Colorado Hike: Back to Staunton State Park

If I haven't mentioned it often enough, Colorado is a pretty spectacular place to live if you like to play outdoors. To take advantage of the warm, early-fall like weather, Matt and I headed back to a park we visited our first fall in Colorado, not long after it opened - Staunton State Park.

With nearly 4,000 acres and seemingly endless miles of trails, we could go back many more times to explore different areas of the park. The first time we went we hiked to the falls overlook and the trail to Elk Falls wasn't quite finished. This time, we wanted to get up close and person with the waterfall. And we did. The waterfall is quite beautiful but I'm sure at some points in the year it's just roaring!

This was our half-way point, so we took a break and enjoyed a snack and the view before starting back to the trailhead. We saw a good number of people along the trail, but we had this spot to ourselves.

Finishing out at 12 miles, the hike was a bit more strenuous and longer than we anticipated when we set out, but we were enjoyed every minute of it. The varied topography kept things interesting. The trailhead starts in a grassy meadow, you pass by and climb granite cliffs, hike along a stream and of course, sit next to a beautiful waterfall in a canyon.

It was a really nice day that we finished with a picnic lunch in the pavilion at the trailhead before heading back to Denver and collapsing on the couch.

What to know if you go:

• The park is only about 45 minutes from Denver.
• There's a $7.00 daily fee if you don't have an annual pass.
• The trailhead facilities are great and well taken care of, including port-a-potties, a great pavilion (available for rent) and plenty of picnic tables and grills.
• While most of the trails are multi-use - available for runners, hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians - there are several trails that are for hikers/runners only. 
• Here's the map you'll want; the gate keeper can also provide one when you arrive.
• Spring 2017, the park will begin offering the use of specialized all-terrain motorized trail that will allow disabled visitors the ability to enjoy the park. It's pretty incredible, read about it here.

If the weather's still warm where you live, how are you taking advantage of it? * What are your favorite snacks to take with you on a hike?

Hiking Staunton State Park

I haven’t been back on a bike yet but its been on my mind just about every day since I did. Hopefully soon!

This morning Woody and I hit the road (somewhat) early and headed to Staunton State Park near Pine, CO. Staunton is Colorado’s newest State Park having just opened in May of this year. While the park totals nearly 4,000 acres, the first 1,720 acres were bequeathed to the state of Colorado by a woman named Frances Hornbrook Staunton in 1986. It’s taken quite a while for the state to open the park as they needed to purchase additional land, create access to the park and create the wonderful trails that we were able to hike.

Many of the trails are wide to allow for hikers, runners, mountain bikers, dogs and horses. There is also rock climbing in this park, but only specific places with trail access. The beautiful park includes a waterfall, Elk Falls, which isn’t yet accessible via trail (it’s still being created) but through a series of trails and a round trip of a bit over 9 miles it’s possible to get to the Elk Falls Overlook, about 9,200 feet in elevation (although it seemed like a lot higher than that).

The trails are varied but heading out to the overlook most of the time you’re going up. And up. And up. Which, yes, makes sense. But some of it is pretty darn steep. By the time we were getting close to the trailhead on the way back my quads were yelling at me! Even Woody admitted that he was feeling it a bit!

The last 550 feet were pretty much straight up but the view was worth it. The trails were both shady and sunny, but the temperature was fairly cool in the mountains so it wasn’t horribly hot (while it was 93’ in Denver) but there was a pretty strong wind at the top which was very refreshing.

The State Parks system has done a great job publicizing the new park as it was fairly busy and we saw a lot of people – and dogs and horses – along the way. Thankfully there was a nice biker at the top who offered to take our picture!

We hung out at the top for a bit to enjoy the view then started the trip back down. The trip back was quicker than on the way out, and not just because I had no idea where we were going and what was ahead. While the rocky path was slightly difficult to navigate at some points in our old running shoes with no traction, it’s definitely faster to go downhill than up!

In all the hike took us about 3.5 hours. It was a great way to spend the morning and get outside in the fresh air. We definitely want to go back to explore a few of the other trails and check out the falls up close and personal when the Elk Falls trail opens.

What were the highlights of your weekend? * Do you prefer college or pro football? * Are you training for a fall race?