Enchanted Mesa Trail, Ridgway State Park, CO, 5/24/15

View of the mesa as we finished the climb up from the campground.  This trail is 2.5 miles long and follows Ridgway Reservoir. It is a trail runner's dream: 5 miles round-trip on a wide, level trail with wondrous views to boot.

This is our fourth visit to the Orvis Hot Springs in Ridgway and we hiked Dallas Creek trails, at the southern end of the park, on a previous visit to Ridgway, but did not discover the Enchanted Mesa trail until day. 

Reservoir dam at the start of the hike (starting from the Pa-co-chu-puk campground along the Umcompahgre river.)

Marina at the end of the trail. I will be sure to make time for a 5-mile run on my next visit to Orvis Hot Springs.

Red Canyon State Park, Denver, CO, 3/29/15

We had a late start, as I insisted on spending the morning at IKEA.  When we finally got to our chosen trail head, snow and ice on the trail made us turn back.  (I left our Yak tracks in Albuquerque :) We noticed this enticing State Park on our way and decided to give it a try.

 It was a beautiful, warm spring day and climbers, hikers, walkers and strollers were out en masse.

 The first part of the stroll meandered through a canyon with steep walls, a climber's dream.

 And then eased into rolling meadows.

Not a bad for a Sunday afternoon stroll...