Bear Peak and South Boulder Peak

 My brother Kris is out West and so I made plans to meet up with him. Boulder, Colorado was our chosen meeting place, and with all the great hiking right outside of town, I think we picked a good one. I left home at about 4:15 a.m. and hit the road with a stop in Wellington, CO for breakfast at McDonalds. I reached our agreed upon meeting place, the South Mesa Trailhead a little bit before 8 a.m. to find the lot completely full. I drove to the Shell station at the entrance to Eldorado Canyon and met Kris there. Our plan B was to start our hike up Bear Peak and South Boulder Peak from the NCAR Trailhead.

The NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) Trailhead is great in that it is free to park and there is plenty of parking. We prepped and hit the trail with wonderful views of the beautiful Flatirons. 

The hike started out fairly easy. Lots of great views 

and a good portion of the beginning of the hike actually goes downhill. The trail passes a large, graffiti-covered water tank 

and then heads into a meadow with more great views. 

Once we reached the Fern Canyon Trail, the climbing began in earnest. It was quite rocky as well. This portion of the trail was mostly forested with a few rock outcroppings.

We climbed to a relatively flat spot where the turn off to Nebel Horn 

is found. This area is closed this time of the year to protect nesting raptors. 

We stopped at this flat area to take a break, and to admire the views of Green Mountain which lies across a canyon.

After our break, the climb got really steep. Every now and then views opened up to the south and west to the higher peaks of the Indian Peaks Wilderness. 

Years ago, I had hiked up Mount Audubon there. After a bit more climbing, we reached the crowded summit of Bear Peak. Kris and I found a spot just below the summit to take a break.

From the summit we could see our next destination, South Bouler Peak which is the highest peak in Boulder. 

It was a relatively easy hike from Bear Peak over to South Boulder Peak.

We took a pretty long break on the summit, admiring the views.

As we rested, we were visited by a friend, a small chipmunk.

We had our photo taken by a woman at the summit 

and then started the steep hike back down.

Once back to the cars, we made the short drive to Sanitas Brewing for some delicious beers and tacos.