Waldo Canyon to Williams Canyon

Distance: 6.01 miles
Ascent: 1,079 feet
Route: Waldo Canyon trail head off of H24 taking the right fork at the Waldo Loop and then taking the south east turn to Williams Canyon. South through the canyon, exiting in Mantiou Springs.

Description: This is such a good route with the boy.  We raced through, stopping only once for a bit to eat.  I am sure I said this before, but need to start farther up in Chipita to get some more distance.  Also would not be a bad idea to reverse the route and loop back to Manitou. 

Need to keep the boy moving if we are going to do mountains this season.  Trouble is he gets bored with the same areas but we dont want to break him with long steep routes.

Blodgett Peak

Distance: 4.18 miles
Ascent:  2,303 feet
Directions:  I-25, west on Garden of the Gods, right on Centennial which will turn into Woodman.  Parking on the west side of the road.
Route:  From the Blodgett Open Space trail head, taking the side trails and avoiding the road, to the trail following the water up.  Stayed on the south side of the creek up to the dry falls, then around the rocks to the saddle.  I scrambled the talus from the south east side rather than taking the traditional trail.

Description: Definitely have some winter weight to shed if serious about the mountains we would like to hike this year.  Blodgett is certainly a short and steep climb, but the last time we were here I damn near ran up the side, off trail, without much thought besides getting to the top.  Felt good to stretch the legs and a seventy degree Spring day isn't bad either.

Blue Mountain

Mt. Vigil across the valley

Distance:  5.69 miles
Ascent:  2,470 feet
Directions: Came in on Old Stage from the Broadmoor and turned in toward Emerald Valley Ranch just past Cather Spring Ranch. Parked at the end of 371.
Route: From the gate, west along the trail to the old ruins.  From here we cut south and made our way up guided by the elevation peaks.

Description: Steep climb over mass amounts of dead fall.  The easier route may have been to take the trail up to Duffield Meadows and then walk the ridge, but we decided on a more direct route.  Mostly dense conditions made it difficult to get any solid views of the surrounding area, this made navigation more difficult, so map and gps were out more than usual.

Black Forest

Distance: 5 miles
Ascent:   1,100 feet
Directions: Colorado Springs to Woodland Park, to Divide. Then towards Cripple Creek, but turn off at the signage just opposite Mueller State Park.
Route: From the pullout just past the Mennonite camp, up the hill and along the ridge then back.

Description: If you live in Colorado Springs this is probably not the area you think.  On the west side of Pikes Peak near the Crags is an area also referred to as Black Forest.  Not an area we would have noticed if not for geocaching.

Glad that this was the plan instead of continuing up the road further to the Crags.  Cars were sliding back down one after the other, and those trying to get out of the way were getting stuck.  Luckily this did not start until just after our pull out and we were able to watch the show while putting on gaiters and lacing up boots.

The trail was packed down, but a misstep to either side would put you knee deep into the snow.  Didn't realize this until after we had decided against snowshoes and started up the hill, but continued on as it was still manageable. 

A steep climb to the top, but once on the ridge, not bad along the trail.  We made our way past most of the recent traffic, using the paths carved prior to the last storm.  When we reached the end of any trace of trail or previous hikers we decided to turn around.  The temperature was dropping and the winds increasing.  Before descending we fired up the JetBoil for something warm to eat, but it struggled to spark with the cold and altitude.  I thought the igniter may need to be replaced, but finally got it going before we froze from not moving.

One cache was missing and the other was farther out and would need snow shoes to retrieve, so will need to return.

Fremont Peak

Distance: 2.8 miles
Ascent:  ? feet
Directions:  From Canyon City, north on H50, turning west towards the Royal Gorge Park, following 389B past the campground and parking at the gate.
Route: Along the access road past the second set of towers, then along the trail and back.
 
Description: Wanted to get a hike in before stopping by the dinosaur tracks on the other side of the highway.  We ended up stopping just shy of the final ascent due to the snow, but still managed to get a decent walk in even with the mud.  Excellent views into the Royal Gorge from here and a cool perspective with Canyon City on the other side.  We'll need to time our return trip here just right as I can imagine the sun lights this up in the summer.

Red Mountain

Distance: 3.15 miles
Ascent:  1,107 feet
Directions: Into Manitou, turning on Pawnee and finding a parking spot as close to the trail head as possible.
Route: Up and down the standard route.

Description:  A lot of this trail is in the shade, so some decent ice patches for sure.  With a bit of help we all made it up and back in one piece.  The boy was happy to finally ascend the mountain that Emma Crawford slid from, inspiring the local coffin races.

Lovell Gulch

Distance: 6.72 miles
Ascent: 1,739 feet
Directions: Head for Rampart Range Rd from Woodland Park, but turn off just after the Forest Service Work Center.
Route:  From the trail head and then clockwise around the loop.  Trails branch off here and there, but assume most lead to private residence surrounding the area.

Description: Left the boy with his grandmother as we expected a difficult hike based on our recent trip to the reservoir, but this is obviously a popular hike with the locals as the path is well traveled.  Got a little too close for comfort to someone shooting off of Rampart Range Road, but other than that a fairly pleasant trip with some great views of the Pikes Peak and the Lost Creek area.