Distance: 4 miles Rating: strenuous Nice spring weather continued into the end of March and early April along the front range, so I seized the opportunity to get in another hike. With this time of year, you never really know what kind of weather is going to be thrown your way, so its best to take advantage every possible sunny day. I was just getting over a particularly nasty cold, so I figured it would be a good idea to take it relatively easy on this hike. Well, this hike may be fairly short, but relatively easy it certainly isn't. For anyone planning on doing this, be prepared for a bit of leg burner. I would compare this trail to Hanging Lake (see my entry): it may be only one mile up, but it is a ... read more

After a few weeks of bad weather, my folks and I decided to head down to the Pikes Peak area for what would be our last hike of the season. By this point, several areas in the mountains had already received a fair amount of snow and there was a very noticable chill to the air. The Pikes Peak Massif towers over Colorado Springs to the east and provides some of the most stunning mountain views in all of Colorado. The Crags area is a genuinely unusual and impressive region on the northwest corner of the massif featuring huge outcroppings of Pikes Peak granite formed during a period of ancient volcanic instability. These aptly named formations jut out over the pine and aspen forest, creating a rather surreal hiking environment. The trail itself is only ... read more

As I've mentioned before, the weather in Colorado can be extraordinarily hard to predict. The week before this hike, the temperatures were normal for late September (low 70's). Then a fluke storm moved in on Saturday and dumped the first substantial snow in the high country. By the time I made it up to Evergreen for this hike, the snow was all gone, but the evidence of the storm could be seen up on Mt. Evans and certainly felt in the crisp air. Alderfer/Three Sisters is one of Jefferson County's open space parks and is just outside of downtown Evergreen. The "Three Sisters" are actually three large rock formations that jut out above the thick pine forest just west of town. There are actually four major formations in the park: the Three Sisters and the ... read more

With Fall starting to show up by way of the yellowing aspen leaves, my dad and I decided to head up to Rocky Mountain National Park for what would be our last hike in the area this year. At well over 11,000 feet, the two summits of Twin Sisters Peak dominate the landscape on the eastern border of the park. In fact, the peaks are easily visible from the surrounding areas such as the parks outside of Boulder. When I was much younger, I recall attempting this hike with a summer camp group, but I don't recall if I managed to make the summit. It was nice to go back and fill in the foggy gaps in my memory! The trail begins at the popular Lily Lake trailhead and parking area (south from Estes Park ... read more

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I like to go on hikes where the landscape is dominated by unique rock formations and geology. Horsetooth Mountain certainly satisfies that desire. At the mountain's summit is Horsetooth Rock, a formation that can be seen from Ft. Collins below. Horestooth Mountain Park is one of several Larimer County Open Space parks and provides nearly 30 miles of hiking trails. One of the trails (the Nomad Trail) connects with the popular Lory State Park to the north. Most of the trails start at the parking lot and picnic area off of CR 38E, just past the southern tip of the Horsetooth Reservoir (are we detecting a naming pattern here yet?). Admittedly, I was rather underwhelmed by the scenery at the trailhead. There are virtually no trees and ... read more