You can get to Chautauqua Park by heading west on Baseline Rd. until you see the entrance to the park on the south side of the road. Once there you have a lot of options on which trail to take. There are a lot of trails that will take you all over the park and around the mountains in the area. These trails are well marked and they are a great way to see the Flatirons, the City of Boulder and the CU campus.

My friend Dave and I took the trail to the third Flatiron by starting on the Chautauqua Trail and then following the signs to the 3rd Flatiron. Walking through the trees makes for a nice experience and as you climb there are some rock field crossings that are fun to walk across and allow for a nice view of the city bellow. If you are into rock climbing there are some nice rocks to start on because they are not that vertical, making it easier to climb. On the weekends you are likely to see a lot of people climbing in this as you hike around the area.

There are so many wonderful trails, like Bluebell, Mesa, Flatiron, Chautauqua and Ski Jump, that start at Chautauqua Park which gives you some great variety every time that you go there. I like this park and think that it is a great place to see some unique rock formations, get some exercise and see great views of Boulder.

To see photos that I took while on my hike go to my Photo Gallery.

From Highway 24 take Manitou Ave. to Canyon Ave and take Canyon Ave until you reach Glenn Rd where you will want to park your car. If you can not park here then you can park at Soda Springs Park which is at Canyon and Park Ave.

Before you can go on this hike, you need to go to the main ticket window for the Cave of the Winds to fill out a waiver, which is good for one year. You need to do this because the start of this trail is on Cave of the Winds property.

Once you are at Glenn Rd and Canyon Ave hike up Canyon Ave which will take you under Highway 24. Soon you will come to a gate and a sign overhead that reads “Cave of the Winds Exit Only Please Use Entrance On Highway 24,” this is where the trail begins. You might notice some no trespassing signs, but if you have signed the waiver you are free to continue. As you walk through Williams Canyon you will see some great views of rock formations on both sides and some interesting caves. This part of the trail is an old road that will eventually lead up to the Cave of the Winds parking lot. Cars do not use the road anymore so you don’t have to worry about any coming down. This part of the trail alone makes this a worth wile hike.

After about 0.75 miles you will come to a switch back in the road, at this point you will want to go striate onto a trail in front of you. This trail allows you to continue to walk along the canyon floor. You will continue to walk along a creek bed, which may or may not have water in it depending on the time of year. At this point you will be walking through a very lush area of the canyon, with trees and bushes all around you. At about 1 mile you might see a trail that goes off to the right, you do not want to take this trail, instead continue along the creek to the left. Soon after this the trail will climb up the side of the canyon a bit and at the top there is a great view of the canyon along with some waterfalls and pool along the creek.

At about 1.75 miles there is a fork in the trail. If you go to the left you will go to the Waldo Canyon Trail and to the right you will go to Rampart Range Road. The one bad thing about going to the right is that you will be hiking close to a firing range which makes me always feel nervous. I went to the left and it is a great hike so you are not missing out by going this way. The trail starts to climb, but it is not very steep, all of the ways up until you reach Waldo Canyon Trail at the 2.5 mile mark. This part of the hike also has some great views as you get higher and higher and walking through the forest is very nice.

Once you reached Waldo Canyon Trail, you can hike along this trail for a will or head back the way you came. This is a great hike with lots of diversity between the canyon walls and the plant/wild life.

To see photos that I took while on my hike go to my Photo Gallery.

To get to Barr Trail, follow the signs to the Cog Railway but instead of stopping at the railway go past it and take Hydro St. on the right side of the road. If you can’t find parking there, which is a pretty good chance, then there is some more parking bellow the Cog Railway.

This trail can be an all day hike so make sure to give yourself enough time to get up (and back if you plan on doing so) and make sure that you are prepared with food and water for one way. The weather at the top can be unpredictable, especially in the afternoons, so make sure to pack warmer cloth for the top because it will always be a lot colder (by 30 degrees or more).

The start of the hike has many switchbacks and goes in and out of the trees. As you climb you will have a better and better view of Manitou Springs and the Cog Railway bellow. It is a well worn dirt path and on weekends you will come across many people going up and down. The first 3 miles go up at a good incline so make sure to pace yourself. After about 3 miles you will have a great view of Gog and Magog to the south as well as a glimpse of the Cog Railway tracks. The trail continues to climb for the most part and the trail starts to become a little wider.

