1st and 2nd Flatirons

After Sierra left for school this morning, I hit the road headed for Arvada to meet my friend Steve for our planned climb of Mount Bierstadt tomorrow. On the way, however, I figured I would do a little warm up with a hike in the Flatirons of Boulder. 

Because I had arrived around 11 a.m., the morning hikers were finished with their jaunts. That meant I was able to find a parking spot in the Chatauqua Park lot fairly easily. I parked and immediately admired the view.

Like all the trails in the Flatirons, the trail was pretty steep right from the start. I climbed up a familiar section of trail to the junction with the trail up to the 1st and 2nd Flatirons. The trail, while short, was quite steep. There were a lot of views out over the City of Boulder, especially from the sections of trail that traversed boulder fields. 

I even caught a view of the distant 3rd Flatiron. 

At the top of the trail, I caught a glimpse of the high peaks to the west.

There was also a nice view of the top section of the 1st Flatiron. 

After a short time admiring the view there, I started to make my way back to the trailhead. 

Once back to the car, I made my way to Upslope Brewing for lunch, then into Arvada to meet my friend. 

Roosevelt National Forest: Killpecker Trail to Middle Bald Mountain

Last night after work, I packed up the car and Rosie and I made the drive south and then west into the Red Feather Lakes area of Colorado. We camped at West Lake Campground at one of the nice walk-in sites. This morning, I ate breakfast and packed up camp and we headed a little further west to the trailhead for the Killpecker Trail just off of the ominously named Deadman Road. I changed into my boots, and readied my pack and then we hit the trail. 

Most of the beginning 2/3 of the trail follows Killpecker Creek pretty closely.

It's a pretty, little cascading stream. Besides the creek, there were some pretty wildflowers blooming. The last flowers of the year, including a few lupine stragglers 

and some asters.

Being a Wednesday, I let Rosie walk off leash for most of the hike. There were three road crossings of the little trafficked Killpecker Road. 

At each road crossing there are barriers erected to keep ATVs off of the trail.

Motorbikes, however, are permitted and according to reviews I've read, this trail gets a lot of use from motorbikes on weekends. At one point the trail passes alongside, then through, a recently logged area.

We made the third road crossing,

and then climbed pretty steeply through woods mixed with intermittent clearings. 

The breaks in the forest offered views of nearby North Bald Mountain. 

That peak would have to wait for another hike. Soon enough, the trail entered a clearing and the summit of Middle Bald Mountain was visible to the southeast. 

As we walked through the meadow up to the summit, views to the west were spectacular! 

We attained the windy summit and enjoyed the views from a relatively sheltered spot. 

After a bit we made our way down off of the summit. The views in the meadow were still pretty grand. 

Being the completionist I am, we opted to finish the rest of the Killpecker Trail to its southern terminus at a forest road. 

Then, we retraced our steps back to the car. It was fast going on the way back being nearly all downhill. Overall, it was a nice hike. Not the most dramatic scenery, but still quite pleasant. The best part of the hike was letting Rosie walk off leash. She really seemed to enjoy the freedom, but never strayed too far. 

 

Medicine Bow National Forest: Trail Creek to Grassy Lake

We woke up this morning, ate breakfast, packed up camp and then made the short drive-up Sand Lake Road to the trailhead for our hike along Trail Creek to Grassy Lake.

It was a pleasant, well-used, but unofficial trail. The start of the trail meandered through a mix of forest and meadow. We crossed Trail Creek at an unbridged rock hop.

We would spend the rest of the hike following the north side of the creek to Grassy Lake. The scenery was very pleasant.

We stopped at a moldering, old cabin and had our picture taken.

After the cabin, the trail became fainter and disappeared altogether at some points. Still, there was much beautiful scenery to look at.

Soon, we found ourselves at Grassy Lake. 

We took a break at some rocks there.

Then, we retraced our steps back to the trailhead.

Medicine Bow National Forest: Silver Lake and Meadow Falls Loop

Last evening after work, Noelle, Sierra, Rosie and I hit the road and headed to the Medicine Bow National Forest outside of Laramie, Wyoming. Noelle had been gracious enough to pack all our stuff in preparation for the trip. After a stop for dinner in Cheyenne, we made our way up into the mountains where we camped for the night at the North Fork Campground. 

We awoke this morning, snug in our tent (Rosie's happy place). 

We ate breakfast with coffee and chai and then headed out to the trailhead on the west side of Snowy Range Pass for our hike of Silver Lake and Meadow Falls. The trail starts just outside of the Silver Lake Campground. We parked near the pay kiosk and hit the trail, 

starting a counterclockwise loop. 

The trail was a nice mix of forest and meadow.

There were still lots of wildflowers in bloom,

and a few scatters reminders of past forest uses.

We continued through beautiful, mixed scenery,

and eventually found the spur trail that leads to Meadow Falls.

The falls were pleasant, if uninspiring.

We took a short break at a bench overlooking the falls.

Then, we moved on, climbing a ridge that offered occasional views of the surrounding forest and mountains. 

There were a few blown down trees that we had to climb over or crawl under.

Soon, a very short spur trail 

led to a pleasant, little pond.

We let Rosie off leash to frolic in the water for a bit.

Then, we leashed our wet dog,

and continued on the hike, immediately climbing a low ridge to more views. 

We crossed a small stream on a log, 

found a downed sign with interesting historical information, 

and then made our way over to Silver Lake. 

Once we reached the lake, 

we opted to hike the inner section, 

rather than the outer section described in our guidebook. 

Once we had completed the hike, it was still rather early in the day. We ate a picnic lunch at Mirror Lake and then drove Barber Lake Road into Centennial where we checked out the Nici Self Museum.

Then, we returned to camp to lounge and read for the rest of the day.