Hiking in Colorado

9 May 2008

Mt. Esther Trail

Posted by kris under: Trails .

Name of Trial: Mt. Esther Trail
Total Distance: 6 miles
Difficulty: Medium to Hard
Hike Type: Out and back

To get to the trail head we took Hwy 24 W, exited on Cimarron St, turned left onto Fountain Ave, continued on Chipita Park Rd, tuned left at Picaba Rd then left on Mountain Rd. The tail is just off of Mountain Rd next to it intersection with Picabo Rd. The start of the hike is very difficult and steep for about a mile. Once you get to the top of the first hill there is a great view of highway 24 and the valley below. At this point the tail meets up with the Ring the Peak trail which you take to the right through a nice meadow with a great aspen grove and beautiful flowers in the summer. It is relatively flat for this portion and it is a great opportunity to look around and enjoy the view.

A little way farther there is a fork in the trail one that continues on the Ring the Peak trail and one that continues up the mountain, we took the one to the left which headed up the mountain. This is the start of another hill that is not as steep as the first and it is only a quarter of the distance. At this point you are back into the forest and there is a lot of old growth and the trail conditions are nice. The trail levels off once again while you hike to the final hill before you reach the top of this trail. The final hill is only about 300 feet long so it was not that hard to hike at this point. Once we reach the top we went another quarter of a mile and came to a point were there was a large rocky area to the left of the trail.

We started to clime the rocks to get to the top of them. It was not that hard to get up and it didn’t take any special equipment, we just had to look for the best way for us to get up there. Once at the top of the rocks there is the best view I have seen since I started hiking this season. You can find a set of pictures that show this 360 degree view in my Photo Gallery. We had a great view of Pikes Peak, the Colorado Springs area, and areas further into the mountains.

This was a hard hike in the beginning but it is well worth the 3 mile hike up to see the great view at the top and this is why I like hiking in Colorado.

To see pictures I took while on this hike go to my Photo Gallery.

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