The day started a little bit differently than I had originally planned. I knew that a trail terminated near the Sundance Trail Guest Ranch across from the James C. Kennedy Mountain Campus – University of Denver. What I didn’t know was that the trail terminated at private property.
When I arrived at what I thought was the road to a trailhead, there was a gate to keep the horses on the guest ranch. I almost turned around, but a lady was walking up to the gate, so I just decided to say hello. I got to talking with her. They had only bought the property a couple of weeks ago, and she invited me to park at their lodge and go hiking.
Unsurprisingly, the trail has been primarily used by horses from the ranch.
After I hiked for a while, I did come across the remnants of what was probably once a ranch. There was a water trough and a few posts left from a fence that headed into what is now a little aspen grove.
About a mile from the dude ranch, I intersected with Forest Service Trail 991, or the Granite Ridge Trail, which is the trail I had been on last week, and had gone to a couple of little ponds, and I wanted to come at them from the other angle.
And I was also curious.
We’ve had this rain and snow over the last week or so. Did it make any difference up here?
It is so brutally dry this year that anything is welcome, but I was hoping that at least parts of the forest would be getting pounded by more rain and snow than I was seeing at my mom’s house.
Where the trail from the guest ranch intersects Trail 991, there was actually a really cool rock formation that I would be tempted to go climb on if it wasn’t for a desire to get some miles knocked out.
I saw these last time I was hiking. I’m not 100% sure what they are, but I’ll probably go research it when I get back. It looks like the Forest Service is setting up to fight wildfires.
Basically, these tubs are filled with water so that if there are small fires, they can come in here relatively easily and put them out, like one from a lightning strike.
It’s just kind of weird to see the hoses running throughout the trails and then coming across these various tubs of water.
When I made it to the pond, I pulled up the old picture that I’d taken a few weeks ago, and it doesn’t look like the water level has changed at all in here, even though we’ve had some snow and rain.
Quite a bummer.
It is way too dry here in the forest this year.
I headed to the same rock I had relaxed against on my last visit to this spot, and enjoyed a granola bar. I was really hoping it would give me more energy. I’ve let myself get way out of shape staying with my Mom.
The bar did provide a bit of a boost, but it may have been the half-hour or so I just sat, listening to the sounds of the forest and enjoying the solitude of nature.
There was absolutely no need to do any route finding or search for the trail, as the fire hose would lead me almost back to the trail that breaks off from 991 to head to the guest ranch.
Not far from the pond was a rock formation that seemed to offer spectacular views. Unfortunately, my legs were a little bit rubbery, and I needed to start pounding out the miles back to the jeep.
Of course, I had to stop in the forest for a quick selfie. And to highlight that fire hose running along the trail.
The end of the trail is always a little bit of a mixed bag.
At this point, I’m tired.
I’m ready to get in the Jeep and to get home to put my feet up.
But there’s always a little bit of melancholy about leaving the forest, especially after a day like today, where I have been completely and totally alone
