AMERICA’S HIGHEST CITY (an unexpected adventure)

Hey, good job, Dave.

Great job.

Aw, save the family. You definitely made it easier.

We're Karen Nate, and we spent the last four years traveling to 100 countries. But 2020 brought us back to the US where we bought a converted sprinter van to explore our own backyard.

Yay.

We spent the last couple days in Southern Colorado at Great Sand Dunes national park, sleeping under the star in the largest sand dunes in the U.S. while still covered in sand, we began a three hour drive north to the highest city in America.

I was not planning on stopping, but I really wanted to stop.

So five years ago, before we started traveling full time, the number one thing on my bucket list was to trek to Everest base camp.

Thank you, Sunam for getting us here. Well done. And back in 2016, that dream became a reality when we did the trek with a company called Itrek Nepal.

After we completed the trek, the owner just happened to be in Kathmandu, where we briefly met. And we've ended up keeping in touch ever since. So, long story short, Rick, the owner, his wife Beck, and their two daughters, when they aren't in Nepal, they live here in Leadville running this super cool bed and breakfast.

They've offered us a free place to park in the driveway, a big comfy bed for the night, and most importantly, a hot, long shower. Because I'm pretty sure that I still have sand in my hair from the dunes because the only shower we've had up to this point was the freezing cold one we took in the public showers at the national park.

I feel so much better.

This is my first time using a hair dryer since we bought the bag.

I could stay here a little while.

So while Kara was in the shower, Rick showed me around the house. And this house was actually built in the 1800s. Leadville was kind of this, this mining boom town back then. And this was one of the original houses that was built. So it just has a ton of character.

And this house was actually owned by a banker in the community. And our room specifically has one unique feature.

What is it?

What if I told you there was a trap door in this room?

Awesome. Can I find it? Like, is it like hidden?

Yeah, a hidden trapdoor.

Challenge accepted.

You're, like, kind of warm.

One of these things push in.

You were touching it. That's it.

Can I open it?

Do it.

It's very heavy. Oh, gosh.

That was like the most haunted sound I've ever heard. It's literally concrete stairs into blackness. Can we go in there?

Yeah.

This is awesome.

Where does it go?

So it gets even crazier the story goes that the banker owned this house. This was his bedroom, the room that we're staying in they've named the banker's suite. And it's just kind of this, I don't know, this weird kind of like concrete brick basement. But apparently there actually used to be a tunnel that went between this room and the bank that's on Main street in town. Somewhere behind these bricks there's a tunnel. And I want to know so bad. Nothing sounds hollow.

Goodbye, creepy room.

Look at that.

You'd never know it was there. Crazy.

Kind of makes me think of the movie Parasite, that one that won all the awards this year.

All right, so we are going to attempt to show you how long this tunnel actually was.

So we're standing in front of the house now, and to get to the bank, the first thing you have to do is walk to Main street.

Still in the tunnel.

So this building right here that's now been turned into a steakhouse is the old lake.

We've been told that there's a photo in the back of the restaurant that actually has a picture of the guy that used to own the house in the bank.

It's only 1:30 now, but we'll come back later tonight and try to find the photo.

Okay, so it's later, we're back at Quincy's and this, this is the banker that used to own Rick and Beck's house where we're staying. There he is. He has quite the beard. Super cool. Alright, back to the vlog.

As we were driving into this town, it almost felt like we were being transported back in time. And we've learned a little bit more about the city since we've been here. Apparently it really got started in the 1800s when there was a mining boom for lead, hence the name Leadville. Then once all the.

I did not catch that Leadville.

And then the lead dried up, the town kind of died down again. Then they discovered silver in the early 1900s and that's when the town really boomed and it had 10 times the population that it has today. And that's when like a lot of these buildings that you see around here were built.

The buildings are so beautiful and all the signs are like the original old signs.

It almost feels like the road should be dirt and there should be horse and buggies driving down it as opposed to cars. Like that would fit the vibe of this town a lot better.

