Carpenter's Climb

We continued work on our summer goal of seeing more of the state through hiking with a day-hike to the summit of Carpenter's Peak at Roxborough State Park. While this state park is just a mile down the road from our house, we had not yet done the 6.5 mile hike up to this peak. We knew it would afford much more gorgeous views than any of the other valley floor hikes in the park, so we were excited to spend our Sunday here.

The trail starts along the same path as the South Rim trail but as you leave the valley, it begins the 1000'+ climb towards the top of the foothills. About half way up, the grade flattens as you traverse from one peak to what eventually leads to Carpenter's Peak. The trail splits and joins up with the Colorado Trail (a 500+ mile trail going all the way to Durango) and also Waterton Canyon (a nice area we love to bike!).

Taking in the gorgeous views from Carpenter's Peak

We only saw a few other people during the hike, and were lucky enough to have the summit to ourselves. The views were better than expected. You could see the goregous evergreen-filled foothills looking west, the plains and Denver skyline north, and of course, the million-year red-rock formations (arrowheads) below.

View looking west from summit

We tried to spot friends houses within Roxborough Park before making the descent back to the valley floor. Other than a few deer and mice, we encountered no dangerous wildlife including those aggressive rattlesnakes. Oh! And we stayed together this time! :)

View of the arrowheads and downtown Denver from the summit

We're already trying to figure out what next hike to tackle off our list Hopefully the spectacular weather will continue for this coming weekend!