August has been a rough month. There have been lots of stressful changes with work and its been hard to not let them get to me. Needless to say, the mountains were calling me hard this weekend. I’ve been wanting to check out Raspberry Mountain for awhile, so Sunday morning Mushu and I hopped in the car at 5am and headed to Divide. The trailhead for Raspberry Mountain is about a half mile before the one for the Crags. You an find directions here.
We were the only ones on the trail. The sun was just coming up and the light was coming through the tress making everything glow. It was also still cool, about 45 degrees and it felt like fall. Basically, it was perfect. The trail is really pretty and shady and not too difficult. It starts as part of the Ring the Peak Trail which then connects to the Raspberry Mountain trail at about mile 1.7. Its extremely well labeled with signs at every junction.
The trail doesn’t gain a ton of elevation, but when it does its all at once, making it steep in places. However the steep places are fairly short and for a trail that leads to a mountain’s summit, there are quite a few downhill and flat parts.
The view from the top is absolutely breathtaking. There’s a 360 view of mountains and valleys and a stunning view of Pikes Peak. Being able to just sit at the top, alone, really helped me clear my head. It was hard to leave. The whole hike ended up being just under 5 miles. To make things even better I had enough stamps on my Dutch Brothers card to get a free drink. Pretty good start to Sunday; I think.
