​​In The Shadow of Longs Peak

Mesa Trail, South Trailhead
12 December 2022

Today, the skies overhead are cloud-filled but it was not cold for December, a good temperature for a short jaunt, starting at the south end of the Mesa Trail.

There are lots of cars at the trailhead but a few spaces are left.  I am surprised at how many cars there are on a Monday, but it is nearly lunch time so perhaps people are out for their lunchtime stroll and dogs can be off leash here on weekdays.  This is a fee area but we are fee-free since my car is registered in Boulder County.

We pull in, park, get ready and start walking.  The trailhead is well-marked and would be shaded if the sun were out.  We cross a footbridge that spans South Boulder Creek and stop to take a photo to the west.  It used to be that there was a tall tree on the north bank whose branches hung across the creek…but today all that is left is a stump.

Once over the footbridge, we are in open meadows filled with tawny and rust-colored grass and spotted with evergreens.  Scattered about are red rocks dotted with green lichen and surrounded by now dormant field grass awaiting the warmth and moisture of spring.  The hills move upward then begin their slope into the South Boulder Creek drainage and beyond is the vista of Marshall Mesa in the distance. 

The next landmark is the Doudy Homestead, a cool buff colored stone building.  . 

The road goes slightly uphill as it passes the cutoff for the Homestead Trail.  The main trail follows a wide switchback but there is a shortcut we take, a bit rougher but still easy.  There is a tree bent over that I unsuccessfully photograph along with a huge cairn constructed beside it.  We pop out at the far end and again are on the main trail, continue uphill and past the South Boulder Creek West Trail which forms the south branch of the Big Bluestem loop.  

The road curves just a bit and we turn off onto a cutoff, travel under the power lines, quiet today in calm winds,  and thru a gate to the junction with the Big Bluestem Trail.  

We turn back, stopping again at the footbridge to photo looking east.