Royal Arch Hike

Yesterday I met some friends in Boulder to hike up to Royal Arch.  It was the perfect weather for a hike - sunny and cool.  The Royal Arch Trail is a butt kicker.  It's tough and steep spots.  It's 3.2 miles but the elevation is 1, 205 feet.  Since it goes up and down, the elevation gain round trip is 1,417 feet.

The view from the top is definitely worth the work you put in to getting there.

The Royal Arch was formed by wind, water, and mechanical erosion.  It is a fragment of the Fountain Formation.  The mineral rich sand eroded from the ancestral Rocky Mountains uplift 300 million years ago.  From the ebb and flow of inland oceans, the sediments were compressed into a layer of sandstone then thrusted upward by the same tectonic force that created the present day Rocky Mountains.

If you're in the Boulder area, it's a great moderately strenuous hike. Go for it!