Base Camp Denver: 101 Hikes in Colorado's Front Range
384
Base Camp Denver: 101 Hikes in Colorado's Front Range
384Paperback
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Overview
Four national forests, a national grassland, scores of regional and city parks and preserves, and Rocky Mountain National Park offer hundreds of hiking and walking trails—all within one to three hours of downtown Denver. Base Camp Denver offers you 101 of the best of these great hiking destinations to choose from. Take a day to explore an alpine meadow, walk to a waterfall, hike through a forest, or stroll suburban parklands. Enjoy a spectacular day of spring wildflowers or fall foliage, and still be home by dinnertime. Scramble to the top of a mountain to enjoy a sunrise and still make it to work by eight. With Pete KJ as your guide and Denver as your base camp, the splendor of Colorado’s Front Range is yours to enjoy one day—or even just a few hours—at a time.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781945501135 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Imbrifex Books |
| Publication date: | 04/02/2019 |
| Series: | Base Camp , #2 |
| Pages: | 384 |
| Sales rank: | 639,719 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d) |
| Age Range: | 15 - 18 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
[1] Pawnee Buttes
This easy hike to two buttes in the eastern prairie gives you spring flowers, birdsong, windblown solitude, and views stretching off to infinity. It’s a journey through time and a blast for everyone, kids included.
At a Glance
| Difficulty | ● | Distance/Time | 4.5 miles/2 hours |
| Trail Conditions | ●●●● | Trailhead Elevation/Gain | 5,200 feet/200 feet each way |
| Children | ●●●●● | Features | Eroded landforms, prairie, birds, spring wildflowers |
| Scenery | ●●●● | Best Season | All year |
| Photography | ●●●● | Other Users | Horses, dogs |
| Solitude | ●●●● | Notes | Toilets at trailhead, very little shade |
| Property | Pawnee National Grassland | Jurisdiction | U.S. Forest Service |
The drive to this trail near the Wyoming border is crazy circuitous, and things just get weirder at the trailhead, where two buttes appear out on the prairie: startling, boxlike, rising like two gigantic birthday presents. You know you’re in for a different kind of treat, no matter how old you are!
Distances are difficult to judge here. The buttes look reachable within minutes, yet the sign says they are two miles away. Begin walking on Pawnee Buttes Trail toward some cliffs to their west called The Overlook. A cacophony of birdsong rises over the sounds of breeze and feet scraping trail, especially in mornings during migration seasons. You might see the long ears of a jackrabbit fleeing. A traditional windmill spins to the left; on the horizon churn dozens of modern wind turbines. Several crude oil “grasshoppers” bob on the plains.
At 0.7 miles, you’ll pass through a gated fence and descend into a craterlike valley studded with spiked yucca. In spring there are wildflowers: yellow evening primrose, blue penstemon, purple vetch and phlox. A juniper grove graces the dry snaking streambed, contrasting with whitish cliffs above. It’s difficult to stop taking pictures.
Soon you rise into prairie, but West Butte looks no closer than it did at the start. Is it an optical illusion? Land falls away northward as you ford another dry stream and traverse grassland. This prairie is anchored by buffalo grass and blue grama, whose roots form tough sod that holds well against the wind. It took settlers several generations and a Dust Bowl to realize this stuff should never be plowed. On closer examination the diversity of vegetation is impressive. Over 400 native species grow here.
The trail dips to arrive beneath the domineering form of West Butte. What is this? A bit of Mars? A hunk of comet? A corroded alien spaceship? Whatever it is, it looks otherworldly, especially in slanting sunlight. And inaccessible! Ringed at the top by 30- to 50-foot cliffs, there appears to be no way to stand on top.
The buttes are very much of this world. Remnants of ancient High Plains that didn’t erode into the South Platte, they are protected by caps of sandstone and conglomerate that formed 3 to 20 million years ago. Below the hard caps is softer sediment of the Brule Formation, described geologically as “white to pale-pink blocky tuffaceous claystone and lenticular arkosic conglomerate.” It formed 25 to 40 million years ago, before there were words that big.
A trail slants down and up toward East Butte, beckoning you to visit it as well. On the way you’ll pass a sign that reads, “Private Land Ahead, Respect Owner’s Rights,” but it doesn’t tell you not to proceed. The Forest Service owns all of West Butte, but only part of East. In fact, most of Pawnee National Grassland is privately owned.
You will arrive at East Butte within minutes. You can enjoy it from the base or circumnavigate it on a trail of sorts. Rockfall and clay-fall are hazards, so don’t linger beneath precipices. On the east side, gorgeous rippled “clay barrens” melt into prairie. On the north, notches cut into the Brule mark where some people have attempted to scale the butte. Tempting . . . but even if you made it up, how would you get down? Better to enjoy this close encounter from below and respect the summit as a no-go zone.
On the way back you can skirt to the north side of West Butte and confirm there is no summit access there, either. Or you can trust me.
