emalloy

I loved that view of Canyonlands with the mountains beyond through Mesa Arch too. It is spectacular.

I'm enjoying the memories of our trips as I read your report, thanks and keep it going.

peterboy

Thanks for the update. Your trip report is getting us excited for our return to the SW in Sept. I hear the Utah parks are having record visitation this year. We have been seeing their "Mighty Five" ads a lot here in the east. I guess the campaign is working.

I know what you mean about art in Moab. Lots of great photography (Tom Till, Bret Edge) but the best of the art is at The Hogan Trading Post. It is the place on Main St. with all the wind sculptures outside by the bridge. The name doesn't do it justice. They have something for everyone there from $5 to, well, thousands in there. I just sold a couple more works there this spring. My paintings are upstairs. For original artwork, The Hogan is THE place in Moab. Here's a link to the type of things I have there. http://www.pbase.com/peterb/peteroglyphs

alwaysafrica

peterboy, you're right that there was some great photography available in Moab, but since we love photography so much ourselves and love to hang our own trip photos in our home, that wasn't what we were looking for.

I'm SO sorry that we didn't know about The Hogan (I actually think I did see it as we drove by the bridge, but it wasn't on the main strip and so we didn't end up stopping) - I absolutely love the look of your work and I know we would have enjoyed viewing it. I'm so glad that you mentioned it here so that others will know where to go!

peterboy

Actually, it IS on Main St. toward the south end of the busiest part...it is easy to miss though. Here's their website. http://hogantrading.com/

Photography is a tough sell these days I bet. Everyone has a camera on them now and I've taken lots of great shots which I've got hanging in my home. Utah is such a "target rich environment" it is pretty easy to get "keepers".

I'm looking forward to the rest of your report...it takes dedication to do one and I know that there are a lot of folks who will benefit from it.

Also, my parents took us on trips like this when we were young and I still remember them fondly and they motivate me still to get out there and explore. You are wonderful parents to do this for them...it is a great gift you are giving them.

alwaysafrica

Thanks peterboy. You're right! Trip reports definitely take dedication, but I look at them as "paying it forward" for all of the invaluable information that I receive pre-trip! And it's also for our own benefit . I find that writing a trip report is a wonderful way to re-live the trip and preserve all of the details. We have been known to re-read our own trip reports periodically and it really refreshes our memories!

And I greatly appreciate you sharing about your family trips with your parents. We're hoping that will be the case with our kids... encouraging them to continue to explore as they grow older. There is nothing more exciting to my husband and I then arriving at a new national park with all of its hidden gems to explore! I think right now, at this stage, my boys feel pretty proud that they are such accomplished hikers, when all of their friends simply go sit on the beach

alwaysafrica

DAY 10:

We packed up, had breakfast and then checked out before heading back to Arches. Looking at our itinerary (and the hikes that we’d just added to it!), we knew that we had a lot to accomplish today! By the time we got to Arches, it was almost 11:00am, and we had to wait in line for almost 20 minutes to get in.

Our hike to Landscape Arch was great. It was our first time driving through the Devil’s Garden section of the park. Snowy La Sal mountains in the background, with the ever-closer smaller red rock mountains and spires in seemingly heaping mounds. It was very cool and significantly different from the rest of the park, and we’re so glad that we didn’t leave without seeing it. At first, our hike started off pretty crowded. But we took the “extra” hikes to Tunnel Arch (nice) and Pinetree Arch (beautiful) and the crowds thinned out.

Funny story… When we were at Pinetree Arch, there was a sign saying “End of Trail”. Of course we made our boys read the sign and we had already talked to them about not going off of the path at all in the area (or at all while hiking for that matter!) particularly due to the special biological soil crust living in the Arches area. They listened diligently. But then, while we were still there enjoying the view and taking pictures, a young couple hiked up (probably in their early 20s) and they started to venture off the path and beyond the arch. And… our youngest son started to scold them! At first, he just yelled out, “you can’t go there” to let them know. The guy was surprised to hear anyone give them instruction and said back saucily (to a 5 year old!) – “Really? Well, we’re going….” We chuckled as my son replied again loudly, “but you’re not supposed to go off the path!!!”. They continued on and didn’t look back. Both of our boys were quite concerned about this for the rest of the hike – truly incredulous that people would disobey like that ☺

Landscape Arch, the longest arch in the world, is really nice, but honestly, the view of it from the main trail isn’t super exciting (from the trail, one can’t even see the sky through the arch). We would have liked to hike even further along the trail (which evidently gives way to much better views), but it was hot in the midday sun and the next leg of the hike looked hard and steep. A really cool spot on the hike was a tiny “slot” that had formed and there was sand all along it – the boys had fun running up and down the narrow crevice.

