The Great Escape

For the past two Sundays, I explored the newly opened South Cañon Trails. As the name suggests, the trails are just south of Cañon City. Last Sunday, I did a hike in the upper section. I started my hike on a trail called Redemption at the Section 13 Trailhead on Temple Canyon Road. The trail was nice. Redemption led to a trail called Hard Time. I hiked the upper portion of Hard Time. It took me to another trailhead on Temple Canyon Road. I then walked up the road for about 10 minutes to get to another Trail. This one was called The Great Escape. It looped me back down to Hard Time and Redemption. The trail names are a bit goofy. It is a mountain bike thing I guess. Here are some pictures of one of the great views on The Great Escape Trail.

View to the Northwest from The Great Escape

View from The Great Escape.  Temple Canyon and Grape Creek below

Today, I started my hike at the Ecology Park which used to be an old dump. I worked my way across the county park and then onto BLM lands where the Hard Time Trail starts. The first part of Hard Time was a steady climb with some great views looking back on town.

Hard Time Trail.  Looking back on the City

Further up Hard Time.  Pikes Peak is visible.

Looking back at the Ecology Park that I crossed.

The trail had some technical stuff for the mountain bikers, but it is no big deal for those leaving just footprints. The trail contoured it way back to the area I was the previous weekend. I ended up hiking up The Great Escape Trail to the some of the great view points. After that, I retraced my hike back to my car. It was a good four hour hike today.

Temple Canyon, YMCA Mountain, & Pikes Peak from the Great Escape Trail

Looking back at the City on the Great Escape Trail