St. Mary's Glacier Hike

Yet another new hike!  We received a tip from a couple hiking the Beaver Brook Trail regarding the St. Mary's Glacier hike.  The name "glacier" seems to be a misnomer, it seems the glacier does not "move" and that changes it to a "permanent or semi-permanent snow field".  Signage still uses the word "glacier", I mean really how big would the sign be if "permanent or semi-permanent snow field" was added.  Anyway, no matter what it is called, we decided to add it to our list.

It was a beautiful drive up to the parking lot.  Before this hike I had no "glacier" experience.  I did take geology in college and I understood that moving ice can drag lots of stuff with it.  I guess I never thought about walking up all of those rocks!  Everything from gravel to boulders has been pulled down the mountain.

 

My feet were sore and I was tired from climbing uphill over rocks, rocks, and more rocks.  But it was well worth it!  This is my first look at the glacier lake.  So beautiful!

See what I mean, the glacier has made a beautiful landscape!  I could not stop taking pictures and I took way too many.  I try to only include a few pictures to illustrate this blog, not so many that my readers get bored.  But it was so spectacular!

One really fun aspect of this place was all the kids that hiked up to hang out around the lake.  They climbed around to the other side of the lake and jumped off a huge boulder.  By huge, I mean maybe 25 or 30 feet!  When they hit the freezing water they screamed wildly and swam like mad to get out of the freezing water.  The snow was still melting into the other end of the lake to keep it nice and cold.

We did not have time to hike to the other end of the lake and up the glacier, but it is a definite "must do" on our next trip.  We are planning to spend a lot more time at St. Mary's Glacier in the future!

The next thing was dinner.  We have a bad habit of getting back to civilization late and we need to eat!  So I took a shot at using the internet for a nearby dinner recommendation.  That seemed a little scary, but I70 is a huge highway and surely public opinion cannot be too far off??  We were pointed to Idaho Spring for BBQ at Smokin Yard's BBQ.  We knew we were in the right place when we saw two local sheriff cars!  What a perfectly run business!  Great service, friendly help, patio seating and food to die for!  Even had Boylan soda...they called it, "those sodas from back East"!!  It was a perfect end to a perfect day!
 

Hiking Genesee Park

Another new hike...we could spend the rest of our lives finding new hikes in Colorado.  Today's choice is in Genesee Park.  Just a short drive on Interstate 70, take the Chief Hosa exit to the right and right again onto a dirt/sand road to the trail head.  Just to remind us we are in the wild and large animals could join us on our hike, a bear left us a smelly "gift" right in front of the trail map at the trail head!  Yuck!

We decided to start with the Braille Trail.  This was a cool trail for the visually impaired.  Multiple signs along the trail explain the biology, geology and history of the trail.  All signs included a braille translation and the trail is fenced to allow safe travel for non-sighted persons.  It was quite pretty, including flowers, creeks, butterflies and birds!

 

 

The Braille Trail loops back to the parking lot, however, we choose to cross the wooden bridge and start the Beaver Brook Trail.

The trail was a bit rough and narrow.  We had a real sense of isolation, but other hikers would show up from time to time.  The trail seemed quite hilly as it went around the side of the mountain.  A lot of climbing up, then climbing down.  Really beautiful forests!  Eventually the creek started to flow much faster and the boulders got much larger.  This was the low point of the hike.  The hike continued on the other side of the creek and the trail appears to work its way up the next mountain and east towards Lookout Mountain.  This would be a long hike and it would be best if a car were left at the other end.  Since we only had one car, we opted to hike back to the parking lot from the low point.  You know those "ups" and "downs" I mentioned before, well somehow it seemed straight up as we came out.  I think we had a lot more "downs" than "ups" on the way to the low point...I just did not notice the "downs" as much as I was noticing the "ups" on the way back out!

Really liked this hike!  Would start earlier and might drop a car at the other end if I were going to attempt the longer hike.