It was early afternoon by this point as we drove along the windy road one last time to get out of the park, we confirmed our view that we absolutely prefer Arches in the afternoon (as opposed to the morning). The afternoon sun on the red rock is just gorgeous. There were so many beautiful viewpoints to stop at, but we had to head down pretty quickly to start the long drive to Needles.

We picked up some lunch to eat on the way and headed towards the Needles section of Canyonlands. It was indeed a long drive (about 1.5 hours), but extremely beautiful. At times, we had questioned whether to skip this section of park (given that it was so far, and of course the fact that we always felt like we didn’t have enough time!), but we’re so glad we didn’t. It was truly amazing – and mostly empty, which we loved ☺. The Scenic Byway was lovely (notice how I’ve been running out of adjectives to describe the beauty???). There were lots of “Open-Range Cattle” (we loved this roadsign). And then came the tall islands and valleys. At certain points, we felt like we were in Europe surrounded by medieval castles! And then the “needles” appeared. What an unbelievable park; we were in awe of the nature appearing before us. The colourful sandstone was unbelievable. I was again explaining a bit of the geology and the notion of erosion to our boys, when my older son said, “Mom, we know, you’ve told us… it was all caused by water!”. Too funny.

We hiked the Cave Springs Trail – a fun 0.8 mile trail with 2 ladders. We were hoping to try the Balcony House Trail in Mesa Verde the next day and used this as practice. The hike was super fun and the boys loved exploring the cowboy caves and really enjoyed climbing the ladders (one was 10-12 feet high). We even *think* we may have spotted a T-rex footprint in the stone ☺. The trail was an up-down loop underneath and overtop the small mesa and it was neat to have the different perspectives all in one hike.

We didn’t have time to do much else in Needles – it was 4:45pm by that point and we were still heading to Mesa Verde. And so we drove to one more beautiful overlook and said goodbye to a very special park. We only wished that we had more time! We had finally located the boys’ little camera within our luggage and they were enjoying taking their own photos and videos! While we were “saying goodbye to Utah”, we arrived back at our car and there was a giant raven on top of our car, pecking away. Good thing we’d got the insurance ☺. It flew down right beside our car and was joined by another big raven. We had managed to get into the car, and sat and watched as they squawked away at us. A lovely goodbye song! ☺

It reminded us of what a good wildlife trip this had been so far – tons of deer, cows, horses, geckos, ravens, frogs, squirrels, chipmunks, bunnies (oh and I forgot to mention above that my husband and I saw two big-horned sheep frolicking near some water on our way out of Bryce Canyon!)…

We loved the drive out of the park in the late afternoon sun. And the park was just so empty… we had only seen 5 or 6 others cars the whole afternoon. The boys chilled out and watched iPad in the back after a very busy day of hiking, and my hubby and I switched off getting out at the overlooks.

On our way out of the park, we stopped at Newspaper Rock. There was an amazing and huge selection of petroglyph rock art – a mixture of human, animal and abstract drawings. We really enjoyed trying to decipher some of the images.

We drove the road right out of Utah… and into Colorado! The scenery changed quite quickly to flat farmland. The towns were small and the scenery unremarkable and it felt strange. It took about 3 hours to get to Mesa Verde. Unfortunately, all of the benefit that we thought we were getting by staying at the top of the mountain was erased by us arriving so late – we had to drive up the mountain at dusk! My husband let me know that the sunset vistas on the way up were spectacular – I was too busy white-knuckle driving to notice! It was fairly hard to see, extremely windy, with deer all over the place. We literally arrived at the top at 8:50pm and it was almost completely dark. We’d had sandwiches on the road, but decided to go to the Metate Room for a light, late supper. Very nice ambience (and I’m sure the views are gorgeous in the daylight), but the food was slow coming out – particularly because we’d only ordered appetizers. Good chicken fingers and tortilla soup.

