Super Ned and Butterflies

There's a little town above Boulder called Nederland. It's got a few coffee shops, a great Nepalese restaurant....and some of the best mountain biking in the front range. It's nice and tight single track that weaves through Aspen groves and past abandoned gold mines. I usually ride it each year a couple times and I got a jonesin' for Ned this week.
Usually, we drive up and hit the trails for a few hours. There's also a bus that leaves Boulder that'll take your bike up with you. It's only $2 and this was my plan. However, the plan was foiled as I missed the bus. So, it was time to ride up 3000' and 20 miles to the trail. When you ride out and back to a trail in Boulder, the locals like to call it "Super" - like "Super Walker". So this must have been "Super Ned" Not too many people do this though - it took over 2 hours just to hit the trails.
I took the Boulder Creek bike path until it ended around Betasso preserve (another fun trail). Then I made a turn on Sugarloaf, up some steep switchbacks, up, and up, and up some more. There's plenty of things to look at - like Boulder creek.

After a lemonade and some iced coffee, I hit the West Mag trails. This is Aspen Alley.














Here's some of the tight twisty singletrack. It doesn't get much narrower than this. There were plenty of spots that had handlebar marks on the trees.

On the way home, I rode Magnolia Rd. A fun dirt/paved route back into town. I passed this ranch that looked so peaceful. I'd love to have a little cabin like the one in the center of this photo. All said and done, it was a 4 1/2 hour ride - with plenty of dirt roads, trails, and snow capped mountains. No wonder Outside Magazine recently listed Nederland as one of the best weekend escapes.
Then when I got back, Jackie told me that the butterflies were hatching! I got her this cool gift where you order butterfly larvae, then watch them develop in this incubator. We saw then go from worm to pupa to butterfly. On this picture you can see a couple of them still in the pupa stage.

Here's one drying out its wings













Then it was time to set our new friends free. Kinda sad they only live for two weeks! We made sure no birds were around 1st. I love the photo of the butterfly on the tree. Click it to make it bigger - it looks so proud doesn't it?

Anyway - I hope you're getting out there enjoying nature. It's such a beautiful time of year. Oh yeah - drink some good beer too!