The urologist’s exploratory procedure yesterday sapped my energy. Although by the middle of the night the bleeding from my penis had stopped and it was no longer painful to pee, I wasn’t up for a hike today.

It was such a warm day — reaching 77 degrees — that I did want to get out. So I compromised with myself and walked around the Tantra Lake complex. Of course, I took my camera, because I wanted to photograph the “ordinary animals” here.
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Today, like every Sunday, I had an article to write for HealthCentral.com. But the day was sunny and warm with only a light breeze — too good of a day to waste at work. So I finished my article, “Curing Erectile Dysfunction” at http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/26187/erectile-dysfunction , as fast as I could and went sauntering today, as Thoreau would say.

The Coulson Gulch Trail took me down to Higgins Park, one of the big elk meadows today. Way down.

But that was only half way. I went on until I reached North St. Vrain Creek, a roundtrip saunter of six miles.
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The day was sunny but cool and windy.

The trail was short but indistinct.

I was totally alone but happy.

Today I dressed warmly enough for the hike — with long underwear, my warmest shirt, gloves, and hat. So I was pretty comfortable, especially when the wind calmed down.

The trail took me right along a creek most of the way down Forsythe Canyon until it ended at an inlet of Gross Reservoir. Never before had I been to the west side of this reservoir, which provides much of Denver’s water. In fact, I had never been anywhere in the area, even though it is only a few miles west of where I live in Boulder.
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This afternoon was such a beautiful day and entrance at the Denver Botanic Garden was free. So that’s where I got my exercise today — two hours of walking in beauty.

It was in fact so beautiful that I hardly know where to start — or stop! — with what I saw there. But here is a small selection. I do wish that I knew the names of what I saw, but there was just too much to remember!
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Long ago someone saw a mountain lion asleep along a trail. So, of course, they named it the Sleepy Lion Trail.

That’s where I hiked today. No lions were in sight. But I saw hundreds of pasqueflowers, as beautiful a flower as the mountain lion is an animal. It’s the first flower of the Colorado spring.
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A few days ago a friend mentioned cycling at Hall Ranch Open Space. That was what probably gave me the idea to hike there today.

While I had hiked once before at Hall Ranch, it was up the Nighthawk Trail (closed to bikes) from the main trailhead. Today I hiked from the Antelope Drive trailhead to the start of the Button Rock trail. It was just over 7 miles. Almost everyone I saw on the trail was on his or her bike.

My friend was wondering if I could have ridden that trail. I do expect it would have been too difficult for me on the way up. But it was an easy hike today. The weather was perfect. The first short-sleeve hike of the year.
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While others toiled over their taxes, I romped in the Rockies today. I put on my snowshoes and went to Copeland Falls in the Wild Basin area of Rocky Mountain National Park on the warmest day of the year.

In Boulder the temperature reached 82 degrees, and it must have been in the 70s where I was at 8500 feet today. While it was a little windy, no one minds the wind when it’s that warm.

But sadly, the snowshoe season seems to be over, while the hiking and backpacking season hasn’t started yet. The snow is too slushy and spotty for easy travel with snowshoes, while it’s too deep to go without them. Several times even with my snowshoes I sunk more than 1 foot into the soft snow.

For some reason that I can’t explain I hadn’t been to this beautiful part of the park for months. While I had hiked there twice before, it was the first time I had ever snowshoed in that area.
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Today Peaceful Valley deserved its name. In the summer the trail passes through two campgrounds that are probably busy. But I only saw one other person on the trail today.

I hadn’t ever hike this trail — and didn’t hike it today. There was far too much snow for that! I snowshoed up this valley to the Buchanan Pass Trail, where the pine forest opened up to give me this peak at one of the Indian Peaks on the Continental Divide.
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My interview, scheduled for 2:30, didn’t start until 4:30 and finish at 5. But it was definitely worth it.

So I wasn’t able to get to the mountains until this evening. I drove to the nearest mountain, Flagstaff, and hiked the Rangeview Trail up and the Ute Trail down. Too late in the day for panoramic photos, but I did get this nice shot of baby pasqueflowers. Does this mean that spring is really here?
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Today was worth waiting for. Ever since Karen and I went to the chain of lakes starting at Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park before Thanksgiving last year I have yearned to go back to one of the most beautiful places in the world. This was my chance and I took it.

We had brilliant sun and warmer weather today. But the snow up there around 10,000 feet was still more than a foot deep all the way. The trail was often steep, by far the most difficult snowshoe hike I have ever made. But the four hours I spent on the trail today seemed to fly by.
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