Last Saturday, Naomi was sick, so Amy stayed at home with her, and the rest of us went exploring.
I sold it to the kids as “mountain exploring”, i.e. don’t expect to be climbing anything, but we will get out and walk around in the mountains. Mostly it was an exercise in futility. First we drove to Boulder Falls, but of course, the hiking trail to the falls closes Nov 1, and we went on Nov 5. It was a nice warm day, but they had already closed the falls for the winter. Strike one. Next we drove up to some lake and dam that is at the top of Boulder Canyon drive, there was really nothing to do there either. Strike two. Then we headed back to Boulder, stopping at every little turnout and looking for hiking trails. We did find a nice cliff with about 15 people climbing there. The kids got bored of watching, so we headed back to the van.
Finally we ended up back on the Boulder Canyon bike trail, which is a very nice trail, and walked for a while, then climbed on some rocks. They happen to be the same rocks that Naomi was climbing earlier this year.
Emily was really hoping to see some wild animals, and she had just about decided that dogs were the only Colorado mountain animals she was going to see when we came across a herd of mule deer climbing on the rocks. At first we saw 8 of them, then one walked out of the creek right behind us, and joined her comrades on the hill. She walked just a few feet from the rocks we were sitting on.
Sounds like a great ending!
There is a good and gentle hiking place by Chatauqua. I don’t remember the name of it, but it’s a good spot for an outing of that sort. We also used to go to NCAR and traipse around those hills a bit when I was a kid, and even as a teenager.
I hope the illness has passed and you’ve all six been able to explore a bit – in the church and house arena, too.
Love reading about these adventures!
We did go to Chatauqua and play on the swings one day, but it was a bit cold for a long walk.