Hermit Park - Homestead Meadows Trail - north

My friend, Galen, before he passed away had talked about someday our hiking to Homestead Meadows.  He knew I liked to explore old homesteads and ranches.  Unfortunately, he passed away before we could do that.  The primary way into the area was via the Lion Gulch Trail from US36 out of Lyons, but that trail has been closed since the flood of 2013.  Early this winter I discovered that there was a Homestead Meadows Connector Trail from the Hermit Park Open Space.  I decided that as soon as I learned that Hermit Park was open, I would tackle this trail.  Last week, it opened, so here I went.  The winter parking area is about a mile from the trailhead.

Homestead Meadows Connector TH

There are eight homesteads in the area, dating from 1889 to 1923.  They are spread out over a fairly large area, but possibly doable in a long day.  Unfortunately, the weather didn't quite cooperate (snow!) and I only was able to explore the four most northern homesteads.  These pictures don't show much snow, but after I made it to the Brown Homestead, there was plenty on the ground and more coming.  By the time I got back to this parking lot, both my truck and the lot were covered in snow.  Oh well, that will give me a chance to tackle the others in a few weeks when the weather might be better.

No snow at the parking lot, just wait

Irvin Homestead:

The first homestead I visited was the Irvin Homestead and it was the most extensive.  The homestead went through several owners and was generally occupied from 1914 through the mid-1960s.  As a result, the main house and outbuildings are in pretty good shape, therefore there are quite a few pictures.

Irvin Storyboard 

3 stall stable/barn

stalls 

Main Ranchhouse

Main House privy 

Main House bathhouse

According to the sign there is a sunken bathtub here.  Too much snow to check today.

Ranch Office

I'm guessing the above was the ranch office, there was a counter, scales, and stove inside.

Washtubs outside the bunkhouse

 I remember taking a few baths in one of these!  Our indoor shower/tub didn't work too well.

Bunks in the bunkhouse

Bunkhouse privy

So, this is a three-hole privy, two on this side and one on the other.  Not sure why you would need three spots.

Griffith Homestead:

The next homestead on the list was the Griffith Homestead.  It was settled in 1923 and, as far as I can tell was abandoned around 1936.  This homestead had some tragedy.  The homesteader, William Walker, was mending some fence when he returned to the cabin complaining of being short of breath and dizzy.  He took some soda, went back out and was never seen alive again.  They found him about 3/4 of a mile away where he apparently died of a heart attack.

Griffith Storyboard

Main Ranch house

I'm guessing this is what is left of the barn

View of Elk Park from Griffith Homestead

Walker Homestead:

The story of this homestead is one of a self-sufficient and capable women, Sarah Walker.  She left England with her husband and two children.  Somewhere in the story, her husband and children died.  She arrived in Lyons in 1908 and settled her homestead in 1914.  Here she lived for 15 years, alone, until she moved back to Lyons about 1929.

Walker storyboard

I believe this is a bed frame 

Remains of the house (very small house).

There is probably not 150 square feet covered by the stone foundation.  Not much to live in for 15 years.

Brown Homestead:

There was no story board here, so I learned the story of this homestead from a story on the Denver Channel 7 website.  Harry Brown raised cattle and sold timber here starting in 1918.  Sometime later he married and build a house along US36 where he and his wife raised their family.

No Storyboard here.  Main Ranch House

View of house and incoming snow storm

What would have been the view off the front porch

Snow coming in quick

This hike was different than any of my other ones.  I called this a hiking tour.  All my other hikes were either destination, mileage, or time hikes.  It was a lot of fun.  I look forward to tackling the other four southern homesteads and the additional seven or eight miles in the next few weeks.  Here are few other pictures.

There were plenty of tracks of both wild and domestic animals

Typical terrain.  I bet it is beautiful in spring.

Overall Track Statistics for HermitPark - HomesteadNorth,   1503 data points

 Length 10.523 miles  :  Garmin Length 11.008 miles

 Start Elevation - 8417.98 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 8697.90 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 8187.57 feet

 Date of Hike - Mar 14, 2016

 Start Time - 08:56 AM

 End Time - 01:52 PM

 Total Duration -     4:56 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 2267.39 feet

 Total Descent - 2292.55 feet

 Net Ascent - -25.16 feet

 Maximum Grade - 15.80%

 Average Speed -  2.13 mph :  Garmin Average Speed  2.22 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 432.61 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  3.28 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) -  5.64%