Today was a vacation day!!!! Took the day off so that I could go explore Red Rock Park a bit, there were two hiking trails that I wanted to do and today was forecast to be a beautiful day and I decided to take advantage of it. So, got up at my normal time, let the dogs out, gave them their snacks, and waited for Jesse to do their morning walks. We have a routing that we do not mess with. Once Jesse got back with them it was time to get the day started.
I packed a bunch of water, some snacks and did the hour drive out to the West to Red Rocks Park.It took me a while to find the right parking lot for the trail I wanted to start with. For some reason things are not marked very well, but a quick download an a full years’ subscription to All Trails, I was able to find what I was looking for. And, yes, I think All Trails was worth it because there were a couple questionable trail markers on the loop and I was very happy to have the maps downloaded onto my phone.
Ignore the distance on the above screenshot. I must have clicked start on the trail before I was even at the parking lot. The app is a little strange, but it is good. Don’t put in your pocket and expect it to provide a good map, it doesn’t. But once you have it out of your pocket and let it get a GPS fix it will re-orientate itself and show you where you are vs where you should be.
I started off with the Red Rocks and Morrison Slopes Trail loop. This is a 3.5 mile loop with a total elevation climb of 853ft. The trail is a bit rocky, and there are areas that you have to have really good footing. But, let me tell you, it was worth it! The views along the way were awesome, and it was sort of neat to look down and see how far you have climbed.
Enjoy the photos I took along the way. this is just sort of a camera dump, no editing has been done. The day continues under the album.
My Garmin provided a pretty good track of the trail.
Max elevation: 6789 ft
Min elevation: 6207 ft
Total climbing: 1087 ft
Total descent: -1079 ft
Average speed: 2.93 mi/h
Average cadence: 50
Average heart rate: 114
Average temperature:
Total time: 01:29:45
After I did the Red Rock and Morrison Slide Loop trails I got back to the car and changed parking lots. I didn’t hike over because the next trail had some steeper climbing sections and I wanted to car closer. I parked at the start of the Geological Overlook Trail and decided that I was going to turn that trail into a loop.
The Geological Overlook trail starts at the base of some red rock formations and continues up towards the amphitheater and then you can either turn around and do the trail in reverse or walk the amphitheater and do a loop around the lower parking lot and back to the start of the trail. I chose the loop as I hate backtracking on trails.
And I am going to bore you to death with another photo album that I took on the hike. This is not edited and is just a photo dump. I think it is more fun that way, hey, I don’t know what you want to see. The day continues under the album.
I did walk up and down the few hundred steps of the amphitheater, it looked like they were getting setup for a show, the vendors were setting up and the stage area was roped off. Not sure who is playing there tonight. The loop I did was 1.91 miles with a 614 elevation climb. Of course the mystery is how I went up 614ft and only down 420ft and ended up at the same place I started. I guess we will never know.
The Garmin track from my watch was decent in case anyone is interested.
Max elevation: 6676 ft
Min elevation: 6260 ft
Total climbing: 684 ft
Total descent: -655 ft
Average speed: 2.67 mi/h
Average cadence: 51
Average heart rate: 115
Average temperature:
Total time: 00:52:47
Anyways, I am back home now. It’s 89 degrees outside, and it is way too hot to do much of anything else. I am going to relax with the kids (Climber and Res), and enjoy the rest of my day off. I will probably wrap up this post a little later this evening.