Our Kiva Room was small and cramped with 2 double beds and not even enough space for our luggage. There was a lovely view, although we were in the end unit (#152) and so the 180-degree view from our balcony was slightly obstructed to the right by the next set of units slightly in front of us.

We finally saw amazing stars! I had hoped to have great star-gazing while camping, but of course, we had rain. And then there had been many, many cloudy nights with no stars to speak of. Tonight, the sky was clear and there were millions of them. It is so dark at the top of Mesa Verde that they were easy to view. The only problem was that it was only about 4 degrees C (freezing!) and extremely windy, which made it uncomfortable to sit and gaze for too long. We were all inside and asleep by 11:00 ☺.

Day 10 weather: Sunny and 17 degrees C while at Needles. A nice sunset on the way up to Mesa Verde. And then a clear, but cold, night up top. Little did we know what crazy weather we were in for…

StantonHyde

alwaysafrica--I love detailed trip reports!!

Yes--Moab is not exactly a high end place for art or food. But it can be had--Desert Bistro. And I am glad to know about The Hogan, peter boy. I prefer oil paintings myself and have been trying to find something for a certain wall. Afraid I will have to hoof it down to St. George!

The Needles District is my favorite in Canyonlands. I love the Cave Spring trail--lots of fun for bigger and smaller people.

I know what you mean about rules. If you woke my kids in the middle of the night, they would say "don't bust the crust"! It drives me nuts to see people going off trail where they are not supposed to. There are so many places where you CAN do that--just go to those places!!! but I digress

I am a big fan of any of the condos for rent in Moab--spreading out, having laundry, etc etc. soooo relaxing. Glad you got to relax for Mothers Day as well!

You are lucky the ravens didn't eat your windshield wipers!! Turns out that is getting to be a bigger and bigger problem. I know people who take them off when they are going to be hiking/backpacking for extended periods!

Dayle

Alwaysafrica,

So enjoying your report! I'm glad your boys got to climb a rock. That's what being a kid is all about. Happy to hear about all your hikes, many people just drive through, walk by.

Like peterboy, our family vacations were always camping, Mom, Dad and 3 little girls. Grew up loving our western National Parks and still do. The more time you spend in them, the more you love them, plus all the other wonderful areas outside the official parks!

I have not heard about the Ravens acquiring a taste for windshield wipers! Good grief. There was a time years ago when the ground squirrels around Tahoe started dining on peoples' fan belts! Hard to go anywhere without a fan belt.

Ravens are very smart birds. A couple years ago in the Old Faithful parking lot, I was returning to my car and found a flock of ravens scattering the contents of some Harley saddlebags! The devils had unzipped the compartments and flung and pecked everything all over the lot. I had to shoo them away repeatedly as I gathered things up, re-sealed the people's toiletries,etc. Inspiration struck (after all I was the human in the drama) and I retrieved some twisties from my camping gear and secured the zippers with those. Just let the ravens figure this one out! I left the people a note inside their bags to let them know what had happened.

Do continue with your great report! Love the details and hearing your impressions, etc. That's what really makes a report valuable.

alwaysafrica

Hi guys!

So sorry for such a pause in the story! There were 3 bouts of flu in my house (me included!) and then we headed up north for some much-needed cottage time. I've now written a little more and promise to be back on track!

Jenn

alwaysafrica

DAY 11:

We woke early and it started out as a lovely sunny day and 15 degrees C already! The benefit of staying at the top of the mountain became evident when we only had to drive for a few minutes to get to the sights! When we got to the Chapin Mesa Museum, we were lucky to find that there were still tickets available for Balcony House Tour! Our ranger-led tour was beginning in 20 minutes. Our Ranger was a lovely woman named Kim, who was very knowledgeable.

Balcony House Trail was a crazy adventure! Our kids were the only kids on the tour, along with about 15 adults. The woman at the Museum had tried to “warn” us that the hike included several really tall ladders and narrow tunnels. But nothing could prepare us for that feeling of arriving at the base of the first ladder. The trail started with 40 metal steps down into the canyon and then led directly to the 32-foot ladder. It is a double (i.e., 2 climbing paths) wooden ladder and it was ominous – especially because it was located right alongside the canyon cliff.