After about 4 miles into the hike the trail becomes more level with some inclines in the middle for about the next two miles. This is where you are walking along the ridge towards the base of final incline up to the top. As you get closer to Barr Camp the trail starts to go up again. At Barr Camp you will find benches resting and eating, shelters for camping, and a cabin with some friendly people inviting you in to sign their logbook. This is a good spot to have a meal and enjoy the great wilderness around you. At this point you have hiked 6.5 miles and you are at 10,200 feet, so even though you are more then half way up the mountain you have more then half of the elevation to climb.

Once you have enjoyed Barr Camp you will continue going up the trail as it gets steeper and a little more rocky/gravely. You will start to have some great views of the ridge that you just walked along and the city beyond that. At about 9.5 mile and over 11,000 foot mark you start to hike above timberline. At this point you will see an old A-frame shelter that you can take a look at and get information about it.

Above timberline, you have to be extra cautious of the Sun since you are at such a high altitude and there are no trees to shade you. This part of the trail is very gravely and rocky so be careful as you climb. The last 3 miles of the hike are the hardest, because there is a lot less oxygen, so you have to make sure that you are breathing correctly, and there is about 2,600 feet in elevation to climb. All the way up this section, make sure to stop and take a look at some of the wildflowers as well as the view of the city bellow. There are some great panoramic views above timberline so take some breaks on the way up and take it all in. In the first mile above timberline you clime over 1,000 feet in elevation but the hard part is still to come. In the last mile of the hike there are the 16 Golden Stairs which are quite hard since you have just hiked over 12 miles up at this point and some of the stairs are quite high. But soon you will see the people that took the Cog Railway or drove up the mountain and you will know that you have reached the top.

Once you have reached this point there are some great overlooks and you can checkout the gift shop and cafeteria to restock and rest if you need to. You now have a choice to make, you can either hike back down or take the Cog Railway down. Which one you choose really has to do with how much time you have before sunset, you can assume that it will take a little less time going down but not much, and how you feel physically.

The first 3 miles of the hike down you have to be careful with all of the rocks and gravel but once you get bellow the timberline it is a nice hike back. Over all I liked the challenge of this trail and the sense of accomplishment when you get to the top. It is a long and hard hike so just make sure that you are prepared for it and don’t hesitate to turning around at any point if you think that you will not be able to make it to the top or back down.

To see photos that I took while on my hike go to my Photo Gallery.

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.

Take the south entrance into the Academy and follow the road as it turns into Stadium Blvd or if you take the north entrance you will have to turn onto Stadium Blvd. Turn west on Academy Dr, then turn right onto Pine Dr and take a right on a dirt road on the right hand side of the of the road which will lead to the trailhead.

The trail starts out by going up a dirt road and you just follow the sign directing you towards Stanley Canyon Trail and Stanley Reservoir. After about 200 feet the trail becomes narrow and you start hike up the rocky incline. This part of the trail is a little hard to navigate because of all of the rocks but the view is great as you clime. After about half of a mile the trail meets up with a stream and you follow it the rest of the way up. If you hike the trail in late spring there is a good chance there will be ice or large amounts of water on the trail which can make the trail difficult to navigate. As it was, there were many places where you had to walk along slick rocks and loose gravel but the view made it worth it. You will see many small waterfalls and great rock outcroppings as you climb.

After about one mile of hiking up the trail, you reach the top of the incline and you start to walk through a valley with a very slit slop up (at this point my heart rate went down and my breathing slowed because it was basically flat). There are some great meadows that you walk trough with some nice wild flowers in them as well as aspen groves. You continue along the stream which is quite soothing and makes for an enjoyable rest of the hike. At the end of this part of the trail you reach the Stanley Reservoir which is not very large and it does not take long to walk around it if you choose to. Taking a break and just sitting there and enjoying the water is very relaxing. The trail does continue on from here, but at this point I turned around and headed back the way I came.

The walk back was nice for the first mile, the flat section, but once you got to the descent part it was a little tricky in spots because of the steepness of the mountain and the rocky/gravelly terrain. Over all I liked the hike, there were some great views of the Air Force Academy and the walk at the top was enjoyable and peaceful.

