160 | Bergen Peak

One of the great things about living in Denver is having quick access to plenty of parks and open spaces to enjoy hiking, mountain biking, and trail running. The only downfall is that everyone else that lives here appreciates the same activities, and why not? When you look outside at your surroundings, it's damn near impossible to not take advantage, so often you'll find yourself sharing the same hike with many other people which can hamper the experience a bit. One easy to way to overcome this is by waking up that much earlier, and yesterday I found myself out of bed at five in the morning and on my way to Elk Meadow Park just north of Evergreen.

From the trailhead, Bergen Peak rises 2,000 feet to an elevation of 9,708 over 5.6 miles before looping back down for a total roundtrip of 10.3 miles. The majority of the climb up is very gradual before steepening towards the end. Three hours after leaving the trailhead, I found myself at the top with very rewarding 360-degree views before jogging back down and reaching the parking lot an hour later. Unfortunately, the sun was already up high and all too powerful to capture any decent photographs, but I did manage to take some of the aspen trees that I think came out great.