I’ll admit it – I was nervous and actually contemplated turning around. Suddenly, my 5-year-old who had been doing so much hiking during this trip, seemed very little, and the idea of him climbing that 32’ ladder was nauseating (actually, even the idea of me climbing that ladder was a bit nauseating ☺). The ranger had been clear that once you started climbing, there was no turning back (for safety reasons). My husband and I discussed it and he really felt that the boys could do it. We went for it.

We instructed the kids that they were to keep at least one hand and one foot on the ladder at all times. We climbed last in the group. I climbed behind my youngest son. My older son started climbing beside us on the left side and made it up first. My hubby climbed last. Both boys admitted later that they had been “a little bit” nervous, but also excited. Given the nature of the climb, no-one was permitted to stop on the way up the ladder to take photos. And so it was a lovely surprise that several other couples on the tour (who climbed before us) were kind enough to take photos of us climbing! They were so helpful and supportive during the entire tour and actually did send us the photos by email after the fact! Extremely kind and kindred fellow travellers.

The tour then included 2 small ladders and a short tunnel (literally crawling on hands and knees), which led directly into Balcony House. The House was awesome – way more interesting than we expected. Our tour group included lots of interested and knowledgeable people who asked tons of questions and so we received lots of information from our ranger – it was fantastic. Even the kids were fascinated by a lot of it (although I’ll admit that I’d wished some of the people would have saved their early questions until after we’d conquered the big ladder! The wait was agony!). We learnt about early Puebloan culture and their family life surrounding the kiva. Upon leaving Balcony House, there was a surprising 17’ ladder that overhung the canyon even more than the first – and led directly to some rock-stair climbing on the other end (with loose fencing trailing up against us). We were told that these rock-stairs (minus the fencing of course ☺) were what the Puebloans used to climb in and out of their homes under the cliffs (and many died doing so!). What a rush. Tons of hugs and high-fives abound for the boys when we finished that section! And just like that, we had conquered the Balcony House Tour. We were all pretty proud of ourselves. ☺

We ate an early lunch at Spruce Tree Terrace and were glad that we chose to eat early! There were several school groups in the area and one came up slightly behind us and we would have been an hour in line! The Terrace restaurant is just cafeteria-style, but we all loved our food and would have gone back for dinner if they’d been open. I had the Navajo Taco – some sort of delicious ground beef chili on classic Frybread, with all the fixings – and it was one of my favourite things I ate on the trip! My hubby’s pulled pork sandwich was delicious too. And they had a good selection of ice cream bars (including lots of nut-free ones!), so my guys were happy about that!

We headed out to Spruce Tree House. It was awesome – surprisingly big and well-preserved! It was fairly crowded with several school groups. But it was very cool to see and also to go down a ladder into a dark kiva, which was such a different perspective. My younger son was very inspired to take lots of photos. ☺

From this point, we headed onto Petroglyph Point Trail. We had researched several different trails in the area, and our Ranger had recommended this one most highly. Were we in for an adventure!!! It was a pretty strenuous climb, but so interesting and beautiful with rocks, roots, rock stairs, caves, narrow slots and long vista views over the mountains. I had “signed us in” at the trailhead and had taken a Trail Guide (complimentary with a suggested donation). All along the trail were numbered signs, and the Guide gave information about the variety of flora in the area. Striving to find the next number gave the boys real encouragement to continue on. Unfortunately, during a snack break within one of the caves, my older son stood up quickly and smacked his head on the rock above. He was brave about it, but it really stung him for the rest of the hike. There were quite a few people on this hike (including at least one school group who had split into many groups of 2-3 teens) – and because the paths were narrow, we felt like we were often letting people by or figuring out how to pass one another safely.

The trail was definitely longer than we had anticipated, and even had a few unexpected sections of rock-climbing/scrambling, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. We ran into a couple that was hiking with their baby in a carrier and we were sure to help them as they scrambled up those unexpected sections of rock. The hike actually started at the bottom of the mountain (at Spruce Tree House) and so we climbed up, and the trail stayed up right to the end back at the Museum.

