Estes Park, Colorado is the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, and you don't even have to pass through the official park entrance to reach many a lovely hike. Gem Lake is an easy-ish uphill walk of about 3.4 miles round trip, with rewarding views. Boulders and...
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HIKING BARR LAKE WILDLIFE REFUGE: Easy Walk to a Wealth of Animals
If you like easier hikes, this is a good summer to watch my Colorado hiking videos. In January, I had surgery to remove part of a herniated disc that put pressure on my spine, but not before it damaged the nerves in my left foot. I expect to get my strength back, but...
HIKING HERMAN GULCH TO THE CITADEL – A Thirteener Just Off Colorado’s I-70
I prefer hiking Colorado's thirteeners (13,000-foot-peaks) to its fourteeners, because they're less crowded with peak baggers, yet equally beautiful and often just as challenging. The Herman Gulch trail to The Citadel kicked my butt, and I loved every moment. I was...
HIKING BRIDAL VEIL FALLS – Rocky Mountain National Park, near Estes Park, Colorado
Do you have a thing for waterfalls? If you've read my memoir, you know that my favorite hikes embrace "many waters and signs of water." Bridal Veil Falls fits that description, and it's as romantic a sight as the name promises. It's more like many veils, trailing one...
HIKING MOUNT SANITAS – Boulder, Colorado Open Space & Mountain Parks
When I don't have time for a long drive or stamina for an all-day hike, but I still want to get away somewhere pretty and enjoy a little workout, I almost always end up on a trail in Boulder. The three-mile Mount Sanitas Loop is close to downtown, but its lovely views...
HIKING TO HEART LAKE: James Peak Wilderness, near Rollinsville, Colorado
A couple of weeks ago, my husband Dale and I went on my favorite Colorado hike. It's an 8.4 mile roundtrip up the South Boulder Creek Trail to the creek's headwaters at Rogers Pass Lake, and then on over a small saddle to Heart Lake. Thanks to record snowfall this...
PLAYING WITH FIRE – A Woman Lights her Alter Ego in Flames
When I ask my friend Amy Callahan why she became a fire dancer, her amused look seems to say, “Duh, Cara it’s fi-re!” Aloud she says, “I saw some people doing it in a nightclub and I thought it was way cool. At the time, I was into fitness competitions and...
DANCING BACK IN TIME: A Lindy Diversion Weekend
For non-professional dancers, dancing is typically an occasional social activity, but for me it is the axis on which my whole social life turns. When I’m simply listening to music, I prefer alternative and acoustic rock, but when I dance, it’s all about swing and...
HIKING MAYHEM GULCH: Centennial Cone Park, near Golden, Colorado
I've had such a busy summer, I've grown adept at finding hikes that get me out of Denver without taking all day. It was the name of this little trail in Centennial Cone Park that grabbed me: Mayhem Gulch. The name is misleading; the trail is reasonably tame, despite...
HIKING TO BLUE LAKE: Brainard Lake Recreation Area, Colorado
The summer hiking season is winding down, but it's still easy to enjoy some great trails well into fall. If you live or travel in the Denver area, you might want to consider one of the hikes I've done lately in Colorado's high country. When I'm not interested in...