Beacon Hill and Little John's Chimney

Pure and simple, I now live in a beautiful place. As much as I adored Brooklyn, and the rest of New York City, for its wealth of diversity and interesting places to visit, I have fallen in love with Colorado and the beautiful valley in which we live. Our valley is snuggled right up against the foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is the mile-high city to the east of us, at 5280 feet, but we are at an even higher elevation of over 6,000 feet. That would be the equivalent of a high mountain height on the east coast, which is basically at sea level. That explains why our weather often brings us snow in May, but since we are also considered "high desert," we also have very hot sunshine that often brings us 70 degree days in the middle of winter and low humidity year-round! 

(All photos and photo collages will increase in size if clicked on)

The Front Range foothills are about a thousand feet higher in elevation.  I often look up at them as I walk in my neighborhood and wonder what is up there? They have been preserved, for the most part, as "open space" in our community. Our community rangers are in charge of overseeing their preservation and use. There are some trails that crisscross through them, and those trails are private and for community use only.  There are many other trails and parks available along the Front Range of Colorado for use by the public, but our private trails are a big attraction to living where we do.  Some of the trails date back to paths that were used by the Native Americans that once lived here, and others are paths and roads that were made by early settlers and pioneers that traveled west and some who settled here.

I often wonder about the courage it took those early pioneers who traveled west over the high, and almost never-ending, Rocky Mountain range! Their journeys must have been slow and arduous. They saw wild animals and a changeable climate that they never saw before. Even in summer, the mountains could have deep snow on them, and there could be severe thunderstorms with hail and lightning.

Happily, for me, I recently had the opportunity to be driven up into one of the foothills in a large and powerful truck, with one of the community rangers, to see some historical sights on top! Members of our community's historical society had arranged an outing to Beacon Hill, elevation over 7,200 feet!  We went up on a major trail that the rangers use to do maintenance work but are otherwise off-limits to vehicular traffic other than bicycles and hikers.  It was a very rustic and bumpy ride.  Come along, and hold on tight as we ride up!

We passed amazing fields full of wild purple Penstemon flowers! The ranger explained that these probably migrated from gardens in our community, and while beautiful, they were considered a noxious weed, as they were not native to our open space. Since the butterflies and bees were enjoying their blossoms, they were letting them grow for now. Our ride continued up and our community began to shrink in size the higher we climbed along the switchback trail.  I'm sure it would take hours to do this trail on foot, and one would have to be a hiker in good shape to do it!

After about 20 minutes we finally reached the trail terminus near the top of the hill. 

Our group gathered from the two trucks that brought us up, and the rangers began telling us about the historical sights we were about to hike to.  They both dated back from the early ranch history of Ken Caryl Ranch, which you can read more about on this link and on this PDF file. that also contains historical photos.

We were going to end our Beacon Hill hikes with a picnic under this shelter--a nice surprise for me to see here, as I never imagined such a structure so high up in a foothill!

As we started our first hike I was also very pleased and excited to see this view!  Look closely at the horizon. It was a warm and hazy day, so my photo is not that clear, but there in the distance is Mount Evans!

A close-up view of beautiful Mt. Evans, which is over 14,000 feet high and visible from Denver, about 60 miles east.  Even at the end of June, when I took this photo, the mountain was still covered with snow!  If you missed the post I wrote about our drive and hike up to the very top of Mt. Evans last summer, click here to read that post.  It was a very exciting drive and hike, and the mountain was filled with amazing beauty!

The road that leads almost to the top of Mt. Evans, the Mount Evans Scenic Highway, is the highest road in the United States!  It made my heart swell to think this view is right behind one of the foothills in my area--almost as if I could reach out and touch it!  I spent a long time just gazing at this sight, appreciating where I live even more.

The hilltop was filled with tall and stately Ponderosa Pine trees, Colorado Blue Spruce and Fraser Fir trees, Gambel Oak trees, and Aspen trees. The rangers do a lot of work up here to ensure the trees prosper and that there is a proper fire break among them for safety's sake. We saw the marker to the trail that would lead us to one of the historical sights we were there to see, "Little John's Chimney."

On our hike towards the top of the hill, through a meadow......

...until we came across the stone remains of the lodge chimney that was found still standing after a fire that destroyed it's surrounding structure in the early part of the 20th century.

The chimney was once was a part of this hunting lodge, that was built on the top of Beacon Hill by the owner of the property and the entire Ken Caryl Ranch property below, John C Shaffer. Unfortunately, the lodge burned to the ground a few years after it was built. 
Shaffer was 

the editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune as well as the owner of the Chicago Post and The Rocky Mountain News. Shaffer purchased 3,500 acres of land now known as Ken Caryl Ranch, named after his two sons, Kent and Carroll. Over time, Shaffer added on more property until his cattle ranch was over 10,000 acres. His beautiful Manor House still stands in the community and was the site of frequent entertainment in the Shaffer years. including visits by President Theodore Roosevelt, and President William Howard Taft, as well as industrial chieftains from around the world and celebrities of the time.

For nearly a century, the house passed on to be the private residence of other ranchers and was a continuing gathering place for Denver's society. To see more historical photos of the Shaffer family and The Manor House look on the Manor House website -click here.

There was a 100th-anniversary community celebration to mark the beginning of the ranch last summer (click here to see photos from that celebration, where the historical society all dressed up in period clothes.)

Our group gathered for a photo around the chimney.  In the distance, I saw a fox that was watching us with interest and captured his photo behind the fence!

We walked another trail to the summit of Beacon Hill...

...where we saw another historical sight from the Ken Caryl Ranch--the flag pole that was constructed by John Shaffer on the summit.  He would signal his friends when he was in residence at the Manor House or the hunting lodge, by hanging a large American flag from the pole.  It could be seen all the way to Denver, and his friends knew they could count on having a good time if they visited.  This is how the foothill became known as "Beacon Hill." The flag became the beacon attracting people to the ranch!

From this spot, we had an excellent view of our valley, so much so that I could see my house! In the distance is Chatfield Dam and Reservoir (click here to read my blog post about that important body of water that was built to control the flow of the South Platte River.) The reservoir has been flooded all spring from the excessive rain and mountain snowmelt that has occurred this year. 

It was time to head back down the trail to the picnic area to enjoy our lunch.

I could see US Route 285 from this vantage point, which leads up into Clear Creek and Park Counties and on towards New Mexico. Mt Evans was also on the hazy horizon

One last close up of this magnificent mountain peak! The cloud cover was beginning to grow in size, which signaled that a late afternoon thunderstorm was probably on the way.

Some of the pretty wildflowers I saw in the meadows on Beacon Hill.  Top left: Coreopsis, top right: Penstemon, bottom left: Blue Flax and bottom right: Golden Saxifrage

After lunch, we began the ride down the hill. Our community grew closer...

...and closer...

....until I recognized the Manor House, and the beginning of the trail where we began our travels this morning.  On the horizon is one of the hogback hills that secludes our valley between it and the foothills.  

It is a wonderful place to live! We have natural beauty, a historical past, many wonderful trails to hike, and many new places to explore. Of course, the best part of living here, for my husband and I, is the fact that our children and grandchildren also live nearby. We could not think of a happier way to live these days of our lives!  

I'd love to hear in your comment what you love the most about where you live? It's a beautiful world and every place has its special features.