They have all these little mining carts used as decorations as like flower pots and stuff. I love it.

So the first time that we Ever heard of this town? Was actually earlier this year during quarantine we got in this habit of watching ultra endurance documentaries.

I think we were just feeling like super trapped and super lazy and it was really entertaining to watch people suffer their bodies can handle. We got super into it.

And one of those documentaries that we watched took place here in Leadville. Every year there's this crazy race where people come from all over the world to run 100 miles and the majority of the course is at over 10,000ft.

100 miles at altitude. I can barely walk up the stairs without feeling like I need to take a break and breathe.

So yeah, every year some of like the most hardcore athletes in the world descend on this town. And the reason that I'm telling you this is because this building behind us I'm pretty sure is like the check in for the race. So after watching that documentary, even though it's closed, it's kind of cool just to be here.

The documentary we watched is called the why by Billy Yang and It's super good, 100%.

You should stop watching this video, go watch that one and then think about it.

You'll appreciate all this so much more.

It's pretty incredible. Like if you've never gone down this rabbit hole of ultra endurance racing before.

It'S just a world that we didn't even know existed. Existed.

So we picked up some food from the local Mexican restaurant and we've driven up to the old mining district that sits up above the town to watch the sunset. And tonight we have a a very unique one. I believe the fifth largest wildfire in Colorado history is happening right now. So normally we would be looking at Mount Alberts, which is the tallest mountain in Colorado and a and a beautiful lake. But right now it's almost hard to see the town from here.

This morning we've driven about 30 minutes outside of town up to 11,000ft. And we're attempting to do something that we figure no one else has ever done. Have a 40 pound inflatable paddleboard on my back. And we're hiking up to an alpine lake that sits at 12,000ft.

I think we might be the only.

Ones crazy enough to carry all this stuff.

So we might be the first people to ever paddle board on this lake.

By we, we mean us and our friend Rick, their daughters Frankie and Evie, his wife Beck and their friend Olive.

Feeling the altitude A.

I'm very grateful that a four year old setting the pace. It's about the only way I'm able to keep up.

Didn't really mean to sit down, but I just kind of fell and ended up like this.

You can do it.

You can do it.

The snow.

August, and there's still snow up here.

How good did that feel?

Yeah.

There's a reason we're going to be the first ones to ever do this.

We spent the next couple hours just soaking in the gorgeous views. Stand up, paddle boarding and catching up with our newish old friends.

Was that camera still on over here? Hi.

We may be crazy. We're going to see how many people we can can fit on these boats to go to the other side.

It's gonna be.

Oh, and Olive, who is eight years old, paddled both me and Frankie all the way across the lake.

It's way easier if I stand.

There are few things more frustrating in life than trying to get a sleeping bag into it.

It's cold this morning.

It is cold. And we're going to get in the water.

We're up bright and early to prep for a trip that we've been invited on.

Morning.

I now leave.

We're going to be in the water today. We've been invited to go overnight whitewater rafting with our friends, which is something that we've never done before. This is the boat that we're going to be taking down the river. I honestly didn't even know that this was a thing that people did. Like, I knew that there were companies that did tours, but I didn't know anybody own their own white water raft.

So once again, we are loving the flexibility of van life.

We were only going to stay in level for a day or two to say hi and regroup, but this family is just too much fun. When we got invited on this overnight rafting trip, we just couldn't say no.

So I've done zero of the planning for today, so I'm not exactly clued in on the details, but we just driven two hours in some direction, we put someone else's boat on top of our boat and now we're going somewhere else. The one thing I do know is that we're putting these boats in the Colorado river and we're making our way 25 miles down river over the next two days.

I leave my keys in the gas tank and the guy, some river bum that I've never met is going to come take my car down to the red and put those keys back in the gas can.

No way.

In the gas tank lid.

Yeah. Do we.

