More Colorado Hiking – Mt. Audubon, Mt. Flora, and more

I stopped blogging but kept hiking. Here’s a recap of the last few weeks.

My friend pitched the idea of hiking Mt. Flora with the idea of also climbing Mt. Eva and if we were super motivated we could add on Parry Peak on July 21. All are 13ers. Sounded fun. We started at Berthoud Pass. At the top of Mt. Flora there was not a cloud in the sky.

So we started our descent to the saddle to climb Mt. Eva. I am not awesome on the descents. The two men in the group were about twice as fast as the other woman and me. It was very steep (to me). And then we started the climb up to Mt. Eva….until some of us noticed the storm clouds moving in, and remembered the climb we’d need to redo to the summit of Mt. Flora to get back to the car. Parry Peak was not happening. And we didn’t summit Mt. Eva.

We got about 1/2 way up Mt. Eva before turning around. Total mileage about 9.2. The storm never ended up happening so we could have safely slogged it out, we just didn’t know.

I did a few hikes near Waterton Canyon (August 3 and 4). The first time I completely went the wrong way and ended up in a swampy nature preserve (5.4 miles). It was pretty and mosquito filled, and not at all aligned with the trail description.

So I went back the next day, and I figured out where I was supposed to be – across the highway – (9.2 miles) and even saw big horn sheep though I didn’t get any photos worth sharing. I’ll be back since it close, easy parking, safe, and the start of the Colorado trail. There is no limit to how far the out and back could be. I’ll definitely be going back. I might even try it with a mountain bike.

Yesterday my friend and I hiked Mt. Audubon. My friend picked it in part since I am not confident on rocks, and Mt. Audubon has lots of rocks. Indeed the last bit of the hike is literally a scramble up a big rock pile. And since I felt like the weak link of chain on the Mt. Flora not quite Mt. Eva hike, we had to summit the adjacent Mt. Notabon (i.e. the rock pile that is not Mt. Audubon). When I say “had to” I mean, if my friend expressed any interest, I was going to say “hell yes.” And let’s be clear, while Notabon was super rocky and technically hard (for me), it was not nearly as steep/hard/long as the Mt. Eva to Mt. Flora out and back that I didn’t finish. And we could get back to the trail without returning to the summit of Mt. Audubon. Whew.

Since it was Labor Day, we met at 5 a.m. in Boulder and reached our destination and started hiking before the sun rose, hoping to beat the crowds. We were not even close to being the the first people in the parking lot, but did find parking at the lot closest to the trailhead.

The views on the way up as the sun was rising were stunning. I wish I’d brought a good camera just for that. We passed several others loaded down with camera gear. It was a great day for it.

The views from the top were equally amazing.

Yes it’s September and there is still snow from last season that has not yet melted. If I have the orientation correct, I think my friend and his wife hiked up to the flat spot you see to get married.

No hike is complete without the gratuitous selfie at the top. My friend took this one.

I was home by 2 p.m. with the idea that I’d grab an afternoon hot yoga class or do my strength training workout for the day. Nope. The rocks wore me out. I was asleep by 7:30 p.m. and slept a glorious 10.5 hours. Fun!