To see photos that I took while on my hike go to my Photo Gallery.

The parking lot for the trail comes up fast on the north side of Highway 24th so you have to be ready for it (there is a trail sign with an error right at the beginning of the right hand turn before you reach the parking lot). On a nice weekend during the summer the parking lot gets fool very quickly so you might want to go early if you can. Once you reach the parking lot you will find the trailhead at the east edge. The first part of the trail is a little steep but it soon levels off and it is a gradual incline for about 1.25 miles. Soon after you start, there is a great overlook that branches off to the right. There are some great geological structures here and a little sign that talks about the rocks and what they are made of.

As you continue along the trail you will reach the top of the first ridge and then walk down the other side a little ways. At this point all of the road noise from Highway 24 goes completely silent and you are left with beautiful views and the peace and quite of nature. As you go along you start to move into more of a forest section of the trail, at this point it has been a little over 1.5 miles and you reach the loop sections of the trail.

I took the loop to the right and found it to be steep and gravely for about half of a mile, after which it levels off and becomes more of a slight incline. There are some excellent views of the different rock layers and some signs along the way that explain how these were formed. As you go along you crest another ridge and start to go back towards the forested area. The trail continues to pop in and out of the forest and I continued to see many lizards that would dart all over the trail in the more dry open sections of the trail. For the last 1.5 miles of the loop you are in the forest again and you get a chance to walk along the stream. At one point there is an option to take a trail that goes west to Cascade but if you go east you continue around the loop. After the loop meets up again you head back into the more open desert region and along a nice descent back to the parking lot.

One of the nice things about this trail is its great diversity in ecosystems. You go from the high desert with many lizards, low brush and rocky terrain to a lush dense forest with a stream flowing through it. I really liked this hike because of its variation in terrain as well as the fantastic views and geological structures.

To see photos that I took while on my hike go to my Photo Gallery.

The first thing you should always do is let someone know where you are going even if you are going with other people. This way if you end up getting lost or hurt there is someone that can let authorities know where to look for you. Since it is possible that the unexpected might happen you should always pack for the worst. Make sure you have some extra cloths with you just in case the weather takes as turn for the worst. You should also bring some food with you as well like an energy bar. This is a good idea if you are doing a long trip anyway but if you are not going to be out for very long you should still bring something in case you get stranded. This is the same when it comes to water, you should always have more water then you think you will need. There are some other items that you might consider, hiking poles, hiking boots vs. tennis shoes, GPS, emergency beacon, first aid kit and shorts vs. long pants.

Once you have all of your equipment put together you are ready for your hike. At the start of the trail you should make sure that you know where you are going by using a map or following trail markings. While on the trail make sure that you watch where you are going at all times so that you do not roll your ankle or injure yourself some other way. Wearing hiking boots gives your ankle support and may help prevent injury while hiking. If you do get injured, try to do first aid on the injury and go to where you can get help (if there is more then one person hiking, have one person stay with the person that is injured while another one or so go and get help). The weather can turn bad at any time so make sure that you get back to your car or a building as quick as possible in bad weather conditions. Lightning is particularly dangerous and you should try to get away from open areas and trees.

Another thing that you have to be aware of is the wild life around you. There are many larger animals like mountain lions and bear that you should look out for and make sure you know what to do when you come across one. In the case of a mountain lion you want to make yourself as big looking as you can and try to back away from the lion if possible but never run away. If you do get attacked you want to fight back any way you can because they are more likely to stop if they don’t think they can beat you. When it comes to bears you want to make as much noise as possible while hiking so that a bear will know that you are coming and you will not surprise it. If you do come across a bear, make sure it knows that you are a human by talking to it in a normal voice and moving your arms and try to back away. If the bear follows you then stop moving and do not run, continue to make noise and move your arms and if it gets closer try to make more noise. If you are attacked by a bear do not fight back and curl up in a ball protecting your neck and do not move. Once the bear does not see you as a threat it should move on, but if it persists in its attack do all you can to fight it off. In general you should try to avoid any encounters with wildlife if possible.

If you get lost and you do not have a GPS to guide you and you don’t know where you came from, try to figure out the direction (based on the position of the sun or stars) where you know a town or road may be and head that direction. If you can’t seem to find your way out stay in one place and try to signal a plane or helicopter if possible (you can use an emergency beacon if you have one).

