Saturday I hiked up Thunder Butte which at 9,836 feet is the highest point in Douglas County, Colorado. Thunder Butte was in the middle of the 2002 Hayman fire. The whole area in which I hiked, minus a few small areas, had been burned leaving standing dead trees and little underbrush. Even though the fire happened nearly 6 years ago, there still is little plant recovery and much soot can be found. While not the most scenic of hikes in terms of green trees, lush ground cover, etc., the hike was still beautiful in a haunting way. There is no trail up Thunder Butte, and because of the fire the hike was probably easier than it would have been before the fire since long views were available of the final destination that otherwise would not have been there.

The first part of the little over 2.5 mile hike up is following along two low, broad ridge lines, first towards the north and then to the northwest. Walking these ridges was quite easy. The ground was relatively flat, and while the area was burned the trees were still standing so I didn't have to cross a lot of deadfalls, which would have made travel considerably more difficult.

The second half of the hike nearly all of the total 1,300 feet of elevation gain of the hike is done. Here I just followed a natural gully up to a saddle between the shorter summit to the southeast and the true summit to the northwest. From the saddle it was a fairly easy hike along a ridge up to the summit.

The views from the summit were specular. To the south-south-east stood Pikes Peak. Far to the south were the snow covered peaks of the Sangre de Cristo range. To the west are the 12,000 foot peaks of the Kenosha and Tarryall mountain ranges. And to the far north, if you looked in the low spot between to lesser summits downtown Denver could be seen.

Thunder Butte rises up in an area that is relatively flat that is surrounded to the east by the Rampart Range and the west by the Kenosha and Tarryall Mountains. Much of this rolling, non-mountainous landscape had been burned in the huge Hayman fire which caused enough smoke that the smoke could be seen and smelled in Denver, over 60 miles away. Looking down upon this burned landscape imparted a certain sadness, yet there was an eerie beauty to it.

Before I left to go on the hike the weather wasn't looking very promising, low clouds hung in the sky, and the threat of rain seemed eminent. But as I drove south to the trailhead the skies cleared and it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day that wasn't too cold nor too hot.