Our Hike

Ever since our epic ascent of Mount Bierstadt--one of Colorado's fourteeners (elevation over 14,000 ft.)--David and I have been anxious to continue our discovery of the magnificent sights, terrain, environment of the Colorado Rockies. Our hike on Sunday, June 26th, 2005, was not epic and certainly didn't demand the effort and determination of climbing another of Colorado's fourteeners. But, it was a good day; it was an sweetly serene and intimate experience between the two of us and the raw stuff of nature that is so gloriously prevalent in the Colorado Rockies.

We headed for the Golden Gate Canyon State Park which is about thirty miles from the city of Denver and sits within the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies. No, the "Golden Gate" designation has nothing to do with San Francisco. Golden is the city at the base of the Colorado Rockies where, among other things, Coors beer is brewed and the Colorado School of the Mines is located.

Within the Golden Gate Canyon State Park are a number of trails and camping sites that are, apparently, utilized by a great number of folks given their convenient distance from Denver. However, our early arrival--about 7a.m.--assured us a rather quiet solitude amongst the miracles of nature within the park.

David and I chose the Burro trail which leads up to what is called, "Windy Peak." The trail is about 4.5 miles long (nine miles round trip) and David and I handled the round trip hike in about three hours. And, no, it wasn't windy at the peak. Shucks!

It was a good day until we sat down at the end of the hike to eat our turkey sandwiches and six mountain bikers whizzed past us on their way up the trail. Not that I have anything against mountain biking. It's just that, well... If I were a dad with three kids and a wife doodling along the skinny trail up to Windy Peak and, all of a sudden, here comes six hefty guys on mountain bikes demanding the same space my family was, at the time, occupying... Well, it'd probably piss me off. You can see how narrow the trail was.

Then again, I am were one of the mountain bikers...

Like I said, it was a good day. I wish I could have taken you all along with us.

p.s. I just added the above picture within the post with the new utility provided by blogspot. Looks pretty good.