Terminus: Boulder

It was a nice day to take a walk.

This terminus hike was different in that it wasn't a train terminal. There is a fleet of buses that run regularly from Union Station in Denver to Downtown Boulder Station in Boulder. Designated FF1 through FF7, they make different stops on the way. FF2 is the express, so I took it out. "FF" stands for "Flatirons Flier" named after the huge outcrop of iron laden sandstone that looms over Boulder.

[Flatirons from downtown Boulder]

Unlike the commuter buses that run in Denver, the Flatiron Fliers are comfy cross country buses. I almost expect a steward to come out on the way and offer little cups of soda and peanuts. It's a long ride, but a nice one through the mesa country north of Denver.

The Fliers run through the first area I lived in when I moved to Colorado, Broomfield. Looking back through the blogs, you can find past hikes I took near Superior, Colorado and Flatiron Junction.

Downtown Boulder looks a little "small town" but the city is home to a very big school, the University of Colorado, and it's a major Colorado tourist destination. Situated at the mouth of Boulder Canyon, it's a gateway to the Rockies known for its shopping and nightlife.

Watch the traffic - it's also known for reckless drivers.

From the bus station, I walked down to the little bandshell amphitheater located on Boulder Creek. Boulder Creek Trail parallels the creek through town and into the canyon. It's well traveled by students, tourists, and resident joggers, but not such that it's not a corridor for wildlife. The town loves its animals. It's the first place in the US to give pets the status of personhood.

Boulder Creek Trail is a nice walk, ending at the west end in Eben G. Fine Park. Eben Givens Fine was a community builder who moved to Boulder from Missouri in 1886 and took a job as a pharmacist in a local drug store.

[Boulder Public Library from Boulder Creek]

[Boulder Creek]

[Boulder Creek at Eben Fine Park]

A tunnel under Canyon Road connects Eben Fine Park with Settlers and Red Rocks Park. "Red Rocks" may sound like plagiarism. After all, Red Rocks Park is near Morrison, but, in fact, it's the same Red Rocks, known also as the Fountain Formation, that pops up in places along the Front Range from Wyoming to New Mexico. The red rock is arkose conglomerate and the "red" is mostly iron rich feldspar that was recrystallized under pressure from stuff washed out of the mountains after the uplift that formed the Rockies. [Correction. It was debris from the Ancestral Rockies. ]

(By the way, if you're curious, the word "plagiarism" is from the Latin word "plagiarius" which means "kidnapping".)

[Red Rocks at Red Rocks Park in Boulder]

I returned to the bus station along Pearl Street, especially known for its shops, restaurants and nightlife.

[Pearl Street]

Since I was in no hurry to get back home (I needed a rest and the hike was short - it was just a little after noon when I left Boulder.) I took the first Flatirons Flier to leave, the FF1, which stops at pretty much every stop along the route.