Last week I went out and bought a hiking guide of 40 hikes with in an hour of Denver and Boulder. I plan to do them all!
Hike # 1 was a 6 mile, relatively flat hike in Rocky Mountain
Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. Yep, it's exactly what it sounds like. It use
to be a weapons cash for World War II. Then the animals took over and well, now
it's a place where you can fish, hike and explore, all within a short drive of
Denver. It took us 25 minutes to get there from Westminster and it was well
worth the drive.
Before heading
out, Christian and I had our own share of concerns. The first concern was would
it be interesting, the second was if we were heading out too late in the day.
The third one was it's proximity to Commerce City (would it smell?). Our
adventurous side took over and we went anyways! The hiking guide did say it was
a "gem" after all.
When driving into
the refuge, I started doubting our enthusiasm. It didn't look all that
interesting and the entrance was surrounded by old wire security fencing. Then
I saw the lakes (I am a sucker for lakes).
We arrived at 10
am and hiked until 12. We covered a little under 6 miles of hiking, which
includes frequent photo breaks and animal watching. It was a mellow hike with
very little elevation gain or loss and the trails were very well maintained. We
hiked the Prairie Trail, Woodland Trail, and the Rod and Gun Club Trail.
Unfortunately the D Street Trail, Havana Ponds Trail and Ladora Trail were
closed while we visited.
As far as for our
concerns, the hike was very interesting and relaxing. We first crossed a long
bridge over Lake Mary where we passed numerous families fishing. The sound of
children's laughter could be heard for at least a quarter mile. Then we had the
trails to ourselves until close to the last half mile. We also saw two deer,
two raccoons (an adult and a young one), a few hawks and some
swans. Butterflies were everywhere!
Did we arrive too late? Maybe. It was hot (it was late July after all) but because of when we
were there, bugs weren't a problem. I came home bug bite free! I would like to
see it in early morning because I think we'll see more wild life then, but I'll
be loading up on the bug spray when I do.
Did it smell? Only
of fresh air. While Commerce city is only a few miles away, we couldn't smell
it at all. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought we were miles and
miles away from civilization.
BEES - There were tons of flowers and therefor tons of bees. As someone who is paranoid about getting stung, I was able to avoid them all by watching out for big bushes and staying on the opposite side of the trail.
Overall - I thought this was a great day hike. You could also make it shorter or longer, depending on your time frame. I would recommend this trail for families with young kids, older adults and couples who want to spend some quality time together while still being active. As far as teenagers go, unless they love nature and exploring, I'd leave them at home for this. There aren't too many "WOW" moments that will compare to the text messages they'll be receiving on their iphone.
And of course - more pictures!
Rayna McGinnis is a wedding and portrait photographer. In her free time she also does adventure photography. She is an avid climber, exercise science and nutrition student and a cat lover.
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