Green Mountain Falls

It’s not that we’ve been sitting around doing nothing as COVID-19 continues to plague the country. No, we’ve actually taken the RV out for a couple of short camping trips these past several weeks. But those stories belong as footprints in another trip. With nothing exciting to write about otherwise, this mock-trip has remained idle ... until today.

(By the way, if interested, here’s the link to our Phoenix Cruiser stories ... https://findpenguins.com/8pccjefaitoru/trip/5e0….)

With our next camping trip not scheduled until the first week in July, yesterday we decided to drive into the mountains to escape the heat in Colorado Springs and go hiking. I’d been reading about various trails that go to waterfalls, so we picked one of them for today’s outing. Boy, was it a doozy!

The trailhead for Catamount Falls Trail (CFT) is in Green Mountain Falls, a statutory town in El Paso and Teller Counties. The 2010 census puts the population at 640 people ... I’d be surprised if it is much more than that now. It’s only about 30 miles from where we live in Colorado Springs ... an easy drive up the mountain via US Highway 24.

The instructions for CFT say that there is no parking at the trailhead and directs hikers to leave their vehicles at Lake Park in Green Mountain Falls. So that’s where we started our day. The park, with its gazebo on an island attached to the shoreline by a bridge, was quite photogenic. So, before setting off for the trail, I went for a walk around the lake. Mui, in the meantime, went in search for more specific directions to the trailhead since there were no maps available in the box near the parking lot. By 9:30a, we were on our way.

AllTrails lists CFT as a moderate, 6.4-mile out and back trail. Per AllTrail’s guidelines, that’s the total distance, not one way. But to get to the trailhead, one must walk up about ½-mile on Hondo Avenue. When I say up, I mean UP! At the beginning of the dirt road, vehicles are advised to engage 4x4 assist. Believe me, we could have used that assist ourselves as we walked up the steep grade of the road! All along the road were signs making it clear that hikers were not allowed to park anywhere, so it was good that we had followed instructions and left the car in the park.

I’m going to take issue with the moderate rating for CFT. Not because of the distance. Nor because of the 1,702-feet elevation gain over about 3 miles. No, the issue is all the rocks — boulders in some places — and the roots strewn all along the trail. Going up wasn’t so bad, because we could see where to put our feet between the rocks to get a solid footing on the very narrow dirt path that had a steep drop off on one side. Coming down ... well, that was no fun ... even if it did only take us half as long to get back down to the trailhead.

CFT ends at the Catamount Reservoir. We didn’t make it that far. I’m guessing we were about ½-mile from that goal when I called uncle. Not only was going up two more hills something I was not looking forward to, but also the afternoon storm clouds were making an early appearance and I didn’t think it would be smart to get caught in a thunderstorm. As it turned out, we were barely in the car and driving away from Green Mountain Falls when big rain drops started plopping down on the windshield.

So, was the hike worth it? Yesterday, as tired and achy as we were from being on the trail for 4½ hours, hopping over and around the rocks on a steepish grade, I probably would have questioned our decision to hike the CFT. Today, all rested up and with no aches or pains from our efforts, I’d say that it was worth it. We saw two small waterfalls ... made it all the way to the meadow ... had a nice snack-break along a creek ... and got a bit more acclimated to high-altitude hiking. All good!

As for not getting all the way to the reservoir? Well, we’ll just have to drive up to it and then maybe hike that part of the trail in reverse.

Oh, by the way ... post-hike, we rewarded ourselves with some red velvet gelato 😋 I think we found a gelateria in Colorado Springs that is to our liking.Read more