Exploratory Ski – Golden Gate Canyon State Park

A last minute work project came up that went until almost 12:30 AM this past Saturday.

Too keyed up from working five hours straight, I perhaps went to bed later than I should have.

As such, I slept in a bit. But I still wanted some outdoor time.

But where to go? That also would not be too far away. I’ve been to the usual places many times, and I knew they would be very busy. I70 was going to be a mess. And it turned out that RMNP was mostly shut down for the day.

Then I thought of a place that is now about half an hour closer to me since I moved: Golden Gate Canyon State Park.

With the recent snow storm we had, I figured the higher foothills that make up this park should have snow.

I was delighted to go there.

Less than forty-five minutes from my door to a trailhead, no traffic, no congestion of having to drive through Boulder, no parking hassles and only a handful of people.

There is usually not quite enough snow in the park for a ski tour.

I saw a fair amount of snowshoe tracks. But I made the only ski tracks.

But this time there was enough.

And it was quite nice.

Looking west to the divide. Staying lower may have been wise after all.

About four hours of bliss.

Being so close to where I now live, at least one more winter trip or two will have to be done there.

My version of a post-ski coffee shop snack. At the trailhead.

Note: I was lazy on this trip and just used my phone for pics.