Trails traveled: Plymouth Creek Trail, Plymouth Mountain Trail, Difficulty: Moderate (Blue)
Lollipop, 6.0 miles round-trip, 1,460 feet of elevation gain
Time: 2.5 hours
Weather: Overcast, Cloudy

• Summit
• Panoramic Views
• Wildflowers
• Green
• Humid
• Below the Treeline
• Woods

This was a good workout for a “low elevation” hike in Colorado. It also has a lot of good tree cover too on a hot day. There were fewer people on the trail than I expected. The hardest park of the hike is the incline right after to reach the trees.

This has a good elevation gain (almost 1,500 feet) and some good mileage (6 miles) for an early summer hike. I used this hike to gauge my fitness for a 14er in the near future. I felt a little strained at the beginning when it was a steep incline in the stifling heat, but once I reached the trees, things got much easier.

As far as how I feel about doing longer and higher hikes, I feel like my fitness is right where I want it. Let’s see how I fair on my next hike, maybe it will be one up in the clouds! 😉☁

– Jason