25-April-2024 Boulder Bike and Hike

Today was a really active day (I’ll probably notice it tomorrow) but the best part was definitely reconnecting with family friend Elizabeth Shell and her 2 awesome dogs.

Let me back up a little and go through the day chronologically …. In the morning I checked the Alltrails app (for those of you not familiar it is an awesome way to find walks, hikes, and bike rides near you and rates trails by length and difficulty and gives user reviews. It’s invaluable!) and found that there is a Boulder Creek Multi-use Path that goes for about 6 miles crossing west to east through the entire town and beyond. I tossed my bike into the back of my car and headed to the eastern end of the trail where I could park. The trail is awesome! It’s a flat route along a creek that’s about 10 feet wide and paved through the town of Boulder, and then when you hit the foothills it turns to a crushed gravel path for an additional 2.5 miles of uphill. The best part about the path is that it goes under all the roads so you can keep traveling at your own pace and never have to stop or cross the street. It passes through a sculpture park and has benches to sit and relax and is such a safe and convenient way to get around. What a gem!

When you reach the foothills it turns into the Boulder Canyon Trail and the grade gets a little bit more challenging and the path turns to crushed gravel. You continue following the creek for another 2.5 miles and pass over some bridges in a scenic canyon. It took me about an hour to go from east to west and then I realized that the way back was all downhill and I zoomed back in just under 40 minutes. What a great ride!

At 3 PM, Elizabeth and her 2 dogs (Moose and Casco) picked me up and we headed to a local coffee shop. Started with a coffee and sweet treat and some long overdue catching up, and then we went to a local trail where we enjoyed a 4.2 mile hike up into the foothills where the dogs could run free. Elizabeth has always been a great dog trainer and I’ve never seen 2 dogs as responsive as hers. So impressive!

When we got to the summit we had beautiful views of Boulder and beyond and could even see Denver on the horizon. And we could look down into the valley and see the bike path that I had been on earlier in the day. I’m starting to get my bearings here which is always nice. Boulder sure is an awesome place for those who enjoy the outdoors!

In the evening I checked a couple of weather apps to see what it was going to be like tomorrow so I could decide what to do … Rocky Mountain National Park has a winter storm watch and high wind warnings and Arapahoe Basin ski area is getting snow …. Winter is not over in the mountains yet! We’ll see what tomorrow brings….