Soccer & Football is over!! We can start hiking again!

With the fall sports season over we were able to resume our hiking this past weekend.  We stayed close to home and headed out to Soderberg trailhead.  We followed the Tower Trail, Stout, and Sawmill Trails for a small hike.  There was a little fall color left to be had 

and I even stumbled upon this aster at the end of it's bloom cycle.

We saw a couple of deer (not that this was a great photo of one...it is missing it's head).

  These are my crazy trail running children & hubby.  Apparently they are in pretty good shape since they managed about a mile.  I guess I will have to dress for the occasion next time!

Hike: Horsetooth Park
Trails Used:  Soderberg Trailhead to Tower Trail, to Stout Trail, to Sawmill, and back

Distance:  4.89 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Overall average: 2.4 mph
Overall Time: 2 hr, 2 min
Total Ascent: 836 ft.

Finally, a real hike again: Horsetooth Falls

Don't let the above shot fool you...there wasn't that much water coming down the falls.  If you expect to see more water then the optimum time to go to Horsetooth Falls for a hike would be in May.  There were many wildflowers in bloom (which is nice since Flora Hiker has been lacking on the wildflower pictures lately).

Sulpher Flower:

Sun Rose:

Rocky Mountain Beeplant/Scarlet Guara

Tufted Loco/Vetch:

Boulder Raspberry:

These were beautiful flowers (below) but once you take a picture of wildflowers from far away you start to lose that 'beautiful' quality.

My little hikers:

Wallflower:

Wallflower:

Geranium:

Wallflower:

Horsetooth Falls:

Enjoying the top of the falls for lunch:

Spiderwort:

Evening Primrose:

Aster:

Milkvetch:

Groundsel:

Prairie Cinquefoil:

Orchid Penstemon:

Vetch:

Hike: Horsetooth Falls

Trails Used:  Horsetooth Falls

Distance: 2.91 miles

Difficulty: Easy for adults, Moderate for children (can get hot out there so start early)

Overall average: 1.7 mph

Overall Time: 1 hrs, 44 min

Total Ascent: 583 ft.

Mill Canyon Dinosaur Trail

 Our last stop before heading out was a stop at the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Trail.  The fossilized remains of the Sauropods can be found in the rock around this area. 

Enjoying the view with her best friend:

Crazy boy:

Sand Dune Arch with the Junior Rangers

 This arch was a favorite of the kids.  It had a cool entrance through fins and loads of sand for the kids to play with.  Climbing up to the top was a hit as well.

 Look carefully for pinky bear falling.  He had quite a ride!

 

On our way out we stopped at the visitor's center 

 

to hand in their paperwork to get their Junior Ranger badges.  It's always fun to see them sworn in.

Landscape Arch

 I'd already run out this way that morning (it was the golden hour w/ the sun) so I wasn't sure I would be able to get any good pictures of Landscape Arch in the late afternoon but was pleasantly surprised.  The kids barely made it there and needed to be prodded with some 'mintspirations.'  (Lifesavers).  The Fiery Furnace Tour, Skyline Arch, and no naps had made for some very tired little people.  They went to sleep quickly that night.  (The night before they had giggled madly in their sleeping bags for a good 2 hours!)

We did make the trek to see Pine Tree and Tunnel Arch as well.  I ran the primitive trail for a ways two days but it wasn't that obvious of a trail to follow and lost it so I never made the complete loop.  Another day I went towards Double O Arch and did see Navajo and Partition Arch but didn't want to go by myself to Double O.  It was high and no one knew I was going that far so I turned around.  I will say the light makes all the difference in the morning for a good photo of Landscape Arch.  Of the three mornings I ran only one would have been good for photographing.  Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera that day.

Relaxing afternoon crawling around Skyline Arch

 After our Fiery Furnace tour we came back to the campsite for lunch and then spent some time exploring around our campsite.  Skyline Arch was just a hop, skip, and a jump behind us and the kids had fun climbing the rocks.