Playing Hooky on a Beautiful Fall Day @ Curt Gowdy State Park

 It's amazing what a beautiful fall day spent outside will do to improve your mood!  

I went for a hike with the sole purpose of playing with my camera and the hubby test rode his new 'clown' bike.  You can't tell in these pictures but the tires are HUGE compared to the rest of the bike.  He has now introduced himself to the world of the single speed mountain bike.

It wouldn't be a visit to Curt Gowdy without running into a cow or two.  They were all hanging out at the start of my hike this time.

 The Aspen were in their prime.

 Caught this guy just hanging out!

 There were still a few flowers left but I thought the seeds were more interesting this time.

 Hiking along the Crow Creek Trail:

 Views headed towards the scenic lookout off of Granite Ridge Trail:

Hike: Crow Creek to Granite Ridge

Trails Used: Aspen Grove Trailhead to Stone Temple Circuit to Pinball to Crow Creek Trail to Falls to Mo'Rocka to Foxtail to Mo'Rocka to Crow Creek Trail to Granite Ridge Trail to Shoreline Trail back to Aspen Grove Trailhead

Distance: 3.93 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 2.1 mph
Overall Time: 1 hr, 51 min
Total Ascent: 527 ft.

Hidden Falls roaring this fall!

We had a gorgeous fall day for our hike Labor Day Weekend.  I think we all especially enjoyed it since we won't be doing much else on our upcoming weekends but playing/watching soccer and football.  It made it even more fun that our neighbors were able to join us.  We stopped at the newly opened visitor center.  I learned all sorts of things about Curt Gowdy that I didn't know.  They had these cool fish in their concrete.

Curt Gowdy is a gorgeous area with lots of rocks, pines, grasses, and wildflowers.  They have some fantastic mountain bike trails for all levels.  

The flowers were past their prime for the most part but it didn't stop me from taking a couple of pics.

Bell Flower:

Butter & Eggs:

Geranium:

Once we made it to the falls we waded over to see them.  Boy was the water cold!  

The kids had fun climbing the rocks and playing tag 

while the older folk sat in the sun and watched them.  

The moss in the canyon was crazy thick and green!  

Beebalm:

Deer Print:

Indian Paintbrush:

Climbing under a 'rock tunnel':

Mullein:

Lots of fun nooks and crannies for exploring:

Ahhh....I'm going to miss these skinny little legs and dirty butt when she grows up!

The kids did some mountain biking after the hike.

Hike: Hidden Falls

Trails Used: Aspen Grove Trailhead to Stone Temple Circuit to Pinball to Crow Creek Trail to Falls to Albert's Alley to Stone Temple Circuit

Distance: 4.93 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 1.9 mph
Overall Time: 2 hr, 38 min
Total Ascent: 604 ft.

Ahh....the many moods of my hiking children

You never know which children (good or whiny) you will get on any given day, let alone a 'hiking' day. This weekend Q started off sweet as pie and C was the never ending whining child.  I don't think he stopped talking for the first 20 minutes about how awful the hike was, how much he hated it, or how miserable he was.  After commenting on the beautiful forest, flowers, and company surrounding us and later just ignoring him he finally gave it up.  Maybe he got as tired of listening to himself as we were of listening to him.   Next thing I knew he and Daddy were walking ahead of us having one of their endless chats.  Once you get C talking about something he likes (license plates, states, state capital buildings, places to visit for spring break....) he goes to town.  Our other child started the hike off in an awesome mood, even giving this hike five stars.  She likes looking for the 'bell' flowers with me or she will find a cool bug or animal that none of us would ever notice.  However, as we neared the turn around point of the hike, hunger/tiredness set in and the switch flipped.  C was in a great mood and Q began the unraveling process.  A quick lunch helped a little but then we slowed to a snail's pace.  A cattle prod wouldn't get her little legs to move any quicker.  C and Daddy were long gone and I was left with the 'worst hike ever' child.  I kept asking about the '5 star hike' but was promptly put in my place.  Luckily we spied some wildlife on the way down (a grouse and a snake), took a potty break, and the switch flipped again.  The wildlife spotting saved the hike and restored it to it's '5 star' rating!  

Anyway....we started the morning off with the breakfast of champions!  Donuts!!!!

 We drove up the Poudre Canyon and did Dadd Gulch.  You could tell fall is rapidly approaching with all the berries on display.

We passed many rose hips.

On the way up Q saw this cool purple bug (Blue Fungus Beetle).  I don't know how she spots these bugs but she's always finding something low on the ground that is neat!  She even found the same bug or another one on the way down (2  hours later)roughly in the same place but on a different plant!

Cool mushrooms:

 A bee hive/nest:

 Pretty wildflowers:

I love my 'girl with the yellow hat' photos:

 'The Boys'

 'The Girls'

 Moss/Lichen:

 Pretty bark:

 'View'? from the top:

 Our turnaround point:

 Road Block:

 Grouse?:

 My snake...darn that slow camera...I really wanted the whole body sitting there!

 Long, tall boy legs!

 You've got to love a girl who can dress for any occasion!

Hike: Dadd Gulch

Trails Used:  Dadd Gulch

Distance: 7.35 miles

Difficulty: Moderate (difficult for the kids, Q was tired near the end)
Overall average: 1.9 mph
Overall Time: 3 hr, 55 min
Total Ascent: 1439 ft.