We knew it was about an hour and a half drive from Denver to Winter Park, so we had enough to time stop along the way and go for a hike!
Just on the western outskirts of Denver, we found a parking area called Matthews/Winters Park. It was a beautiful sunny morning and the parking lot was full! Lot's of people out enjoying the morning. We had to wait for someone else to leave before we could park!
Kevin and Ruth, out for a hike!
Ruth, with the city of Denver in the background. It was a little windy up there!
There's snow on them thar hills! But you ain't seen nothing yet. LOTS more now to come!
We took a more difficult hiking trail that had a lot less people on it. Then, when we were at the top we could see another trail off in the distance and it looked not too far away. So we took off cross country.
Not one of our better ideas.
Lots of loose rock, and fairly steep coming down.
Difficult going through the gully. Lots of elk poop. I guess it's easy for them!
But, we made it through and on to the next path that we had seen. Still, there were parts that weren't fun and it was a good lesson to stay on the trails! Had a good view though...
Pretty scenery.
We had been out hiking for about two hours and it was a good workout. Lots of up and downhill. We thought about going to the popular Red Rock hiking area just to have a look, but it would have been really busy and we wanted to get up to the ski resort.
The first part of the drive was on the I-70, heading west.
Heading into the mountains.
Through a tunnel.
Past a gold mine.
And into the snow!
Then, we had to head north on highway 40. That's where the snow really started showing itself!
Haven't seen one of those at work for a few years!
Lots of snow!
Closer to the resort, the road was covered with snow!
Lots to tell you about here at Winter Park Resort, so we're going to be doing two posts per day for the next couple of days. Tomorrow, we're going skiing for the first time in at least 10 years!
And guess what??
It's snowing!!
In only 65 miles (104 kms), the weather changes drastically!
Looks like a great hike! Man, that's a lot of snow. We get there here near Lake Tahoe but still weird seeing all that snow this time of year.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good hike but because we didn't actually take the trail we originally planned we missed out on some other beautiful scenery. We will just have to come back another year and hike that trail.
DeleteHere at Winter Park you would think it was January. It is snowing again this morning and it looks like winter just doesn't want to stop.
Enjoy the snow, have fun and be careful skiing!
ReplyDeleteWe will, George and Suzie, we don't want to break a leg!
DeletePlease keep the snow out there we have had our share this winter. enjoy!!!
ReplyDeleteTrust us, once we leave here on Tuesday we aren't wanting to see more snow either but I don't think that is in the cards yet. There is suppose to be another bad spring snow storm happening.
DeleteI agree with Kenny...dont need anymore here. Well at least skiing should be good with fresh snow....
ReplyDeleteThe skiing should be fantastic. Got more snow overnight and it is still snowing now. Getting ready to boot up within the next hour and hit the slopes.
DeleteMy daughter lived in Denver from 1999 to 2012 and its one of my favorite places to visit. We always drove up into the mountains to go hiking and them tubing in the winter.
ReplyDeleteYep, we sure loved it up there and want to return again when it is good weather for hiking. Looks like there is lots of things to keep us busy and active there and fantastic scenery to boot.
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