Mt Falcon beginner hike 1-25-14

We had a great beginner hike! Julia and Matt came up from C Springs to hike with us, and did a great job especially considering Julia was hiking for two. My sister Jenna, Evan, Gilbert, Lindsey, also joined Karen and I on a beautiful January morning.
We were all prepared for cold but quickly shed those layers as we started up the Turkey Trot trail. This 1.7 mile first leg climbs 1100 feet up to meet the Castle trail about half way to the top of the park. Turkey trot is a hiker only trail that is less steep than the Castle trail which we followed back down to the cars. All told we did just under three and a half miles in about two hours. A very reasonable hike, perfect for beginners.
The Mt falcon site has maps and directions to the trail head.
 Mt Falcon is just south of Red Rocks and has great views of the front rage and Hogback.

While coming down there is a section of trail that has been widening itself and has some wooden road blocks to keep hikers on one side so that the unused half of the trail can be reclaimed by nature. They were the perfect opportunity to have a little fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RohKkYe6GdQ


 Some of Hike Club's regulars can be on the young side, with youth comes exuberance and energy, sometimes they bounce. Us old farts try to keep the kids down through wit and sarcasm. Typically we mock them by jumping off rocks and yelling Parkour! It's more like that episode of The Office than the rest of the YouTube videos with the same name. I know its really stupid but you can't go viral if you don't try.


The Mt Falcon park was originally owned by  John Walker who had grand plans of building a Summer White House in the early 1900s. That plan never happened but he did build a huge house. After hiking the lower loop we drove to the upper parking lot and hiked out to see the remains of the stone foundation of his house. The trail form the upper lot to the Walker Home Ruins is about 1 miles round trip with very little elevation change. It's very worth the trip, I highly suggest it.