Lost Creek Wilderness, Goose Creek Trail

I FINALLY got out hiking yesterday.  The past few months have been spent training for a marathon training so there has been little time for another else, hiking included. 
My friends knew Jeff was in St Louis for Father’s Day weekend so they asked if I wanted to go for a day hike with them.  I jumped at the opportunity and brought the best little hiker with us, Elle (Jay is too old for hiking so he was left at home).  We drove about 2 hours southwest of Denver to the Lost Creek Wilderness to hike the Goose Creek Trail.
The trailhead starts in an area that was affected by the June 2002 Hayman Fire that became Colorado’s 2nd largest fire in the state’s recorded history burning over 138,000 acres of land and 133 homes.  The terrain is now barren with charred trees.  It is interesting to see a naked mountain exposing many interesting rock formations.

Less than a mile into the trail you get to Goose Creek and all of a sudden you are in a normal lush forest that was unaffected by the fire.  This is where the majority of the hike was and we met up with another few friends that had set up camp to stay out there for the night next to the creek.  I wish I had my camping gear, it was the perfect camping spot next to beautiful “River Songs.”
The 5 humans and 2 dogs, Ernie the black lab and Elle the rat dog, headed out for our day hike.  We took a trail none of us had been on and we saw some awesome rock outcrops. I LOVED IT!  We even checked out some caves.

The top of the trailhead was on an expansive granite dome with more incredible rock formations. 
I was not familiar with this type of geology (plus I was a bad undergrad and didn’t listen to or retain much of the geology I was taught) and this only stirred my increasing desire to go back to grad school here in Colorado.  I would love to be able to identify all the types of geology to sound smart on hikes like this and impress my friends with things like “These granite dome formations were uplifted to the surface during the formation of this mountain and over millions of years is eroded into these concentric layers.”  Instead, when everyone asked “the geologist” questions and I just stood there like a turd and said things like “Well that rock is shaped like a dog” or “Big rock, must be granite.” 


Breathtakingly gorgeous!  So of course we set up various photo ops.
We then headed back to the campsite and rested our feet in the cold creek.
And finally back to the car to drive back to Denver.  I was exhausted by the time I got home, but what a great day! 
I can’t wait to continue exploring Colorado!!!!!