Adventures in Hiking (& other stuff): Evergreen

The hike today was in a new area, Bergen Park. Bergen Park is west of Denver and up in the mountains. The Elk Meadow area provided an opportunity to explore a new area, get in a few miles, and gain some more elevation. The drive to Bergen Park was uneventful, except for the usual Denver traffic. Bergen Park is a small town located a few miles north of Evergreen.

The obligatory trailhead marker

This was the first time part of the trail was paved. The first seven-tenths of a mile was paved, but soon enough I was out on the dirt and into the meadow. The goal today was to see if I could achieve the summit of Bergen Peak. I did not bring my snowshoes, so if there was significant snow, I would abort the summit. As you can see from the pictures below the meadow is quite large and is, finally, starting to green-up.

Looking West

SSW

Unnamed Mountain North of Bergen Peak

Bergen Peak (my objective)

During the meadow hike, I was accompanied by Shelby Foote. I was listening to
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume II, Fredericksburg to Meridian. Grant has just accepted the surrender of Vicksburg and now I am listening to the buildup to Gettysburg. Once I started climbing the hill, I soon discovered I needed to focus on the hike and not Shelby Foote. There were a few creeks starting to form.

Early in the climb the trail was moderately steep, but clear.

Trail down low

Later, the climb remained moderately steep but was not so clear.

Trail up higher

Once I reached the Bergen Peak cutoff trail, YakTrax were required. After about 2 1/2 hours I reached the summit of Bergen Peak. The views were pretty good.

Mount Evans (14265')

I've been to the top of Mount Evans. No, I didn't make the climb. We drove up and then climbed the last 100 ft or so. I know that is cheating.

Looking S

Looking SSW

Pikes Peak (14114')

I have not been to the top of Pike's Peak. Next was the descent back down to the meadow. Up to this point, I had not met any other hikers, but on the way down I did meet two couples working hard to climb the last little bit of the mountain. My solitude would not last much longer. As I worked my way down and the day got later, I encountered many trail runners, mountain bikers, and walkers.

The way down was long with many switchbacks (14), but I eventually got back down to the southern end of the meadow and began my trek back north to the truck. About halfway to the truck I encountered the treat of the day; several Elk. As you can see from the pictures, they are not too worried about people.