Date: 1/16/2012
Who: Michelle, Sammy and myself
Length: about 2 miles (1 in + 1 back)
Time: 2.75 hours
Weather: 50 degrees, sunny

Most of this trail is on private property, on the grounds of Glen Eyrie. To hike it is necessary to make reservations in advance, sign waivers, show your paperwork and ID at the gate, and follow their rules. See their web site for details. One of my maps shows the Queens Canyon trail goes all the way to Rampart Range Road, meeting the road not far from the Williams Canyon trail. (We did not go up that far.)

Queens Canyon is narrow, and the trail criss-crosses the stream like mad. Today’s conditions were that the trail was dry, packed snow and icy in various spots. The stream was frozen-over in some sections, and free-flowing in others. It made for a tricky, technical hike up to the falls. The requirement to have Sammy on-leash added another dimension to the tricky-technicalness. I think the hike would be better in the Summer, when it is warmer so you don’t care if your feet get wet, and then just have fun. It is a very pretty canyon–I would definitely come back in the Summer with swimming in mind.

Poor little Sammy had a tough outing: I stepped on her paw once with one of my spikes (not bad, no blood). She had to be on-leash the whole time. So, I was correcting her quite often verbally, and with the leash, to direct her in the desired direction. And, she had a bad encounter with a mean dog, to boot (a little scary, but also no blood)!



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