HIKING THE LOWER COLUMBINE TRAIL

We headed back to Colorado Springs to finish our exploration of the North Cheyenne Canyon area. Our hike was along the Lower Columbine Trail which was partially shaded on this warm summer day. The views looking upwards to the top of the canyon were inspiring.

If you look closely, you can see some small tower-like rock formations in the foreground with the rocky canyon wall in the background.

This is a particular example of just how steep the sides of the canyon are as the trail went right next to the rock. We could easily imagine the noise millions of years ago as the rock broke off to make this almost vertical side of the canyon.

Looking across the road we could see a group of tourists learning how to rappel down a rock wall. We did not sign up for this excursion.

The trail followed this stream most of the way. The sounds of the rushing water were almost tempting enough to take off our shoes and socks and cool our feet in the water.

We did spot many new wildflowers along this hike, beautiful late summer bloomers. Here is a Rocky Mountain Bee Plant,

Scarlet Bee Balm,

Fire Cracker,

Wild Geranium or Cranesbill,

Purple Coneflower,

Gay Feather,

Fleabane,

Brown Eyed Susan, and

Gum Weed.

This hike was nice in that the trail was fairly smooth with a gentle uphill trajectory, just strenuous enough to be good exercise. The shade gave us comfort from the warm blazing sun, even though we started before 10am.