We got caught in a thunderstorm (we heard lots of thunder, but never actually saw lightning), but thankfully it was right near the end of the hike. We got wet, but the rain kept subsiding and then starting again, and the black clouds loomed. I was actually glad that I’d signed us in the log at the beginning of the hike, just in case we truly did get caught in the storm. At the very end of the hike, there was a long, flat section through forest and it was beautiful to overlook the hike that we’d just done. After all of that adventurous hiking, my younger son tripped during that flat section on a small, little rock – splat, and scraped his knee pretty badly. He was tired and upset and so I had to carry him for most of the rest of the way (thankfully it was the flat section and almost the end of the hike – my own legs were tired from hiking!). We were happy to reach the Museum again, since the weather had really changed – very threatening! When the skies opened up, we were thankful that we weren’t still climbing!

We were exhausted and we headed into the gift shop and the boys purchased another set of stuffed animals (they can’t get enough ☺). On the way back to the lodge, we drove the Mesa Top Loop. We saw some great sites (pre-cave mesa dwellings) and we were alone viewing them! Granted, it wasn’t great weather (although the rain had mostly stopped), but we felt extremely fortunate not to have any crowds at all. The park felt empty! The views of Cliff House were unbelievable – it is so huge and well-preserved. There were industrial-sized binoculars for better viewing. On the way back to the lodge, we saw 3 wild horses, including a foal with its mama, which was beautiful.

We actually spent the evening in our room. We were exhausted and the torrential downpours had started again in earnest and so we grabbed a “picnic dinner” and headed to our room. We ordered from Far View Terrace, also a cafeteria-style place closer to the lodge, but not nearly as good as Spruce Tree Terrace. We played games, wrote in our journal… I found it ironic that we had stayed in so many big, spacious, beautiful accommodations throughout the trip, but we only chose to stay-in on the one night that we had a tiny little hotel room that we barely fit into. ☺ Also funny that the views out of our Kiva Room window were so spectacular, but we couldn’t see a thing for the rain!

Day 11 Weather: We were lucky that we had decent weather (overcast and fairly warm, maybe 16 degrees C) for the Balcony House Tour and most of our hike, but then the skies opened up. It was about 8 degrees C and pouring for the rest of the night.

peterboy

Balcony House...always an adventure. When I first visited as a kid in the 1960s, there was no ladder but a surplus military cargo net...the kind you see draped off the side of the ship with sailors scrambling up. THAT was scary. Yes, the exit makes the ladder going in seem very safe and tame. Mesa Verde is unique. I'm on the right with my trusty canteen. http://www.pbase.com/peterb/image/50088558

alwaysafrica

What an awesome shot peterboy. But I can't even imagine having to climb a military cargo net in those circumstances!

Mesa Verde certainly is unique and we were so glad that we spent some time there. Quite a few of the sites were closed during the time that we were there (including Cliff House and Wetherill Mesa), which we were initially disappointed about. But when all was said and done, we were extremely happy with the things that we were able to see and explore and we felt like we got a really good feel for the area.

alwaysafrica

DAY 12:

We woke up to some sunshine after a crazy windstorm overnight. I thought the wind was going to blow the windows right in! We checked out and went to the Far View Terrace for a quick breakfast. The omelette station was pretty good, as was the French toast.

That reminds me to mention all of the sunshowers we experienced during this trip! We’d be walking or hiking along in sunshine, when it would just start drizzling on us… When I was a kid, a sunshower was something so extremely rare… On this trip alone, we had already been caught in about a dozen sunshowers!

We headed to the Far View Sites – dwelling remains from the Puebloans’ farming days on top of the mesa before moving down to the caves. It was amazing – I just wish we’d done the sites in the proper order (i.e., seeing the farming sites before the cave dwellings). The kids really enjoyed learning about this stuff – particularly our older son. They loved looking at the sites and then at the displays with rendered drawings of what those sites would have looked like when the Puebloans lived there. Our kids were missing two full weeks of school for this trip and moments like these reminded us just how much our kids were truly learning on this trip – about nature, culture, wildlife, life.

