Gone Hiking

One of the flatirons in Boulder!


Yesterday was my day off, so I decided to take advantage and go on a hiking adventure! Of course it was the only day of the week that was predicted to be cold and rainy. Well, Colorado's cold and rainy days are still warmer and sunnier then Michigan's so it ended up being a perfect day for hiking, any warmer and it would have been too hot. I wandered through shops on Pearl Street, grabbed lunch and headed out to Chataqua Park in Boulder. I looked at the brochure and 6 of the trails were easy, 3 were moderate. There was no way I was doing an easy hike, I wanted a work-out and I wanted to climb. I love the satisfaction of being exhausted and reaching a destination with a view! So I chose the hike where I climbed up 1500 feet, actually it was more like I climbed up, then down, and then up again. There was maybe 250 feet of level ground in the 3 mile hike and it took 2 hours even though it was only a mile and a half there and then back. The hike was called The Royal Arch, and after 40 minutes of climbing uphill (a natural stair stepper), I declared moderate is not really that moderate and this royal arch had better be pretty good! Here are a few pics, for those of you that are considering coming out to visit, I will take you on this hike and you will love it! It's challenging, beautiful, secluded and you get a great reward when you get to the top!


At the top!!





The Royal Arch with the Flatirons behind it