My friend J is an avid hiker and is introducing me to local hikes in our area. Recently we went on a hike at Barr Lake State Park a wildlife conservation area, a bird sanctuary; and a premiere bird watching location in the Denver Metropolitan area.
J is training with her granddaughter to do a “14er/Fourteener” which in Colorado is known as climbing/hiking to the top of one of the 14,000 feet above Sea Level (4267.2 meters) mountains in Colorado. (Colorado is famous having the most in the US – 53 mountain peaks 14,000 ft or higher, Alaska comes in second with 29 peaks, California with 12, and Washington State with 2).
So hiking the 9 miles around Barr Lake State Park is a good start to prepare for a 14er.
The highest I’ve been in Colorado (or anywhere else) is 12,000 feet above Sea Level when we visited Rocky Mountain National Park. I can tell you at 12,000 ft I was really feeling the altitude! Luckily I use to live at around 6000 ft above Sea Level and now I live at around 5300 feet so my body has a little bit of altitude acclimation. I think it would take me a while to train for a 14er…
Some photos from our hike:
In the photo above you will see an example of the numerous elevated wooden bridges they have around the park so that you do not disturb the wildlife.
The park also had a bird watching area near the water (many varieties of water fowl visit the lake) with a built in set of binoculars if you did not bring your own!
It was so beautiful and peaceful on our hike with many bird sounds/songs in the background. I want to return there is John and bring a picnic and take him on a hike there!
A couple of videos if you would like to see more about what it is to hike at Barr Lake State Park.
tierneycreates 
Tierney, you are really getting around. I’m happy for you. All that fresh air and exercise are good for the sould. Those bridges are fun.
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Thanks so much! It’s been hot and bad air quality lately because of the Colorado and Utah wildfires but I hope to do even more in Autumn! 🙂
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wow – are you going to train for a 14er? and I have never heard of Barr lake so this was really interesting
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No I don’t think so I will just admire people who do it. Well who knows..my new friend is a good influence and we are going to do some smaller mountain hiking in the future ::-)
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well cheers to doing the smaller hikes – and how fun to enjiy the beauty of Colorado in so many ways
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What a trek and what a wonderful site for a trek. I am very jealous, since my knee I can’t do this kind of thing anymore, so – I am vicariously enjoying it through your post. Thank you!
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It was quite lovely and I hope to work up to the 9 mile hike someday! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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I used to go on a 10 mile walk once a month along a rail trail near our previous house. I really enjoyed it and I am sorry I’m not able to do it now (but I can do one mile each for 10 days> Not quite the same but…I’m still out there!). I think you will love the challenge of that beautiful trail you have.
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Wow! 9 miles is a pretty hefty hike, even without much altitude change!
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I know and we didn’t do 9 miles, perhaps 3 miles at the most. It has been a pretty warm summer here and even kind of humid (its usually dry in our part of Colorado) so longer hikes will have to wait until Fall 🙂
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looks like a wonderful place to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine – and listen to the birds.
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It was, thanks for stopping by my post 🙂
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Looks like a beautiful place to hike and enjoy nature 🙂 A 14er sounds really challenging!
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It was lovely and thanks for stopping by!
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