The info center has a great big map of the area. Check it out, just west of the buildings, if you're not quite sure where to go. Or just head south.
Fluffy baby goose chicks. Don't piss off their parents. Trust me on this one.
The first couple miles even have markers. That's two-point-five, by the way, not twenty-five. Yeah, I know, I got all excited too.
Water from the river is available at many, many points along the trail. Also, there are potties every mile or two. Nice.
There was company aplenty on this portion of the trail – especially the first nine miles. Dozens of boyscouts, runners, speed-walkers, little old ladies, mountain bikers, and dog-walkers all passed me handily. The wildlife didn't seem to mind the traffic – Canadian geese strolled down the road with their half-grown chicks, cormorants fanned their wings in the froth, hummingbirds and bright yellow finches flitted everywhere. I spotted two deer, one of which was licking a caretakers' driveway, and also encountered the single-most dangerous animal I spotted on the entire trail. Yep. There he is, down at the bottom. Terrifying.
The big dam. Waterton canyon is supposed to be closed soon for several years, in order to dredge out the silt building up behind this behemoth.
Mmm. Delicious driveway gravel.
This is the first bench. I believe it was placed here specifically to fool newbie hikers into thinking they've made it all the way up to Lenny's rest, when in fact they still have a monstrous climb 'twixt they and it. How devious!
The photo is deceptive: this beast must have been at least nine inches from head to tailtip, armed with black button eyes of cuteness and a snuffling pink nose. Who knows how many innocent hikers he's lured in for a closer peek -- hikers never thereafter heard from again? Truly, the wilds are a dangerous place.
Suggested updates to the 2009 databook:
0.0
Getting to Waterton canyon by bus from the airport was surprisingly easy. I arrived on a late evening plane, hung out at the airport sorting gear for a few hours, then took a bus at 4:15. A couple of transfers later, I arrived around 7:30, with a full day ahead for walking. The driver dropped me off perhaps a quarter mile from the information center at the start of the hike. Go to http://rtd-denver.com/, tell it you want to travel between a landmark (Denver International Airport) and an address (Waterton Canyon) and it'll provide the routes. Cost was something like nine bucks. There's a Colorado Trail bar and grill at the airport, and a Burger King where you can score all the little mustard and ketchup packets you could imagine a use for.
0.9
Travel down the main road until the trail – a small road in its own right -- branches off to the right. Or you can wander along a more scenic trail that winds through the info center and parking lots, but it ends up at the same branch.
3.2
Several caretakers' houses to the right.
~4.0
Small dam, then a series of hulking pieces of sand-filter and waterworks equipment.
6.6
Dam-caretakers' house. Keep to the right at the trail fork just beyond.
6.9
Small polished bench which appears to be Lenny's rest, but is not. The real one is up those switchbacks ahead.
7.9
Real Lenny's rest.
8.7
I camped here – nice spot. Supposedly this is the last reliable water for 8 miles; I found two other streams flowing strongly just up the trail. 2010 was a superb water year, however.
9.5
Very rocky, rough portions of trail – bikers have to hike their rides. Hope you've got trekking poles.
12.0
Cell phone service possible from some of these west-exposed rocky outcrops.
13.0
You can see the burned area you'll be crossing, down to the south.
The graphical elevation profile in the databook is not quite correct: you start to climb sooner, and go somewhat higher, than it indicates. Sorry.
----> Onward, to Segment 2!
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