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60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Denver and Boulder: Including Fort Collins, Boulder, and Colorado Springs
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Product Description
A world-class recreation region with an enduring pioneer spirit, Denver and the surrounding area hosts some of the best hiking in the world. With such a bewildering wealth of hikes at your disposal, author Kim Lipker presents us with a variety of the very best hikes in the area, and most within an hour's drive or less. Including hikes near Fort Collins, Boulder, and Colorado Springs, this is the only guidebook that pinpoints great hikes that are also close to home.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #1804510 in Books
- Published on: 2006-06-01
- Original language: English
- Dimensions: .85 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 240 pages
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Colorado native Kim Lipker is the author of a Rockies bed-and-breakfast guidebook. Her family travel articles and regular parenting column appear in Rocky Mountain Parent magazine. She and her family live in the Denver area where she grew up exploring many of the hikes featured in this book.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Round Mountain Hike
This challenging hike begins on the Foothills Nature Trail, an interpretive trail that is part of the Round Mountain National Recreation Trail. From the parking area, walk past the restroom, sign in at the hiking register, and continue up a wide gravel road. Do not be deceived by the undemanding start! The first 0.25 miles overlap with the easy interpretive trail but the majority of this hike is the Summit Adventure Trail, which takes hikers up the side of the Big Thompson Canyon, over the Continental Divide, and to the top of Sheep Mountain. The Summit Adventure Trail also serves as an interpretive trail with several information plaques. When I hiked with my friends Sarah and Shannon, we found that the plaques were spaced just right, giving us time to stop and catch our breath if we needed to, while learning about the natural history of the area.
The two trails split at a well-marked fork. Take a left onto the Summit Trail and begin an immediate climb on a dirt and rock trail that runs parallel to the Big Thompson River and the highway below. As the trail climbs, it narrows and produces steep drop-offs and exposed tree roots. Continue climbing and climbing and climbing. Instead of cutting directly across the ridge of the canyon, the trail begins a series of unforgiving switchbacks that route hikers up the mountainside. This steep incline, in addition to being a lung-buster, is heavily eroded in places. Natural erosion has even carved magnificent rock sculptures out of boulders along the trail.
This challenging hike begins on the Foothills Nature Trail, an interpretive trail that is part of the Round Mountain National Recreation Trail. From the parking area, walk past the restroom, sign in at the hiking register, and continue up a wide gravel road. Do not be deceived by the undemanding start! The first 0.25 miles overlap with the easy interpretive trail but the majority of this hike is the Summit Adventure Trail, which takes hikers up the side of the Big Thompson Canyon, over the Continental Divide, and to the top of Sheep Mountain. The Summit Adventure Trail also serves as an interpretive trail with several information plaques. When I hiked with my friends Sarah and Shannon, we found that the plaques were spaced just right, giving us time to stop and catch our breath if we needed to, while learning about the natural history of the area.
The two trails split at a well-marked fork. Take a left onto the Summit Trail and begin an immediate climb on a dirt and rock trail that runs parallel to the Big Thompson River and the highway below. As the trail climbs, it narrows and produces steep drop-offs and exposed tree roots. Continue climbing and climbing and climbing. Instead of cutting directly across the ridge of the canyon, the trail begins a series of unforgiving switchbacks that route hikers up the mountainside. This steep incline, in addition to being a lung-buster, is heavily eroded in places. Natural erosion has even carved magnificent rock sculptures out of boulders along the trail.
