Lamson Adventures Home
Trail Map Directory
Packing List
Direction Finding
Water Requirements
Winter Injuries
~ Hikes & Photos ~
Queen's Canyon, Glen Eyrie Castle
Inner Canyon Tr, Castlewood Canyon
Lake Gulch Trail, Castlewood Canyon
Templeton Trail, Palmer Park
Sand Canyon, Red Rock Canyon
Quarry Pass Trail, Red Rock Canyon
Garden of the Gods
Peak View Trail, Mueller S.P
Elk Meadow, Mueller S.P.
Columbine Trail, N. Cheyenne Canyon
Palmer Lake Reservior
Bear Creek Regional Park
Spruce Mountain
Rampart Range Road
Cheyenne Canyon Rd Loop
~ Useful Links ~
Colorado State Parks
GOOGLE Maps/kmz's for Colorado Trails
GOOGLE KMZ for Rampart Range
Colorado CDOT WX Info
Welcome to the Lamson Adventures Winter Hiking Pages. I like to keep the pages simple and easy to navigate. We are going to learn together. We will discuss basic safety, maybe a product or two. At this point, I am using all the items my friends, who hike a lot, are using. We will work to perfect a winter packing list. Mine has brand names. I do not usually do this but I feel that if the product is working for me, a newby, I am going to put the name out there.
Keep coming back as the page will grow. And if you have suggestions, please feel free to email me at lamsonadventures.com.
If you look down at the bottom of this page, I am going to try and keep all these links up to par as I take a new hike.
How should I dress for a hike?
Clothing is your first line of defense against the elements. In the cold, it insulates you, keeping you warm; in the hot, proper clothing keeps you cool. We seem to hit both during our hikes in colorado winters. I found a great acronym in my books to help me pack my clothes. The acornym is COLDER.
- C - Clean; Clothes are made of interwined fibers, when clean, they trap dead air keeping you warm.
- O - Overheating - Clothes absorb sweat. Once this occurs, they lose their insulating quality.
- L - Loose & Layered - Clothing that is tooo tinght will constrict circulation causing you to get cold. Wearing multiple layers will increase the amount of dead air space surrounding the body.
- D - Dry; Wet clothes lose their insulative quality. If in 32F and you can't build a fire, let the clothes freeze, once frozen, break the ice off. If snow covered, shake it off, brushing it push the wet in.
- E - Examine; Examine your clothes for etears, dirt, and so on. Every military man knows this one. Dry, Clean and servicable.
- R - Repair; Repair any rips and tears as soon as they occur.
Lake Gulch and Inner Canyon Trails, Castlewood Canyon State Park, CO
Castlewood Canyon State Park, 39.33690N 104.7486W, is located right outside Franktown on Route 83. This park is over 2100 acres of hiking. Todays hike were Inner Canyon and Lake Gulch Trail. As you enter and walk North-west, you get the view of the ranch and prairie below. As you continue down into the Canyon, you get the stellar red rocks around you. I wanted to see if this hike was different in the winter. It is. When you get down to the water, the bridge is not there. You need to go along the water side where it is muddy, icey, and deep snow. We loved every second of it. The Canyon surrounding you are beautiful. They are even more dramitc with the snow cover, the ponderosas, and the running water. I love this park in the summer, but it was way better in the winter. If it just snowed, I would definatlely bring some cramp-ons for the shoes and possible a pole. The pole is not-so-much for the hike but to check how deep the snow is on the banks by the water. We found drifts about 4ft deep. Luckily we took it slow with my knee injury still making this hiker beware. :-)
Click the picture to see the whole album....
Templeton Trail, Palmer Park, Colorado Springs
Palmer Park is acres of land in the center of Colorado Springs. You think its a small park until you enter it and find hikes that challenge even an experienced hiker. I took Templeton Trail which is rated hard. I am not sure I agree with the rating but was surprised to see how many spurs off the main trail there were. I really enjoyed the views of Pikes Peak from here, as well as the view of downtown. The sounds of the birds and other wildlife make you forget you are in the middle of a city. Click the picture to see the whole album....
Columbine Upper & Lower Trail, North Cheyenne Canon Park
This hike is, at the moment, amoung the top ones we have taken. It is located up North Cheyenne Canon. If you want to a do short version, start at Helen Hunt Falls. After about 1.7 miles of hiking you come to a trail junction. A good, but less used trail goes right (north) off the main Columbine trail. This smaller trail goes up to Gold Camp Rd., which is an old railroad bed left from the gold mining days. This offshoot trail intersects the road near the location of a tunnel that was put through the bedrock. It's worth a look and adds 15 or 20 minutes to the hike. Along the way you'll encounter a trail going off to the right - stay left to go up to the Gold Camp Road. I do not have a page for this yet. My battery went cold on me. It was 6 degrees that day and had started to snow. Click the picture to see the whole album....
Spruce Mountain, Rt 53 and Rt 105, Palmer Lake, CO
Spruce Mountain is so cool because it has it all. Very few hikers go there so it is tranquil. The trails are short but many. You can climb the mountain or hit the open are with the shoe shoes. I love it here and will probably be spending the night very soon. The gear check went well. The only hitch is that you are not allowed to be there 30 minutes after sunset. I am going to park and hike in and up. I do not have winter shots of the Open area but if you go to my main page, there are summer shots of the 8 mile open area. Great view of the Rockey Mountains. Click the picture to see the whole album....
Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs
I love hearing hikers talk about the Garden of the Gods. Apparently, we have gone to different places. This is over 700 acres of hiking. If you want to chat with the tourist on the paved sidewalks, great. If you want to head up and over, even better. If you check in with the visitors center and let them know you want a challenge and that you have the appropriate gear with you, BINGO. I have loved every hike in this area. Even west of the main attractions, you can head up and hardly see a soul around. The photos in the winter are good too. Beware of the wind though, it will lift you off your feet. Click the picture to see the whole album....
Queen's Canyon, Glen Eyrie Castle, CO
It is rated black (hard) but we are not sure it is all that. The winter cover and icey brook did pose a challenge we loved but would not have put it black diamond. I would actually saw, bring your safety gear in case you need it. We had the poles, the yak traxs, and the all important, the stove and dinner. :-) The waterfalls at the top are absolutely breathtaking. I wish I could have captured them properly with my camera. I did not. My buddy Justin could have done it but he was not with us. The tip of the fall broke off while we were there and shot flurries over our dinner table. It was breath-taking. Click the picture to see the whole album....