A WALK IN FIVE STATE PARKS
Not every beautiful place in Colorado has to be seen from atop amountain. Hikes in these parks are just as beautiful – and downright easy. »
chatfield state park » I’ve been hiking in Colorado on weekends and summer vacations since I moved here 17 years ago, and for the most part, I ignored the state parks.
I was a summit hiker. The thrill, for me, was that top-of-the-world feeling, the 360-degree panorama, the lesser peaks fading toward the horizons like permanently frozen waves below my superior island.
Mount Elbert was tops, the tallest of Colorado’s 54 (or so) fourteeners. I reached the summit on my second try and shed tears when I realized that storm clouds, leg cramps and shortness of breath could not stop me. The summit was spectacular, but lessened that sunny day by a legion of other hikers, many on cellphones telling their friends, “Guess where I am!”
There are no fourteeners in Colorado’s 43 state parks. Many of their hiking trails are downright easy. Some are wheelchair accessible.
But as I have come to learn in my post-Elbert years, not every beautiful place in Colorado must be seen from a mountaintop, and the state parks are no exception.
Plus, I’ve grown a little older and a little slower, as everyone does. Nowadays, a walk around a lake no longer strikes me as boring. I’ve finally begun to