Showing posts with label Hiking Trails. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hiking Trails. Show all posts

Sunday, July 26, 2026

The Enjoyment of Hiking On Our Local Colorado Trails


 


Our neighborhood has many miles of local trails. Some were built and are maintained by our HOA Master Association and therefore are private for residents only, and some are our county's open space parks available to all.


This is a beautiful world, and all who go out under the open sky will feel the gentle, kindly influence of nature and hear her good tidings." ~ Enos Mills

Some of the trails are concrete, some are gravel, and others are dirt. Many are utilized by hikers, bicycle riders, and horseback riders. I am not the fastest hiker going uphill, but slowly and surely, I manage. Taking photos helps me get a bit of rest before I go on.


"For how many years did I wander slowly...what wonders and glory I could have missed had I ever been in a hurry! ~ Mary Oliver



" Keep close to Nature's heart...
and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."
~ Johm Muir


The trails pass red rock formations and meadows, and some gain a thousand feet of elevation beyond our area's average 6,000 feet (1828 Meters) elevation.

Over the years, my husband and I have walked the trails alone, with each other, our children, and with friends.


"The battle for conservation will go on endlessly.  It is part of the universal battle between right and wrong." 
~John Muir


I have photographed hundreds of wildflowers along the trails...these were just a few!


"I hope you are blessed with a heart like a wildflower
Strong enough to rise again after being trampled upon. tough enough to weather the worst of summer storms, and able to grow and flourish, even in the most broken places."
~ Nikita Gill



We have walked in all kinds of weather and all the seasons...in spring and summer...


...in Autumn...

...and in winter.


"To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again." 
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson




“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”
~ John Muir



On days we can't walk, and sadly, that has been many days because of high summer heat and poor air quality due to wildfires in our state this summer, my husband and I go to our nearby community gym. 
It's small, but it is usually not crowded, and it has enough machines to choose from to do an hour workout. I like that the gym bicycles can be programmed to show rides through different national parks and scenic rides all around the world!



Even the twin fawns that were born in our backyard in June have been feeling this summer's excessive heat. They have been seeking out the shade of our trees for coolness. It has been fun watching them grow!

Where do you like to walk where you live? 
How has the weather been where you live this season? 


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Monday, July 17, 2017

Wildflowers on Columbine to Coyote Song Trail





I'm very fortunate to live in a community that has access to many trails. Some are public and some are private for the use of residents only. I've blogged about the Cathy Johnson trail before--click here to read that post--which is a public trail very close to our community. In fact, while I was walking on the Cathy Johnson trail recently, I took this photo looking back towards the beginning of the trail, and you can see a portion of our neighborhood to the left. Please click on the photo to enlarge it to get a better view. It gives you an idea of how we live at over 6,000 feet elevation, but we are in a valley between the Dakota Hogback and Colorado Front Range foothills.  I love to take hikes like this in late spring and early summer, when many wildflowers are in bloom. This time my husband and I decided to take an off shoot of the Cathy Johnson Trail, called the Columbine Trail, that crosses over a smaller Lyons Hogback to the west.


Most of Colorado has been arid this summer, and at times we've had above normal temperatures, yet hardy wildflowers continued to share their beauty. As soon as I began hiking the trail these flowers were the  first ones that I saw.

I also saw prairie dogs on the north of the Cathy Johnson trail, They face a hard time in many areas of the front range and plains as development grows.  This quote from this article in the Denver Post states: 
"A Century ago, black tailed prairie dogs numbered in the hundreds of millions and were possibly the most abundant mammal in North America. Colorado officials reckon prairie dogs inhabited 7 million acres in the state--an area 14 times larger than prairie dogs inhabit today. But plague, urban development, poisoning. roads and hunting, here and around the Great Plains, reduced prairie dogs by 95% Federal biologists estimate 10 to 20 million have survived."


We arrived at the turn off that leads to the Columbine Trail....


...where we happily saw many bees and insects at work!


The Columbine Trail climbs in elevation about 500 feet and crosses over the Lyons Hogback


There were many wildflowers on this trail!


There were also a large amount of scrub oak trees.


 As you can see from this photo the trail cuts in and out of these groves of scrub oaks.  Unless one is in one of the many pine forests at higher elevations, most Colorado foothill trails are fairly tree less......


....so even this small amount of shade was nice.


We saw many pretty delicate wildflowers in this area of the trail.


As we reached the crest of the Columbine Trail to cross over the Lyons Back, we could see a Lockhead Marten Space Systems Company in the distance, and a portion of South Valley Park ahead.
There were cactus flowers and other beautiful and colorful wildflowers at this point.


Now the trail began to descend....


...with rock steps to aide in the footing.


Looking back you can see the Lyons Hogback and signs that show that now this portion of the trail connects with Coyote Song Trail in South Valley Park.  I've blogged about the entire Coyote Song Trail on this post.


