Due to the weather forecast and finally functioning again washing machine again (praise be 🙌🏻) I decided to stay local last Sunday. Although the weather forecast ended up being completely wrong and the sun was out in the afternoon, I got some things around the house accomplished and it worked out in my favor as it led me to the opportunity to explore locally.
I wrote my Instagram post about trying to be better about checking out local trails so I won’t double dip. But long Instastory short, I want and probably need to do a better job of exploring hiking and running trails within a thirty minute or so distance from home. These trails will never have the epic views or full sense of freedom that being in the mountains provide me, but I need to find some trail options close to home for after work and days when I want to stay nearby.
I‘ve driven by a portion of this running path several times a week and finally looked up the South Platte River Trail on my beloved AllTrails.The full trail is 11.5 miles and runs from Littleton to Denver along the river and some nature preserve areas. The area that I parked at is called Reynolds Landing and is fairly close to downtown Littleton. I loaded up the ladies in the car around 5 and figured we would just roam along until the sun set.
There was plenty of parking when we arrived and we ended up doing about 2 miles total and the sunset was absolutely beautiful. It was a nice little recharge at the end of the week and you could tell my dogs were happy to get out again. There’s an actual paved path that leads into a trail through the nature preserve area that I really liked. Even though you aren’t all that far away from downtown Littleton, you’re in enough nature that you can’t see or hear the urban life going on around you in some areas, which was nice.
I know some people may not qualify this as a hike and it’s not something I plan to count every time I hike/run it...probably 🤪. But for me hiking is more about getting out into nature and getting that recharge vs. the hike being a certain length or have a certain incline gain. I know I can’t get to the mountains in time after work so it’s nice to have several options within 10 to 30 minutes from my house.
However and whatever hiking means to you it’s just good that you’re getting out there and getting some fresh air and exercise. Because, let’s be real, that’s what it’s really all about. Until next time, happy hiking ✌🏼❤️🥾.
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