The Great Escape: Day 1 - Lake City Base Camp

After making it to Lake City in record time (12:15:30 (beat that, Kyle!)), I was greeted by these views in the morning:

Lake San Cristobal

Next stop, Arapahoe Basin for closing weekend of the ski season.

Getting geared up at the base camp to head to the slopes

The Great Escape: Day 0

After nearly six years as a corporate lawyer in Dallas, I was ready to take a step back, recharge, and reflect.  So I quit my job and headed for the mountains.

I left Dallas on June 5 and headed straight for Lake City, Colorado, a sleepy old mining town in the San Juan Mountains with an average high temperature in June of 74 degrees.

The 830-mile drive to Lake City usually takes you through a line of summer storms, and this year was no different—except I drove through some snow in New Mexico.

Snow in New Mexico on June 5?

It cleared up by the time I got to Colorado.

The sun had just set when I reached the summit of Slumgullion Pass to drop into Lake City.  

It might not look like much from this distance, but the large mountain in the middle is Uncompahgre, and the tallest notch to its left is Wetterhorn--both are over 14,000 feet high.

My roommate made these t-shirts commemorating my escape.  I can only assume you've already seen them around Dallas and have been trying in vain to order them through Nieman Marcus.