After riding six very enjoyable miles down from the Bunny's Lair, I was really in the mood for more. It was still early in the day, the sun was shining, and I only felt a little tired. Mount Falcon Park wasn't far away and was directly on my route back home from the Bear Creek Trail.
Each of the trails I had ridden this weekend was in a Jefferson County Open Space Park. Information is available on each at the Jefferson County website. Here's a link to the Mount Falcon Park description.
The parking area for Mount Falcon was already overflowing when I arrived sometime around 10:30 a.m. Of course, it's not a really large parking lot, so it didn't strike me as being so crowded that there would be no space for me on the trail. It was a bit of zoo, though, with all the hikers and bikers and cars going up and down the entry road. I guess lots of people wanted to go for an Easter Sunday stroll or roll through the mountains. I was able to park in a line of cars along the side of the entry road. I took my time getting ready to ride, taking a few photos and spending some time on the phone with Cindy and the kids.
There was more of that awesome tilted sandstone down near the entry to Mount Falcon Park.
I hadn't given much thought to which trail I was going to ride, I just picked this park based on the existence of a trail and it's proximity to my first ride of the day. The fact that it climbs 1400 ft in less than three miles according to my guide book never really crossed my mind. The trail starts out in the meadow you can see in the picture above. A very well used and somewhat entrenched trail zigzags through small hills of very red dirt. Water bars, each constructed with a log or thick board cut into and perpendicular to the trail are positioned at very high frequency, maybe every 50 feet in places, giving evidence of the high usage and high maintenance requirements of this trail.
OK, so I really kind of enjoy crossing logs and climbing water bars. My Santa Cruz Nickel seems very well balanced for this sort of thing, and I look forward to climbing up just about anything that will clear my big chain ring. So it caught me a little off guard as I was ascending one of the first tall water bars and my rear wheel spun on the dusty wood. When my wheel spun, I lost my balance, and fell to my right. On my right. It happened quite quickly, and while I easily unclipped my left foot from my pedal, my weight was such that I did not get my right foot out to stop my fall. It was an easy and slow fall, but the unforgiving pile of rocks I landed on was neither smooth nor soft. It cost me some skin, and it cost my Nickel some white paint. Together we quickly jumped up and started riding again with the same philosophy I've mentioned before: getting up quickly, mounting the the bicycle, and starting to ride again helps reassure me or trick me into thinking that I'm not hurt. Why does a crash like that seem to take such an energetic toll? So much that seems physical must be mental.
And then the trail started to climb. Check out the Garmin log. Once it started climbing it didn't stop. One guy even passed me on the way up, but he was on a 29er. If I'd been on 29er, I'd have been moving twice as fast and using half the energy! There was another rider, also on a 29er, that I sort leap-frogged with for quite a while near the top when I was really getting tired and taking a periodic pause to rest. But the scenery was really nice, so I enjoyed those pauses.
The picture below didn't come out so great, as photos go, but it shows that line of hogbacks pretty well off in the distance. I'm not sure why I'm so fascinated with those, but there's something really earthy and powerful about geologic forces.
Once the climbing was done, the trail became wide and smooth and quite civil. This was to me a surprise. There were people everywhere. Moms with strollers, kids on bikes. Had they pushed those strollers up the that incline? Had I struggled up this trail to arrive at the mall? No, of course not. There is another parking lot up on top, near Mount Falcon, where there's a big wide flat ridge (there's probably a better more geologically correct name for it) that's a perfect place for a reasonably easy walk at 7500 feet. It was a really nice park. Definitely worth another visit with the whole family.
Also up on top is the remains of this castle! Built by a fella' name o' Walker, back in the early 1900s. It burned down in 1918. I used have a 1918 Nickel. Now I've got a 2010 Nickel. One a coin, one a bicycle. I should get a 2010 nickel and glue it to my 2010 Nickel. Whatever. There's more info on Walker's castle at the park website.
A little further up the trail was this lookout, providing fabulous views of the mountains to the west, and probably a good place to hang out if it's raining. Though maybe not if there's lighting - ask Mr. Walker about that!
There were some other trails to explore up top, and I rode around a little, but the climb had really drained what little energy I'd had left, so I wasn't too anxious to keep exploring. I was ready for a speedy descent to the nearest burrito.
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