We took a short trip to Fairplay over the Labor Day weekend. We found a small Airbnb in Fairplay to make as our base for one main hike: Mount Sherman. This is one of Colorado's easier 14'ers, boasting a max elevation of 14,043. So just barely a 14'er but it still counts.

We woke up at 4:30 to hit the road by 5. We started our hike after a 40-minute drive to the trailhead. There were about a dozen other cars at the parking lot when we got there, but there was plenty of parking alongside the road.

We summited around 8:30 and ate burritos kept warm in a thermos. It was quite windy at the summit but not as bad as we expected. It did start getting windier on the descent. But even with the wind, the weather was perfect for a 14'er.

When we returned to the Airbnb around 11, Katie noticed a piece of the trail stuck in her car: a nice old rusted 4" long nail in her rear passenger tire hissing air. So before doing anything, I drove over to Ace Hardware in town and bought a tire repair kit, and got the tire patched up, at least temporarily. There's no doubt that this nail was from some of the old mining structures along the hike.

We left to go to Breckenridge around 1, planning on getting to Breckenridge Distillery right when they opened at 2. After parking and taking the free shuttle to the distillery, we got in line to get a seat and had a few drinks and appetizers as our lunch before taking the shuttle back to the main part of town and walking around the downtown area to do a little shopping. Overall it was a nice time in Breckenridge, but we were exhausted from the hike. That was a little much to do in one day.

On the drive out to Fairplay, we saw a moose on the side of the road near Kenosha Pass. Katie saw a second moose on the way back from Breckenridge. We didn't think that moose were that far South in Colorado so that was a nice treat. That brings our moose count for the year to 5.

On our way home from our short weekend excursion in Fairplay, we stopped at Kenosha Pass where there is a trailhead for the Colorado Trail. We stopped here to do some planning for fall colors in about a month from now. Kenosha Pass is filled with aspen trees which will make for some good colors once the leaves start to turn.

In preparation for the super moon next month, the moon was setting over Longs and Meeker tonight. I drove a few miles to the North to catch the moonset. Unfortunately, I ran out of time finding a better spot to photograph it and ended up with the Johnson's Corner gas station in my foreground.

This time, I was able to get the location just right knowing what angle the moon sets behind the mountains. Hopefully with this being my second practice round and getting the composition of the thing I'm trying to shoot correct, I'll be ready for the October supermoon!