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.

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.

Gem Lake

 

Headed up to Estes Park this weekend for a hike with the family.  We tried to do West Creek Falls Trail but by the time we got there (9:45 am) the parking area (only 10 spots or so) was full.  We had seen the sign for Lumpy Rock Trail head and Gem Lake so we headed there instead.  It was a pretty area with lumpy rocks (go figure)

 

 

and a pretty lake (small).

 

 

The trail was fairly crowded coming down but not too bad when we went up.  We had a nice lunch w/ a special 'cheezit chipmunk' (the kid's named him) who was quite aggressive in his search for food.

 While I was taking pics of him he was scrambling on my lens!  One of them was quite a porker!

 

 

 

After lunch we went climbing on the rocks behind us and had even better views.  The kids are like mountain goats and love to climb the rocks.

Hike: Gem Lake

Trails Used:  Gem Lake (Estes Park)

Distance: 4.07 miles

Difficulty: Moderate
Overall average: 1.5 mph
Overall Time: 2 hrs, 47 min
Total Ascent: 1617 ft.