Lyons - Hall Ranch (Bitterbrush trail)

So a few days ago another colleague texted and wanted to have breakfast.  I said, 'of course' and planned for a 7a breakfast at the Egg & I in Longmont.  Yesterday, another colleague from Folsom, CA was in town and wanted to have lunch at 12p.  I said, 'of course' and planned a noon lunch at the Rib House in Longmont.  That didn't leave much time for hiking, so I planned on a quick hike at Hall Ranch near Lyons.

I've been to Hall Ranch last November and hiked the Bitterbrush/Nighthawk loop.  Since time limited, today I hiked only Bitterbrush and then on the clock!  I got to the trailhead and determined that I could hike for exactly 2h 20m.  That would leave just enough time to get back to the Rib House by noon.  So I set my timer for 1h 10m and headed off.

Much like Heil Valley, Hall Ranch is frequented by mountain bikers and trail runners.  Today, I encountered about the same number of bikers as runners.  I still think both of these types of people are nuts!  There isn't a lot to see at Hall Ranch, but here a a couple of pictures and the usual hike summary information.

Hall Ranch (1)

Coffintop Mountain from Hall Ranch

Antelope Park at Hall Ranch

All in all a quick hike, but one which was still fun.  Oh, by the way, I got to the Rib House right on time.

Track & Map

Overall Track Statistics for track HallRanch-bitterbrush

 Length 7.009 miles

 Start Elevation - 5483.56 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 6350.33 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 5470.24 feet

 Date of Hike - Nov 06, 2015

 Start Time - 09:05 AM

 End Time - 11:23 AM

 Total Duration -     2:17 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 1298.10 feet

 Total Descent - 1311.42 feet

 Net Ascent - -13.32 feet

 Maximum Grade - 13.40%

 Average Speed -  3.07 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 491.90 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  3.51 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) -  9.01%

Elevation Profile