Cheyenne Canyon

Over the July 4th weekend I went for a little hike in North Cheyenne Canyon, a city park.

I liked this tree root growing out of the mountainside.

Of course I had my furry friends with me - here's little Laika ready to climb some stairs. They get so excited when they see me getting my hiking stuff ready!

Camera Critters

Pets Forever

Saturday's Critters

Shadow Shot Sunday

Mount Cutler

Mount Cutler is an easy early-season hike within the city limits. You can see the trail winding around the mountainside.

One of the side-paths goes to the top of this cliff.

Here is the view from the top of that cliff, looking towards the city.

Here's one from almost the same place as the previous photo, but looking in the other direction.

There's always lots of interesting plant life.

Trees will hang on anywhere!

This is my entry for Our World Tuesday - I love hiking in my part of the world.

Mount Cutler Views

I seem to be only posting recent photos this week, so here is another set, this time from a hike up Mount Cutler on the edge of Colorado Springs. I was playing tourist guide and this a nice hike to take guests on, and I thought the photos were perfect for Scenic Sunday.

There's a cliff that drops a few hundred feet straight down a few feet in front of me in that last one. After this we went to Garden of the Gods, but by then it was cloudy with very flat light, so I may not post those photos.

Mount Cutler Hike

I've got plenty more pictures of the DC area for future posts, but it's time for a return to Colorado for some pictures from a recent hike.

One of the city parks near the mountains is North Cheyenne Canyon, the same park in which I took the waterfall pictures back in May. Another hike in this park is Mount Cutler, which provides some excellent views. It's a short hike at about a mile each way, plus some extra hiking to get the best views.

The trail was very green due to all the thunderstorms we've had recently.

This footbridge is new since I was there - apparently part of the trail washed away so this was built.

There are some pretty rock formations along the trail.

I found the trees with their roots exposed picturesque. I wonder how some of them hold on, as the trail runs up the side of a steep canyon.

This view shows the eventual destination of the trail, on top of the cliff to the right, after it climbs behind it to get there.

Here's a section of the trail, showing how it's carved into the hillside with a sharp drop on the right hand side.

From an overlook you can see the plains and the city of Colorado Springs.

Here's a closeup of the famous Broadmoor Hotel from that same overlook.

From the top of the cliff I photographed earlier, here's a view of the trail, looking towards where I took the picture of the cliff.

And finally, a view taken from the ridge towards Seven Falls, which is one canyon over.

Mount Cutler Trail

This morning I went for a hike on the Mount Cutler trail, on the west side of Colorado Springs. The weather was overcast and misty but here are a couple of highlights.

At various points on the trail you can see the Seven Falls area off to the side.

I though the mountains fading into the mist was a lovely sight. Usually it's either very clear or thundering intensely, so we don't often see sights like this.

Finally, I managed to get a shot of a flying bird. I'm no bird expert but I suspect it's a hawk.