Winter hike at the Flying J Ranch Park in Conifer, Colorado
Went on a fantastic snowy winter hike today with Katie, Geoff, and Janae. We hiked Shadow Pine Loop trail at Jefferson County's Flying J Ranch open space park on highway 73 in Conifer.
The trail surface was packed snow with only one or two icy spots. When we got off the trail we sometimes sank up to our knees in dry powdery snow. We did a few times. We passed a handful of other hikers, some on snow shoes and some on cross country skis. I decided I am definitely trying cross country skis as soon as possible.
We discovered that if you shove one of the young pine trees you could shower snow down onto everyone else. We ended up pretty snow covered and wet by the end of the trail.
The trail, by the numbers:
Trailhead: 13 S 473116 4376208 (UTM)
Date: 2/28/2015
Length: 6.7 km (4.2 miles)
Time: 2 hours and 28 minutes. We stopped several times to play in the snow, drink, and snack.
Average moving speed: 3.5 km/h (2.2 mph)
Elevation range: 2451 m - 2529 m (8041 ft - 8297 ft)
The high point on the trail occurs 3 km into the hike, so not quite halfway. This high point is marked by the stick-figure hiker on the map below.
The trail, by the pixels:
