Here are good instructions to get to this trail:
http://www.everytrail.com/guide/raspberry-mountain/map#poi-3
This is a trail that climbs to the peak of Raspberry Mountain that is about 6 miles long. The climb is gradual until the very end when there is a steeper climb to the top where there are phenomenal views.
We started pretty early in the morning and the air was crisp and cold at the start. Here is a picture of the trail head from the road:
You can see the sun is just beginning to warm up the air and steam is rising from the meadow at the trail head.
There are still mountain flowers to be seen.
Here we've climbed into a young aspen grove.
Here you can see that the trail is wide and sometimes eroded.
More shots of the trail.
Towards the top the trail dies out a bit and the whole forest looks like a trail. In the photo on the right you can see our destination -- it is the rocky peak in the background. There is some steeper climbing up ahead that will be well worth our troube.
The squirrels often scold us as we walk by. Willy likes to tease me that they are demanding a toll. Sometimes it seems they are throwing things at us. (-; This one posed for a picture.
Here is a tree that was split right in half.
All along the trail are mushrooms of many types. I really wish I knew which are edible and which are not even though some of them look extremely distasteful! I'm guessing we found every possible poisonous mushroom you can find!
Towards the top it gets rocky...
and there are huge boulders to our right. Here Willy is pointing out there is snow.
At the top there are magnificent views. This is Pike's Peak in the background.
The Catamount reservoir from the summit.
Keep climbing until you reach the very top. There is a nest like cluster of rocks at the top above the tree lines and you can take in gorgeous views 360 degrees around.
The hike down is back the way you came and much quicker than the hike up. (-; We were serenaded by these "Cracking Forest grasshoppers" who are amazingly noisy. It blends in nicely with the trail.
