Saturday, July 2nd 2022.
Fourth of July weekend and plans changed at the last minute. We were going up to Silverthorne over the 3-day weekend and staying in a cabin which fell through at the last minute. Disappointed, we began to think of things we could do. The temperatures were hot in Denver but looked so cool in the mountains so quickly packed a lunch and headed up. We have a favorite spot at Mount Evans and so off we went.
We have always been aware of the heavy traffic going up to the mountains but thought the early traffic would be over and it wouldn’t be so bad. Wow we were so wrong. After Genesee, the traffic on I70 slowed down to a crawl. Everyone seemed to have the same idea and it was backed up for miles. After many minutes of moving slowly we decided to turn back as it would take over an hour to go the next 20 miles. We got to Floyd Hill and exited the freeway and turned back.
Not wanting to go back to Denver, we took the Genesse exit and headed up to Genesee Park, one of Denver’s mountain parks. That ended up being a great decision. Arriving at the parking area, there were only a few cars parked. Several picnic tables were available and the weather cool and refreshing. After a short lunch we began to explore the area, coming across a few trails to hike.
We first went on the Genesee Summit Trail which was a short climb to the summit with beautiful views. After walking around the summit and back to our starting point, we went on the American Bison Trail overlooking the Bison Pasture. We were hoping to see the bison, but they weren’t there. It was still a very easy and nice hike with beautiful views looking East down to Denver and southwest. The hike was easy, and we did them both in a little over an hour.
It was a very enjoyable afternoon and only about a half hour west of Denver.
