First hike of 2026

The weather was great for the first hike of the year with the Mountain Trails Hiking Club. This was originally planned as a snowshoeing trip, but we haven’t had enough snow to make that happen.

Overall, the portion of the loop we did, including the “Stairway to Heaven path” (it was a brief uphill, definitely nothing worthy of that name) was pretty much flat. It would be a really nice place to come back to just after a fresh snowfall!

Check out Dawson Butte Ranch Open Space Loop on AllTrails: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/dawson-butte-ranch-open-space-loop