 

Two Hikes and a Concert

We have finally found a day to hike Green Mountain!!  Back in the olden days, before little old me, Larry lived in Lakewood and ran from his apartment up Green Mountain each evening.  We have never made time to do this hike in modern days.  But, alas, the correct circumstance presented itself!  Because the hike is totally out in the sun and today arrived with a nice layer of clouds, we went hiking!  I did not get any pictures for some unknown reason(I think I had a segment failure on my card, formatting fixed that), but Larry snapped a couple of me.  Check out the pollution in downtown Denver!  Yuck!

This was a great multi-use trail right in a busy neighborhood.  How lucky to have such a great place to exercise.

Then off to try another new trail.  It was not far from Lakewood, so just a quick drive to the trail head.  Lair o' the Bear Park was an easy walk along a creek with lots of wild flowers. There is a second trail that connects to other parks for a more challenging hike.  For a weekday, this park was quite busy.  Weekends must be a mess!!  But it was nearby and we wanted to keep walking!  It looks like taking the longer trails would leave the crowds to picnic and fish in the creeks.

Enough of this hiking stuff!  It was time to go get ready for a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. We got tickets to see Florence and the Machine!!!!  Our seats were on Row 19, Seats 49 and 50!  Right in the middle, perfect!

Papa was the opening band.  Really liked their sound and they were so excited to be opening for Florence.  They are still very early in their music career...they drove in one vehicle from L.A. to Denver!  Hope this concert helps them get noticed.  We look forward to seeing them again sometime.

Next up, Florence and the Machine!  I see why they are called the Machine, "band" does not describe all the people who play one or more instruments and sing!  What band has a harp?  Or girls who play brass instruments and sing and sometime a little percussion, too!  Florence was way past cool!  She directs you to sing or clap an off-beat rhythm or jump up and down for an entire song!  She ran out in the audience a few times...BAREFOOT I might add!  We stood for her entire concert, plus we sang, danced, clapped and jumped!  My age was showing by the end of the encore!!  Like any good carnival ride, I would get right back in line and go again!  FUN, FUN, FUN!!

I swear that is NOT ME singing off key!!!

I am old but not yet tone deaf!

A Visit to Denver University Then Off to Evergreen for Art, Pizza and a Walk!

We took a little trip to Denver University to buy Devin a Denver University Lacrosse jersey.  At 10 years old he has made the choice to attend Denver University, of course we expect that will change many times over the coming years.  This choice has been made solely on the fact that Denver University has the top lacrosse team in the U.S.A. Who knows what his choice will be next week?  But for now, he has a new jersey from the school of his current choice.

Now off to the mountains!  We have gone to the Abend Gallery on other trips to Denver and have admired the works of Robert Spooner.  In reading Southwest Art before leaving on our trip we noticed that Evergreen Fine Art Gallery was have a showing and reception for Robert Spooner and his works.  So we took a lovely drive to Evergreen!  It was well worth the trip, Mr. Spooner was a wonderful man with truly lovely paintings!  After our time at the gallery, we headed to dinner!  Beau Jo's Pizza - Evergreen here we come!

 After dinner it was time to go for a walk around Evergreen Lake.  A nice little lake right in the middle of town.

Roxborough State Park Hike

In one flight I have gone from 100 feet above sea level to vacationing at an elevation above 5,280 feet.  I needed a little time to get my body to function with less oxygen.  For our first hike we chose Roxborough State Park, which is west of Denver.  This was a new hike for us and it proved to be great!  Being interested in geology, we were happy to find the Fountain Formation, the Lytle-Morrison Formation, the Lyons Formation and the Dakota Limestone Formation are all found in this park.  The elevation is around 6,000 feet so it is the perfect hike for "lowlanders".  Hikes range from easy to moderate, so it was a good way to get started.  And did I mention...the rock formations were spectacular!

I will say we hiked in the full sun most of the time and it was hot, but NO HUMIDITY!!!  I am loving the dry air!!