the attention and food. Here is Bevan and Mitchell giving her some lunch.
Bevan, Mitchell and I taking a swim. The 2 of them would not get back in the water after we saw these huge jelly fish once we got back on the boat. Some of them had tentacles that were 2 feet long. Ouch!!!!
Mitchell & Bevan trying to pet the dolphin.
I had just jumped in the water and was a little nervous about this. The only other time I had swam with a dolphin was in captivity at Sea World. So I'm in the water & this dolphin literally came up right between my legs & popped her head out. Luckily Bevan captured this moment with the camera because I was very surprised as you can see from the expression on my face. She (dolphin) was so sweet & soft. She would take the fish & let you pet her on the head. Amazing day.

Here is Bevan feeding and petting the dolphin.

Here are 2 male dolphins I'm guessing. These guys were huge compared to the mother and baby that we had swam with earlier. You get a good idea about how big they are when they both come out of the water to get some fish. Clark and I think they probably weigh about 600 to 700 pounds.

Here is a neat look at my dads fishing boat. They had just taken it out of the water after our dolphin excursion. The one important thing is to make sure you wash these bad boys after taking them out. You would not believe how corroded something can get in a day on the ocean.
Clark, Alan, Bevan and I spent the day on his boat in Destin. He parked it on the beach and we spent all afternoon hanging out and enjoying the sites.
Here's Clark & Alan as we head for the gulf from the inter coastal. It was a great day on the water.

Here we are making our way out into the gulf from the marina. The video is very shaky, but gives you an idea about how fast the boat will go. I think we were doing about 65mph at this point. Fun, fun!!

Viva Las Vegas!!!!

Bevan and I headed to Las Vegas for his work. I tagged along since after all it is Vegas baby. I called my brother Clark & told him to meet us there which he did. The boy will not turn down a trip to sin city. We had a great time while there & got to see a couple of shows. We were able to see Carrot Tops show which was hilarious. I would've never thought it would be this funny since I've only found him mildly entertaining on tv. Boy was I wrong. We also saw Celine Dion & she was awesome. Her show is visually stunning & I would highly recommend it to any of you before it is over at the end of the year.Here is a view at the Mix lounge on top of the Mandalay Bay. Awesome view of the strip on the outside deck of the bar.
Here's Bevan with his coworkers Pat, Judy & Pam.
Here Bevan, Pam, Judy & I are enjoying a few cocktails at the Mix lounge at Mandalay Bay. We had the best time that night after enjoying a great meal at Aureol in Mandalay Bay.

Family Reunion - Florida

I traveled to Florida to visit my family for a much needed vacation. I had just gotten back off of my bike ride & a little relaxation with my extended family was just what I needed. We ended up having 40 relatives total visit while I was there & a good time was had by all.Here we have Tiffany & Mitchell clowning around on the golf cart. Luckily Nicholas was at the wheel so the compound was temporarily safe.
Here we have my cousin Jeff's wife Bonnie & their son Wesley enjoying a day at the beach.
Here we have the 2 siblings enjoying their time together in Florida. Pictured are my Uncle Harry & Aunt Patsy.
Here's my cousin Dana with her oldest daughter Bailey enjoying the day at the pool.

Here is my brother Clark & his wife Jeanne enjoying the day in Destin at Bud & Alley's bar.One night the cousins all played hookey from the grown ups & headed over to San Destin to enjoy dinner with each other. What is funny is that all of us are in our 30's & 40's now. Funny how the time has passed since we were all little. Pictured from left are Jeanne, Clark, Dana, Jamie, Bonnie, Jeff & myself.
Here's the rest of the gang. From the left, Bonnie, Lesley, Alan, Jeanie & Carla. The meal was awful, but the company was great.

Here we have my little niece Catherine who is now up to 13lbs. She is such a great baby.
This is my niece Jennifer with her little one Savannah.

We took the kids to see the dolphins one day & it was a blast. We were out there a few minute's and here they come. At one time we had about 6 dolphins around the boat.
Here is my cousin Jeanie with her youngest Elizabeth.
Here is Dana & Brooke feeding one of the dolphins.
Mitchell, Tiffany & Bailey were keeping an eye out for the dolphins on the tower of the boat. We had great luck with seeing quite a few this day.