We were heading to Telluride today and so we started making our way down the mountain – a much more enjoyable ride for me than on the way up in the dark. ☺ We stopped at the Visitor Center on the way down (it had been closed of course when we arrived the other evening) to pick up the boys’ Jr. Ranger booklets. It was a really neat Center with great displays and was definitely worth a stop.

We started onto the highway to Durango where we were going to stop for lunch. Durango is a nice town with a great old/downtown section. We ate at Seasons Grill and it was phenomenal. We highly recommend the house-made corned beef hash and the beef mole quesadillas – both were absolutely scrumptious.

The stretch of road between Durango and Silverton was very narrow, there were tons of hairpin turns and it was… snowy! We couldn’t believe it… 3 feet of snow on the side of the road in parts! Some of the mountain passes were simply stunning. When we got to Silverton, the town was adorable. Tiny, but it had old west charm. We started heading toward Ouray and onto the Million Dollar Highway. The first stretch was not as spectacular as the previous stretch, but then it began and it was gorgeous – with alpine views, cliffs, bridges, runoff waterfalls and snow. The road was not as nerve-wracking as we anticipated (not nearly as scary as highway 12 in Utah!), perhaps because we were driving north (south would have been much harder).

We arrived in Ouray around 4:00pm and headed directly to Box Canyon Falls. It was awesome. It cost $4 per person to get in. We started on the Upper Trail, which had us climbing over steep rocks and roots to reach a big metal bridge overtop of part of the canyon below. The view down was at least a hundred feet! There were chipmunks everywhere and while we couldn’t see the waterfall just yet, we certainly could hear it! We headed back down and then up the Lower Trail which consisted of about 200 metal stairs down to ramps and bridges into the canyon. It was a very cool design. And the waterfall inside the “box” of surrounding rocks was so powerful and loud. A really fun and unique experience.

We headed right out of Ouray (the hot springs looked very picturesque and it made me regret that we weren’t spending more time in Ouray) and we really enjoyed the beauty of the drive into Telluride. It definitely looked like the “Switzerland of America”, as some have called it. Green grass, tons of cows grazing, with snowy alpine mountain peaks in the background.

Highway 145 along the river into Telluride was scenic too. And right upon arrival, we saw tons of elk (“maybe 301 of them!” as my younger son said ☺). It was a bit strange though... Everything in Telluride is definitely closed for the season – many businesses literally have newspaper covering their windows, the gondola to Mountain Village was shut down, and there was lots of construction (new buildings going up all over the place). To pick up the key to our Riverside 101 Condo, we were supposed to stop at the management office. It was already closed when we arrived and the key was literally kept in an unlocked drawer with a piece of paper with all of our rental info. Hardly secure. And when we arrived at the condo unit, there was an open lockbox on the door with another key inside! An unbelievable lack of security (we let the Telluride Alpine Lodging office know about our concerns, but they didn’t seem bothered).

But other than that, our unit was amazing. It was at the very edge of town on the pond, and the unit was absolutely gorgeous. It was perhaps our favourite lodging of the trip. Spacious and well-appointed with a big balcony with a view of the pond and snowy mountains, very comfortable furniture, gas fireplace and a set of raw-wood bunkbeds in the second bedroom – a highlight for our sons, who each took one night sleeping on top. Our youngest son was just a tiny bit short to reach the top posts on his way down off the top bunk and so we had to help him each time (which was often, since he was obsessed with going up and down ☺). The pond outside our big balcony contained lots of wildlife – we particularly enjoyed watching the beaver in its dam.

It was dinnertime and we didn’t know what would be open in town (we suspected very little!) and so we walked around the block to Smugglers’ Brewpub. What a find! Great food and excellent service. We ordered a ton (as I may have mentioned earlier in the report, this is often our problem ☺): rock shrimp, chicken tenders, a bacon burger, the tacos, grilled cheese – they were all great and so were the beers! The Stanley Cup game was playing too (Capitals vs. Rangers) and so we were able to watch the game. Our waitress was extremely friendly and helpful – she gave us tips about the town and things to do, which was great.

Every night at dinner, the boys worked on their Jr. Ranger booklets, and they were so into it! Our waitress commented about how refreshing it was to see kids with their pencils and crayons out, working on something, rather than connected to an iPad or gaming system at the table… It was great for them for sure – they were having fun, keeping occupied and learning at the same time.

