Devil's Head

Shh, don't tell work that I played hookie today. Well, it was a paid holiday, but I did sneak out to spend a beautiful morning hiking with Dave and the girls. We drove down through Sedalia and into Larkspur to hike to the top of Devil's Head lookout.

The weather could not have been more perfect-- it was upper 60s with clear blue skies. The girls appreciated it being a bit cooler. The trail was actually fairly busy with families and dogs. Both girls enjoyed all the ego-boasting comments from the hikers. We keep telling them to not let it get to their heads! :)

It was a little less than 1.5 miles up and a pretty decent 1000' climb. At the very end, it's 143 stairs to the lookout station sitting at 9748 feet. The stairs were the kind that had no backs and let's say, the height was enough to make you feel vulnerable. The girls showed no fear and handled them just fine.

They say you can see for 100 miles!

Once we got to the top, the heavy rain from last night had flooded part of the narrow path. Belle's first instinct was to climb the rock cliffs to avoid the water [which she didn't realize was NOT a safe option]. I ended up having to carry her through the water soaking both my shoes and socks. It was totally worth the view we were about to enjoy. [Note: Sequoia, of course, had no issues tramping through the water!]

Pikes Peak from Devil's Head lookout

This is Colorado's last manned fire lookout station and the man who lives here (Bill) hands out certificates of achievement to each visitor in between utilizing his binoculars to early-identify fires that break out. I cannot imagine living up here, but he's been doing it for over 3 decades! This was one of our favorite hikes yet this summer!