46. Visit Dinosaur Ridge

Living in Denver, the winter weather is a cornucopia of conditions - one day it's a snowy blizzard, the next day it's a balmy 60 degrees.  We recently had one of those balmy 60 degree days and decided to take full advantage of it.  Not to mention, time is running thin with getting some goals accomplished!  So...we headed to Dinosaur Ridge with our pups in tow and had a great hike! 

Dinosaur Ridge is a hill on the west side of Denver that separates the city from Red Rocks Amphitheatre.  It's a relatively easy hike up the actual Dinosaur Ridge trail as it's all paved and for the faint of heart, you can actually take a shuttle up and over for $5 a person.  We opted to walk since it was a beautiful sunny day and since we had the dogs.  It was pretty much over before I knew it, but worth the hike as to the east you got a pretty city view and to the west you got to check out Red Rocks from above.  After we hiked the informative trail, we took a more strenuous route back to our car on the Dakota Ridge hogback, which afforded us even better views with some privacy.  I will be keeping this trail in mind this summer when I need a quick getaway with the dogs!

www.dinoridge.org

 

Pre-hike picture of me. 

Right behind me is where we came down from the hike on Dakota Ridge Hogback. 

A dinosaur footprint.  I believe it says Iguanodon Track...much cooler to see in person.  Also got to see some petrified bones and weird rock formations caused by water (Colorado was once under the ocean before the tectonic plates shifted and formed the Rocky Mountains).