the long, long road

when mama mia was in town she suggested a hike at devil’s head lookout in pikes national forest. and let’s just say it was an adventure. it’s about an hour south of denver and then another hour (not exactly an hour but if feels like three times that) on the last stretch of dirt road that goes on for over 10 miles. i’ll put it this way, mom & i (as passengers) were both silently thinking we must be almost to the end of the road when he said, well we’re 1/4 of the way. whaaatt???

that dirt road is almost enough to make you want to turn around. now i grew up in arkansas and a dirt road is no big deal, but this one was so rough it about made us crazy. but we made it, finally.  in the top set of pictures mom is laughing and bending over to take a little break because people, it is steep right away.

at the halfway point we were all like seriously?? we’re only half way? we were all silently (confirmed when we finally reached the top and conferred with each other) wondering if this whole thing was worth it or not. long drive, looooong dirt road, and then switchback, after switchback, after switchback and all straight up. and we weren’t entirely sure that we were on the correct hike to begin with because when mom read about it, it said the trail was located in parker, colorado, and the hike we were on was not. but we didn’t talk about that. we all just wondered to ourselves and how the he*&^ we decided to do this in the first place. (and mom additionally worried since she was the one who did in fact get us on this little adventure)

as it turns out, we were in fact in the right place and we were as happy about that as we were to be at the top of the mountain. which was the only flat spot of the whole day, and beautiful. the stairs up to the top are a breeze except…. the last section of stairway is suspended in air over.. nothing. and i never think of myself as afraid of heights, nor do sean and mom but.. way up there, with a warning sign at the bottom saying no more than five people, well it gets you thinking, and stopping, and wondering if it’s worth it to go that last little bit. but i knew (and still know) that this was the one and only trip i was making to do this hike and so it was now or never. i forged on. apparently they were calling after me and when i didn’t respond figured it must be worth it. (you can’t hear a thing once you round that final staircase.. they me or me them). see above me capturing the two having just braved the final leg…

and it is pretty darn cool up there. the firehouse on top of a boulder on top of a mountain with 100 mile views. and warning signs not to climb over the fence. really? this sign should be completely unnecessary. there is no way we were going close enough to the fence to even think about climbing over it. we weren’t all that sure about walking around the entire perimeter of the tower house. but we did it all, we got photos to prove it and we are super glad we went. but we did all three agree that once is enough. and the road back out, it didn’t seem any shorter going than it did coming.

p.s.
at the bottom of the stairs is this rock and doesn’t it look like a razorback?
on the left, that’s me calling the hogs (you arkansas razorbacks know what i’m doing)

Filed Under: travel
Tagged: colorado, denver co blog, denver colorado, denver colorado hikes, devils head lookout, devils head lookout denver colorado, fire lookout, pike national forest *please & thank you* link back to us if you re-post something you see here. Comment »