A gloomy, chilly, and icy day @ Riverbend Ponds

This hike became day 3 of our 3 day exercise plan to rid the kids of all their negative energy (ie. constant squabbling that mommy couldn't put up with).  I wasn't very motivated since it was gray but wanted to stick to our original plan to tire these kids out!  This was a quick close to home adventure and the kids have always had fun with the water and rocks.  I was hoping we were going to see lots of geese (since they are everywhere in town lately) but hadn't counted on all the ponds being frozen.

The kids quickly got in the spirit of the walk by trying to break the ice.  Try as they might it was just too hard.

We spotted quite a few beaver chewed trees right out of the parking lot by the first pond but didn't see any beavers or dams.

The ice provided many opportunities for play.  It was hard to keep them off of it.

The boardwalks provided areas for exploration.

Smiles=no squabbling=happy mom! 

We discovered that when you hit the air bubbles in the ice that water would come shooting out.

When we got along the Poudre River we finally saw some ducks and geese.

Hike: Riverbend Ponds

Trails Used: Riverbend Ponds off Prospect Road

Distance:  2.82 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Overall average:  1.7 mph
Overall Time:  1 hr, 40 min
Total Ascent:  151 ft.

Ahh.....spring!

The crab apple down the street:

The red bud in the yard:

 Loving the baby geese down the street:

 Even the big fat squirrel robbing my feeder gets a little love today!

Invasion of the animals!

 It's spring and boy can you tell.  The rabbits have been humping, the geese have been humping, the birds have been humping! The wildlife in my backyard is going crazy!

Right now the baby bunnies are my friend.  They are cute when they 'sun' themselves in front of their 'home' (under my deck).

 

They are not so cute when they eat all my grass and it can't grow, when I have to put fences around my flowers (I'm not tolerant of plants that can't survive on their own!) to let them survive, and when I have to get dead bodies out of my window wells after they've plummeted to their death.  So far this season has been fine, only 3 babies, no deaths.

 I can't see you.  Really, I can't when you flatten your ears to your head and duck!  Those bulging eyes are VERY hard to see.

They're coming to get me!!!

 

These geese are about a half mile from us at a business park.  We've taken to biking up there a couple of days a week to check on their progress.  As you can tell by the above photo, a ton of people must be feeding them.

These geese are the latest round of babies (in the last 2 days) to hatch.

 

What they are doing by the front door to the office building is anyone's best guess!  The parents were honking up a storm too!  Like we humans had any right to enter or leave the building while they were taking their nap!  Too funny.  I can't wait to see if they are going to have more or not!

Later in the evening they had moved to this much more natural spot. (very sarcastic!)  They are in the concrete planter...I'd be interested to know how they got the two babies up there.

Riverbend Ponds Natural Area

 What a great place!  There are quite a few different ponds and a rather lengthy trail.  I didn't realize that we would have so much to explore!

 

We were able to see baby geese,

 

 

snakes,

 

 

 fish,
 turtles,

 

 and birds (a lot of red wing black birds) throughout this hike.

 

 

We hiked on boardwalks,

 

 played on logs, played with sticks and grasses in the water,

 

 threw rocks in the ponds and river, watched people canoe and fish.
 We were able to walk along the Poudre River for awhile and saw red seaweed!

 

There is so much to do and we even hiked quite a bit (3.5 miles)!  I would highly recommend this for families.

  The roses had just come out to bloom:

 

 The Donkeytail Spurge was pretty:

Hike: Riverbend Pond's Natural Area

Trails Used:

Distance: 3.53 miles
Difficulty: Easy for adults, Moderate for children (can get hot out there so start early)
Overall average: 1.2 mph
Overall Time: 2 hrs, 52 min
Total Ascent: 462 ft.