Bear Peak

A little review of this past weekend's adventures.
We decided to tackle Bear Peak on Saturday. We slept in, had a nice breakfast and drove down to NCAR to start our little journey. We really haven't done much hiking around Boulder in the year that we've lived here and figured we had better get started. We were thinking about doing Longs Peak next week so we should get the legs into the groove.

Its a nice easy hike for the first 3+ miles when you do the loop in a counterclockwise direction. We headed out to the Mesa Trail and then up to the Bear Peak West Ridge trail. At about the 3.5 mile mark, we topped out on a nice little area and thought "cool - we made it!" Took a few pictures on top of a little rock that seemed to be the highest place other than climbing a tree and then had our snacks. After a little rest we kept going on the trail only to find it still going up!

About a half mile farther, it REALLY started going up. Class 2 nearing Class 3 in a few spots. Exposure really wasn't that bad but hard going. We rested alot on the way up and finally topped out. By that time, Jean was spent so we didn't do the final scramble to the true summit. The veiws were still spectacular. I wish we didn't have all the smoke from the western fires or it would have been even better.

Heading down ended up being nearly as bad if not worse than going up. A lot shorter but steep! You drop over 2000 feet in less than a mile and a half. By the time you are back to flatter terrain, your quads are jelly. Once you get a chance to walk a while you feel a little better, and the slight uphills actually feel pretty good.

We finished off the day with a motorcycle ride to Border's Books and a drink at the Niwot Tavern.

A nice hike and highly recommended as one of your first "strenuous" rated hikes in the Boulder area.