Alderfer/Three Sisters Park
From Hiking
| Alderfer/Three Sisters Park | ||
|---|---|---|
| Location: | Evergreen | |
| Maintained By: | Jefferson County Open Space | |
| Starting Elevation: | 7700' | |
| Elevation Gain: | 650' | |
| Length: | 6.0 miles | |
| Difficulty: | moderate | |
| Last Hiked: | 6/14/08 | |
[edit] Finding the Trail Head
Travel west on I-70 and exit on the Evergreen Parkway. In downtown Evergreen, turn right at the signal (Highway 73) and then right again on Buffalo Park Road (at the High School). There are two Alderfer parking lots about a mile apart (both on the right).
[edit] Description
Although there is a network of trails across the meadow and through the Three Sisters hills, we opted to cross the road and hike up Evergreen Mountain. We started from the second or westernmost parking lot. The trail starts out in a meadow on the Wild Iris Loop. Unfortunately, we were about two weeks too late for the Irises.
We took the Evergreen Mountain trail west straight up to the summit through a forest of lodgepole pines and returned on the Evergreen trail east. Unfortunately, the Ranch View trail back to the parking lot turned out to be much tougher than the map suggested. Starting from the first (eastern most) parking lot or taking the trail in the other direction is definitely recommended to avoid a steep climb at the end of the hike.
[edit] Experience
The wild flowers in the lower parts of the hike, especially Mountain Harebell and Leather Flower, were everywhere. However, the loop around the top was easily the prettiest part of the hike.
