Hey All,
The girlfriend and I are big outdoorsy people and we are coming into Boulder/RMNT this weekend. I’ve decided to pop the question this trip and have a couple hikes in mind to do so but would love some input as I haven’t hiked in the area prior.
Criteria:
Prefer as private as possible (Will be there Friday afternoon to monday evening)
Willing to hike up to 8hrs round trip but 14er summit would be too risky.
Willing to begin hike at any time ie. “Random hike” is beautiful but only way to make it private is to get to top at 7am.
I love the lost lake trail at the Hesse trailhead in Nederland - but it could be a totally cluster- they now run a shuttle from the high school on weekends to keep locals from killing everyone parking there. You would want to go really early or late. It’s still going to have snow on it.
The weather in Nederland was less than ideal when we were out there a couple of weeks ago, lots of snow continuing to fall (13" over the course of a couple of days), trails requiring spikes or snowshoes, lots of ice, difficult to get to trailheads. It may have improved over the last couple of weeks unless there’s been yet more snowfall.
For a shorter hike at lower elevation, the top of Windy Peak in Golden Gate Canyon State Park is beautiful and a great proposal spot…If you get there early, otherwise it’s busier with hikers and trail runners. The view is nice, especially with clear skies, it has a perfect spot for a proposal, the driver out is fantastic, and you could be in Golden afterward to spend the rest of the day celebrating.
There is a shitload of snow on the mountains all over CO still. They look like and are snowpacked like it’s mid February, not nearly June. It’s still cold as shit and snowing almost daily here in the mountains (sometimes just a little, other times a few inches that sticks around a while). Some lower elevation hiking is all you’re going to get. So have fun but be prepared and realize it’s a strange spring here right now. I can’t give you any proposal ideas, just want you to know what’s happening above 8000 feet in CO right now! (I know Boulder is lower, but you mentioned RMNP and 14ers).
Are either of you climbers? If so, the top of the 3rd Flatiron. Start in the dark with headlamps; propose on the summit at sunrise.
2nd choice: hike up to the Keyhole on Long’s Peak. You don’t have to go to the summit, and the route up to the Keyhole is just a hike (although strenous). Spend the night and propose at sunrise.
Thanks for all the input! Been a crazy week.
We hiked Bear Peak on the friday, went animal searching on the west side of RMNT on Saturday(Very successful), Sky pond on Sunday and then finished off with Gem lake trail on Monday.
Went into it being prepared to do it at any moment when there was privacy and a nice spot and was lucky enough to get the entire Bear peak to ourselves so I proposed there on the Friday. Was beautiful and was amazing and she said Yes!
