Oct 9, 2022
Written By: J.Couch
So Heather had to work on a Sunday and what was I to do? I could have sat around the apartment and wasted a day away or I could go for a hike that I have wanted to do and I know that Heather would not. I packed up some snacks and water and headed out. I decided to take a drive up to Mount Falcon Park (East trailhead) and take a hike up to the proposed site for the Summer White House. In 1911, John Walker owned the property that is now Mount Falcon Park. He proposed the idea of building the Summer White House for the Presidents of the United States. Walker was going to create a “Castle in the clouds”, a 22 room castle, modeled after castles of Europe, for the Presidents of the United States to enjoy. The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1914 made of Colorado yule marble, however it never materialized due to other projects.
Starting off was good, but I soon realized that this was going to be a long steep climb from the parking lot to the top. Per Google it’s 2.1 miles to the top with an 1,188 feet elevation gain. The day was beautiful and not too hot. It was in the upper 60s to lower 70s, which was great for hiking. Google maps said that it would take an hour to get to the top so that was my goal, I didn’t make it in an hour but squeaked in about 1 hour and 15 minutes. I did have to take a few stops along the way to catch my breath and take some pictures. If you go up the Castle trail, keep in mind that this trail is also shared with the bikes. And today there were a lot of bikes. Watching them peddle up this trail did not make me want to try that, but the coming down part looked a lot of fun. The castle trail takes you up the south route and has many switch backs going up. The trail in some places is very smooth but in many areas it is very rocky and you need to watch your step, so as to not twist an ankle.
After about 30 to 40 minutes walking up the hill with cactus and desert grass you get into the tree line and there are a lot more areas of shade from the sun. This section is the part that seemed more rocky but wasn’t too bad. Towards the summit of castle trail there is a shelter with a picnic table to stop and rest or have a snack. Just past this is the trail to the north that takes you up to Walker’s Dream Lookout and just past that the Summer White House. It’s about a quarter of a mile from the main trail and shelter.
The views looking down on to the front range and the red rocks area are amazings. Even looking to the west at the mountain range is breathtaking as well. There were a few fourteeners that had some snow on them, but quickly melting in the sun.
After a few snacks, pictures and a well deserved rest, it was time to head back down. Sometimes not always fun as some may think. Going down I decided to take the north trail called “Turkey Trot”. This was a good trail as well but the benefit to this one is there are no bikes. Again there are spots that are very rocky and you need to watch your step in places.
Well, the hike took me about 3 hours to get up and back. It was well worth it, but my legs and feet were starting to feel it. After getting home and looking at Google a little closer, I found that it maps you to almost the top and then magically transports you to the Summer White House. For some reason it does not know of the trail just past the shelter, which I found was 2.6 miles to the shelter and 1,473 elevation gain. And about another quarter of a mile up to the Summer White House area. Going back the Turkey Trot route adds almost a half a mile to your trip too. Overall I think I did about a 6 mile round trip hike and I was ready to call it a day.
Thanks for wandering with us,
The Wandering Couchs