Have we met the person that you don't know yet?

No. No.

And we won't. But if you ever need a car, just desperate for a vehicle, just come on down to the Colorado River.

I'll jump on back to take.

But we have to hold on to something like this. Yeah. Okay.

So we don't fall off.

Got it. Oh, yeah.

Early morning, the trailer parking, all that messing around just became working.

Ready.

You're not gonna give me a high five?

You need camera shy.

Oh, here it is.

You just warm up for a while, don't you?

Can't have a high five.

So this is basically gonna be our life for the next 36 hours.

Yay.

He's just gonna be floating.

Into things.

The occasional beverage and having a lot of fun.

Rick and Beck have two other friends who also own their own raft, so they joined us too. Plus, they're a super cute dog back.

The video would look so much cooler if you were standing up. Oh, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.

Wait till I fill in.

So from what I've heard, this next set of rapids that we're going through is kind of like the most sketchy part that we'll encounter on this entire stretch of river. And.

It'S a little bit of family.

We got a history here.

Hey, Frankie.

What?

Does this rapid scare you at all?

Yeah.

Why?

Cause there's a bunch of rocky rocks. Good rock.

Hey, Frankie, what happened last time you went down the rapid, not hitting the.

Hardy rock, hit head oar pretty bad. What happened this time?

Last time we saw two bald eagles right about now.

That's not the story that I heard.

Well, that was what happened before I hit the kids in the head with the oar.

Hi, Faith.

And you, Rhett.

That makes one of us.

Here we go.

All right.

That wasn't quite as smooth as last time, but I didn't hit anybody.

Remember the 8 year old who paddled across the lake?

She does rabbits too.

I feel like most of the time on a trip like this, you pack like PB and J's and Doritos for lunch. Beck packed us Asian pasta.

Asian lettuce wraps with buffalo meat. I get used to this.

I'm a huge weenie when it comes to jumping off of high things into the water. Ned, on the other hand, not that.

At just can't be shut up at. I love.

I have no interest in doing it.

Oh, great.

He looks so much higher.

How you feel?

Good.

I can't breathe. That's the worst part.

Oh, long drop. Go. Nate. Is the eight year old talking trash? Yeah. Nothing inside me wants to to do this.

Oh.

I'm glad It's over and I'm glad I did it.

Oh, it's so cold.

Oh, man, I am getting old. That was like every ounce of willpower. I had Emmy to jump off of that.

Good job, old man.

It's been a while.

You're not old just yet.

All right, lunch break's over and we may be in danger. We have a new captain.

It's gone.

Everybody cover your heads.

Everybody watch. Oh, we're hitting the rocks.

I wasn't. I wasn't prepared.

My job is done here.

That was a real rapid name.

Who has a little adrenaline, right? They have way too much pain than me.

In between, the rapids was blissful and calm, especially when Nate wasn't the captain. We even saw a bald eagle.

Beautiful. Kara.

Kara's Star Spangled banner is about to be disrupted. The eagle seems to like her singing it to her.

Yeah, this looks scary.

I'll give you five gummy bears if you don't fall in.

I think she's gonna make it.

I bet she's gonna fall on her.

Knees, though.

Going backwards.

Oh, we're gonna hit.

We're good, we're good. Keep pulling, keep pulling.

We might not hit. I gotta do it.

Nice.

I've got a plan. I've got a plan.

Okay.

Does it involve going backwards here?

Yeah.

That was exciting.

Yeah.

Oh, that was the right one.

Yeah. We're getting hit. We're getting hit.

We're good, we're good. Everyone's just pull away now. Pull away. Woohoo.

I've lost a paddle.

Let's go with one hit. That was awesome.

I didn't actually realize you actually.

You lost pedal.

I was too busy with the camera.

Wow, team.

That was awesome.

Oh, my gosh. That was old.

Oh, I think I might have broken my finger.

What's the matter?