There are many stunning red rock formations on South Valley Park.  It is interesting to see how this land that was hundreds of millions of years ago the shoreline of a sea, and was uplifted by geological forces that lasted for 150 million years. Archaeological evidence in this area also points to hunter gatherer people occupying the South Valley 7,500 years before the pyramids of Egypt were built! These red rock formations also provided shelter for early Native Americans.


As we approach the end of Coyote Song Trail and South Valley Park, houses in my community can be seen over the ridge.


We hiked back past the Lyons hogback...


...and turned back towards home in front of the Dakota Hogback.



It was a pleasant hike so close to home and filled with beautiful views and exquisite wildflowers. How fortunate I feel to be able to experience all this beauty, almost in my own backyard!

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Monday, May 22, 2017

North Table Mountain Trail and Park, Golden, Colorado



When I learned North Table Mountain, in Golden Colorado, had trails leading to its top, I became somewhat obsessed with the desire to hike up it one day to see the views from the top. We drove by it often, on our way to visit family, and it looked like a challenge I wanted to try.  (All photos will enlarge for easier viewing if clicked on)
North Table Mountain is actually a mesa, formed about 60 million years ago by lava flows. At the 6,555 feet, (1,998 m) summit of the mesa is North Table Mountain Park.  The park is rimmed with fifteen miles of trails and is home to prairie dogs, deer, golden eagles and red-tailed hawks that nest in the cliffs, and rattlesnakes.


My husband and I parked our car in a lot at the base of the west side of the mesa, on State Highway 93, just north of Pine Ridge Road.



The trail up is a wide gravel path and is about a mile long.




It is hard to judge from my photos, but it is a very steep trail--almost straight up in climb.




I had to take it slow and rest often to slow my pounding heart, as the 400-foot elevation ascent was a challenge for me, but those who were younger, and obviously in better shape, were able to run, bike, and climb without resting too often.


Stopping along the way enabled me to take some photos of the volcanic rock formations and look for nesting raptors.


The south portion of the mesa had particularly prominent cliffs.





The last few hundred feet were ahead to the summit...




...and then a look back at where we climbed from the bottom when we reached the top! I made it and was happy to finally be on flat ground again.

 Unfortunately, clouds were quickly gathering and we could see the weather was going to change, but we hoped to see as much as we could on the summit before that happened.




It was exciting to be on the top of a mesa and the sheer size of it became apparent right away. We saw trail markers and had to decide which way we would hike.




We decided to hike the Lichen Peak Trail, a narrow "hikers only" trail that traverses through "Lichen Peak Garden," which is a hardscrabble area composed of many basalt rocks covered with various forms and colors of lichen.  Lichen is formed by a symbiotic relationship between single-cell algae and fungus.  The end of Lichen Peak Trail is the highest point on the mesa, at 6,575 feet (2004 m), and offers a panoramic view.


Please click on to enlarge it.

Lichen can survive in some of the most barren and severe regions on earth, but they are also susceptible to destruction if trampled on, so we stayed on the trail to admire it. We were surprised to see some early wildflowers blooming in April when we made this walk.


There was a fascinating array of different colors of lichen growing on these rocks!  Lichen grows at a slow rate of 1mm. per year, so a quarter-size patch could be as much as 25 years old.


The views from the end of the Lichen Trail, which ends in a slight promontory, are amazing! this is the view south.



Facing east we could see the city of Denver, resting a mile high on the distant plains.




Facing south west we saw residential areas of Golden, snugged up against the foothills...



.... and facing north we saw antenna towers dotting the mesa top.  Look closely under the lone tree, by clicking on the photo to enlarge it, to see deer resting in the grasses.



 We walked back along the Lichen Trail to return toward the North Quarry climbing area.





We walked up the stone steps to the top of the North Quarry part of the mesa.

Looking back from this point one can look down on the trail that leads up from the parking lot at the bottom, and it gives a good perspective of the steepness of the climb.


Walking south towards the end of the mesa...




 ...where we came upon the "Sea Cliffs" a shiny gorge of basalt rock





Another view looking down at the gorge.




We reached the end of this part of the mesa, and I could look down on some of the town of Golden.  Notice the "M" near the top of distant Mount Zion? That is a symbol for the Colorado School of Mines University--a highly rated engineering university located in Golden. I blogged about their Geological Museum on this post.



As we walked back towards the trail heard we could see rain and virga--rain that evaporates before hitting the ground-- on the horizon, and approaching fast, so we picked up the pace...


...and in a fine mist, we walked back down North Table Mountain.




Driving away toward home, I took one last look back and one last photo--amazed that I could finally say that I made it to the top of North Table Mountain!  

 I might never have the chance or ability to walk up a 14er, as the natives call Colorado's fifty-eight 14,000-plus-foot mountain peaks, but any challenge is a good one, don't you think? I know I'll return to hike more of North Table Mountain one day in the future.
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