Hiking Mt Evergreen

After a comfortable night’s sleep in the spanking new Aloft Hotel in a newly developing part of Denver, we first drove to the Rolling Pin Bakery in Downtown for breakfast, with a natty selection of rolling pins displayed on their wall. Unfortunately it was very busy and most of their goodies were awaiting replenishment so we moved on to Starbucks instead. I was shocked to see homeless men on almost every corner in this part of Denver, which is the old cultural sector. Some were holding signs asking for someone to care, others were sitting or lying on the sidewalks singly or in groups. Some of the signs said they were military veterans. Becky said that Denver is fast expanding and that some people in the lower income brackets are being left behind. A sight we see in our cities back home sadly.

We drove to Evergreen and parked up for our last day hike. The weather was warm if overcast but good for walking. We took two trails, first the Three Sisters and then the Mt Evergreen Trail. Both trails took us through Ponderosa Pine forest (couldn’t help thinking of Bonanza and Hoss and Little Joe - we were brought up on a diet of westerns In the sixties and seventies!). There were great bouldery rock features and it was a popular spot with climbers and mountain bikers alike. The trail to the summit of Mt Evergreen gave us limited views as the cloud was quite low, but we enjoyed watching chipmunks and squirrels at the scenic view overlook where we stopped for a snack.

On the summit some folks had slung hammocks between the pines and were busy phoning their friends, bonkers!

Back down at the carpark, we drove a couple of miles to the characterful town of Evergreen and enjoyed a delicious lunch in the Muddy Buck. The smell of their cinnamon rolls was enticing but they were ridiculously huge so I resisted the temptation.

We took the scenic route out of Evergreen down Red Rocks Valley. Pretty shingled and log cabin houses lined the sides of the valley for the early part before the sides became too steep and high, and the potential for rockfall increased.

Once out of the valley we headed to our comfortable Airbnb in the historic Capitol Hill part of Denver, on Pennsylvania and 12th and, as I type, Becky is cooking us a chicken roast dinner whilst Rob and Tony relax on the balcony.

My blip shows father and daughter on the summit trail deep in conversation.

Tomorrow we fly back to Denver. Thunderstorms predicted when we fly out from Boston....