a bear on the trail!

Ok, we didn't see an actual bear. But I thought it was one for a second. On the way back from our hike in Durango, we were hiking, minding our own business...and there on the trail was....this!

One of the the BIGGEST dogs I've ever seen. As he looked at us, we waited for a human to come walking down the trail after him, but none ever did! Unfortunately, this guy took an interest in Grizzly, who more unfortunately did not take an interest in him.

And despite our best attempts, he spent an hour hiking to the end of the trail with us. We called him "Monster" as we hiked...because he was that big. We looked around the trail head for his owner, but never found anyone to claim him.

Grizzly and his new best friend! (This picture doesn't show near how big he is!!)

hiking in Durango

 We also got to do some hiking while were in Durango! We found a great trail down the road from the cabin, and spent the day hiking!


<---Grizzly waiting for Alex to come to the trail!

 Fall colors on the trail!
 

                 


Views from close to the highest point on the trail

 When we could safely climb down to it, we climbed down to the river, rested, and had a snack.

Grizzly also liked playing in the river a little, until he discovered it was cold!!

Oh, and everything people say about fresh mountain spring water...it is excellent. :)

Eldorado Canyon State Park

Over Labor Day weekend, my mom came to visit and we did some hiking.

Eldorado Canyon State Park

This was a hike that I had planned for Alex and a friend of his who came to visit, but I had never done the hike myself. The hike was 2.8 miles round trip, and was a little harder than some of the other ones we've done.

And it was beautiful!

my weekend - hike 31: Mount Falcon

We hiked number 31 out of my 100 Classic Hikes of Colorado guide. (I gave a small intro to the book in this post.)

Location: Conifer, CO

Estimated Hike Time: 2 hrs

Actual Time Hiked: 2 hrs

Distance: 1.9 mi

Difficulty: Easy

This hike was probably one of my favorites so far. It was really easy to get to, following the directions in the book. It was also really easy to follow the trails as the book described them.

The trails were simple, well marked, and it was overall an easy hike. 

We saw a lot of deer! This buck walked right across the trail.

This baby was a little more skittish. We also saw the doe that we think belonged to this little one, as well as another baby.

We also saw this little bird! Alex took this awesome shot!

One more artsy picture - a wildflower on the trail.

View from the trail.

View from the Eagle shelter, along the trail.

my weekend - hike 40: boulder creek

This weekend, we hiked number 40 out of my 100 Classic Hikes of Colorado guide. (I gave a small intro to the book in this post.)

Location: Colorado Springs

Estimated Time Hiked: 2 hrs

Actual Time Hiked: 1 hr 30 min

Distance: 3.2 mi

Difficulty: Easy 

This hike was really enjoyable. It was at the Florissant Fossil Beds. We were a little worried when we got there, because it looked like it was under construction. We realized later that it was actually an excavation site.

The hike was really pretty, and there was a big pile of rocks that we could climb on and around.

my weekend - hike 36: Red Rock Canyon

I'm a little behind on my weekend posts, so this one is from a couple of weekends ago!

We hiked number 36 out of my 100 Classic Hikes of Colorado guide. (I gave a small intro to the book in this post.)

Location: Colorado Springs

Estimated Time Hiked: 2 hrs

Actual Time Hiked: 1 hr 15 min

Distance: 2.1 mi

Difficulty: Easy

This hike didn't take us as long as the book thought it should, but we also may not have followed the whole trail as the book said. We didn't take the book with us as we hiked, but the trails were very well marked with maps at the intersections, so we just found our own loop around the trails.

hiking

One of my goals for this summer is to hike significantly more than I did last summer. I often feel a little lame that I live in Colorado, which is such a beautiful place, but I don't get out and enjoy it that much!

To help me with this goal, I got this book:

100 Classic Hikes in Colorado 

It classifies the hikes by location and the time it takes to hike them. It gives information like how to get to the start of the trail, specifics on which trails to take, and even what time of the year you should hike them! Time of year to do a hike is a really important piece of information, because as you get to higher altitudes, it gets colder and there could still be snow on some hikes.

Hiking is a good source of exercise/entertainment because it's pretty inexpensive. The only costs associated are the gas it takes to get to the trail, and potentially a park fee if the hike is in a state or national park.

I'll try to remember to take lots of pictures!