When I returned to Colorado in September 2008 it had been
more than three and a half years since I was last in the state I considered
home . That last time back was relatively brief too, somewhat over two months in
the winter of 2004-05 literally camping out in the house I owned in Highlands
Ranch I was selling at the time. My time in the state, though, was actually
rather limited after I quit my last full-time job in the area in June 2001 to
go to Africa. After that I worked in Chicago for over a year and then began
traveling extensively both based at my parents’ house in New Jersey and working
in the Middle East for a year as a trip leader for a British adventure travel
company. Thus, when I got back in 2008 it was approximately seven years since I
truly resided in Colorado for more than a few weeks or months at a time.

One thing I missed most about Colorado was the mountains and
the hiking and skiing. In the weeks after I made the decision to return and
then during the drive west I kept thinking about hikes to do when I got there,
late September and October being some of the best hiking because of the cooler
temperatures, lower thunderstorm risk in the mountains, and the color of the
changing aspens . I also contacted friends I hadn’t seen in years about getting
together and met a few people online for some hiking “dates”. Colorado is one
of the few places where people regularly go on a hike or do some other kind of
outdoor activity on a “first date”.

Anyway, I managed to plan out two day hikes on the weekend
after I arrived back in Colorado. The first one was on Saturday and was the
trail to Arapaho Glacier and South Arapaho Peak in the Indian Peaks Wilderness
west of Boulder. Glaciers in Colorado? There actually are a few small ones. Well,
I had heard of Saint Mary’s Glacier and I used to think that was it. Having
lived in Boulder for several years, I’m not sure why I never hiked the trail to
Arapaho Glacier, the largest in Colorado, when I lived there. Somehow I missed
it.

Well, that made the hike one of the top ones on my list on
my return for day trips near Denver. The trail starts at a place called Fourth
of July trailhead at the end of a winding forest service road at about 10,200
feet and climbs steeply upwards over 2,500 feet in altitude to the glacier
overlook between North and South Arapaho Peaks at 12,700 feet . That’s not an
especially difficult or high hike by Colorado standards, at least not for
someone who’s often climbed over 4,000 feet on a hike to summit a Fourteener.
For a first hike back in Colorado, though, after so many years based in the
lowlands, it was very strenuous.

Somehow I forgot how spectacular Colorado scenery can be
between the gold of the aspens in fall, the blue skies, the barrenness of the
alpine tundra above about 11,500 feet, the scent of the evergreen forests, and
from the overlook at the top of this trail even a glacier! It was a significant
challenge and a wonderful day in the great outdoors for my first trip back to
Colorado.

The hike took me a little longer than I had anticipated (I
tend to be a bit of a slowpoke on the trail) and I arrived somewhat late for
dinner at my friend Myra’s house in Superior. I’ve known Myra for about 15
years when we lived parallel lives working as legislative staff in the state
capitol in Denver, living in the same apartment complex, and going to the same
gym. That’s long enough that I jokingly call her “the wife”. The last time we saw
each other was at least four years earlier because she was living in San Diego
when I was last in the state.

For our Sunday hike together she chose something a little
less strenuous, the hike to Lost Lake, also in the Indian Peaks Wilderness and
not far from Eldora ski area . The trailhead for the hike is at 9,000 feet and
the elevation gain on the way to Lost Lake less than 800 feet – child’s play
even for a lowlander! It’s also a hike Myra’s canine son Prince could enjoy
with us. It is again another one of those hikes that’s very accessible from
Boulder that I never undertook when I lived there. I think we timed it just
about right for peak aspen color – the golden hues were some of the best I
think I have ever seen. And we weren’t alone; I think the Front Range has
become even more crowded with Sunday drivers and hikers on nice weather
weekends than it ever was before.

It’s somewhat of a tradition in Colorado to finish a day of
outdoor activity with a stop at one of the state’s numerous microbreweries,
something I was eager to do because they just aren’t very common in New Jersey
where I’ve been based for a few years. Luckily there’s one in Nederland, the
main crossroads town in the mountains of Boulder County about 17 miles up
Boulder Canyon from Boulder . The beers and burgers at the Wild Mountain
Smokehouse and Brewery were superb. This is another thing I’ve missed about
Colorado for all these years!