Lesley swimming with the dolphin

So we are all hanging out on the boat watching the dolphins come and go and the next thing I know there goes Lesley. She jumped in the water and had the time of her life swimming with them.

Aids Lifecycle 6

Hello all,
For the past 4 months I have been training for the Aids Life Cycle ride which occurred June 3-9, 2007. This ride was 545 miles long & went from San Francisco to Los Angeles. I have to tell you it was an amazing experience. I had such a great time on this event & felt so good about myself that I've already signed up for next year. All the donations, all the emails & all the messages of support were greatly appreciated. I just want to let everyone know who contributed how much I truly appreciate them. Without your donations I would not have been able to participate in such a worthy cause. If you would like more information about this ride, please click on the link on the right hand corner of this blog. You will be redirected to the Aids Life Cycle page & there is also a link to my rider page (#5958). I encourage anyone who has ever thought about doing something like this to participate in the future. You will be helping countless individuals & have a life changing experience. If you have any questions & would like to email me directly, you can at derekhinkle@earthlink.net . As always, Pedal Hard, Derek
Destination San Francisco. My training partner Michael & I were both psyched to get this adventure underway since we had been training for 4 months.
Fight on, fight on! Troy that is. Here is Michael in his USC sweatshirt once we arrived in San Francisco
Orientation Day. Woohoo!!!! It only took 3.5 hours. Nothing like standing in line when you are hung over. Thank goodness there was a hot dog stand to alleviate our hunger.
Send off dinner. So for my relatives who read this blog, you know how much my cousin Dana means to me. We were always together as kids. We were always too young to play with any of the other cousins, so she and I were always at each others side. We've grown older, but it is nice to know that the special bond that we've always had is still in tact. Jamie & Dana treated Michael and I to a great evening at a place called Farrillon in San Francisco. The food was superb & I just want you to know just how much we enjoyed ourselves. I can't wait to see you both in a few weeks in Florida. It should be a blast.
Hello Riders!!!!! Ready, set, GO!!!!!!!

Rest Stop #1. Arrr matee'. Here are some of the roadies which kept all of us in good shape on the ride. The ride was composed of 2,333 riders & over 450 roadies. Without them, none of this would've been possible. Notice the little short lady. You'll see her in a later pic.
I'll get you my pretty. We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful wizard of OZ.
An amazing shot just outside of San Francisco. These majestic tree's were absolutely beautiful.
Lighthouse along the pacific coastline.
So day 2 I wore my Oscar the Grouch jersey since I was in a foul mood. Man, I can honestly say that camping is not for me. Little did I know that one of the pit stops that day would be Sesame Street. Here is one of the roadies dressed as you guessed it, Oscar.

The day that will go down in infamy. Michael gleefully refers to Day 2 as the day the Breakdown happened. He relished telling Bevan and Brian about this day. Day 2 was a century, meaning 105 miles. I went to the medical tent to get adjusted for my back & neck. Once I got in there they have to take your vitals. I found out that I was severely dehydrated since my blood pressure was all over the charts. This is Ginger in the picture trying to get another reading on me. Michael was laughing pretty hard & took this picture when I was telling her how mean he is. They made me drink a gallon of water before they would let me leave. Needless to say I was up all night using the bathroom. The good news is that everything turned out okay.
Day 3, Colorado Rocky Mountain High.
So Day 3 was a really good day. I cranked it out & did really well. Luckily that evening we were staying in Paso Robles & there was stuff to walk to. Michael, Jim & I ate at Big Bad Bubba's & it was so freaking good. We had been eating slop from the cafeteria & it was great having some real food. We indulged in a few alcoholic beverages as well. Nothing like a beer or margarita to take the edge off. Jim literally kept us laughing all week while on the ride. Thank goodness he was there to entertain us.
Halelujah!!!! Here I am at the half way point between San Francisco & Los Angeles. Can you believe that view????? Talk about picturesque. We had just finished climbing a huge hill & were rewarded by this scenery. Our next camp that evening would be in Santa Maria.
Here I am with my training partner Michael. 273 miles down & 273 to go. Woohooo!!!!!!
He's king of the mountain. Go Michael go! Good job Duffman. OH YEA!