Midland

Rolled out of bed around 6:30a ... to a delightfully cool 57F and plenty of sunshine that made it feel much warmer. Not warm enough to have breakfast on the patio, however. The temperature rose nicely to 64F by the time we took off for a hike around 9:30a.

Mueller State Park was "… once a popular hunting ground for the Ute Indians. By the 1860s, homesteaders, ranchers and farmers dominated the area, along with those seeking riches during the Cripple Creek gold rush." Eventually, some of the ranches and homesteads were purchased by W.E. Mueller to create a ranch, which was designated a game preserve in the 1980s. Eight years later, the preserve was purchased by the Colorado State Parks and Division of Wildlife, thus creating the 5,121-acre park in which we’re camping.

Our plan today was to explore a small portion of all those acres that are home to a variety of wildlife … even if we did end up only seeing some of the birds, small critters, and a couple of mule deer.

From the trail map, we chose the Rock Pond Trail ... 4.5-miles in-and-out ... starting from the visitor center. We ended up creating a 5.5-mile loop instead by connecting to a couple of other trails ... and got more of a cardio workout in the process.

The trail started out downhill ... pretty much all the way. We knew we'd pay for that later ... and we did. But we enjoyed our hike nonetheless. Running through a heavily forested area, the trail had enough shade to mix in with the warm sunshine when we found ourselves walking across meadows. That we had the trail to ourselves added to our pleasure. I think we encountered no more than 10 people in the 4-5 hours that we were hiking ... and all of them passed us when we were off on spurs ... taking a break at particularly scenic ponds.

On our way to Rock Pond, we detoured to visit Brook Pond. It was here that we encountered a little bit of light rain. We took a couple of photos and continued back the way we came. Funny ... just walking a few steps back up the trail, there was not a drop of rain falling and the sun was shining bright.

When we reached Rock Pond, we found ourselves a spot to sit and enjoy the scenery ... and have some snacks with a view. It was now time to decide whether to return the way we came or cobble together a loop to return us to the visitor center. Well, you already know that we chose the latter option.

Unlike the trail we started on, which was wide and downhill at a steady, but comfortable grade, the return leg found us on a narrow, wide-enough-for-one-person trail that included steps in places that helped with the steeper uphill grade. Except for one short stretch after Geer Pond where we felt like we were walking up at a 45-degree angle, the uphill trail was still moderate ... especially once it widened up again.

We enjoyed a terrific hike, our only disappointment was that there was no “big” wildlife at any of the four ponds along the way. Of course, wildlife tend to frequent water holes at dawn or dusk. This being black bear country, however, I don't think we'll attempt to return to those ponds at either of those times as we'd have to hike in the dark part of the way.

After a late al fresco lunch, we spent the afternoon relaxing at our site. I caught up my journal at the patio table, enjoying the company of the birds and small critters while Mui took a nap. Around 6:00p, we headed off on a drive through the park, hoping to see some wildlife. Once again, our only encounters were with mule deer grazing roadside.

We wrapped up our day with a light al fresco meal for dinner. We plan to hike another trail or two in the park tomorrow ... and perhaps take another exploratory drive outside.Read more