Archive for the ‘Colorado’ Category

Good Bye to our Friend Mike Knauss

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

I received terrible news yesterday. Long-time Zephyr traveler Mike Knauss passed away on Saturday from heart trouble.

Mike Knauss in the MoselMike and his wife Pat first joined Zephyr Adventures back in 1999 on a three-day Pennsylvania Amish inline skating tour. At the time, they had just taken up inline skating and were by their own admission not very good. I wasn’t sure they would ever come back on another tour. They most recently joined us this past July on their 21st Zephyr tour. Boy, was I wrong!

In addition to being one of our top three most-traveled Zephyrites, Mike was a major influence on our tours. A doctor, Mike was always very quick to help out when one of his fellow travelers was in need. I remember him helping with everything from a young teenager who got heat stroke in Switzerland to instances of road rash on multiple skating tours. As the years went by, I found too that Mike became more and more an “elder statesman” of our tours, relishing in his role of being able to help others because he had already been to a tour location or knew exactly how our van support would work.

Many of our alumni know Mike, Pat, and their fellow travelers Ann and Jim Waterman.  The four of them would always do their own thing on our tours, choosing to take a day off, skate a shorter route, or bike to a nearby town they had read about online.  I always thought that was fantastic – they were doing exactly what we told all our participants to do: whatever made them happy. Mike was always very independent on tours and some wondered why he would return with Zephyr year after year. I think, frankly, he simply enjoyed being part of the Zephyr family.

For me personally, both Mike and Pat are perfect examples of why I have chosen to spend the last 12 years of my life running adventure travel tours: I know that Zephyr Adventures helped improve their lives. Looking back at that 1999 tour in Pennsylvania, Mike and Pat at first seemed out of their league. I take pride that their association with Zephyr helped them expand their own horizons, traveling to many new parts of the world and trying many new activities. In fact, these two who I thought would not return had already booked a 2010 biking trip in Spain and Pat’s latest email to me said she had found a place to rent a sailboat so they could sail in the Bay of Biscay!

Mike was born and lived most of his life in Missouri. However, he spent three years practicing medicine in Colorado and I believed never lost his love for the state where I live now. In fact, Mike and Pat went on our Colorado Adventure six different times – mostly skating but sometimes on a bike and once even on a family tour where they had to borrow two neighbor kids! Even though they traveled with us around the world, Colorado was always their favorite location.

To honor the memory of Mike, we at Zephyr Adventures donated money to Plant-It 2020 to plant 50 trees in his name in Colorado. I’ll remember Mike always but now when I hike in or skate through Colorado’s wonderful forests, I’ll specifically think of him. I hope you will too, the next time you are in Colorado.

Mike was a big part of my life the last 10 years. He will always be a big part of the Zephyr family. I’ll miss him.

P.S. Feel free to add your own memories or thoughts in the comments.

Posted in Colorado | 3 Comments »

Alumni Skate Tours in Colorado

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

We recently ran not just one but two alumni-only skate tours in Colorado. The idea for an alumni tour came to us last fall and given our long history of running inline skating tours, naturally we selected that sport for our first-ever alumni tour. The tour concept was a hit and sold out within a month, leading us to add a second tour.

The groups of 18 and 27 skaters and bikers (including guides) spent five days on the paved trails of Colorado, my home state. We spent time in Summit County, skating between the cities of Frisco, Dillon, Copper Mountain, Breckenridge, and Keystone – paved paths connect them all.  We then traveled to the Mineral Belt Trail, a 13-mile paved trail that circles the town of Leadville at over 10,000 feet in elevation, an amazing trail that is difficult in large part because of the lack of oxygen. Our next two trails were the long Rio Grande and Glenwood Canyon trails near Glenwood Springs and we capped both tours with an overnight stay in Boulder and a skate on my local skating path.

We didn’t know what to expect from our first-ever alumni tours but they both turned out great. There certainly were advantages to having all veterans, including the ability to skip our standard “Setting Expectations” talk about how Zephyr’s tours run.

I didn’t actually guide the first, smaller tour since we only needed two guides on it but that didn’t change the fact that the highlight of both tours for me was the same. My girlfriend and Zephyr High Roller Devon and I hosted both groups at our condo – the first for dinner and the second for drinks and appetizers. This was a very cool way for me to connect with two groups of very important people on a personal level, a level that goes beyond the deep connections I already had with many of the Colorado tour participants because it involved people actually coming into our home.

In fact, sometimes as guides we run a tour, have a great time, and let loose a sigh of relief when the tour is done. Some of the tours require a lot of work hours, after all. Having people over to my home, though, really made me realize what Zephyr’s adventures mean to our participants. This is a week of vacation that most of them had been planning for nine months and which they had eagerly been looking forward to doing. It was also a chance for these groups of alumni to connect with old friends, meet new ones, and feel part of what we like to call the Zephyr family.

My biggest takeaway from these alumni tours is they made me proud that Zephyr Adventures has been running great tours for 12 years,  tours that add enough to people’s lives that they keep returning year after year.

Stay tuned for our Alumni & Friends tours for 2010!

(Photos provided by Marlena Crovatt-Bagwell.)

Posted in Colorado, Inline Skating | No Comments »

Colorado Family Multisport

Monday, August 13th, 2007


I just returned from our Family Multisport Adventure in Colorado – the third Family Adventure in the past three years I had the pleasure of guiding.

