{"id":2886,"date":"2015-11-12T20:12:45","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T03:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=2886"},"modified":"2019-03-16T14:17:21","modified_gmt":"2019-03-16T20:17:21","slug":"bergen-peak-elk-meadow-park-colorado-11-4-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/?p=2886","title":{"rendered":"Bergen Peak, Elk Meadow Park, Colorado (11-4-15)"},"content":{"rendered":"

By 2:45 AM on 11-3-15, Lupe and SPHP were up and about.\u00a0 Erik and Ana were flying to California.\u00a0 They needed a ride to the Denver International Airport, 400 miles away.\u00a0 That meant Lupe was about to set out on a week long Dingo Vacation!\u00a0 It was getting close to 2 years since Lupe had gone to see her cousin, Dusty in Arvada, Colorado.\u00a0 Now she\u00a0and SPHP were\u00a0going to get to spend a week with Joe, Andrea and Dusty, while staying in the cowboy room at Dusty’s house.<\/p>\n

The drive across the western Nebraska panhandle was uneventful.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP dropped Erik and Ana off at the Denver\u00a0International Airport\u00a0at 10:40 AM.\u00a0 Then it was off to Dusty’s house in Arvada!\u00a0 Lupe was soon bored with the drive through Denver.\u00a0 (Not a single cow or squirrel in sight!)\u00a0 Less than a mile from Dusty’s house, though, she suddenly picked her head up and started sniffing the air.\u00a0 Could she have known?\u00a0 Did she still remember, after all this time?\u00a0 She acted like she did.<\/p>\n

A couple of minutes later, a very surprised and happy Dusty greeted her cousin\u00a0Lupe and SPHP at the door.\u00a0 Andrea was back from the chiropractor 15 minutes later.\u00a0 In the meantime, Lupe and SPHP had already established themselves in the cowboy room.\u00a0 Andrea had to work, but Lupe, Dusty and SPHP got the fun started by taking a walk around the 100 acre field.<\/p>\n

In the evening, Joe was back from work.\u00a0 Joe and SPHP went to the nearby Apex Center<\/strong><\/a><\/span> for a little workout and swimming.\u00a0 Lupe hung out at home with Dusty, Misty (the cat) and Andrea.\u00a0 Dusty snuck into the cowboy room, and ate an entire banana bread that SPHP had brought with.\u00a0 It was a bit much.\u00a0 Dusty was sick all night.<\/p>\n

The next morning, Lupe and SPHP set out for Elk Meadow Park<\/a><\/span><\/strong> near Evergreen, Colorado.\u00a0 Way back on 12-23-13, Lupe, Dusty, Joe and SPHP had gone to Elk Meadow Park intending to climb Bergen Peak.\u00a0 Unfortunately, a mile from the summit Joe hadn’t felt well, so that attempt was called off.\u00a0 Now Lupe and SPHP were going to try again.<\/p>\n

Bergen Peak<\/a><\/span> (9,708 ft.)<\/span><\/strong> was already in sight\u00a0from the trailhead.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP started off heading WNW on the Sleepy S trail.\u00a0 Soon SPHP mistook an old road across the big field to the N as part of the trail system.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP followed the old road until it\u00a0started\u00a0turning E.\u00a0 SPHP hoped to find the Too Long trail, but unknowingly wound up on the Meadow View trail instead.\u00a0 Eventually, SPHP realized the error as the Meadow View trail turned back to the S.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Near the trailhead at Elk Meadow Park. Photo looks W toward Bergen Peak (Center).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
On the old road in Elk Meadow Park. Bergen Peak in the background. Photo looks W.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Looking<\/a>
Looking ESE back across the big meadow in Elk Meadow Park near Evergreen, Colorado.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Meadow View trail went mostly through the forest.\u00a0 SPHP’s mistake in missing the Too Long trail made the route longer than it need have been.\u00a0 It really didn’t matter.\u00a0 Lupe was having a good time exploring the trail.\u00a0 Lupe and SPHP followed the Meadow View trail past an intersection with the Elk Ridge trail.\u00a0 Shortly after that, Lupe reached the junction with the Bergen Peak trail.<\/p>\n

The Bergen Peak trail was nearly all in the forest, too.\u00a0 Lupe did come to one place with some open views to the SW.\u00a0 Even though it was a Wednesday in November, there had been a surprising number of hikers, runners, and mountain bikers on the Sleepy S and\u00a0Meadow View trails.\u00a0 Lupe encountered far fewer people and dogs up on the Bergen Peak trail, as it steadily switch-backed its way up the mountain.<\/p>\n