From Denver. Take I-25 north to Exit 269A, then CO 14 east for another 36 miles. Turn left onto CR 77, drive 15 miles, then turn right onto CR 120. Proceed 5.8 miles, veer left onto CR 87 for 0.8 miles, then turn right on CR 122 and drive 0.7 miles into Grover. Turn right onto CR 390 (Railroad Avenue), continue 5.8 miles, and turn left onto CR 112. Proceed 6.4 miles, turn right on CR 107/CR 112, drive 300 feet, then go left to stay on CR 112. In 2 miles turn left at the sign to Pawnee Buttes. The trailhead and its large parking area are 2 miles farther on the left. 2 hours, 40 mins.
Table of Contents
Before You Hit the Trail 11
Fort Collins 29
1 Pawnee Buttes 33
2 Soapstone Prairie's Towhee Loop 36
3 Coyote Ridge 38
4 Horsetooth Rock 42
5 Arthur's Rock & Westridge 45
6 Greyrock Mountain 48
7 Mount Margaret 51
8 Emmaline Lake 54
9 Big South 57
10 Trap Park 60
11 Twin Crater Lakes 63
12 Blue Lake of Poudre Valley 66
13 Diamond Peaks 69
14 American Lakes 72
Loveland & Longmont 75
15 Bitterbrush & Nighthawk 79
16 Crosier Mountain 82
17 Signal Mountain 85
18 Gem Lake 88
19 Ypsilon Lake 91
20 Ute Trail 94
21 Black Lake 97
22 Flattop Mountain 100
23 Lily Mountain 103
24 Estes Cone 106
25 Chasm Lake 109
26 Wild Basin 112
27 Finch Lake 115
28 Meadow Mountain 118
Boulder 121
29 Walden Ponds 125
30 Eagle Trail to Mesa Reservoir 128
31 Mount Sanitas 131
32 The Flatirons 134
33 Canyon Loop 137
34 South Boulder Peak 140
35 Meyers Homestead 143
36 Rattlesnake Gulch 146
37 Wapiti Trail & Ponderosa Loop 149
38 Ceran St. Vrain & Miller Rock 152
39 Blue Lake of Indian Peaks 155
40 Pawnee Pass 158
41 Rainbow Lakes 161
42 Red Dot/Yellow Dot 164
43 South Arapaho Peak 167
44 Rogers Pass 170
Denver 173
45 Barr Lake 177
46 Lone Tree Bluffs 180
47 Black Bear Trail & Frazer Meadow 183
48 Mount Galbraith 186
49 Beaver Brook 189
50 Green Mountain 192
51 Morrison Slide 195
52 Mount Falcon 198
53 Plymouth Mountain 201
54 Carpenter Peak 204
55 Evergreen Mountain & Three Sisters 207
56 Maxwell Falls 210
57 Chief Mountain 213
Idaho Springs & Georgetown 217
58 Chicago Lakes 221
59 James Peak from Saint Mary's 224
60 Berthoud Pass West 227
61 High Lonesome 230
62 Mount Bierstadt 233
63 Square Top Lakes 236
64 Grays Peak 239
65 Woods Mountain 242
66 Herman Lake 245
67 Mount Sniktau 248
Summit County 251
68 Upper Cataract Lake 255
69 Ute Peak 258
70 Willow Lakes 261
71 Buffalo Mountain 264
72 Wheeler & Lost Lakes 267
73 Mount Victoria 270
74 McCullough Gulch 273
75 Quandary Peak 277
76 Argentine Pass 280
Conifer & Bailey 283
77 Eagle's View Loop 287
78 Colorado Trail from South Platte 290
79 Little Scraggy 293
80 Pine Valley & Strawberry Jack 296
81 Staunton's Elk Falls 299
82 Pegmatite Points 302
83 Abyss 305
84 Gibson Lake 308
85 West Jefferson 311
86 French Pass 314
87 Bison Pass 317
South of Denver 321
88 Castlewood Canyon 325
89 Devil's Head Lookout 328
90 Spruce Mountain 331
91 Mount Herman 334
92 Red Rock Canyon 337
93 Barr Trail 340
94 Stanley Rim 343
95 Mount Rosa 346
96 Gray Back Peak 349
97 The Crags 352
98 Mueller's Rock Pond 355
99 Dome Rock 358
100 Pancake Rocks 361
101 Oil Creek Tunnel 364
Acknowledgements 369
Choose Your Perfect Hike 371
Index 375
What People are Saying About This
"Base Camp Denver is a priceless resource for anyone looking to hit Colorado’s trails."—Mitch Kline Coloradaist.com(03/31/19)
"Pete is an excellent, easy to read writer – he takes you right into his love of hiking and treats the reader to wonderful antidotes, historical tidbits, and explanations of each hike. The section introductions could form a nice Sunday afternoon read all by themselves and save the hiking for another day. The pictures alone are worth spending some time “armchair” hiking. There are stunning photographs of each hike, shot with suburb quality. Pete always seemed to encourage the reader to try something new and made even the more difficult hikes seems accessible."—Carol White, RoadTripAmerica.com
"Each hike description includes a number of inspirational good quality photos. There is just enough colorful detail or historical background to add an extra dimension to each hike. There is also a handy directory at the end of the book that will point the reader to different categories of hikes, (kid-friendly, rigorous, and so on), to help in selecting hikes. An excellent guide for a newbie and a valuable reference for a local looking for something new and perhaps a bit out of the way."—Joel Smith, Goodreads.com