Adventures in Hiking (& other stuff): Littleton

I am a bit behind on my journal entries. It has started getting nice out and there are plenty of things to get done. This hike was to and through Waterton Canyon. Waterton Canyon is on the South Platte River as it exits the mountains, rolls through Denver, then on to the plains. The area is managed by Denver Water, which manages much of the water containment and distribution through northern Colorado. It is 6.2 miles from the entrance of the canyon to the Stronia Springs Dam. This is a road walk that follows the river. The canyon is a busy place, but today was pretty mild and quiet with few hikers and not too many mountain bikers. The canyon is known for the herd of Bighorn Sheep that call it home. At the end of the road I did encounter some sheep.

Canyon Bighorn

Clearly, they are not yet the sleek sheep of summer.

Waterton is not a Lake Powell type of canyon, but has some nice features to observe.

Sun peeking over the canyon wall

Marston Diversion

Spring runoff

South Platte River

View of Waterton Canyon

Strontia Springs Dam

I wanted to get a few more miles and elevation, so I continued on up the Colorado trail to Lenny's Rest and then looped on Indian Trail and Steven Gulch Trail. This added about 4.5 miles to the trip and plenty of climb. This was all single track forest walk with alot of water running.

Start of Colorado Trail single track

Looking West from Indian Trail

Typical Indian Trail single track

Lenny's Rest on the Colorado Trail

It was clear that springtime was blooming in the mountains. Up to this point, the wildflowers I've seen have been isolated plants here and there, but now they are blooming in bunches. I'm not much of a flower photographer, but couldn't help but take a few pictures of all the wildflowers blooming everywhere!