\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe on a rock outcropping along the Bergen Peak trail. Photo looks SW.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lupe reached an intersection with the Too Long trail well up on the mountain.\u00a0 She stayed on the Bergen Peak trail to the summit.\u00a0 This last mile of the Bergen Peak trail was easier,\u00a0since it gained less elevation.\u00a0 It was also more interesting, too, as it wound around the N side of Bergen Peak.\u00a0 The trail leveled out as it curled around the\u00a0mountain to the W and then S.<\/p>\n

Lupe hadn’t encountered any snow before reaching the junction with the Too Long trail, but there was\u00a0a little\u00a0up on the shady N side of the mountain.\u00a0 The snow\u00a0made her very happy.\u00a0\u00a0After a fun\u00a0frolic on the snow, Lupe proceeded on\u00a0the trail around Bergen Peak to the\u00a0S of the summit.\u00a0 Here\u00a0there were some\u00a0big rock outcroppings.\u00a0 The rocks offered views to the E, S and W.<\/p>\n

Lupe wasn’t quite at the summit yet.\u00a0 She turned N and followed the last bit of the trail to the top.\u00a0 On the way was a high point where there was a little tower and a rusty old shed.\u00a0 The actual summit was just a couple hundred feet farther N.\u00a0 Lupe reached the Bergen Peak sign at the top of the mountain –\u00a0successfully achieving\u00a0her first peakbagging goal of her November, 2015 Dingo Vacation to Colorado!<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This rusty shed near a little tower on Bergen Peak is just a couple hundred feet S of the summit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe on the highest rocks near the little tower close to the rusty shed. Turned out this was not the true summit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lupe<\/a>
Lupe on Bergen Peak!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With her peakbagging goal successfully completed, Lupe returned to the rock outcroppings S of the summit to check out the views.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The big meadow of Elk Meadow Park near Evergreen, CO as seen from Bergen Peak. The tall buildings of downtown Denver are seen faintly in the distance (L of center).\u00a0 Photo looks E.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Looking<\/a>
Looking SSE from Bergen Peak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The grandest view from Bergen Peak was to the WSW. SPHP believes this may be Mount Evans<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0(14,264 ft.)<\/span><\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Pikes<\/a>
Pikes Peak<\/a><\/span><\/strong> (14,110 ft.)<\/strong><\/span> could be seen faintly on the horizon to the S.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After taking in the views, Lupe and SPHP explored just a little bit\u00a0off the trail before\u00a0leaving the summit area of\u00a0Bergen Peak.\"Lupe<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"Lupe<\/a>Snow showers were due to move in from the W.\u00a0 The clouds started spitting a little snow.\u00a0\u00a0It amounted to\u00a0almost nothing at all, really, but it was time to head back down anyway.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Bergen Peak trail high up on the N side of the mountain featured a bit of snow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the way back, Lupe did get to take the Too\u00a0Long trail\u00a0from where\u00a0the Bergen Trail reached it.\u00a0 Going down the mountain, it didn’t seem too long at all.\u00a0 In fact, since there was still plenty of time, Lupe and SPHP took\u00a0a long route back to the G6 by retracing the Meadow View trail back to the Elk Ridge trail, and following it back\u00a0to Sleepy S again.<\/p>\n

Lupe’s successful ascent of Bergen Peak was a great start to her November, 2015 Dingo Vacation to Arvada, Colorado, but it was only a start.\u00a0 Lupe was just getting warmed up.\u00a0 More mountains of\u00a0fun and adventures were still to come!\"Lupe<\/a><\/p>\n

Links:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Next Adventure<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Want more Lupe adventures?\u00a0\u00a0Choose\u00a0from\u00a0Lupe’s 2015 Arvada, CO Adventure Index<\/a><\/span><\/strong>,\u00a0Dingo Vacations Adventure Index<\/strong><\/span><\/a> or Master Adventure Index<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0Or subscribe free\u00a0to\u00a0new Lupe adventures<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By 2:45 AM on 11-3-15, Lupe and SPHP were up and about.\u00a0 Erik and Ana were flying to California.\u00a0 They needed a ride to the Denver International Airport, 400 miles away.\u00a0 That meant Lupe was about to set out on a week long Dingo Vacation!\u00a0 It was getting close to 2 years since Lupe had … Continue reading Bergen Peak, Elk Meadow Park, Colorado (11-4-15)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[438],"tags":[105,440,106,296,26,439,104],"class_list":["post-2886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2015-arvada-colorado","tag-american-dingo","tag-bergen-peak","tag-carolina-dog","tag-colorado","tag-dingo-vacations","tag-elk-meadow-park","tag-lupe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adventuresoflupe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/P1070431.jpg?fit=1651%2C1238&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2886"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20839,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2886\/revisions\/20839"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adventuresoflupe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}