Hiking Mount Esther

Yesterday was an incredible Colorado spring day and we got the chance to enjoy it by exploring Mount Esther near the foot of Pikes Peak. The trip made me thankful for the time that I workout for fitness. The trip (including my side-adventures) was nearly 6 miles long. It was a great reminder that there is life outside the box; get out there an enjoy it.

The Training

I always like to think back to what training I’ve been doing that helps, or enables, adventures in life. This hike to Mt Esther was no different. The hike was full of intervals, climbing, and even some hill sprints. The time I have spent doing kettlbell swings prepared my cardio system, my legs, and butt for all the climbing. The high intensity interval training made the recovery periods go quick; my system was trained to recover quickly and be ready for more.

Both Craig Ballantyne, creator of Turbulence Training, and Rusty Moore from Fitness Black Book have been great inspirations to keep me going. Both provide training programs like I’ve been using to prepare me for the adventures in life.

I was prepared and ready for an adventure. So armed with my family, sunscreen, and a CamelBak Mule filled with water and lunch we took off to find Mt Esther.

The Location

We continue to find e-Trailmaps an incredible resource for finding hikes to explore around Colorado. We found Mt Esther by searching for hikes nearby that offered an easy to moderate hike with some good views. The trail is located off of Pikes Peak Highway, so you do have to pay to get in. But the good news is that we didn’t have to pay the full fee for going all the way up. (The hike was great, but it wouldn’t have been worth the $40 fee if we had to pay the full amount.)

The Hike

We used the Mt Esther Trail Guide from e-Trailmaps. It was very clear on how to find the trail head and where to proceed.

I was inspired by the guards working at the Air Force Base for Liberty High School’s graduation. They had such great form on how they kept people moving and inline, I just had to try it out on my family.

(They just laughed. Well … they laughed, but it worked too.)

The hike is mostly a pleasant single track through the woods and meadows near Pikes Peak. We were all amazed at how remote it felt. Compared to many of the other trails we’ve hiked this one was clearly less travelled and more natural.

The trail guide says that the trail climbs 744 feet. That is if you stay on the path and don’t go on any side adventures; we didn’t. The steep hills and looming boulders sucked us in several times.

The Nature

We managed to cover the trail without encountering any bear, mountain lions, big horn sheep, biting goats. We did get to see two mule deer fairly close to the trail on our decent.

The Fun

Through out the hike we were living our very own Neature Walk. If you haven’t seen the video … it’s pretty neat. Lenny warned us about biting goats, so we were on the lookout. We also knew which trees were aspens, because of how they are.

Without Lenny, what would we have done?

We were enjoying the meadow when we encountered the running emu. It was amazing to see, up close and personal; pretty neat.

Hiking Mt Esther was a great way to spend a couple hours in the Colorado Rockies. So continue to workout for fitness and get out there and enjoy your own adventures.