Poudre Canyon

March 18-20, 2011

This trip started out rocky.  The cabin we were supposed to stay in at State Forest State Park was completely buried in the snow.  We were not aware that the roads would not be plowed in the winter, so we had to make a quick change of plans.

We drove back down to lower elevation in Poudre Canyon and found this little cabin available.  It actually worked out better.  We were on a mission to see a moose and kept hearing that State Forest State Park was the best place in Colorado to spot one.  We must have drove up and down Cameron Pass 5 or 6 times, not to mention we drove all the way to Walden.

Finally, we had given up and driving back to the cabin I glanced towards the river and there he was.  We finally got to see a moose!  They are interesting creatures, so cool to look at.  Mission accomplished!

Breckenridge, Frisco, & Keystone - Skiing

February 18-21, 2011

Well, we tried skiing back in February.  It went about how I thought it would, but the good news is I came home without any broken bones.  Breckenridge, Frisco, and Keystone are all really neat little towns.  Skiing is the main attraction, obviously, but we managed to find plenty of other things to keep us occupied.

Rich Skiing

Angie Skiing

First we tried skiing.  We took the all day lessons offered through Breckenridge.  Skiing is NOT a cheap sport, but I will admit that I enjoyed it for the first 3-4 hours.  Beyond that it hurts, and I was cold, and I fell off the lift.
This is me pretending to fall, which I actually ended up doing several times along the way.  Luckily, Rich didn't have the camera. Rich did much better than I did.  It was a good day though and I'm glad I can say we tried it!

Rich Snowshoeing

Dad Snowshoeing

 Rather than skiing again we found a snowshoe trail.  The Keystone Nordic Center has well maintained trails and it was really easy.  The scenery around there along the way was amazing!!!

     

 
So skiing and snowshoeing are fun, but the best thing you can ever try in the snow is tubing!  Frisco has an adventure park and we had a blast!  It's a little pricey to tube for an hour, but there is a belt that takes you back up the hill, so you get more time on the hill.  This was the most fun I've ever had playing in the snow!!!

Recommendation - The more tubes you can tie together the faster you will go down that hill.  We really got moving!!!

Dad, Rich, and I all going down together.  We went FAST!!!

Canyon Loop Trail, Boulder CO

January 29, 2011

Today we hiked the 3.2 mile Canyon Loop Trail.  Best things about this trail are it's close and we could take our dog Molly with us.  She had a great time!

This hike is west of Boulder off Canyon Loop Road on your way to Nederland.  It's a well known trail so we weren't the only hikers, but it's so spread out that you don't feel over crowded.  I recommend doing this trail on Saturday or Wednesday since bikes are not allowed on the trail on these two days and it looks like it might be a very popular mountain bike trail.  We may try that this summer!

When you start the trail you can go either direction.  We started to the right and this is the first beautiful view you see, looking over Boulder.  It's amazing.  The views throughout the trail are beautiful.







Canyon Loop Trail and Molly



The trail is steep in some places and narrow in others, but I would say all in all it's a mild trail and pretty easy to navigate.



The Family



Since it's January there was some snow and a few slick spots, but we had excellent weather for this hike. 

I highly recommend this hike.  It's not full of spectacular mountain views, or rushing waterfalls, but it's peaceful and you can bring your best friend for a long walk together.

Snow Shoeing & Sprague Lake

December 18, 2010

We tried to hike to Sprague Lake last weekend too but without snow shoes it was next to impossible to get to, so we tried again this weekend.  We had a fantastic time!

There is a small shop in Estes Park called The Warming House that rents snow shoes for only $8 per day!  Comes with shoes and poles.  We thought that was a great deal so we tried it out.  The snow shoes were in great condition and worked very well!

These are the snow shoes and poles we rented. We hiked around Sprague Lake and then took the trail from Sprague Lake to Glacier Creek Trail.  Round trip we probably did two miles on the snow shoes.  That may not sound like a lot but it was a work out!



Sprague Lake



This is Sprague Lake, frozen obviously.  I can imagine how beautiful this lake is in the summer time.  It was absolutely beautiful with the snow and the sun glistening off the lake. 

This trail is off of Bear Lake Road.  The trails in this area are almost the only ones accessible this time of year, and even they can be difficult to get to.  Bear Lake was pretty snow and ice covered, but we took the Subaru.

To get to Sprague Lake Trail head enter the park through the Beaver Meadows entrance and take Bear Lake Road just past the park and ride lot.  The next left will take you to the lake.  From that trail head you can walk the .5 miles around the lake or near the picnic area starts another trail that leads to the Glacier Creek Trail, which is what we took.

Glacier Creek Trail

This trail can be as long or as short as you're willing to hike or snow shoe.  I highly recommend this trail for snow shoeing.  I may not have any others to compare it to, but it's not a steep or highly traveled trail so it made for a perfect first time snow shoeing excursion.

It's a beautiful and peaceful trail, although there isn't anything spectacular to see along the way.  We still had a great time and really enjoyed the snow shoes!  We will definitely be doing it again so stay tuned!

Garden of the Gods

November 27, 2010

Since we moved to Colorado I have wanted to visit Garden of the Gods.  It's a beautiful park full of rock formations...  I know, that may not sound so exciting, but it really is a neat place to see!

There are a couple ways to see this attraction.  You can walk through it, bike through it, or drive around it.  We opted to drive around it due to time constraints, but I recommend taking a day to see this and walk through it. 

The road goes around the park so you don't get to see much.  Also, there aren't may pull offs so that makes getting a good picture difficult.  We did find some pull offs and I went a did as much exploring as I could.



I call this Rhino Rock





Even in November it was pretty crowded, but well worth the drive to get there.  It's truly beautiful!  This attraction is FREE too so it's a perfect way to spend the day. 

Garden of the Gods is in Colorado Springs.  Signs are everywhere so you can't miss it.  I think you could spend a few days seeing everything in Colorado Springs, but this is a must see in Colorado!

Fern Falls Trail

October 31, 2010

Today we hiked the Fern Falls Trail.  The whole trail out and back to the falls is just over 5 miles.  Unfortunately we were unable to do the whole trail due to icy conditions, so I am hoping to try again in the summer. 



Big Thompson River


 This trail begins at the Fern Lake Trailhead off of Bear Lake Road in Rocky Mountain National Park.  The beginning part of the trail is easy and follows the beautiful Big Thompson River. 

We saw a few people bringing their fly rods for fishing, but we didn't see any fish this time.  We'll check again in the summer.  Maybe we'll get lucky.



The Pool



Also along the way is The Pool.  It isn't anything spectacular but it's pretty to see.

Beyond this point the trail begins an uphill climb and gets a little rocky.  It became too steep to hike in the ice, so we had to turn back.

We did run into this Magpie and he followed us for a while, catching crumbs that we threw at him.  They may be scavengers but they are pretty birds.



Magpie



Overall I really enjoyed this trail.  Lots to see along the way, and hopefully next time we'll make it to our destination.

Denver Zoo

Oct. 16, 2010

The Denver Zoo is a really neat zoo!  I can only compare to one other zoo that's I've ever been to, but I really enjoyed it.

The cost is $13 per person but parking is free.  They have so many different species that I've never seen this close before.

I think my favorite part was the arctic wolf exhibit.  They were such beautiful animals and came so close to us. 

Another exhibit I liked was the elephants.  They have so many! 

I would recommend the Denver Zoo, especially to anyone with kids.  We really had a great time!