Twice If You’re Lucky

Two posts in one weekend. That hasn’t happened in a while. It was another nice day in Colorado, but that will change on Monday. With Sunday being nice and with me wanting to try something new again, I hiked to the top of Tanner Peak in the Wet Mountains. Tanner Peak has an elevation of around 9340 feet. I’ve seen three different elevations for it. I’ll go with the one in the middle. The bad thing about this hike is that ATV’s are allowed on the trail. I saw four ATV’s on my hike. They were noisy, smelly, and loud. Two of them just drove up to a scenic spot to shoot their guns in the National Forest and leave a mess. It surprises me that the Forest Service still allows ATV’s here; however, I did know that ATV’s were allowed before I went to the trailhead so the damage that was left is not a surprise. I heard that Tanner Peak was a scenic hike, and I was not disappointed there. On the way up, there were some great views of Pikes Peak and Cañon City. The top of the peak opened up to a grand view of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. By the time I got to the top, clouds had moved in and it started getting cold. I did not spend too much time on top. I needed to head down. The hike was a little longer than I expected, and I wanted to get back before it got dark. I did. Here are the pictures.



The trail





Pikes Peak and Cañon City




On top of Tanner Peak with a view of the Sangre de Cristo Mtns.



Me and the southern view from Tanner Peak



Another view of Pikes Peak and Cañon City on the way down.

Out Of Touch

It has been a while since my last post. I haven’t done any new hikes lately. They have all been repeats. Well that changed on Saturday. I went for a hike on Thompson Mountain. The trails where I went for a hike are located off of Highway 11 southwest of Cripple Creek on some BLM land. The weather was outstanding. I wore shorts on this hike. The only people I saw were four horseback riders at the halfway point of the lollypop route that I took. They came up a different route so I only followed their hoof prints for about a quarter of a mile. The only other prints I saw besides mine were from the critters. It was quite nice. Here are the pictures.



A view of Pikes Peak





The trail near Thompson Point





Sangre de Cristo Mountains





I believe that is Cap Rock on the horizon



My car is in the valley below those cliffs.