For an introduction to our Family Adventures and how they operate, please scroll down to the post of last August about our Lake Tahoe trip. That posting will give you a good idea of our philosophy of providing activity levels for everyone, separating the kids and adults enough to let the kids bond and give the adults some relaxation, and keeping everyone together at other times as one big fun group.

Colorado is the perfect place for a family vacation. Once we left Denver and the airport, we had wide-open spaces, 14,000-foot mountains, and rushing rivers in our backyard. During this six-day tour we rode horses, rafted on a whitewater river, biked, skated, and hiked. We also watched a rodeo, visited a ghost town, and played with puppies at a local dog sledding operation. We had a ton to do during the day and good food to eat at night.

We had a very large group of 28 participants plus three guides. Even when we split in two groups, it was amazing to see all these people on horseback, riding through aspen groves on a real Colorado ranch. The river rafting, where we had a private group of five rafts floating down the river, was probably the highlight for many in the group. However, I know the younger kids loved being licked to death by the puppies at the dog sled kennels.

For me personally, the highlight of the trip was our “split” dinner in which we divided into the “fogies” and the “fun group”. My co-guide Reno took the adults to a nice dinner while our other co-guide Sonya and I took the kids out for pizza. We had reserved an entire dance club and game room (not normally open that evening) for our evening kids meal. After wolfing down five pizzas, the group immediately spread out to play games: pool, air hockey, and darts. Funny enough, the hit game of the evening was shuffle board – at least until Caleb, Erica, and Mari took over as DJs to light up the dance floor.

The great thing about this evening was that we had kids from six different families who were winging darts, hitting pool balls, and throwing whatever it is you throw in shuffleboard as if they were fast friends with decades of past experiences together. These were kids from all areas of the country with different backgrounds and different ages. Yet, they bonded as one fun group.

I don’t have kids myself but I do have a niece (Erica) and nephew (Brian), who were on this trip with my brother Dave and sister-in-law Sharon. I was also a kid myself once and remember squabbling with my two brothers in the back of our station wagon, asking repeatedly when we would arrive to our destination. I have the feeling that normal “family vacations” are at least as stressful as they are fun and rewarding.

This tour was not that way at all, neither for the parents nor the guides. We try hard to make these trips fun for the parents as well as the kids. We keep the group together at times, because we know parents love watching their kids have fun while experiencing new activities. At other times, we split them apart so parents can relax, have a glass of wine, and engage in some adult conversation – all while knowing their kids are well looked after by our guides.

As guides, frankly, these tours are not that difficult. The kids simply know how to have fun and that makes our job easy.

Come join us next year on a Family Adventure in either Yellowstone National Park or Glacier National Park, two jewels of the US park system and great places for family fun.

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Posted in Colorado, Family, Multisport | No Comments »

Colorado Hike & Wheel

Saturday, August 12th, 2006

We have been running our Colorado Skating Adventure for years. Last summer, four of our High Rollers (repeat customers with at least 20 Zephyr trip days) asked us to add hiking to the itinerary. Happy to oblige, we created our Colorado Hike & Wheel Adventure that ran from July 30 through August 3.

The trip was structured to have alternating activities: hiking in the Colorado mountains and either skating or biking on some of Colorado’s best paved trails. 18 people joined guide Terry Lynch and myself on this tour.

The trip took place in Summit County, Leadville, Aspen, and Glenwood Springs. All are great areas with incredible mountain views and fantastic trails, both dirt and paved.

I won’t go over the five-day trip in detail but wanted to write about one highlight. The best hiking day was near Breckenridge when we had two distinct options. The “easy” option was a six-mile round trip hike to Mohawk Lake. The group who did this hike came back with raving reviews about the trail, the scenery, and the bag lunch everyone enjoyed sitting at the base of an alpine waterfall.

I led the second group on the harder option, a climb up 14,265-foot Quandry Peak. While the hike itself is not long (6.75 miles and 3400 feet of elevation gain) and requires no technical skills, hiking at altitude is always much more taxing than hiking at sea level. We discussed this at length the night before the hike and the nine people who chose to attempt Quandry knew they all had the option to turn around part way up the trail.

The ten of us quickly spread out on the trail as we each found a comfortable walking pace. We soon rose above the treeline and could see the long, uphill trail in front of us. The secret to hiking at this type of altitude is to go slowly; at the same time, we were very aware that we needed to make progress before the afternoon thunderstorms arrived. Starting in the back and working my way forward, I tried to make sure each member of our group had a realistic understanding of his or her chances of reaching the summit. I was also constantly watching the thunderclouds on the horizon, checking to see if they were headed our direction.

I eventually made my way to the front of our group where two members (Kirk and Tina) looked very strong. Tina was even hiking in open-toed sandals! By the time we reached about 13,500 feet, however, Kirk and Tina were discussing whether they would continue. I asked to take the lead, slowed down the pace, and the three of us continued steadily to the summit. It felt great to be on top! Eventually, two other hikers (Rick and Tony) also summited and I celebrated with them as we took photos and signed the register on top.

While four made the summit, the rest turned around at one point or another. Neither they nor I saw this as a failure, however. Instead, I think each person who attempted Quandry Peak that day learned something about high altitude hiking – and perhaps about himself or herself individually. It was a great experience that I know others would love to have. We’ll leave Quandry Peak or another 14,000-foot mountain on the itinerary.

Overall, I thought the trip went extremely well. The mix of activities was fun and Colorado is the perfect state to host an adventure tour, with its amazing scenery, towns, and recreation.

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Posted in Biking, Colorado, Hiking, Multisport | 1 Comment »