One late spring Saturday, my girlfriend and I had planned to be on the classic Direct East Face route on the First Flatiron before anyone else in the metro area. We got up early, drove up to Boulder in the dark, and as soon as we hit the Chautauqua Park parking lot, we hopped [...]

If you’re a trail runner and you’re looking for the most punishment you can find within a short drive within 45 minutes of downtown Denver, these trails will deliver. Ranked in order of difficulty: 1. Mount Galbraith Loop, Mount Galbraith Park 4.2 miles, 1000 feet elevation gain This trail gains 1,000 feet in its first [...]

Where do you train? At the gym, on a treadmill? Maybe you’ve got a routine where you work out all week indoors for all that fun stuff you do in the mountains on the weekends. Well, it’s not such a bad idea to take it outside every once in a while, and get some elevation [...]

At almost 7 miles and 3,000 feet of elevation gain, this almost isn’t an “after-work” hike, but it can be if you bring a headlamp for the way down. I know a particular outdoor magazine editor who tags the summit of this mountain once a week as part of his training regimen. If you are [...]