South Boulder Peak

It’s late Monday afternoon with beautiful, warm weather so I figure I’ll blur the normally sharp edges between weekend and work week with a post work hike. I drive up towards Boulder and turn off towards Eldorado Springs and find a spot at the busy Mesa Trailhead.

3:30pm and I start hiking up the Homestead trail with inspiring views of the flatiron formations above.

From Homestead I connect to the Towhee Trail and then to Shadow Canyon. Thankfully, the canyon is cool since this is where I’ll gain most of the roughly 3,000 feet of elevation on this hike. The snow is all off the trails too, minus a few small patches near the saddle between Bear and South Boulder Peaks.

With a left turn and a few minutes of hiking up a partly-snow covered trail I reach South Boulder Peak’s 8,549 foot summit. The views of Longs Peak to the north west are stunning, but so is the scene nearby when a large raptor floats by.

I retrace my steps back to the saddle and head north to Bear Peak. It’s a little lower than South Boulder peak, but I find it’s jagged summit much more attractive.

I pass back below the west face of the peak in dying sunlight and then jog for a while down the Shadow Canyon Trail.

Eventually, I stop jogging since I’ve really no reason to hurry. I’d actually look forward to a little night hiking. As I finish up the Shadow Canyon Trail I stick to the Towhee Trail all the way back to the parking lot. Clouds east of me take on a barely-perceptible deep purple while the light fades out. Looking back and up I see the crescent moon a little out of focus through the light cloud cover and a planet, Mercury perhaps?, accompanying it.

No one else is out on the trails at this time and my car is the only one left in the lot when I return after a three hour trip, ending my trip about 15 minutes shy of needing a headlamp. My hikes will have to be an hour longer next week if I want to visit with the same twilight magic after daylight savings time kicks in.