Alderfer/Three Sisters Park - Tangled Up in Blue

30357 Buffalo Park Rd, Evergreen, CO ~3.5 miles and 2hrs 45 mins

Aldrfer/Three Sisters Park is a spectacular park in Evergreen, CO. It has over 16 miles of trails sitting between 7400 to 8500 ft above sea level. The sections we hiked were between 7400 and 7850 ft.

It was hot out, 90+ degrees, but low humidity. So far I have equated hiking in higher altitudes to the same as hiking in high humidity back east; I was easily winded going uphill, even on an easy incline. (In Denver and RMNP, I also had a strange sensation, almost like nausea, but that subsided after day one.)

The trails were a mix of forest floor and rocks. I would call most of the hike easy, except for actually summitting the sisters. They did require use of the full body to get over and around the rocks. I didn’t summit one of them because I couldn’t find a good way up (good meaning I didn’t feel like I was going to fall). Mike was able to summit all three.

Mike and I were dropped at the east trailhead and took the Hidden Fawn Trail from the parking lot. We followed the trail until we met up with Sisters Trail and took a right to head up the rocks. I am not certain which sister was which. There are two that sit together and then one that sits across. I believe that one is the highest, but looking at the map, I can’t be sure.

The first sister we summited was actually the second on the trail and it gave me the shakes. Call it adrenaline, lack of water, sugar, or salt, but there was a trickier spot to navigate (use of the entire body was required) and it made my my knees shake and got my heart pumping.

Mike and I sat at the top for a few enjoying the beautiful view, (okay fine, for me it was also to calm my heart and drink water.) Being the klutz that I am, and bouncing off quite a few rocks in the past, I get really nervous when I realize that if I slip, there is no safe place to land.

On the way down, Mike scouted another path, which may have been easier than the way up, but from where I sat looking down was dizzying, so I opted to go the way we came. As we climbed down we encountered a lovely little boy and his parents. The boy talked to me about being afraid of heights as I was navigating the tricky part again. I told him that was okay to be afraid and that I honestly was too. He was a good reminder for me to just go slow and cautiously.

Mike summitted the second sister while I explored the other rocks. We both walked around for a bit before crossing to the third sister. The trail took us through the woods so we decided to sit in some shade and drink water ad eat a snack bar before climbing the third sister.

From the ground, she looked the most intimidating, but in reality I feel like the rocks here were safer to climb than the other two. We encountered a couple of lizards along the way and were at the top pretty quickly. The views were breathtaking with Evergreen Lake in the distance.

Next we circled around to Ponderosa Trail and up the Brother to the lookout. Mike did find a snake skin on this trail. I decided to call it a lizard skin (it’s possible) and kept going. The look out point is great, but it was in full sun. We still soaked up the beauty for a bit before heading on our way. We went back down to Ponderosa and followed that until we returned to Sisters Trail. We took a right to return to the east trailhead parking.

Notables from the trail: