Green Mountain Hike

Green Mountain Summit

Green Mountain Lodge

Views of Boulder from Green Mountain

Elevation at the summit

Yesterday evening, Grant and I hiked the 5.5 mile trail from Gregory Canyon to Green Mountain summit.  The boys were all away for the night and it seemed like the perfect thing to do to celebrate a kid-free night together.  The trailhead is a five minute drive from our house, just past Chautauqua Park, off Baseline.  We started at 5:30pm at the Gregory Canyon trail, parking at the small lot where the road dead-ends.  The trail is steep in places, wide in other spots, with an elevation gain of 2,300 feet (read strenuous!).   There are several ways to reach the summit, but we chose to take Gregory Canyon to the Ranger Trail, which you pick up by the picturesque Green Mountain Lodge.  On the way back, we took E.M. Greenman trail to Saddle Rock and then connected with the Amphitheater trail back to Gregory Canyon parking lot.   The trail has all the natural beauty that I have come to expect from hikes in Boulder, but also a lot of variety at this time of year--loads of wildflowers; shady, woodsy expanses; dense forests of conifers; rugged, rocky patches; and, of course, breathtaking views.   It is an old trail that dates back to the 1860s, when John Gregory, an ambitious miner, created a wagon road to reach his mines at Black Hawk.  While it was the first crude road from Boulder to the mountains and stayed in use as a route for prospectors for many decades, it was later replaced by Flagstaff Road in 1906.   If you can spare about 2 1/2 hours for the roundtrip hike, it is highly worth the visit.

Tile in Hall Bathroom

Original bathroom

New Tile

Original linoleum floor and shower

New Carrara basketweave floor and shower

white subway tile on walls

basket weave before grout

basket weave with grey grout

The tile for the upstairs hall bathroom is nearly complete.  I am loving the Carrara marble basketweave mosaic floor tile and the simple white subway tile on the walls.  My dear friend Amy Whist selected it for her English cottage in Pasadena, and I knew the instant that I saw it that it would be right for my house in Boulder.   It is a classic combination, perfect for traditional and period homes.  Today, the walls were grouted with a light shade of grey and the floor was grouted with a darker shade of grey.

The Farmers Ditch

opening day April, 2011

yard sign we found at 1109 Pine

ditch boat race

homemade boats

Included in the purchase of our house at 1109 Pine are water rights to the Farmers Ditch that runs behind our house.  Once we get our connection up and running, we will be able to irrigate our yard using water from the ditch.  While the ditch is located across the alley from our back yard (about 30 feet from our fence), there is already underground piping from the ditch to our property.  We need to replace a small section of the piping and we should be in good shape.  Our 1/16th share of the Farmers Ditch allows us to water on select days while the ditch is running, which is approximately from April-October.  The history of the Farmers Ditch is interesting.

Constructed in 1862, the Farmers Ditch is one of the oldest ditches in Boulder.  It was originally constructed to help farmers in north and central Boulder irrigate their land.  Built by J.A. Tourtellot and Jermone Thomas at a cost of $5,500, the 8 miles of ditch was one of the first sources of water for most of the city of Boulder.  The little side ditches, called laterals, brought water to nearly every home in Boulder and ran almost all year long.  Each lateral was constructed two feet wide and 8 inches deep and was lined in cobblestones.  These laterals were eventually replaced by a more efficient municipal system and the underground conversion was partly funded real estate developers who were building new homes and subdivisions throughout Boulder.   In 1953, for example, a siphon was built to carry the Farmers Ditch under North Boulder Park, allowing for 16 new homes.  Today, the remaining ditches give some residents an opportunity to irrigate their land, but more importantly, they add tremendous charm to the city.  Our dog Shiloh bathes in the creek nearly everyday in the summer after we take him running or hiking and the boys just had their first boat race along the Farmers ditch.

Elks Lodge Pool

There are many public pools to retreat to when the heat is on in Boulder, but my new favorite is the Elks Lodge pool off of 28th street.  The boys love it because it has the perfect high dive; I love it because of its nice lap lanes, easy parking and relaxed atmosphere.  It is very old school, with its 70s era wood shingled lodge, concrete pool deck and snack bar with a selection of 10 items.  I took these pictures with my Instagram app on my iphone, enhancing the sensation of stepping back into my own 70s childhood.

Soapstone

Minas soapstone at Dorado Soapstone in Denver

Minas Soapstone oiled in upper left corner

A friend's soapstone counter 

I visited Dorado Soapstone in Denver on Wednesday.  I will be using soapstone for the kitchen counters and they had just received a new shipment of the type of stone that I was looking for--a black soapstone with small amounts of white veining, which they call "Minas".  I rushed to their Denver showroom to be the first one to look at the new bundles that had just arrived from the truck because the last time I was there in June all the bundles that I liked were already on hold.  Fortunately, they had two bundles that seemed perfect.  There are 6 slabs in each bundle, all nearly identical (like a loaf of bread that gets sliced), and I only needed 3.  As you can see from the pictures, soapstone appears very light grey and chalky in its natural state, but once wet or waxed, it darkens to almost black and reveals the distinctive white veining.  It's very beautiful and also a material that has properties that I can appreciate--heat and stain resistant and also resistant to bacteria since it's nonporous.  Soapstone has been used in chemistry labs since the 19th century and, while not as ubiquitous as granite, is now commonly found in kitchens and bathrooms.