A friend of our’s is often quoted as saying, “I can’t believe I get to live here!”  Guess we’d like to remember to say that more often.

View of the West Needles from atop Castle Rock on the Elbert Trail.

As a part of our training for the Haute Route this Fall we knocked off a local favorite just north of Durango overlooking the upper Animas Valley just shy of Purgatory (Durango Mountain Village Ski Area).  Just a morning hike of 2.73 miles but the views are outstanding and you’re home in-time for lunch.

I was testing the Gaia GPS app – http://www.gaiagps.com -for my iPhone to see how well it takes and transfers GPX tracks and was very impressed at the ease and simplicity.