Bootdoctors Offers Further Adventures

Rollicking on the River with Further Adventures

Did you know that most of our mountain towns attract more visitors in the summer than in the winter? Heck, yeah. As the saying goes, “I came for the winter and stayed for the summers.” Our hills are alive with all kinds of great outdoor activities. Actually our mountains, valleys and streams furnish glorious backdrops for fair weather fun of every stripe.

I chatted with Bob Gleason, owner/operator of Bootdoctors and Further Adventures, in a recent Travel Fun interview and he provided me with a fantastic overview of the rafting, fly fishing, hiking and biking in Telluride, Colorado and the outlying area. Between the lush alpine landscape and the rugged red rock of southwestern Colorado, the whole region offers many stunning experiences both on the water and off.

“I like to play on those H2O molecules all year round,” Bob says. It’s true that as the snowpack melts, the level of fun rises on our rivers and streams. This year’s flow will be rather thin, yet there are still good times to be had. Further Adventures arranges rafting trips on two different rivers in southwestern Colorado: the San Miguel and the Uncompahgre. This year the season is super short on the San Miguel (only through early June), although most years you can run the river through the end of July. Bob and his band of river guides will be conducting float trips on the Uncompahgre all summer long.

“There’s nothing like floating thru a river canyon to see the geology of the area,” Bob says when talking about some of the highlights of river rafting in the West. “Any time you spend on a body of water is a time of peace. The Native Americans called the river system the veins of our mother,” he adds.

Fly Fishing on the “Veins of Our Mother”

Fly fishing is at its best when the rafting slows. In our interview, Bob talks about the exclusive fishing rights in private places he has arranged for Further Adventure clients. He highlights Utopia, an area featured in the second part of my interview with local Alan Bradbury, as a beautiful place for beginning fishing experiences. More advanced anglers might be interested in a spot called The Secret Ranch.

Hawkeye and Penelope (Bob’s Better Half!) on a Ride

Energetic adults and teens will love powering up (or down) some of our spectacular terrain on mountain bikes with Further Adventure guides. Expert riders can challenge themselves on several advanced rides. “We have some good, hard, grunt-y rides with steep climbs to test their fitness,” Bob says. “Having an expert there helps a lot.”

In terms of hiking, there are amazing trails of varying degrees of difficulty in every direction in and around Telluride. Hawkeye and Josh Williams, a couple of the Further Adventure hiking guides, are near legends in the area. Listen to what Bob has to say about them below.

Hiking Break with Snacks, A Key Component of Any Outdoor Activity

With all this outdoor activity—especially the hiking and biking—you’ll want to make sure you’re properly outfitted for such adventures. Bob, his crew and the Bootdoctors retail outfits in Telluride and Telluride Mountain Village can be particularly helpful there for clothing and gear. And as the name implies, Bootdoctors is big on taking care of your feet. There you can find the right hiking boots for yourself and customize the fit with a molded footbed. As Bob explains in the interview, you can put twelve times your body weight on your foot in downhill hiking, so you want to make sure you have a good platform for sustaining that kind of load. Bootdoctors also works on bike alignments to make sure you’re in your best stance on your bike for mountain bike and road riding.

So now it’s up to you to get out into nature and have fun. Pick your activity and head out and embrace all the greatness and glory of the San Juans, the most spectacular part of the Rocky Mountains. Consider booking your summertime foray with Further Adventures or another outfitter. At the very minimum, go with a guide, someone that knows the area. These are big mountains and the weather can change quickly. Think safety first, then fun will follow. And even on the water, remember to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

Click on the play button below to hear my interview with Bob Gleason from Bootdoctors and Further Adventures.

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