It was scary. It was scary. That's okay. It's all right.

You did so.

You did better than I.

You're allowed to go again. It's really scary.

I'm sorry, Frankie.

I'll get you fallen in 120.

Yeah. Compared to the other.

Sunglasses. Yeah. Do you have your sunglasses?

I went in way over confident.

Did you lose your sunglasses? No.

He's gonna be so upset.

Are you okay?

Gummy bears make everything better.

It.

If you're trying to avoid something sometimes.

Next it was my turn to be the captain.

Wow.

With Beck's help, of course.

Okay, any rocks up there, kiddos? Be right back. Back right.

Now.

Maybe get away from these rocks on the right.

So let's go.

Yeah. And now push that's it. Push.

Now. I would back. Back row your right. Yeah.

Oh my gosh. You're such a good coast. That was crazy.

We made it. That was super fun. But my arms are pretty useless now.

Hi.

Nice.

All right.

This is home for the night. The way it works here on the river is there's just all these free campgrounds and as long as someone hasn't taken it yet, you can camp there for free.

All right, we just got camp set up and first things first, I'm going to check out the toilet situation. Normally I do a toilet tour, but I've never used one like this. So Rick's gonna show me.

They call it the Groover. I'm fairly new to it myself, but basically you do it in here.

Okay.

Number two's only. There's some like some, some kind of chemical in there that helps it smell less. And then the little packet that that bag comes in also has this bag. So once that's at capacity, we fold it up and we stick it in there airtight, zip it up. It goes in this waterproof can. And so even though the can smells a bit funky, it's not anything too terrible. It's just that these bags have been in there. But hopefully the outside of those are pretty sanitary.

This isn't a one time use.

No, you can usually use it a few times.

We're still new to it too, so we've heard two or three times maybe, but that's it.

Cool.

And they call it the Groover, which makes it sound fun almost, but I don't know how much fun it would be.

I feel like this is the dreamiest toilet tour we've ever given. Typically it's perfectly acceptable to just dig a hole far off the trail and do your business there and cover it back up. But apparently river camping takes the whole leave no trace thing to a whole new level and you literally have to pack out your waste. So that's why we have the fancy potty.

We ended this awesome day with Glow in the Dark, bocce ball.

And s' mores around the campfire.

It.

All this fun on the river definitely doesn't come without quite a bit of work, but it's totally worth it. Breakfast was amazing.

Good work, Frankie.

Hey, Redemption from yesterday.

Oh, look. And this is. This is the counterweight that makes the door easier to open and close. Yeah.

Here, why don't you stay down here. You can watch it go down. Ready?

Bye. Bye.

And now I'm. I'm trapped in the basement.

Let's see. Did you lock me down here. I can see you.

You can?

Through the hole.

I'm sitting on it.

Realize you can see me.

Busted.

Heading back to the trail to walk back. Actually. Pretty warm in the water. Yeah, I know, right? It's so warm.

We're heading all the way over there. You're fast, Cara. You think? Yeah, trying to be. Hello, Frankie. Say something, Cara. Say something.

With my shoes back on. My feet are all wet and muddy from our. From our trek over on the beach.

Ciao. Bye.

I think one of the more difficult.

Moves is Frankie is rowing. Getting a beer at the same time.

And watching the chat.

I would be like, frankie, can you.

Stay here with me?

Frankie, what do you think of Nate's rowing?

Fat. He's awesome.

And then a big no no is peeing in the Gruber. Yeah.

Okay.

Apparently you just don't.

Solids only.

Solids only. So if you have to get down near the water somewhere to do your number one. But that can be tricky. Sometimes they go hand in hand.

So, yeah, I do think that would be tricky.

Yeah. We ate the pistachios. What are you doing? To do what? Are you subscribed to Carol and Nate channel? Subscribe to Karen AIDS channel.

Do you turn it off? It's actually Cody.

Did I do it? I did. No, no, no.

Hit the red button.