July 2, 2024
Yesterday I flew to Colorado to visit my parents. They live in New Castle, a fairly small community nestled in the western slope mountains about 60 miles west of Vail. It was a 3 hour drive from the Denver airport. We arrived at 9:30 pm. Scenery was beautiful on the drive and I looked forward to seeing their community in the light.
I woke up and got some pictures from the front yard followed by a few pictures in the back.
We went out the back door and up the hill to this little walking trail leading through the field. There are lots of patches of this white flowered Field Bindweed.
We walked to the other side of the field and through the neighborhood eventually ending at a golf course and cemetery established in 1888 when the town was Incorporated. From there, we turned around and headed back down into the neighborhood. The streets offer views along the golf course and down into Castle Valley to the east.
We returned back to the field that we originally entered from the backyard and continued West to Circle it. It continues to have beautiful views.
After hiking along some Rolling Hills, we hang a sharp left and go down a dry river gully lined with mature junipers and the lighter colored Big Sagebrush plant.
The gully drops us out at the community park where we can connect back to my parents house along an access road to their street completing just over 3 miles.
After a quick dip in the spa, rinse off shower, and lunch; my parents wanted some downtime so I hit the road to nearby trail named the Medaris Trail. It is visible from their front door. I walk a quarter-mile down the street and cross the street to a field with the mountains in front of me mount Madera just to the side. I walk along the backyard of some houses and I’m looking straight at what I am going to Climb as I reach the trailhead.
As I begin up the side of the Mount Medaris Trail, I can look down at Highway 70 and the Colorado river below. I looked the other direction. I can see my parents house I just came from.
I can’t pick up the exact species. This prickly pair is found higher up on this trail. They’re very small the size like you would see in your home on a windowsill
I am now on the upper Trail section of Medaris. It’s interesting, this mountain divides the community in half. On the north side is downtown and the business district on the south you have the housing community. In the distance you can see the park that was towards the end of my previous hike this morning.
My parents home sits on the edge of the brown field. It’s pretty cool. I walked out of the front door to start this hike.
From the top of Medaris I walked along the Ridgeline, which loops back and connects into the original trail which led up here. There is a split for a different trail, which I decided to take called the Salty Dalty it drops down onto the residential side of the mountain, circles around, and will climb back up to the top of Medaris on the opposite approach from which I came last time. From there, I will reconnect to the trail I just finished hiking at the top of Madera and I will backtrack the way I came up. It’s hard to see in the pictures, but this is a very steep section of Trail.
This picture of me at the jagged rock is above the trail, where I took a picture of this rock formation from below. In the next picture, you can see the trail as it comes around the bend with the roof in the background below it.
I’ve reached the top of West Medaris where there is a three trail junction. From here I’m going to cut back on the lower trail that I originally took to get here at the top on my first leg. I’m choosing the lower trail because it seems just a little bit longer than the ridge trail and I’m trying to get some miles in today.
I got down close to where I entered the dirt trail and wanted to go a little farther so I am hiking along a paved pathway that winds through this park dedicated to wildland hot shots. From that trail, I took a short road walk back to the house for a total of 3.8 miles with a lot of good steep uphill.
