Distance: 7.7 miles Rating: moderate It’s generally safe to say that if you head up to the high country prior to July, you’re still going to see a fair amount of snow. I was aware of this, but I decided that I’d had enough of hiking around the foothills. So, my dad and I headed up for our first hike of the year in Rocky Mountain National Park. Unlike previous years, I actually had a National Parks pass, so we were able to venture into the park rather than search for hikes around the perimeter. At this point, the temperature down [View Full Entry]

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Distance: CR 5 to Nelson Ranch ~ 1 mile, Swallowtail Trail (over hogback) ~ 1.5 miles, South Rim Trail ~ 3 miles Rating: CR 5 to Nelson Ranch - easy, Swallowtail Trail - easy, South Rim Trail - moderate With the temperatures in the Metro Area starting to climb, I decided to make my second and final trip to Roxborough State Park. For this hike, I decided to venture to the infrequently-visited southern border of the park. The land directly to the south of Roxborough has been turned into open space by Douglas County. There are two designated parks: Nelson Ranch [View Full Entry]

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Distance: Oxen Draw/Raven's Roost loop - 2 miles, Eagle's View - 2 miles, Songbird - 1 mile Rating: Loop - moderate, Eagle's View - difficult, Songbird - easy For my second hike of the week, I decided to head back to the US 285 corridor, an area that doesn’t seem to suffer from the traffic and congestion of more popular areas along the Front Range. Jefferson County, like Boulder County, has set aside a large amount of land for open space parks. In fact, the county has a total of 22 parks covering over 50,000 acres with approximately 200 miles of [View Full Entry]

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Distance: 7.6 miles Rating: easy-moderate One of these days, I’m just going to have to get over the high cost of living and just move up to the Boulder area. There are so many nice hiking options up there! Boulder County is one of the Front Range counties that have set aside a nice amount of land for open space parks. There are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of miles of hiking trails within the county’s borders. I guess they figured out that people like to enjoy the outdoors! Heil Valley Ranch is not what I would consider the most extraordinary [View Full Entry]

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Distance: 6.4 miles Rating: moderate So, back to reality. The Bryce Canyon and Zion trip was amazing, and for a time it overshadowed the beauty that I’m surrounded by here in Colorado (at least in my mind). To snap out of this mindset, all I needed to do was take a trip to one of the most impressive places along the Front Range: Roxborough State Park. Roxborough is famous for the line of tilted, reddish-brown rock formations running through much of the park. Known as the Fountain Formation, this towering line of sandstone dates back to the Paleozoic Age and the [View Full Entry]

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OK, so this isn't an actual hike entry, but I have a number of leftover pictures from my trip to Utah that I'd like to share. I will be doing another one of these for my Yellowstone/Grand Tetons trip as well. Enjoy! [View Full Entry]

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Distance: The River Walk - 2 miles, Emerald Pools - 3 miles, The Watchman - 2.8 miles Rating: The River Walk - easy, Emerald Pools - moderate, The Watchman - moderate Our second day in Zion National Park saw a return to the cold and rainy conditions that had greeted us two days earlier. Due to the conditions, we decided to focus on several of the shorter, easier hikes rather than attempt another difficult one like Angel’s Landing, for instance. Not surprisingly, the crowds had thinned out significantly as a result of the weather, and we were part of handful of [View Full Entry]

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Distance: 8 miles Rating: strenuous After our visit to Bryce Canyon, I admit that I was a little concerned about potential let-down at Zion, our original destination. Bryce Canyon was so amazing that I wasn't sure whether or not Zion could actually top that experience. Adding to my concern was the forecast that called for cold weather and even some snow at the higher elevations. Well, I'm happy to say that my fears were alleviated as soon as my dad and I approached the park's entrance from the east. As my dad will attest, I probably looked a little like an [View Full Entry]

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Distance: 4 miles Rating: easy-difficult (final climb out of amphitheater) The term "other-worldly" gets tossed around a lot. I for one am guilty of having used it several times to describe some of the more unique hikes I've been on. However, I have now found a place that truly fits the other-worldly designation. As I look back at the pictures from my visit to Bryce Canyon National Park, I am still absolutely in awe of the place. I can honestly say that I've never seen anything like it! Thousands upon thousands of stone pillars run from the rim out to the [View Full Entry]

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Distance: To turnaround ~ 5 miles Rating: easy The spring this particular year seemed to be turned backwards: we got April weather in March and March weather in April. After a few weeks of cool, wet weather, the skies cleared and the ground dried up enough that my folks and I were able to head out on another hike. This particular weekend, we ventured to an area that I had been excited to explore for quite a while. The Pike National Forest extends all the way from the Colorado Springs area (Pikes Peak in the Springs is the source of the [View Full Entry]

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