Today marked three weeks since I had went on my overnight backpacking trip. Taking a fun trip to Disney with the Grandkids sure can stall your hiking plans, but I wouldn't have traded it for the world. Like my Grandaughter said, 'Best week, EVER'.
This turned out to be a much more challenging hike that i thought. The vertical distance, at 2800 ft, seemed alot more than it turned out to be. As you can see the grade was steep (20%+). There were many times, I was either three or four point hiking (meaning my hands were on the ground). At times this seemed more like a boulder scramble than a hike.
The view from the Chautauqua trailhead is quite spectacular. The grass was green and long, the day was warm, and the sun was out. A perfect early summer day.
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| Chautauqua Trailhead |
There were lots of people out; trail runners, hikers, walkers; you name them, they were there. I hiked around to the north edge of the 1st FlatIron and began the climb. I found a few blooming bushes along the way.
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| Bloms! |
And a sacred lizard (more on the sacred later).
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| Sacred Lizard |
The climb kept getting longer and steeper the further I went. I knew I was getting closer because I was getting more vertical views of the 1st FlatIron.
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| 1st FlatIron about halfway up |
I even began to see the top, but it was still quite a ways up there.
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| 1st FlatIron |
About the time I was about to decide, 'enough of this', I reached the pass and looked upon the 2nd FlatIron. That made it all worth it.
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| 2nd FlatIron |
I eventually made to the end of the trail just below the summit of the 1st FlatIron.
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| Top of 1st FlatIron |
Ok, so back down and on to Royal Arch! On the way down, I encountered 'the sacred place'. Usually, I find rock 'cairns' that mark the trail, but here I found a forest of 'sacred cairns'. I guess living in such a spectacular place has made many hikers and others want to memorialize their visit with a 'sacred cairn' (at least that is what I call them). There is some controversy about people doing this, but at least here, it was kinda cool. Personally, as long as they don't interfere with the beauty of the location or make the trail more challenging to find, I guess I have no issues with folks doing this.
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| Sacred Stone Forest |
The trail to Royal Arch was just has challenging as the climb to the 1st FlatIron, but I eventually made it and was met with a nice view of the prairie.
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| View SE from Royal Arch |
I ate my lunch and trekked down the hill to the parking lot and home. I really think those FlatIrons are something else!
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| 1st, 2nd, 3rd FlatIrons |
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| Looking S to 1st FlatIron |
Overall Track Statistics for Boulder - Chautaqua, 1193 data points
Length 6.217 miles : Garmin Length 7.713 miles
Start Elevation - 5629.46 feet
Maximum Elevation - 7119.82 feet
Minimum Elevation - 5603.64 feet
Date of Hike - Jun 15, 2016
Start Time - 08:11 AM
End Time - 01:23 PM
Total Duration - 5:11 hours:min
Total Ascent - 2818.54 feet
Total Descent - 2670.44 feet
Net Ascent - 148.10 feet
Maximum Grade - 29.94%
Average Speed - 1.20 mph : Garmin Average Speed 1.48 mph
Maximum Ascent over Mile - 1139.96 feet
Maximum Speed over Mile - 2.52 mph
Maximum Gain over Mile (%) - 20.95%
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