Red Rock Open Space

I took the girls to Red Rocks today to get out side. While they are fond of staying inside and playing on their phones (etc.) I suspect they’re beginning to get a bit of cabin fever. The parking lot was full when we arrived, but the nice thing about trailheads is once the parking lot is full, no one else can enter, so social distancing takes care of itself. There were signs asking people to practice social distancing

Because of where we ended up parking we decided to do the loop backwards, starting instead by the pond.

We continued past all the rock climbers and did a bit of scrambling ourselves.

I took the girls to see the landfill. I’d never really mentioned it to them before and they were curious as to why the city would pick it’s most beautiful location to dispose of trash, but on the bright side it looks like they’re trying to clean it up.

Next we hiked up the quarry

and then made our way back to the truck. There were a lot of people on the trails today but social distancing was no problem at all with the wide trails and lots of open space. I think we need to make hiking as a family a bi-weekly thing as long as we’re still allowed to be outside… I fear it won’t be long before our parks and open spaces are closed as well, which is truly a shame because it’s how I keep my mental and physical health…

We got in about 3 miles and 750′ of elevation gain in today.

9.5 miles

2000’ elevation gain (approximate)

Today the weather was absolutely beautiful, but I had limited time (Cookie Booth at 2pm). I met up with Dave at the Red Rock Open Space North Lot for a hike through Red Rock Open Space and the Palmer Loop. I’ve hiked Red Rock Open space several times, usually sticking to the Quarry Trail. I knew it connected with Section 16 trails, but I wasn’t sure exactly how.

We started on the Mesa Trail, and took it to the Intenman / Section 16 trail connection. From there we followed the Palmer Loop for 5.5 miles, diverting only once to take the Waterfall Trail (out and back). The waterfall was completely frozen. I love frozen waterfalls!

The Loop eventually connected with Lower Gold Camp Road, which I found very interesting. I’ve been meaning to explore Gold Camp Road for some time now. We only hiked a small portion of the road, so I’ll need to come back to explore more. It’s fun how you can hike for miles and miles, only to end up on a road and near a parking lot, then get back on the trail to head back to the parking lot you originally parked in. I feel more familiar with the ‘other’ Red Rock Open Space and Section 16 trailheads.

Parts of the trail (those in the sun) were completely dry and warm, which made for lovely hiking. Other parts, however, were in canyons and covered in shade. Those areas were icy, slippery, and very cold. Beautiful though!

The final part of the trail took us on a hill with great views of Colorado Springs (and the landfill…)

We started at 7am and were done at 11am.

Tag: Red Rock Open Space

Red Rock Open Space to Palmer Loop