Tag: trailhead

Gergeti Trinity Church – Kazbegi, Georgia

The scenery might distract you, and it is easy to do because everywhere you look in the small mountain town of Kazbegi, Georgia is stunning. It sits next to the Terek River in the Caucasus Mountains about seven kilometers from the border of Russia, and it is easily one of the biggest draws for tourists in this country. Many of them will splurge a little extra money to spend a night or two at the Rooms Hotel, a converged day spa that has a great view over the valley. From there, if you look closely to the left of the tallest peak, on a smaller mountain in front of it, there sits on top of the peak a monastery, the Gergeti Trinity Church.

During the summer months, this monastery is one of the biggest attractions in the region. It is filled with visitors all the time, and offers many amazing views just like the hotel across the valley. There are two ways to get there. The way that most people take is the road on the side of the mountain that takes people to a parking lot just a short walk to the monastery. It is the easier choice, but the road is not always maintained and after a good rainstorm, it can be covered in run off. It is also on a series of switchbacks that take you up the mountain, and some Georgian drivers take the corners rather fast, but if you take your time, and slowly navigate through the debris, it is not that hard to get to.

The other way is to hike up the hill. The trailhead for the path is on the opposite side of the mountain from the parking lot, on the side facing the town. The road up to the trailhead is also difficult. It is really rugged and covered with many potholes, but the traffic on it is a lot less, and people generally take it slower. When heading to the mountain, you will cross a bridge over a river, and you would take your first left after it that will wind its way through a small part of town, and deposit you at a small cafe. Signs indicate that parking here is 5 Lori, but there was no one there, and no place to put the payment, so we got away without playing. The parking lot is also kind of small, so I would recommend getting there early to find a place. The path follows a stream on the left-hand side and goes by the ruins of an old tower on the right-hand side. It has many offshoots, but all of them tend to lead to the same place, Gergeti Trinity Church.

The path offers more amazing views then just driving up, and it is the one that I would recommend taking. It is not a hike for everybody though. There are many difficult and rocky parts to the path, so good hiking shoes are required, and I would also bring hiking poles to help you through some of the more treacherous moments. It does not require ropes, and most skilled hikers should not have a difficult time with it, but just know that it is not always a stroll. There are two basic paths on it, and I would aim for the upper path as the lower path just follows the stream. It looks easy to begin with, but once you get to the end, the path veers sharply up. It took me only an hour to complete the trek, and this was after a day of heavy rain, so there was a little more runoff than usual.

Either way, this is a must see if you are in Kazbegi. There will be tourists up there no matter when you head up, but if you take the trail earlier in the morning, you can have it to yourself and feel like the Caucasus Mountains are all your own. There is also the added pleasure of seeing horses grazing in the pasture, and having some of the most amazing views that the world has to offer. The monastery is really cool as well, holding some great iconic paintings that have recently been done and some that are frescos from centuries past that are worth seeing.

The best part is that you get the rest of the day to enjoy the views. Each day in Kazbegi offers something new with nature as the clouds come and go in this isolated valley. It creates some very dramatic moments that are worth sitting on a deck and watch unfold.

Until next time, get out there and continue to explore the world.

Mount Falcon Park – Morrison, Colorado

It has been a while since I have gotten to walk around the mountains of Colorado. It is not like I had forgotten about the, but I could say I had taken them for granted. All of the time I spent stuck in a foreign country during the pandemic, unable to return home, I had thought about them. When I was able to make it back to Colorado and enjoy them again, my priority went over to visiting with family and friends I had not seen for a long time, and visiting the mountains had taken a back seat. So when my sister suggested that we go on a hike one morning to a place in the mountains, and not far from her home, I was once again acquainted with the majesty that is the Rocky Mountains.

The trailhead she took me to was for Mount Falcon which is perched close enough to the world famous Red Rocks Amphitheater that there were many spots along the way where I was able to look over the Front Range. In fact to get to the trailhead, we had to drive through rural areas, dotted with numerous houses, barns, and fields of grazing horses. Still, it was far enough away that when we arrived and started hiking the trail, we put any semblance of society behind us. I was once agin out in the middle of nature, breathing in the fresh air and listening to the sounds of the forests outside of Denver.

There are two trailheads for the Mount Falcon trail. There is the east path and the west path. The east path is a more arduous hike as it takes people up the mountain; whereas, the west path is relatively flat and the easier choice. They both lead to the same spot, so it really depends on the hiker as to how much of a challenge they are up for. I elected to take the easier path, so we drove to the west trailhead.

The places where the paths take you are the real reason for finding these trailheads. John Brisben Walker owned much of the mountain in the early part of the twentieth century. He had two locations that any traveler can get to if they come out here. The first one is his homestead, a large sprawling estate where he used to live with his family and servants. Only the ruins to this building remain as it was struck by lightning in 1918 and burned to the ground. Because John Brisben Walker had endured the tragic death of his wife two years earlier, he abandoned the homestead and left the ruins for us to enjoy over a century later.

The other site is not as interesting to look at, but it has a more interesting story behind it. There is a stone wall that would have been the foundation to a majestic building out in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. On top of it, there is one marble brick that hints at the material that would have been used to eventually make this building. John Brisben Walker wanted to make a palace for the presidents of the United States that would have called the White House of the West. He was able to put in that one marble brick, and the rest of the project was abandoned. Though it is not as exciting as the ruins, it was still an interesting place to visit.

It was fun to be able to venture off into the mountains of Colorado again, even if it was just in the foothills. I hope it opens the floodgates for me to explore more of these mountains in the future, and not to take so long between visits. I was raised by going into these mountains, and I need to return to those moments of my youth to remember how much is offered by the Rocky Mountains.