With the longer spring days and sunny weather, Helen and I planned an evening hike at Red Rocks.
Always looking for summits, I found Mount Morrison (7,881 feet) just outside the park boundary. From the lower parking lot on the south side of the amphitheatre we headed straight up to reach the south ridge around 7,100 feet. Along the way we saw a few mule deer.
The south ridge was a well developed path and much nicer than the animal trails we’d followed to gain the ridge. Torrey did well scrambling over the rocks, but pushed herself very hard. Hopefully she’ll learn to pace herself as she gets out of the puppy phase.
Minus the antennas, the view from the top was quite rewarding. The faulting of the front range was very obvious, and numerous red rocks formations were visible below. Looking west we could see many taller peaks dotted with snow cover. Pikes Peak stuck out to the south.
For our descent route we took followed the old cable car grade that ran directly up to the summit from the upper amphitheatre parking lot. Much like Pikes Peak, visitors used to be able to ride to the summit.
Once back down we strolled through the amphitheatre and talked of seeing a concert here this summer. The whole loop took us less than a hour and a half and we got in a nice 1,600+ feet of vertical to help prepare us for some future adventures.
