1) Homestead, Mesa and Towhee Trails, South Mesa Trailhead, Boulder Open Space & Mountain Parks, Boulder, CO, January 24, 2025 - Our first hike of 2025 was a continuation of our regular hikes with our friend Desiree down in Boulder. We have been meet up at South Mesa Trailhead regularly for four years now for an afternoon or evening. This time we met up in the afternoon to do the "short" loop: stringing together Mesa trail, Homestead Trail and Towhee Trail. Thanks to a recent snowfall mixed with a warm sunny day there was slushy snow on the ground for most of the hike but thankfully very little ice. The clouds of another snowstorm were gathering as we hiked which meant the temperature started to drop as we hiked but we finished before any of the white stuff started to drop. A 3.2 mile loop with 600 feet of elevation gain.
2) Chautauqua, Bluebell Road, Mesa and Enchanted Mesa Trails, Chautauqua trailhead, City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, Boulder, CO, February 3, 2025 - After a week of weather ranging from winter snow, to howling wind, to Springtime shorts weather Alan and Jonna met up with our friend Desiree for on a gorgeous Monday afternoon for a hike in Chautauqua Park in Boulder. We met up at the Chautauqua office. We were constrained with time so made a short loop by hiking south on the Bluebird Road, then turning off onto the Mesa trail and then looping back to the parking area on the Enchanted Mesa trail. The late afternoon sunshine turned the bits of snow on the trail into a slushy, muddy mess but most of the trail had melted out completely so there was plenty of dry trail as well. It was a nice, easy loop with terrific hiking weather and we capped it off by spotting a beautiful hawk resting on top of a light pole just as we got back to the trailhead. A 2.3 mile loop with 400 feet of elevation gain.
3) Mt. Sanitas, Boulder City Open Space & Mountain Parks, Boulder, CO, February 5, 2025 - With just a few days left before leaving for an International trip I managed to squeeze in the first of my Annual Spring Training Hikes: Mt. Sanitas. I did make it a little shorter than normal beginning the hike at the Mt. Sanitas trailhead rather than the People's Crossing trailhead which is where I traditionally start. The weather was changing between overcast and sunny but it has been warm enough over the past week that most of the snow and ice had melted out which left the trail a little muddy in a few places but mostly it was dry. I hiked north on the Dakota Ridge trail, then made the climb to the top via the east face. It has been breezy in the morning but calmed down so the weather at the top was perfect - the clouds broke up a bit so it was sunny and warm. I then descended via the southern ridge all the way back down to the parking lot. Not the greatest hike but it was nice to get some exercise and to click off the first of the five training hikes. A 3.5 mile loop with 1,200 feet of elevation gain.
If you enjoyed these you may also enjoy checking out some photos from our 2024 hikes.
