DAWSON BUTTE OPEN SPACE TRAIL

We are lucky to be living in a place where many hiking trails are close by.  The Dawson Butte Trail is located just 3 miles from the campground and is one of the best ones we have experienced. The five mile loop trail travels through mostly forested areas with open meadows filled with wildflowers and views of the Front Range Mountains. There is also a bridle path that includes over 60 horse jumps.

We have made it a point to only include wild flowers that we have not shown in previous blogs over the years. This trail provided a smorgasbord of new flowers. First, Silver Lupine plants.

Dwarf Lupine flowers.

Blue Flax flowers.

This dead tree appears to be home to some woodpeckers. Look at all the holes in the tree.

The "Woodpecker Tree" from a different angle with Dawson Butte in the background.

Geyer Larkspur. We had no idea the town we are living near for this summer is the name of a flower.

Western Spiderwort.

This large rock appears to be lava frozen in time. We thought the "flow" of the rock surface looked like lava.

We enjoyed this view of Dawson Butte from the lowest point of the trail. You can see the Ponderosa Pine trees, Douglas Fir trees and the scrub oak. Obviously, this is common in this part of Colorado.

Looking the opposite way we could see the town of Larkspur nestled in the valley. 

This Trogopogon Dubius flower was about three inches in diameter. It does look like a dandelion plant but was much larger.

These Scarlet Bugler flowers were the only red flowers along our hike. We were impressed by the vivid red color.

The trail has begun to wind back towards the trail head. Dawson Butte has a soft white cloud behind it that looks like a feather laying on top of the butte.

These Yellow Stonecrop were vibrant in color.

Perhaps the most colorful flower was this Canadian Thistle Flower.

Butter 'n' Eggs flower. We thought this was a clever name for a flower but you can easily imagine sunny side up fried eggs with the yellow yolk, except in miniature.

Finally, Standing Milkvetch flowers.

We shared this five mile trail with many horseback riders. In fact, when we got back to the trailhead, there were only 7 cars in the parking lot while there were a dozen pick-up trucks with horse trailers attached. We did see parts of the horseback trail with the jumps for the horses. Not being equestrians, we can only assume this is one way the riders can exercise the horses.

Even though this trail is named the Dawson Butte Trail, it does not lead to the top of the butte. The trail looped around the butte and we were able to enjoy spectacular views along these five miles. The weather stayed dry, which has not been the norm so far this summer. The temperature probably was about 80 degrees when we finished the hike around noon.