Super-fantastic Journeys

 Ivywild Kitchen is one of seven food venues available in the Ivywild School.  The Iveywild School serves great pub food to accompany your drinks from the Bristol Brewing Pub located just down the hall of this revived elementary school.  The menu offers a nice collection of shareables, chicken sandwiches, and burgers.  We looked at all the eatery options and this was the one that called to us during our first visit to Iveywood School. We ordered the Bacon and Blue burger as our main item.  This burger was the perfect size burger and full of flavor.  The blue cheese was subtle and added to the burger but allowed the caramelized onion and house sauce to shine.  I was nicely surprised at the flavor combinations when eating the burger.  The burger is served on a potato bun which held up to the burger well and tasted great. We shared our burger so that we could try some other menu items, so they were nice enough to cut it in half for us.  This was a really good burger. With our burger, we g

Roxborough State Park is located just 40 minutes from Denver and is designed to preserve the natural beauty of this area of red rock formations.  The park focuses on making a minimal impact on the land while preserving the area and providing habitat for birds and other wildlife.  The park has 3, 339 acres of property.   The park has a small visitor center that provides a few displays about the wildlife and ecosystem in the area. The visitor center is a great place to start your journey and provides guests with restroom facilities.  There is a central courtyard at the visitor's center which is well-designed and is a nice place to sit before or after enjoying one of the hikes in the park. Most of the park is accessible by hiking paths that explore different portions of the park. Many other activities are not permitted in the park including mountain bikes and horseback riding.  There are nin different trails in the park to explore, for 12.54 miles of hiking available. Hiking the Fount

South Valley Park is an open space park in Jefferson County Colorado.  Consisting of 995 Acres this park sits in a unique valley on the west side of a rock uplift called the Hogback.  The park has numerous red rock formations similar to the rocks at Red Rocks Amphitheater or Garden of the Gods, just smaller.  There are two separate parking lots at the park.  The north lot is large and has lots of space, while the south parking spot is smaller but still has a good number of spots.  Restrooms are available to hikers at both parking lots.  The upper parking area also has picnic spots available after your hiking journey. There are 7.7 miles of Trail available in the park.  The trails create a variety of different loops of varying lengths.  Most of the trails in the park are rated as easy with a few sections that are rated moderate because of the increased steepness.  All Trails has eight different trails listed for this open-space park.  Connector trails also connect this park to other ope

After 27 years away from the Denver area, we are headed back home to be able to explore the great outdoors and do what we love best.  We have moved to Wisconsin, Oregon, Washing, and Texas in pursuit of a career, and after 33 years I am pleased that we can take a giant leap of faith and get back to the state and community that is the best fit for us. I am looking forward to hitting the trail and have set a goal to hike 100 new trails in the remainder of 2023.  If the route is plotted out on All Trails then I will count it.  Some of the trails will take us high up into the Rocky Mountains, while others may be more urban trails in open spaces and parks around the city.  Hiking is my number one outdoor pursuit.  I like to be out enjoying the outdoors, being self-reliant and focused on my surroundings.  Hiking can be challenging at times and you have to overcome some tough moments, but it allows you to really connect with the environment like nothing else. As we return I am also looking fo

 Bridges are an amazing engineering marvel.  The desire to get from one side to another has caused humankind to span some pretty amazing gorges, rivers, and other natural wonders.  Bridges can be attractions in themselves as you are traveling across the United States.  This made me curious to learn what are the 10 highest bridges in the United States, and how many have I been across. Let's Look at the Top 10: 1. Royal Gorge Bridge - Colorado - Crossed It At a height of 955 feet, the Royal Gorge Bridge is more of a tourist attraction than a bridge that is used for the purpose of transportation.  It is located near Canon City, Colorado, and spans the Arkansas River below. It was actually the highest bridge in the world when I visited it in my youth, a title it held until 2001 when it was surpassed by the Liuguanghe Bridge in China.  The bridge is a suspension bridge and the span length is 1, 260 feet.  A steel structure holds wood planks that make up the deck.  It was completed in No

Georgetown is an old gold mining town located less than an hour from downtown Denver.  Growing up in Colorado, Georgetown was just one of the small towns you drove by while going somewhere else.  Now Georgetown is a great place to visit and use as a base camp for more exploring in the area.  The town of Georgetown has changed over the years in a very positive way but has maintained a lot of its old mountain charm. Georgetown is known for the Victorian houses built here back in the 1800s, and many of them are still standing and well maintained.  Many of the yards are full of flowers during the summer, making for a beautiful town to explore. Where I Stayed Microtell Inn & Suites 2190 Argentine St. Georgetown, CO 80444 720-741-8989 Website Service: ✮✮✮✮✮ Rooms: ✮✮✮✮ Cleanliness: ✮ ✮✮ ✮ ✮ Amenities: ✮✮✮ Microtel Inn & Suites George Town - Photo from Wyndham Hotels The Microtel Inn & Suites is a new property in Georgetown and sits on the west end of Lake Georgetown.  I was nicel

Distance: 4.1 Miles Trail Type: Out and Back Elevation Gain: 1066 feet Difficulty: Moderate All Trails Map I grew up hiking on this trail and made my most recent visit here in July 2021.  This is one of my favorite trails in the area.  The trail is a great length and has some elevation gain to it allowing you to spend much of the hike above the tree line.  This provides you with some great views of the surrounding mountain ranges and the lakes that dot this valley.   The road to get to the parking area has been greatly improved and is easy to navigate with any vehicle, just take your time.  The trailhead is clearly marked and has a decent size parking area available, however, I am sure that it can fill up quickly on the weekends. The hike begins in the forest and rises gently up to the first lake along the journey.  Naylor lake is a good size lake and a side trail takes you up to it.  Naylor lake will provide you with many scenic views as you continue to climb up the valley. Depend

Distance: 8.1 Miles Trail Type: Lollipop Elevation Gain: 3622 feet Difficulty: Difficult All Trails Map For those wanting to climb to two of the highest points in the state of Colorado, Grays and Torreys are a popular way to summit two 14ers in one day.  This is a popular location for hiking and can have a lot of people on the trail.   From Interstate 70 you will take Stevens Gulch Road to the trailhead.  It is three miles from the highway to the trailhead but the road is rough.  It is best to have a 4WD with ground clearance, but 2WD with enough clearance can make it.  We took a 2019 Toyota highlander to the trailhead and made it without scraping anything.  The parking lot at the trailhead can fill up early, as many hikers start before sunrise.  The alternative is to park in the lower lot, but this will add 6 miles to your total hike. We started hiking at about five in the morning and did the first mile or so with our headlamps.  The trail crosses a stream and begins a steady clim