Black Forest Regional Park

Another terrific winter day. Again ... blue skies, sunshine, and temps forecasted to reach 65F. Mui once more tapped into the AllTrails app and off we went to enjoy the day ... this time at the Black Forest Regional Park, located about 7 miles from the house.

Unlike the flat Cottonwood Creek Trail we walked yesterday, the Black Forest Loop is more of a hike. An easy one to be sure ... no real elevation gains. But the ups and downs gave us a good cardio workout since we walked at a pretty good clip.

That we had the trail entirely to ourselves was a delight. We saw one runner who passed us just as we were starting our hike and we did not encounter anyone else until we were well on our way back to the car. A peaceful and quiet park for sure ... which was a surprise on such a beautiful day.

What we didn’t know when we set out for our hike is that the park was the scene of what is still listed as the most destructive wildfire in the state’s history ... eclipsing the Waldo Canyon Fire that is still talked about in hushed voices. Granted, there have been bigger fires — this 2013 fire was 14,000 acres only — but it destroyed over 500 homes and killed 2 people. We saw evidence of the burn scar as we hiked the meandering path through the park. Sad ... especially since natural causes have been eliminated as the source of the fire.Read more