Golden - Beaver Brook r2

Well it is about a month after my first attempt at Beaver Brook.  No snow/ice on narrow ledges today, so I continued on.  Even though I was not to the trailhead early, I was still the first one in the parking lot.  By the time I returned about 3p the lot was full and cars were parked on the side of the road.

The early part of the Beaver Brook trail is pedestrian, but you soon encounter some rock slide areas where you work your way through a small boulder field.  This boulder field was completely covered by snow earlier.  I soon reached the down climb that stopped me a month ago.

Downclinb

This was not nearly as difficult looking without ice.  A quick, but careful climb down and I was on a nice, well worn trail most of the rest of the day.  There was a social trail at the bottom of the down climb.  On the way back I took this trail to explore if there was a way around the down climb.  There was not.

There were multiple small water crossings, of which only one had any kind of formal bridge.

Water crossing 

Yet another water crossing

Old Can and Water

I trekked on for several miles, breaking for a snack at a small meadow atop a saddle between two hills.

Break stop

Cool rock and Clear Creek Canyon

Throughout the hike, I got views of Clear Creek Canyon and US-6.  US-6 is a busy road.  At about five miles in I began a strenuous climb to the high point of the day at 5.5 miles.  I started the climb down to the next ridgeline in the hopes of getting to the Beaver Brook crossing; however, I realized I was going to be out of time and needed to return to make it back home by 5pm.

Throughout the day, I found many small wildflowers and some blooming cacti.

I climbed back to the high point and headed back down.  It turned out I was making a bit better time than I estimated, so I took a detour to the Clear Creek Overlook on the Gudy Gaskill Trail.  This was a nice rolling hike along the edges of a mountain top meadow.

Clear Creek Canyon

Meadow on Gudy Gaskill

Cliff Edge along trail

As I worked my way back to the truck the trail became busier by the mile.  I made it back right on time and headed home and, once again, into the Denver/Golden/Boulder traffic.  All in all a good day.

Overall Track Statistics for Golden - BeaverBrook r2,   1912 data points

 Length 14.272 miles  :  Garmin Length 15.341 miles

 Start Elevation - 6856.33 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 7736.48 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 6690.91 feet

 Date of Hike - May 13, 2016

 Start Time - 07:47 AM

 End Time - 03:18 PM

 Total Duration -     7:31 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 3418.96 feet

 Total Descent - 3373.98 feet

 Net Ascent - 44.98 feet

 Maximum Grade - 22.18%

 Average Speed -  1.90 mph :  Garmin Average Speed  2.04 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 576.02 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  2.78 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) -  9.38%