Yesterday, Diane and I hiked to the top of the hill at Meyer Ranch Park Open Space in Aspen Park.  There are about four miles of trails to the top.  We went late in the afternoon after the rainstorm.  It was beautiful – and quiet.  We didn’t meet a single soul on the trail.  I think we may start hiking more in the late afternoons after a heavy rain.

Near the top there is an overlook with a bench that looks out over Aspen Park.  We both noted how much Aspen Park has grown since we first moved to the foothills over fifteen years ago.  In addition to Conifer High School, we saw the huge King Soopers complex, the rebuilt complex that used to house the drug store and City Market.  There are many other new buildings along the frontage road as well.  Not in view, but also there, is the new Conifer Safeway shopping center.

It is still beautiful though with great views of rock outcroppings and mountains easily visible from almost every vantage point.

We went for a hike this morning at Meyer Ranch Open Space.  The entire area is now a lush green and full of wildflowers.  At the bottom of the trail we walked past the field which was very green – I’ve gotta believe that they are gong to hay it as soon as the rain stops.  In addition to all the grass, we saw whole sections of yellow wildflowers.  It reminded me of the foam from ocean waves – except that it was yellow on green.

We saw wild irises, wild columbine, wild flox, wild yarrow, wild strawberries and many more wildflowers.  Get the idea…

We saw lots of yellow, white, blue, purple, and violet flashes throughout the abundant green.

We went early and made it through the upper and almost the entire lower loop before we ran into any other hikers.