Best Hike of the Year!

Yesterday we headed back up to Boulder for our usual weekend hike. There’s just so many trails up in Boulder that we can park in the same place each weekend, but never hike the same place twice. That being said, yesterday’s hike will definitely be repeated – it is hands down the best hike of the year, if not the best hike I’ve ever been on (in this country).

I think the hike was a total of about 3 miles, and truth be told, much of it was climbing UP. But, unlike last weekend’s hike, this one was absolutely amazing, despite the elevation climb. The trail was rough – mostly rocks and sometimes I did have to scoot on my butt to keep balance (having a little wiggling baby on my back doesn’t help with the balance issue), but all in all it was so beautiful. Unfortunately we chose a not so great time to go though – when we finally made it to the royal arch, we quickly realized that is the spot of choice for sunbathing freshmen (ugh). Apparently after a night of binge drinking, nothing soothes the soul quite like some high elevation rays. Then, the icing on the cake, my poor little monkey took a spill at the top of the mountain and cut open his lip. Luckily it was more dirt than blood and we made it safely back down the mountain at a quick pace.

Despite the buzz-kill, that will definitely be on our agenda before the weather turns. Perhaps much earlier in the day (by the time we made it up to the arch it was probably around 1pm).

We got some beautiful photos too – check them out HERE. We tried to get some good ones of the trail so you can see what the terrain is like, but a photo just doesn’t really do it justice – I would highly recommend this hike to ANYONE (Dad – this will be on our agenda when you come home next time, you’d love it).

South Ridge Trail – Horsetooth

I love having 3 day weekends 🙂 Its like, even though you know  it’s Sunday, its not really Sunday 🙂

Yesterday we started off with a really great hike up in Horsetooth. Originally we went up there to hike up to Horsetooth Rock (since last time we were side tracked by the falls) but, as luck would have it, there were like 10 groups of 10 or more people who all were within eyesight from the parking lot, so we decided to go on the West side trail up South Ridge, where we couldn’t see anyone. 

As a side note, if there is a trail where you don’t see anyone, there is probably a reason as to WHY there is no one on the trail lol. The “trail” was a multi-use trail (bikes, horses…) that was straight up the mountain, with little to no relief in the form of shade OR flat ground. Ugh. We made it to the junction of the regular Horsetooth Rock trail, but at that point I was too pooped to continue another hour up to the rock. However, my legs are so sore today and I feel great, so clearly the hike did a good job kicking my butt.

We still had fun, as usual, and the weather was ideal for hiking (sunny and NO clouds, but a cool, constant breeze).

Next time we’ll risk the heavy traffic on the trail and head straight up for Horsetooth Rock. Third time’s a charm!

In the meantime, the photos from our outing can be seen HERE.

We finished off the day spending time at Sam’s farm/garden – we got a ton of beautiful veggies and Matthew had a blast (as usual) running around, playing in the dirt and chasing the cats. Regretfully, I didn’t get any photos 😦

Great weekend so far – having a relaxing morning today and spending the evening up at Red Rocks – should be a great way to end the long weekend!

 

New Flickr Set

I forgot to mention earlier that I uploaded all of the photos to our Flickr album – you can find them online here.

 

Flagstaff Trail – Boulder

Had a really great hike today – we went up to Boulder with the intention of hiking green mountain, but a wrong turn resulted in a hike up Flagstaff trail 🙂 But it was for the better I think – the hike was beautiful and the weather was perfect (not too hot & a nice breeze):

I tried to get us all in the picture... 🙂

My daring husband

 

Goofy Boy

 

Matthew & Momma

Now for a nap…

Horsetooth Falls Hiking Trip

Today we left the house bright and early for another wonderful family trip. We originally set out to hike Horesetooth Rock, but once we got up there we saw an alternate trail for Horsetooth Falls, where I had never been. I’m so glad we decided to go this way – the end of the trail ended up being so much fun for Matthew.

The hike itself was only about 3 miles, but with the crazy heat we had today I think that was the perfect distance – long enough to kick my butt but not long enough to make me want to sit down and wait for the park rangers to rescue me.We upgraded our EveryTrail app to the Pro version, which let us add in better quality images of our hike and has better mapping functions. Unfortunately I don’t know enough about WordPress (yet) to figure out how to enable widgets like this. So, if you want to take a peek at our hiking route via EveryTrail, you can by clicking here.

Here are a few photos from our trip:

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Overall we had a really great hike – the trail was very well maintained (surprisingly well, actually) and even though it cost us $6 to get to the trailhead, I think that was money well spent.

If you want to look at ALL the photos we took on our hike, click here.

Maybe next weekend we’ll go back up and hike Horsetooth Rock!

Chataqua Park – Boulder

Had our first hiking trip today to jump start the weekend adventures. The incoming rain, and Matthew’s marathon morning nap, resulted in a small change in plan – we went to Chataqua Park for our hike rather than up to Lyons. Luckily we did beat the rain and made it home before the clouds rolled in. Zach downloaded this hiking app to try out – its a neat idea but I’m a little disappointed in the (very) low quality of the images. 

Lesson learned though – wearing a camel back AND a Boba carrier is not comfy lol… I only made it less than a mile before poor Zach ended up carrying both of our packs. I think we’ll give hiking another shot tomorrow, hopefully up in Lyons, and take only one pack. 

Matthew did have a blast playing in the river there though – but had to ride home nearly naked since I forgot to pack a change of clothes for him (shame on me!) lol.

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