Weekend in San Luis Valley

A cold front had arrived in Denver.  With it came a clear message..."Summer is over." With a chill-blocking outer layer added, we boarded the Englewood (Malley) Recreation Center bus.  Destination, Alamosa, in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado.


Mountains of Rio Grande National Forest peek out of morning clouds as we head south on Rt. 17, to Medano-Zapata Ranch.

Boulder Lake

Since relocating to Colorado seven years ago, this hiker has experienced many trails, penned hundreds of pages of text describing those experiences and captured thousands of images in the back country.  Considering all those outings, this is one of my top three hikes...the others being The Loch (RMNP), and Eldorado Canyon...although a number of other trips remain favorites.

Today, on board were eleven members of the High Country Hikers group, one a newbie.  The normal morning rush hour traffic caused little delay before Ed was able to quicken the pace, moving us to the trailhead (TH) by mid-morning.