It’s that time of year again: go hiking in Colorado!
Despite the terrible drought there were still a lot of beautiful fall colors. It was nice; different elevations had different amounts of fall colors and it was possible to get the full spectrum of no leaves all the way to green leaves. There were quite a few areas where the aspen leaves were turning brown – no yellows, just dying. It was astonishing to see the low reservoirs and low creeks / rivers. Of all the years I’ve traveled to Colorado, I don’t think I’ve ever seen drought this bad.
When I landed we ran up to Golden Gate State Park and walked around the Panorama trail. It was super pretty because a storm had just rolled thru and dumped a bunch of graupel – not hail, not sleet, not rain, not snow, graupel. This was my first time seeing graupel and it looked a lot like small hail. Golden Gate State Park is on the front range so it gets a bit of moisture – it’s monsoon season in Colorado and the clouds get all bunched up on the front range throughout the day, dump their moisture, and, then move on. It’s pretty to see and watch.
The hike we did was a bit different than planned. We discovered, when we arrived, the original hike required a two mile walk to the trail head. The trail was already pretty long and the idea of adding four additional miles of walking on a gravel road to the trailhead was most unappealing. So, at the last minute we ditched and found a shorter hike a valley over. The Blue Lakes trail is something I’ve wanted to do for a lot of years. All the photos look beautiful and it was a fantastic “backup” trail for us.
It was a super peaceful morning hike. Like all other hikes, we picked up some donuts from Winchell’s while heading to the trailhead, started super early in the morning, and, hiked in the moonlight. The weather was fantastic, we were able to hike in solitude and the hike was beautiful. It was obvious some care was taken for the trail – there were many spots where the trail was ‘built’ and not just a walking path. We reached the end of the valley a bit after sunrise and I was surprised to see the ponds / small lakes frozen over. It was in the 80s in Denver and quite chilly way up high :). We enjoyed our donuts at the top while sitting in the warm sunlight.
As all other years, we ate some pretty great food. There is this amazing Japanese restaurant that makes food just like what it tasted like during our journey thru Japan. It was a treat to go there considering we haven’t found anything similar in the cities.
On the morning I flew out we had a chance to run to Red Rocks and catch sunrise. It was spectacular. We found a peaceful spot away from the crowds and enjoyed the tranquil sunrise :).
Enjoy the photos!
Chris W.
