I’ve hiked Button Rock (to Longmont Dam) trail a few times. I’ve hiked the Hall Ranch trails a few times as well, heck I even biked it once (whew!). There is a trail that connects them both that I have always wanted to explore and have felt it was too long for me to do in a single day.
Over the past 6 months Conor and I have pushing my boundaries each time with longer distances, higher climbs, etc. This hike was scheduled to be about 7 miles which was just inside my ‘range’. With a smaller elevation change I did 10.5 miles a few weeks back, but this new one was going to test my a bit more, especially with my back acting up more this past week.
The Nighthawk trail bridges the Button Rock and Hall Ranch trails. It is a hiking-only trail (no bikes) venturing through some very scenic foot hills just above Lyon’s CO. We first had to hike about 2 miles of Button Rock to get to the junction to Nighthawk, and this proved to take the most time. Not because it was the 2 miles in which we gained all 1000 ft in altitude, but because this is the first hike we both have our cameras and the flowers were just coming out of ‘hibernation’. We moved at a snail’s pace photographing anything with color. So slow in fact, that by the time we reached the junction, we were easily a hour behind our schedule.
Just as we reached the junction, and with still more than 5 miles to hike, the snow began to fall… just enough to make it interesting. We continued on and found a wonderful trail up ahead, with outstanding views and features to keep you occupied the entire way. And, as it turned out, Conor’s calculation of 7 miles was off just ever so slightly. We passed the 7th mile, and the 8th, and only then did we near the end of the trail for a total of 8.5 miles.
My legs and feet were screaming out, but I made it and it was worth it. Again, Conor pushes me to try things outside my envelope. It took 2 days for my legs to recover, but that is not such a big deal. In fact, I’d like to go back out there to take some additional pictures. Once the snow started falling we had put away the cameras and started humping it so many pictures just did not get taken.
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