Mount Falcon Park Loop

 Left home for a five-day Colorado trip Denver and the mountains west of town. This morning I made the drive to Mount Falcon Park, just outside of Morrison. I arrived at the trailhead parking lot around 9:30 and started my hike with great views of Red Rocks Park and downtown Denver.

The trail ascended fairly steeply and made its way up to a ridge and picnic shelter where I took a short break and admired the view.

From the shelter, the trail followed a relatively flat area over to the ruins of "The Castle", the former home of John Brisben Walker.

I walked around the ruins and then made my way back east towards "Walker's Dream", the foundation of his proposed Summer White House.

Besides the Summer White House there was a nice view to the west of the higher mountains.

After enjoying the view for a bit, I started to make my way back down to the trailhead, following the Turkey Trot Trail to complete a loop.

Once back to my car, I headed west on US 285 up over Kenosha Pass and into Fairplay, where I got a beer at Highside Brewery 

before getting a campsite at Fourmile Campground. 

The aspens leaves are starting to change!

I explored the creek just outside of the campground for a bit and as I returned to my campsite, I encountered a bull moose!

White River National Forest: Hoosier Pass Loop

 This morning I awoke in the campground to morning light bathing Peak One in alpenglow.

I packed up camp and then made my way through Breckenridge and up to Hoosier Pass.

 From the pass I started a nice, short hike making a loop on Forest Roads and the Crystal Lake Trail. I passed by some dispersed camping sites in a wooded area at the start of the hike, but soon climbed up to some great views.

As I continued to follow the road, views opened up to Quandary Peak.

Soon, I found the Crystal Lake Trail, a steep, gravelly climb. Towards the top of the climb was a mine shaft and amazing view.

I picked up another dirt road here and started to descend back to Hoosier Pass. There were amazing views up into a basin surrounded by high peaks. It appears to be called Platte Gulch.

Once back at the car, I drove to I-70 and headed east out of the mountains. I made a lunch stop at Westbound and Down, then descended into the heat of the plains. 

DeCaLiBron Loop

 Last night I drove into Colorado and stayed in a hotel just west of Denver. This morning I awoke at 4:30 am and made the drive west up US 285 through South Park to the town of Alma. From Alma I drove to the Kite Lake Trailhead for my hike of the DeCaLiBron Loop.

I arrived just as the sun was rising and used the pit toilet before hitting the trail. I opted to hike the loop counterclockwise and so I would ascend the loose scree of Mount Bross first. At the start of the trail up the Bross slopes is a sign reminding hikers that the summit of Mount Bross is on private property and off-limits. 

A little further up the trail is a small waterfall.

 Soon the climbing started in earnest. There were great views of the surrounding high peaks. 

I crested the slope of Mount Bross to "claim the peak." The Colorado Fourteeners Initiative says that the highest part of the slope counts as the summit since the actual summit is not legal to climb to. 

The the slopes of Mount Bross the trail levels off a bit. Soom Mount Lincoln comes into view. I climbed up Mount Lincoln's slope with views back towards the saddle between it and unofficial 14er Mount Cameron. 

There is a pretty prominent false summit just before the actual Mount Lincoln summit. 

I climbed it pretty easily and soon found myself on the actual summit 

for a selfie. 

There's a nice view down to a pleasant looking lake from there.

After a few minutes of relaxing and enjoying the view, I started to move again. It was a relatively gentle ascend across Mount Cameron.

At the summit I had a couple I met there take my photo.

I took a look back towards Lincoln, 

and then started the descent to the saddle between Cameron and Democrat. It was a fairly easy descent to the saddle with lots more great views.

I stopped at the saddle to take a break and found my energy level pretty low and my stomach bothering me a bit. I considered heading down to the trailhead but eventually opted to make the climb up to Democrat instead. It was pretty slow going, but the views were still really great. I could even see down to Kite Lake where I had started my journey.

Eventually I found my way to the summit of Mount Democrat. I met a man from Czech Republic at the summit and we chatted for a bit and he took my photo. 

I think this summit had the best views of the day. I took a panoramic photo of the scene.

After a short time on the summit, it was time to head down. I made pretty good time on the descent, especially the less steep parts of the trail. On the way down I encountered a mountain goat.

Before I knew it I was back to the car and ready to relax. I opted to get a campsite in Breckenridge at the Peak One Campground that I had camped at last year when I climbed Mount Quandary. I got lunch at the Breckenridge Brewery.

A Weekend at the Jersey Shore

 For the past couple of days,

we have been relaxing at the Jersey Shore. Noelle and I have been enjoying some birding on the Delaware Bay beach.

We have also gone to the ocean beach at Cape May's Poverty Beach.