Once you get back from a hike, you should make sure that people know that you are back (especially the person that you told where you would be). You should also check yourself for ticks or other bugs to make sure that they do not get under your skin or hurt you in some other way.

Even though there are a lot of things to think about and do before during and after you go hiking, it is always better to be prepared for the worst and never have to use the extra stuff that you have, then to find yourself unprepared. In the end we do this because hiking is fun and safety while hiking is very important.

1. If you are hiking down hill always move out of the way of people hiking up hill. It is always harder to get moving again if you have to stop for someone coming down hill, but it is not very hard to start again going down hill.
2. Always move out of the way for people moving faster then you.
3. Stay to the right as much as possible, so people can pass you on the left
4. Pass people on the left and let them know that you are doing so.
5. If you have your pet with you make sure that you have control of them and that you keep them out of the way of others. Even if you think that your pet is well behaved you never know if they are going to snap and some people don’t like animals.  Also clean up after your animals, because no one should have to look for their droppings so that they don’t step in them.
6. Stay on the trail. If we all go off of the trail then we will just cause unmanageable erosion and ruin the great outdoors that we are trying to enjoy while hiking.
7. When you are in a group, try not to block the trail so that others may get around you.

It seems like more and more people don’t seem to care about others on the trail. They will only do things if they are forced to. I am writing about this because I have found many cases were people have not followed these guidelines. These guidelines are meant to benefit everyone that is on the trail, and help everyone have an enjoyable experience.

This trail starts the same way the Turntable Trail starts. You go along the road that follows the Cog Railway and when it ends you take a bridge across the water and then walk along the edge of the tracks for about 100 feet. You then cross into an opening in the trees, but you have to look closely for it.

The trail is not well defined but it has been worn down by people using it. After about a half of a mile from the Cog Railway station there is split in the trail, if you go left you head towards the Turntable but if you go right along the rocky mountain face you will be on the Gog Magog Trail. The trail goes parallel with the railway for a while and then starts to clime up the side of the mountain. The tail continues up and it a little tricky in spots with some fallen trees and plants encroaching onto the trail.

As you go up, you see some great views of Manitou Springs and the Cog Railway. You can also check glimpses of the two rock outcroppings that are nameed Gog and Magog. Magog is the one that you come to first and Gog is about 400 feet higher up the mountain’s ridgeline. From Magog you can see great views of Picks Peek, the Cog Railway and Manitou Springs. It is a very impressive rock formation. You can see Gog from here and you just need to fallow a trail that runs along the west side of Magog to get to it. The 3 miles round trip does not include this section but the hike is not hard compared to the hike to get up to the first formation.

This was an ok trail, but it was hard to follow and maneuver through at times. I also did not like having to walk along the Cog Railway. The one nice thing about this trail is the view at the top.

To see photos that I took while on my hike go to my Photo Gallery.

To get to the Incline Trail, you need to head towards the Cog Railway by heading up Hwy 24. Take the Manitou Ave exit and head west. Then take Ruxton Ave. to the Cog Railway and park anywhere you can. The base of the trail can be found on the north side of the Cog Railway parking lot.

The trail is very easy to see while you are approaching because it cuts strait up the side of the mountain. This hike is not very long but it has about 3000 steps that go up almost 1900 ft in only 0.83 miles. The overall incline is about 44% but some sections are much greater then this. It starts off at a mild incline but soon becomes steeper and steeper. The trail is well maintain (I have seen people working on it every time I have gone up it) and has railroad tie steps all of the way up. It can be a little slick in spots because of the incline but as long as you are watch where you step you should be fine. At about 3/4 of the way up, the trail levels off giving you a little break but it soon becomes very steep all the way to the top.

If you take breaks on the way up, there are some great views of Manitou Springs which are well worth it. Once you get to the top of the trail you can either go back down the way you came or go to the left and take a trail that leads to Barr Trail. I personally go to Barr Trail because it is hard going down the Incline and can be a little treacherous in section. If you take the Barr Trail the total distance is about 2.8 miles and it is a lot more pleasant of a hike with some good views along the way.

I really like this trail for a nice hard workout. It is great for building up your stamina and strengthening your legs. But you should really make sure you are ready for it because it is quite a workout.