Tried out a new hike today over in Monument. It follows the watershed for the town of Palmer Lake and Monument. Its pretty well traveled so you will run into a lot of people, but for this type of hike that is okay. You start off on the edge of a canyon and follow the watershed. You pass two reservoirs and when you finish the second you are about a mile in. Then you have some choices, follow the access road or take any number of small trails up into the hills. Bridie took the hardest one, it was steep, but got us the best view. We ended up on an access road that leads to Rampart Road. This was the first time in a long time that I came across someone in a 4-wheel drive vehicle, an old Range Rover. We were probably 3 miles in now so turned around. Thank God Bridie was paying attention because we came on a very small and hard to see trail. I checked my GPS a few times and Bridie was right on all the turns. She has good hiking sense. I went farther than I wanted, but this has a lot of level hiking areas so it's not a constant grind until you get to the end of the second reservoir, then its steep and does not stop for over a mile. The geology is interesting. Lots of granite I would rate this easy to moderate. However, you can make it challenging by just picking one of the many side trails that seem to be everywhere. Be sure to take your GPS or know where you are going farther in this trail its easy to get lost as the roads wind and intersect all over the place.
