Sunday, September 28, 2014

Afternoon Trip to the Flatirons near Boulder, Colorado


Pic of the Flatirons from Chautauqua Park
After watching the toxic sludge that was the Bears game today, my wife and I decided to clear our heads and go for a afternoon hike up to the the Flatirons. I was particularly excited about this since I am a big ultra-running fan and Boulder is home to several well-known pro ultra-runners such as legend Scott Jurek. So to hike their stomping grounds is pretty cool for me.

View from near trailhead looking roughly northward



We headed up the trail, which unsuprisingly headed upwards pretty steeply and at a trail junction we had a choice of heading on a loop around or heading upwards some more toward the peak of one of the Flatirons. We actually wanted to go around but misread the post and headed up. I was thankful for the mistake! the trail we chose ended high up on the Flatirons where it appeared only the rock climbers could continue and came with some great views of the flatlands below. The last couple hundred feet were actually more of an all fours scramble in the general direction of a trail. After a couple pics and shooting the bull with a pair of rock climbers we headed back down in a light rain.


Looking straight up the second Flatiron






Mount Falcon Hike

Last weekend me and Gina went to Mt. Falcon for a afternoon hike. This park is probably about 20 minutes or so from the house so it is another nice location for a day hike without to much car travel. It was actually a pretty strenuous hike. It basically switchbacks up the mountain from the parking area and is relentlessly upwards to the top via Castle Trail. We went up until we reached the ruins of the home at the top (the "castle") then went back down. About 6.5 miles altogether but with what I guess was about 1,500 feet of elevation gain or so, it felt like a lot more!


A View of Red Rocks from near the Castle Trailhead

Mule deer we ran across. They are very comfortable around people here




The castle ruins we really cool. It must have been an amazing home in that location. Burned down around a hundred years ago I believe.





Just an example of the type of trail that is common here in Colorado. Lots of rocks/boulders, pretty technical and fun hiking.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Hello, Colorado!

Pretty much anybody that reads this blog knows me and knows by now that earlier this month I moved from Illinois to the Denver area. The suburb Arvada, to be more specific. I won't go into a bunch of detail about why because it is boring, but now that we have gotten a bit settled I have been doing a decent amount of exploring in the foothills of the Rockies. Unfortunately, a lot of pics I took were lost when I switched phones and stupidly did not send my photos to my computer first so I will just start out with today's adventure, White Ranch Open Space Park.

White Ranch is about a twenty minute drive into the foothills(if you park on the east end of the park. I had been there earlier this week so this time I headed farther west to the other entrance which was about a half hour drive and significantly higher elevation, a little over 7,000 feet. Essentially I was starting at the top of the park from this west parking entrance.

I began from the parking lot on Belcher Hill Trail for a almost a mile and then jumped off that where it ends and at a T, where I went left on Rawhide Trail. Essentially I followed Rawhide in a loop for another four miles or so and linked up with Belcher again then headed back to where I parked, crossed the lot and did another mile or so in an out-and-back on Belcher. Like every trail I have been on since I have been here there are basically two directions: up and down. And sometimes it's a pretty damn steep up or down (plus the trails are generally very technical), which comes as no real surprise. It is the Rocky Mountains after all!

The most notable happening during the run was actually when I stopped for a picture and rest break and was walked up on by what I assume was a Red Fox. He was just strolling up the trail and looking off to his left and didn't see me leaning up against the rock wall. I let him come for a bit before I became a bit uncomfortable (he was a good-sized fox) and said "Hey!" and he turned around and headed up the hillside. He seemed annoyed he was going to have to take the long way around. It was pretty amazing!

I don't have the words to do Colorado justice so here are some pics from today. They at least come somewhat close.









This is right where the fox came up the trail to me