Trail and Park Reviews: Palmer Lake Colorado, Hike the Reservoir Trail

Wow, in the entire time I've had this blog, I don't think its been this long since I've updated. This fall and then winter were very busy for our family, my daughter turned 1, we had a barrage of visitors from out of state to visit her, then after they left it was holiday season and we were busy making gifts and decorating our house. Then, just when things started to settle down, we all got sick. And it wasn't just a little sick either, I ended up with pneumonia, Magnolia had 2 ear infections and a horrible cold and my husband also caught the mess and was sick himself. The pneumonia was very bad and I ended up with complications that landed me in the hospital for 5 days. It was miserable. While I am not better yet, I'm getting there.
This hike was done back in November, before all the illness began. We had planned on taking a small weekend getaway to Monument, Colorado and decided to hike the Palmer Lake Res Trail that took us to 2 reservoirs just outside of the town in the mountains.

Getting there: N39 7.184 W104 55.367

From the town of Monument, Colorado just north of C. Springs, head North on Hwy 105 to the town of Palmer Lake. The trailhead itself has no parking, and no restroom facilities, the place to park is on the street before the trailhead on Glen Street, Palmer Lake, 80133. If you plug that address into google (I know there is no street number, but it works) then you can see where your destination is. Glenway Street, from Hwy 105 is the most direct street to turn down. Park on the side of the road, we parked in front of a huge mansion. We happened to see a police officer driving by and asked if it was alright to park here, since its a residential area, and he said it was fine. From our parking spot, it took only a few minutes to walk down the street toward the canyon, the trail is an old dirt road that you hike up.

Specs: No parking lot or restrooms. Trail is easy to moderate, an uphill incline to two reservoirs called Lower and Upper Palmer lake Reservoirs from what I could attain. The hike is about 2 miles to the far end of the upper reservoir one way reaching an elevation of around 8300ft.

The Hike: We have learned that 2012 just isn't the year to travel with a new baby. Unfortunately, she is resistant to going in the car, staying in hotels or at other friends/families homes and she lets us know by not sleeping the entire time and being really grumpy ;) As parents who love to travel, this is hard on us, but we try to keep some of our favorite past-time alive with small trips away. We had a groupon to spend a weekend at a hotel in Monument, complete w/ meal vouchers and a brewery nearby. I think the groupon might have been bought during the early days of Magnolia's life, when we were awake crazy hours and probably thought a night away was a good idea. One year later and we still hadn't used the deal and it was about to expire so we packed up for a weekend away after Thanksgiving.
After a long night of a crying baby, we awoke Saturday to find a sunny day waiting for us, we drove to Palmer Lake and eventually located the trailhead and started the hike.

The start of the trail is just past these buildings.

***

Josh and Magnolia hiking up, the trail wasn't steep, but it was a good workout for us.

***

We reached the first reservoir and the waterfall was frozen. Very cool.

The trail was also quite busy, lots of hikers, people fishing or jogging or biking.

***

Views of the Lower Res.

***

After you pass the Lower Res, you don't have to hike very far to find the upper reservoir.

***

Me standing in front of the Lower Res. I'm wearing my awesome hiking shirt from Mountain Mama Expecting Adventure, you can see my review on it here.

***

The beauty of the upper res.

***

We hiked along the path to the middle of the Upper Res and then found a place to stop and eat some lunch. After this we decided to go ahead and hike back, we probably hiked just under 2 miles, one way.

***