28 July 2008
Columbine Trail
Posted by kris under: Trails .
Name of Trial: Lower | Mid | Upper Columbine Trail
Total Distance: 7 miles
Elevation Gain: 1,100 feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Hike Type: Out and back
Starting Location: Starsmore Discovery Center parking lot.
Take a left at the intersection of North Cheyenne Canyon Road and South Cheyenne Canyon Road and the Starsmore Discovery Center is immediately on the right hand side. Once you have parked your car, take a tour of the great exhibits at the center. The center is open 9am to 5pm everyday during the summer and 9am to 5pm Wednesday-Sunday during the spring and fall. If you take the path on the left hand side of the center you will reach the Lower Columbine Trailhead.
This first part is not very steep and follows North Cheyenne Canyon Road and the creek. This dirt path is a very nice walk along the rock features. There are a lot of people rock-climbing on the weekend, which makes for some interesting sights. If you are looking for a nice casual walk, this section of the trail, between Lower Columbine Trailhead and Mid Columbine Trailhead, is for you. The “Mid” Columbine Trailhead is less then 1 mile from the start so you still have about 3/4 of the trail to go.
At this point the trail starts to climb and moves above and away from N Cheyenne Canyon Road. There is a lot more gravel on this section, but the trail is well maintained (they were doing work on it the day I hiked it and sections had the gravel scraped off of the trail which left a nice hard surface to walk on). The trail continues to climb up and down the side of the mountain, but as you go higher in elevation you get to see some great views of the Broadmoor area as well as the canyon bellow. Towards the end of the trail there is a trail that diverges off of the Columbine trail and leads to Gold Camp Road. If you continue on the Columbine trail it ends at one of the many bends on N Cheyenne Canyon Road near Helen Hunt Falls.
This is an OK trail to hike. There are some great views on the way up, but it is very open and on a hot day it very important to keep yourself hydrated. The one thing that I did like about the trail was how it was broken up in to two sections. If you are looking for a easier hike only do the section between the lower and mid trailheads, but if you want more of a challenge do the mid to upper trailhead section.
To see photos that I took while on my hike go to my Photo Gallery.
3 Comments so far...
Recent Links Tagged With "columbine" - JabberTags Says:
24 September 2008 at 6:49 am.
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User links about "columbine" on iLinkShare Says:
5 October 2008 at 8:33 am.
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Nigel-Burke Says:
28 November 2008 at 8:33 pm.
Thank you for the detailed advice.. Your photos are inviting, i must say!
