While it’s often chilly by mid to late October in the high
mountains in Colorado, it’s often an ideal time for hiking in the foothills
between 5,000 and 8,000 feet altitude . While September is the best season for
aspens changing colors in the high country, the peak color season tends to be
in October in the foothills. In October I did several hikes in the Golden area
about 15 miles west of Denver because it was convenient and quite close to
where I often was at Red Rocks park to do “Boot Camp” on the stands with my
friend Jerad. Golden is quite a nice town itself, a real Old West type town
center in its own right that was an established town long before the Denver
area’s suburbs grew into it.

My friend Jerad likes hikes he can do with his dog Luke.
Since he works in the Golden area he’s familiar with the trails, and we decided
on the Apex Trail for a Saturday afternoon hike. It’s essentially an old
stagecoach trail from Golden into the hills west of town towards the gold
mining communities in Clear Creek County (so not particularly steep). That’s
important, since Luke doesn’t like steep trails much more than I do.

On another morning after Red Rocks “Boot Camp” I decided to
explore more of the town of Golden including the “Taj Mahal” the opulent
Jefferson County government center that was so expensive when it was built in
the 1980s that all the county commissioners who voted for it later got voted
out of office. It looks more like a posh corporate headquarters office with a
lushly planted multi-story atrium than the typical drab government office
building . I actually got to go in once back in the mid-1990s when I worked for
the legislature and did criminal justice-related analyses and forecasts.

On another morning I drove out to Golden Gate Canyon State
Park in the foothills north of Golden, a little bit too high in altitude for
many aspens to still have leaves, but at the lower White Ranch Open Space, the
aspens were still gorgeous as were the views over the plains. The five mile
loop hike through open pine woodland and grasslands is one of the nicest in the
foothills.

Finally, one Sunday afternoon I checked out the Dinosaur
Ridge Trail. I had heard about Dinosaur Ridge but didn’t realize how accessible
it actually is, the ridge that runs south from I-70 just west of the C-470
interchange. It gets its name from the dinosaur fossils that have been found
there whose story is on display in its visitor center.