This past weekend marked the first training hike for the Rocky Mountain region of Team in Training Hike program summer season.  As I mentioned before, I am a captain for this season and will not be fund raising, but will support the hikers who are with their training and fund raising.  While running out the door to get to the meeting location, I realized I did not have a camera with me so there are no images from this hike, but in the upcoming weeks I will be sure to include some.

With the first hike for the group, we started off with a local hike at Doudy Draw which is part of the Boulder Open Space & Mountain Parks system.  It was a little chilly at the start as a weather system moved into Colorado overnight leaving a dusting of snow which would soon melt with sunshine filling the sky.  Fifteen hikers headed out of the trailhead parking lot and up the trail enjoying the peaceful morning as we got to know each other during the hike.  From the trailhead off of Highway 93 we headed across the Flatirons Vista North trail, and met up with Doudy Draw as we descended down the ridge.  From there we did the Springbrook loop and then headed back towards the trailhead.  After completing the loop you could tell that the snow was melting quite quickly as areas which had snow on the trail was now either muddy or even dry as we retraced our route.  At the end of the hike we had covered around seven miles on a perfect February day to kick off the hiking part of the season.

In addition to some information about the hike, each week I will also provide a link to one of the hikers participating this season in case you would like to donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the Team in Training program.  This week Janet Hukill is the featured participant.  Janet was my mentor last season when I hiked at Rocky Mountain National Park and has been involved with the Hike program for a couple of years.  To learn more about why Janet is hiking and support her efforts with a donation, please visit Janet’s fundraising page.