Corwina Park hike

Another hot Saturday in Denver and itch to escape somewhere where the air is cooler... And no decision to drive for hours ;) Actually there are some places nearby where you can escape the heat and instead of being toasted, enjoy cold mountain air (disclaimer - it works as long as you go early in the morning ;) ).

 

Corwina Park is one of these places. Close enough and easy hike. If you start early (in fact that was only one more car in the parking lot when I parked there at 7AM) the surroundings are shadowy and actually cold...

Hundreds years old pines and spruces are tall and looking for some sun...

But the sun comes quickly and makes everything shine ;)

Blue and Lavender Columbine, the flower of Colorado and nice bright sparkle. You need to go there in June to be able to find them, but if you are lucky - you will find many :)

Small creek is running next to the trail (or, better to say, the trail is following the creek) and adds some coolness and freshness...

There are a few parks along Bear Creek and you can choose your activity - hiking, running or biking...

My interest was to hike a Panorama Point Trail which is relatively short and promised some nice views.

 

The trail is climbing up (honestly, it was steeper than I remember it from 10 years ago, when I visited the area the first time), but the reward was great.

Once you are on the top of the hill, you can see some mountains far away, some snow covered peaks and pine overgrown slopes... Just amazing views and worth climbing approximately 1000 feet ;)

I spent some time just sitting on the rocks and enjoying the landscapes, but... everything has its end so I needed to return back and it was just in time - so many people were climbing there and it wasn't solitary at all anymore...

I found many attractions on my way back - bikers, flowers, chipmunks and pine trees...

Finally I ended up at the parking lot, but before leaving, I decided to hike a little bit more and explore the trail running along the Bear creek...

And I found another treasure just hundred yards downstream - the working water mill! The wheel was moving slowly and it was a good ending to my relatively short (just over 3 miles or 2 hours of walking) escape from Denver, where the temperature that day exceeded 100F...

To see the trail on Google Maps click here

Pictures were taken on June 11, 2011 and July 09, 2022.