The Cathy Johnson Trail

Take a look at my Mountain Man!

My husband and I recently walked a trail in our community called the Cathy Johnson Trail, that traverses a portion of the Ken Caryl Ranch Metropolitan District Open Space.

The Cathy Johnson Trail is open to the public and was dedicated in 1993 to the woman who worked towards the purchase and preservation of the South Hogback area, as Protected Open Space, to conserve it for the benefit of the people, plants, and wildlife of the area.

If you click on the photo above and then click on it again to open it full size, you can see, outlined in red, the full trail path is 2.1 miles in one direction. We began our hike at the NW corner at Valley Road, and walked to the end and then double backed to the beginning for a total 4.2 miles.

The trail begins at a slight uphill climb situated in a narrow valley between the Dakota and Lyons Hogbacks. You can see tire ruts on the trail, as the local Park Rangers use this trail as a road when needed, but it is mainly used for hiking, biking, and horseback riding.

The trail soon begins a gradual 400 feet downhill descent. You can see a bike rider in the distance.

On one side of the trail is the Dakota Hogback.

A hogback is a geological term for a natural ridge with steep sides formed by dipping strata. The name comes from the ridge resembling the high, knobby spine between the shoulders of a hog.

We saw lots of nooks and crannies in the hogbacks which would be perfect hiding spaces for...

...rattlesnakes! 

That is one of the reasons we stay on the trails and don't go exploring in the wild. We also carry a walking stick with us; not only does it help when we are on a vertical climb, but it also gives us a feeling of protection in case we did see a snake on the trail! Luckily, we did not see any at all.

The other side of the trail is the Lyons Hogback, which is lined on this side with thickets of shrubs, trees, and evergreens.

A nice shaded bench alongside the trail.

At one point, the Cathy Johnson Trail trail splits off to the Columbine Trail. The Columbine Trail climbs upward towards the crest of the Lyons hogback and connects to South Valley Park. That trail will be a hike for us to complete in the future.

Obviously, the trail that gradually descended in one direction gradually ascended 400 feet on the hike back! I am still working on getting my body to make these climbs without needing to stop and rest. After walking my entire life on flat ground at sea level, all the hills in my high altitude area are still a challenge for me.  Hopefully, that will change with time.

Click on photo to enlarge.

One nice way to rest along the way, however, is to take photos of the wildflowers I see! There are so many flowers I have to learn about, and I found an excellent online Eastern Colorado Wildflower resource.  Considering that most of Colorado is a high desert climate, there is no shortage of the hardy flowers that grow here.  

My husband and I feel very fortunate that we have so many local trails to hike and explore. It is turning two former "city slickers" into nature lovers. As one blog friend recently said to me: "Pat, you are turning into Heidi!" That's OK! I always loved that story/movie as a child, and to be living that kind of life now at this time in my life is very exciting to me!

Before I end this post I want to know if there are any RUSH fans among my readers? My husband was sweet enough to treat me to tickets to see both Andrea Bocelli (click here) and Josh Groban (click here) for my birthday, so I treated him on Father's Day to tickets for us to see RUSH perform at the Denver Pepsi Center last week.  He was thrilled, as he saw one of the beginning dates of their "Clockwork Angels" tour at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY last year. If you'd like to hear two popular songs that RUSH performed at the concert we attended click through to my blog's facebook page at this link to hear "Tom Sawyer," and on this link to hear "Subdivisions." I have to admit I got caught up in the excitement of the music and really enjoyed their three-hour show!