Colorado Hikes 2015: Mount Falcon Park

A highlight of Mount Falcon Park is visiting the remains of John Walker's home aka "The Castle"

During this trip I had the fun opportunity to meet several of my sister's coworkers from the Epidemiology  and Health field, one of them recommended Mount Falcon Park as a local favorite.  Mount Falcon is part of the Jefferson County Open Spaces and approximately 50 minutes from Centennial taking C-470 West and 285 South to Morrison.  The park is near one of my family's favorite destinations: Tiny Town, a miniature village that includes a small train ride around the park.  Geared towards small children it's been a long time since we have visited.

Taken along the Castle Trail as I started off on my hike.  

Taken in the same spot as above a few hours later as I ended my hike.

Mount Falcon has two parking destinations, I once again headed to the West lot at the end of Mount Falcon Road where it was closer to multiple highlights of the park.  One of the highlights is the remains of a large house owned by John Walker.  Named "The Castle" and along the Castle Trail it was my first destination of the morning.  I arrived early, just after 7 am and was the first car in the lot.  There were several covered picnic areas, trail maps/kiosks, and restrooms near the parking lot.  It was raining and cloudy when I arrived but held out hope for the clearing that the forecast had promised.  The temperature was refreshingly cool and I didn't mind the rain.

A few other hikers and trail runners came along as the morning progressed.  The castle is only .8 miles from the parking lot and easy to find.  I took several pictures in the fog as the effect was pretty cool.  The Castle itself is gated off to keep visitors safe but you can get pretty close.  From some angles you can see the Rocky mountains and I can imagine this was a gorgeous home at one point.  There are interpretive signs nearby sharing John Walker's story and the description of the house. After exploring the remains I headed out along the trail to check out a spot called "Walker's Dream." Naively I thought the destination was called that because it was a dream of a hike for walkers.  It was that, very picturesque and I was serenaded by several feathered friends and rewarded by a variety of wild flowers.  Saw my first flowering cactus of the trip here as well.

 At one of the high points there was a bench formed from logs and I enjoyed a morning snack up here. Still no views available but imagined that this bench is often a beautiful spot to meditate from. 

Close up of the corner stone dedicated in 1911

Foundation for the Summer White House

 Not too far from here I discovered Walker's Dream which was actually the abandoned foundation for a summer home for Presidents of the United States called a Summer White House.  The corner stone had been laid and ceremony held but the project abandoned shortly after in 1918 right after WWI. This discovery made me wonder how many other big projects in history were started but never finished? Kind of embarrassing but myself have also abandoned projects, just usually never publicized. A beautiful spot this would have been but probably difficult to protect.  

sunshine brightens the whole scene including the
rain covered grass

city view from 2 dog trail

    I returned down to the Castle Trail and headed back to revisit some of the other trails I had skipped along the way.  At just about this time the sun became bright and the clouds started to burn off exposing beautiful views of the surrounding area. 

 There was a covered picnic area and also a trail called 2 dog trail to a lookout of the city below and to the East.  The sun shining on the lush grass was magical as it glistened like diamonds.  I edited the picture a little to try to capture the same magic I enjoyed. It was awesome to see the clouds lift above the city below and mountains near and far.   Heading back towards the castle I could see it through the trees. Also from the trail I could see the mountains to the West and also Red Rocks park to the northeast.  

God's earth often looks like a painting

well near the Eagles Nest

selfie near the Mount Falcon lookout platform

After revisiting the castle I took the meadow trail over to the tower trail.  The meadow was beautiful and my real workout began as I climbed up the tower trail to a platform above near an old abandoned fire tower foundation that gives 360 degree views.  I set up my phone for a quick selfie here as well. Climbing down the tower trail there is another great platform and covered picnic area called the Eagles Nest as it once was the summer cottage for a local family. The well is still standing there.
After visiting the Eagle's Nest I headed back to the car which was less than a mile away from here.  The lot was quite full by this time and the overflow lot was starting to fill up.  It is definitely a busy park and has lots to do for everyone.

View from the Meadow Trail

I shared the experience with my sister and we decided to take the kids up during the weekend which we did/  They were troopers and hiked to the castle, through the meadow trail and a little bit of the tower trail.  The horse lovers in the group were rewarded with meeting one of the trail horses in hte parking lot and able to feed him (Jet).