Walk from West to East Monument Entrances

2nd Annual foot tour of the North Face of CO Natl Monument

Gold Star Canyon to Liberty Cap

(subject to possible minor route selection variations)

Segment 3 of 4

This is the 2nd April in a row that most of the Tuesday nights will be devoted to walking from West to East entrances to CO Natl Monument.

Come along this evening for #3 then join in on as many more as you can over the coming weeks. Think about telling people at work, or your family "I walked the whole face of the Monument". Not too many people will be able to say that, I bet. Last year there may have been 2 or 3 of us who walked all 4 segments.

This hike will be very brisk paced, there is no turning around and there is no place to just say 'oh go on and leave me, I'll be fine'.

I expect these 4 Tuesdays to be some of the stiffest paced hiking I do all Spring. So, if you are FIT and have a high sense of adventure (and fresh batteries in your headlamp), join us this evening and all the way across the traverse this month.

I expect to be mostly on trails but I cannot guarentee that. Please do not sign up for this hike if you are not confident of having better than average stamina and willingness to 'keep up'. We will not be running; but, it will not be a Monument Canyon stroll either. If you have any questions about whether this hike is for you, please call me.

WHEN/WHERE:

We will meet at Liberty Cap / Wildwood parking lot at 5:45 to set up our car shuttle. If you cannot make it until 6 PM (pls try to make 5:45), please call me to let us know to not wait for you at Wildwood. You will instead, meet us at the Gold Star Canyon on South Broadway near White Rocks.

We plan to start hiking from this parking lot AT 6 PM.

BRING:

• Strudy shoes or light boots
• Trekking poles (if you like them)
• Dress in layers so you can adjust body temperature. When the sun dips behind the cliffs then sets, it get chilly very quickly, especially when (like me) you are soaked with sweat)
• Water
• Snacks
• Gloves (leather or similar since we'll be going down a steep loose area to start and rocks, gravel, cactus spines can all do lots of damage and inflict lots of pain)
• Headlamp (based on last year's walk with a small group of very strong hikers, we MAY finish this leg after dark. This is the shortest of the 4 segments.) walking down either the outer trail or right down the black rock inner/ lower Gold Star Canyon.
• Sandals or flip-flops (to get those hiking shoes off) and dry shirt in the car.
• Extra water in the car to rehydrate after the hike

COST:

We park outside any fee areas this evening.

DOGS:

Sorry but NO since, even though a very remote part of the Monument, we will be in the Monument.

RSVP:

You may only RSVP for yourself on this and each of the 4 of 4 hike series. We need to definitively know who is going.

CONTACT:

Doug Van Etten   [masked]

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