Wahatoya Trail

This week we decided to hike the Wahatoya Trail, the one we set out to hike two weeks ago, but didn't find. In reality, this week we hiked the road that leads to the trail head. I had read that we needed a high-clearance 4-wheel drive vehicle to reach the start of the trail. Our Chevy 2500 is that, but we really didn't want to take it on the road. Do you blame us, or are we chicken?



The scenery on the way to our parking spot is really beautiful.



As we hiked up the road, the first view point gave us this sight.



A little farther up (and I do mean up) the road, we were able to see one of the dikes that have developed in the area.



The forest along the trail is incredibly thick and diverse. All the trees appear healthy, unlike the one in Rocky Mountain National Park that I blogged about last month.



As we walked along the road we saw this smiley face. We decided to climb the small hill above it and see if it was leading us to an overlook. It was.



Isn't this a beautiful place to have lunch?



Along the way, we saw mushrooms and flowers.









It has been a very hot summer in Colorado and I am ready for it to cool down. But surely it isn't nearly fall, is it? I wonder what these yellow leaves mean.



After hiking over two miles up the road, we decided to turn around. We didn't know if the trail head was further up the road or if it was unmarked. But we were tired. A little way down the road, we encountered a jeep driving up. Obviously, we were still on the road. When we told him where we turned around, he said that was only about one-quarter of a mile from the Spanish Peaks Wilderness boundary and the trail head. Here is a view of the jeep rapidly going up the road.



The Spanish Peaks area is beautiful and we don't mind steep trails, though we prefer a few switchbacks, thank you. Next time we'll look for a trail that doesn't have an approach road over two miles long.