Last fall I spent nearly every weekend rock climbing and went into my sweep duties at the Tecumseh Marathon way under prepared for a 26 mile walk and run. I vowed to get into real hiking shape before the beginning of December this year and decided to start with a long-ish hike in the Boulder area. Leaving the Chautauqua trailhead a bit before 7am I didn’t need a headlamp but could still catch sunrise.
The Chautauqua, Ski Jump, Bluebell/Baird and Amphitheater trails got me warmed up and on the back side of the peaks with a view west.
I got to spend some quiet time on top of my first peak, Green Mountain, with no one else around. The peak finder on top was a nice addition, even if I didn’t really need it to tell me what peaks I was looking at.
From the summit of Green, I followed the Green Bear and Bear Peak West Ridge trails to loose some of the elevation I’d gained then climb up to a higher summit. At least a few stands of aspens provided some nice scenery for the extra work.
Just below the summit of Bear Peak I decided to skip the top for now and continue on to my highest peak of the day, South Boulder Peak (8,549 feet). After hanging out on top I hiked back towards Bear Peak’s slightly lower summit.
From Bear Peak I was able to take a new trail, Fern Canyon, down the front side of the crest and meet up with the Mesa Trail.
About three miles of hiking brought me back to my car after an 6+ hour round trip. The mileage wasn’t that high, but the elevation gain and loss was certainly more than I’ll have on the Tecumseh.
Complete photo album
