Submitted by: @ausdoherty DATE: 2-10-17 A few friends of mine and I decided to take some time off from our snowboarding in Winter Park to visit a friend in Boulder, Co. This friend said that she was going to take us on a hike in a spot that she loved, this spot was the Flatirons. We parked at Chautauqua Park then proceeded down the Chautauqua trail that lead to the bluebell mesa trail, then to the 1st/2nd flat iron trail. The Chautauqua trail was a long open trail that stretched across some open grassland. The bluebell mesa trail went through some grassland but lead into some beautiful pine forest. The last stretch before the summit was the 1st/2nd flat iron trail. For those of you that may be afraid of doing some climbing or are afraid of heights this might the point where you want to turn around. There were some beautiful views throughout and plenty of point you could stop and get great pictures of the 2nd flatiron. We saw many people rock climbing on the way up which was interesting sight, being from Chicago. We had to climb over some pretty large rocks which required us to help each other over but we prevailed. Once we finally reached the summit there was some unbelievable views of both boulder and the Rocky Mountains. The way back down was much easier. The trail was very populated and in many places, there were people passing in both directions. Also be prepared because most the trail isn’t flat, so wear some hiking boots its slick and uneven in many spots.
I learned that its not always smart to go before you're fully acclimated to the altitude. We are all in very good shape but were exhausted after the hike.
If you're looking for a good day hike when visiting Boulder this is the perfect spot