Hiking in Clear Creek Canyon, Hwy 6

Jefferson County Open Space is developing  new trails in Clear Creek Canyon along highway 6, west of Golden.  I love driving up Clear Creek Canyon, with it's steep cliffs alongside the rushing river.   The Open Space trail has no name, map or bathrooms, just a parking lot and a trail.   
I have hiked here before in this blog post, but couldn't go as far as I wanted due to thunderstorms rolling in.  Since I had to turn back on the hike, I have always wanted to know what was on the other side of the mountain.  My grandmother used to sing a song to me when I was little that I was reminded of; "the bear went over the mountain, the bear went over the mountain to see what he could see, to see what he could see.  But all that he did see was the other side of the mountain, the other side of the mountain was all that he did see."  And that is all that I saw; but it was still a great hike.   

A day in the park; Morrison Park

Sometimes a day in the park is just what you need to get outside in the sun.   Laying in the grass and watching the clouds, running around with the dogs, climbing trees and walking throug the town of Morrison for ice cream cap off a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. 
Josh and I had been hunting for some trails to the south of Morrison, but instead of finding trails we found this park.  The Morrison Park is a Jefferson County funded park next to Bear Creek, it has several picnic tables, a volleyball court, and the park connects to the Bear Creek paved trail that goes through Morrison Colorado and connects to other paved trails in the area.  

Royal Arch in Boulder Colorado

Did you know there is a huge rock arch formation in Boulder, Colorado; similar to the arches found in Utah? 
This huge rock formation is worth the long steep hike to reach it for the incredible views of Boulder and the Flatiron Mountains. 

The warm spring air makes me very excited to wake up early, get out the door and on the trail!  For all the hikes I have done in this state, Boulder is one place that I have not hiked very much.  This is mostly due to the crowded trails, but they are crowded for a reason; the Flatiron Mountains are amazingly beautiful and unique.  Boulder is also very dog friendly and has unique leash laws that allow dogs to be offleash on certain trails if you register your dog with a voice and sight tag.  More information on this can be found here.   The trail starts at the Chautauqua Trailhead in Boulder. 

Zapata Falls, Frozen Glacial Waterfall and a walk on a frozen river.

Zapata Falls is a glacial waterfall in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains that freezes in the wintertime and thaws in the summertime; making it a tourist destination year round.   We visited the falls this past weekend while it was still cold and frozen.  The falls are located in a cave and to reach the cave, visitors must traverse walking on a frozen river and climbing over a smaller frozen waterfall.   When we reached the river; we were shocked to see so many people struggling to climb over a 4 foot waterfall that was very slick.  After watching everyone else for some time, I began to wonder if I could make it up myself, it was very slippery and cracking my head on the ice was not part of the plan this vacation.  Crampons would have been very helpful for this climb!  We managed to find a divot in the ice that we were able to use as a handhold to pull ourselves up.  Once higher up on the river, you can walk into the cave with Zapata falls; it's well worth the struggle. 

Hiking to the top of the highest Dune in North America

The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Monument is located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range in southern Colorado.   Over the long weekend, Josh and I visited the park and climbed to the tallest dune in North America, High Dune.  

Behind the dunes are the Sangre de Cristo Mountains which tower over the 8500+ foot dunes, making them look tiny in comparison.   The entire Rocky Mountain Range was under a high wind warning that whole weekend, making hiking on mounds of sand pretty painful, but we had come all the way down here to the dunes and we were reaching the top!

Views of Red Rocks Ampitheatre hiking Morrison Peak 7,877 feet

I have lived on the front range for over 7 years and just 10 minutes from Red Rocks and Mount Morrison which can be seen towering above the front range.  But I never realized you could hike to the peak until recently.   After doing some reasearch, I found out that there were several routes to the summit, and I decided to do the longest route, the southern route. 

This route to the top which takes you up the southern ridgeline of Mount Morrison with views of the front range, Denver, and Red Rocks Ampitheatre below.  From the top of the mountain you can see all the way from Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs to Longs Peak in Estes Park!  Wow!   The dogs and I saw several deer who watched us intently while we hiked past them. 

Flying J Ranch Open Space Park; a short hike after a road closure stopped me in my tracks.

I woke up this morning ready to hike a bigger mountain; it was a sunny day, the snow had melted, and I was ready to climb! 

Rosedale Peak is a 13,000 foot peak in the foothills just about an hour from my home.  After checking online, I thought I could make it up the dirt road to access the trailhead at this time of the season.  After an hour drive in clear blue skies with huge peaks all around me, I arrived on the final road to my destination.  The road was closed just 100 yards from the main road and the trailhead was 3 miles farther west up the road.  At this point I decided to park my truck on the side of the road and hike up; it was still a beautiful, secluded and a pretty road.  So I loaded up my gear with two very excited dogs ready to hike, and then sadly realized that I had forgotten one major thing, my hat!  There is no way that I could hike at 10,000 feet without a hat in 35 degree weather.  Disappointed, I went back to my truck after hiking just 400 yards and knowing for sure it was too windy and cold to go on without a hat.  I decided to drive about 30 minutes back east and hike outside the town of Aspen Park, at the Flying J Ranch, the only Open Space Park in Jefferson County that I have never visited before.  

Mud-fest through Roxborough State Park to Carpenter Peak 7,160 feet.

Spring is here, until the next snowstorm, but today was definitely "shorts" wearing weather and I loved it!
I decided to hike Roxborough State Park which is southwest of Denver on this beautiful sunny 60 degree day in March. Roxborough is a state park which does not allow any dogs, so I have never hiked here before because of this. But my dog Rock has a sprained ankle and needs to take it easy for a week, so it was my chance to hike at Roxborough without feeling bad about leaving the dogs.
I can't believe I have lived so close to this State Park and not visited before, the giant red rocks, bowls and rims in the foothills and lots of foliage makes this park a photographers dream.

Squaw Mountain, 11,486 ft Arapaho National Forest

Squaw Mountain has been on my hiking "to do" list since hiking Chief Mountain, a peak nearby, a couple of months ago.   The views on the top of this 11,486 foot peak are beautiful, but as we descended the peak shortly before sunset, the peaceful sound of silence was shattered by loud gunfire.  Yes, gunfire. 
We first arrived at the trailhead which is located at the intersection of Squaw Mountain road and a forest road after about 35 minutes in the car.  I tried to drive up the forest road a little bit and immediately got our SUV stuck in the deep snow on the side of the road.  We spent a half an hour shoveling it out before we could start hiking.  Fortunately, I was not alone on this hike or I would have had a really hard time getting the truck out myself.   Josh and my cousin Patrick Rainey plus the two dogs were all eager to hike.   

A sunny, spring hike on Saddleback Mountain Peak, 9,568 feet

March has rolled in like a lamb, here in Colorado.  After a cold and snowy February; March has brought sunshine, warmer temperatures, and the smell of springtime to the Front Range.  This warm weather really motivates me to get outside and hike; it also gets me excited about hiking 14ers this summer!   
Yesterday, I hiked Saddleback Mountain which is a little known trailhead in the Clear Creek Open Space that takes you to the peak at 9,568 feet.   The total hike was just over 3 miles round trip and took just an hour and a half to complete. There are no facilities or map at the trailhead, just a small parking lot and Clear Creek Open space sign.