A walk through the Boulder open space taking in six peaks, 22+ miles or so and many thousands of feet of vertical gain and loss. Nice way to kick off the season.

The Boulder foothills have their prime hiking this time of the year.

The wildflowers are in full bloom, the weather is not too hot and (hopefully!) the snow is gone from the higher foothills.

In years past, we have done a hike that connects the popular peaks of the Boulder’s open space system: S. Boulder Peak, Bear Peak, Green Mountain, Flagstaff, Anenome and Sanitas.  All told, about ~23 miles of hiking (if done as a loop) and many thousands of feet of elev. gain and loss. (Some GPS units or maps have 10k, some have as “little” as 8k.  Let’s call it 9k 🙂 )

This hike is a challenging and fun one that makes for a mini-adventure mere minutes from my home.

Continue reading Tour de Boulder at PMags.com.

Every year my friends and I do what we call the Boulder Super Slam.
A stroll of the Boulder foothills that is ~25 miles, 10k ft elevation gain and AYCE Indian food!!!

Not many scenic photos because this hike is about the goofiness with good friends while doing something that, let’s be honest, is just a bit daft. 

Why do we do this? Because I think it is cool to have a mini-adventure a mere minutes from my home. Because I like pushing myself. And I love doing it with friends on occasion. It is a great way to jump start the hiking season! 

Life ain’t bad…not at all.

All the photos can be found here…

Continue reading Boulder Super Slam 2010 at PMags.com.

For the third year in a row, we’ve done a tour of the Boulder Open Space on foot. It is a traverse of the Boulder sky line.

In 2006 and 2007, we called it the Boulder Grand Slam. Essentially doing the Boulder ridge line by taking in Sanitas, Anemone Hill, Flagstaff, Green Mountain, Bear and South Boulder Peaks. As measure by GPS, it is about 18 miles and 8400′ elev gain or so.

This year, we decided to up the ante and do the Boulder Super Slam. Besides the previous years’ ridge walking, we also did the Mesa Trail, climbed up to South Boulder Peak, hiked our way north and looped back around from Sanitas via a road walk to Chautauqua.

This loop hike ends up being about 25  miles and 10k ft elev gain in a day. A stiff little walk to say the least. A great way to shake the rust out and get ready for the hiking season.

Continue reading Boulder Super Slam 2008 at PMags.com.