Royal Arch

 Last night Kris and I camped just outside of Nederland at the Kelly Dahl campground. It was a chilly evening and I don't think either of us slept particularly well. I awoke to check out the wonderful view of the high peaks just to the west. 

After cold bagels for breakfast, we packed up camp and headed into town to get some coffee. After procuring our coffee, we headed back into Boulder to Chatauqua Park and the start of our next hike. Kris had to get his rental car back to Denver in the early afternoon and so we planned a shorter hike for the day. Originally, I had wanted to hike the 1st and 2nd Flatirons Loop. However, AllTrails stated the it is closed during the week for trail work. Instead we opted to hike to Royal Arch. At just over 3 miles round-trip it's short. However, due to how steep the trail is, it was a bit more strenuous than anticipated. 

The trail climbs steeply right off the bat. However, the first section of trail is a wide, smooth road with great views of the Flatirons. 

With as wet as it's been this spring/summer, there are a lot of wildflowers blooming, including one of my favorites: Sego Lily.

We climbed through varied landscapes.

Eventually we reached a ridge and then started to descend, before ascending again to our destination: Royal Arch.

We spent quite a bit of time relaxing and enjoying the view at the arch.

After talking with some folks who are originally from Pennsylvania, we started to make our way down. There were great views into Boulder and the CU campus.

The hike back to the cars went quickly. We said our goodbyes and then I started to make my way back home, stopping in Greeley to get lunch and some beer at Weld Werks.