Hiking Green Mountain -- Nonfiction

Green Mountain under cover of snow

Green Mountain is the focal point of William F. Hayden Park. At more than 2,400 acres, it is the second largest of Lakewood's more than 200 city parks. 

Its altitude of 6,854 feet above sea level makes it one of the smaller of the Foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. But because it is rounded and treeless, Green Mountain is easily identifiable. And since I live in a neighborhood 1.8 miles and 1,100 feet down hill to its southeast, I can tell which way is home from almost anywhere in the Denver area.

the view from my neighborhood

from my backyard

When we first moved here from Oklahoma, hiking was not even in my vocabulary. My knees were bad. I had no experience with a climate that is conducive to outdoor activities twelve months out of the year. Nor any acquaintance with a culture that not only encourages walking and hiking but a city that maintains 180 miles of trails for walking, hiking, biking, and horseback riding. My attitude had always been, if you can't get there in a car, why would you go?

My husband lived on the north shoulder of Green Mountain two years before my Dad and I joined him here in Lakewood in December of 2012. At that time Scott was a runner and ran Green Mountain to train for marathons. 

Lakewood also has four recreation centers that provide all kinds of fitness classes and our health insurance paid a little more than half the monthly fee, so I thought "Why not?" Besides, my husband was getting to see grand vistas and abundant wildlife and I wasn't physically able to go, too. I hate to be left out of anything.

My first goal was to reach the summit of Green Mountain. Exercise classes four days a week strengthened my legs enough that I could compensate for the bad knees. I walked our neighborhood including our own open space Hutchinson Park which has its share of walking and biking paths. But I could see that radio tower on top of Green Mountain. That was where I wanted to go.

Finally I started hiking Green Mountain. Scott would hike with me first on this trail, then on that, then on another. Always we would go just as far as I was able. We'd see wildlife.

          five of a herd of eight Mule Deer                                     a Meadowlark 

And, sometimes hear wildlife -- like rattlesnakes. I never saw one, but I took their ominous sound seriously and moved away from the area.

The City of Denver
Looking east from the base of the radio tower.

Views from the top of Green Mountain

I always thought the radio tower was at the summit.
Here it is about a quarter of a mile to the east of the summit.

That sliver of a snow-capped mountain is Pike's Peak
about 70 miles to the south.

Saint Mary's Glacier 34 miles west.

 

Here I am at the summit of Green Mountain
April 21, 2013.

The old knees finally won the battle and I haven't been on Green Mountain in two years. But I had the right knee replaced December 29 and all went well, so we did the left one March 29. There's no reason not to expect a full recovery and hiking Green Mountain is now on the agenda for this summer.

#atozchallenge