Background
On Sunday, January 19th, 2020, I decided to hike up to the Royal Arch in Boulder, Colorado. To get there from Denver, I took the FF1 bus ($5.25 for 3-hours) from Union Station and exited at the Broadway & Euclid Ave stop. From here, I walked about 20 minutes to Chautauqua Park.
There are various routes to the Royal Arch, I took Chautauqua Trail to Bluebell Mesa Trail to Bluebell Spur Trail to Flatiron Loop Trail to Royal Arch Trail. At Sentinel Pass, there is a sign to get to the Royal Arch but it is easy to miss this and keep going past it.
The trail is very busy on the weekends, even in the last few hours before sunset, the trail is somewhat crowded. It was important to have Microspikes to prevent slipping on several icy sections. I also used trekking poles to keep moving quickly. Most people did not have spikes or poles, I passed all of these people on the way up and down due to the caution they had to exercise on the trail.
I started at the trailhead map at 2:57PM and returned back to it at 5:16PM, spending 15 minutes or so at the Royal Arch. Afterwards, I walked to downtown Boulder to eat at the Eureka! restaurant before heading back to Denver on the bus.
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