Came back to the condo and got ready to use the complex’s hot tub, which was located right next door to our unit. Figures… it was shut down for the season! So we had to go to the one at the neighbouring complex – which wouldn’t have been such a big deal if it hadn’t been so freezing during our trip! The extra 4-minute walk was a cold one! But at least it was a nice big hot tub, surrounded only by glass walls, so great for star-gazing.

Day 12 Weather: We drove from the cool sunshine in Mesa Verde (after last night’s crazy rain storms), to deep snow on the sides of the road on the Million Dollar Highway, to a feeling of warm summer upon arriving in Telluride. The night sure was cool though!

alwaysafrica

DAY 13:

Our younger son slept great on the top bunk and he was very proud of himself for it ☺. We went onto W. Colorado Ave. to find a place for breakfast, but literally everything was closed. The only place we found wasn’t able to assure us that they could make a nut-free meal and so we left. We went to Clark’s Market, the only grocery store in town (since the other one was closed down for renovations). As it was, Clark’s was under renovation itself and was small to begin with, but we nonetheless got some groceries. We came out to pouring rain and so we headed back to our condo and made a yummy pancake and fruit breakfast.

The rain had stopped and so we decided to tackle at least part of the Bear Creek Falls hike. The trailhead was literally in the parking lot of our condo complex. The trail was a beautiful alpine one. The thick, dirt path/road wasn’t much, but the alpine surroundings, through pine trees and birch were lovely. We came across streams and little riverbeds to cross, piles of snow to maneuver around (we only had one pair of hiking shoes each and hoped not to get them wet for the rest of the day!) and a cool “rock garden” filled with Inukshuks. People had told us about the rock garden, but the hundreds of rock piles were even more impressive than we expected. We stopped there for the boys to throw stones into the river and also to make our own Inukshuks - our boys were really getting good at it!

It was a long hike (2.5 miles each way) and the decent weather didn’t last. It was chilly and we got rained on a couple of times, especially at the very end, by a big rainstorm that came in from over the mountains. Our boys were very enthusiastic when we started hiking. They enjoyed finding sticks to use not only as hiking aids, but also as Star Wars lightsabers – they had a very good game going ☺. But they eventually got impatient with the long hike (one of the longest of our trip)… and so we didn’t think they’d be able to make it all the way to Bear Creek Falls at the top – especially because other hikers coming down had told us that there was too much snow on the paths to reach the falls. And yet, we did it ☺.

We had given the boys a pep talk about finding the strength to “beat the mountain”, to reach the top, rather than turning around and letting the mountain beat you. And it worked! Before we knew it, we could hear the falls! We couldn’t get too close to the base of the falls, mostly because of the snow mounds, but the falls were lovely and surrounded by absolutely gorgeous mountain scenery. My older son had scraped his neck on a branch, and my younger son was disappointed because he had lost one of his “best sticks” ☺, but ultimately they were very proud of themselves. We had crossed over some rather large streams by hopping from rock to rock and they thought that was extremely cool. It was such a strange thing to see a rainstorm roll in so quickly over the mountains. We could see the fog/mist head towards us, and then it simply poured. The rest of the day was fickle – it would pour, then it would be sunny within 10 minutes. And sun-showers abound.

We went back to Smugglers’ Brewpub for lunch and really enjoyed their yummy mac n’ cheese (their caesar salad had lots of anchovies in it and was simply too fishy for me). We then took a walk around town. Found great home-made ice cream at a Mexican place on W. Colorado called La Cacina du Luz – they assured us that they didn’t use any of the nuts that my son is allergic to, and so we all enjoyed a delicious ice cream! Their food looked great too.

We were so surprised (again!) at how few galleries and shops there were in town – practically none (there were lots of realty places though?!). We went to Town Park and the boys loved playing on “Imagination Station” – their giant playground for kids – until we got caught in the rain once again ☺.

Walking back, we meandered along the River Walk for about half an hour and really enjoyed it. It was a shame that the weather wasn’t better because it was a lovely walk under bridges, past the (closed) gondola up to Mountain Village, with interesting views of the lodging in the area and of course the river. When we got back to our condo, we decided to stay in for a late dinner. We relaxed and watched movies and packed up for the next day. Headed to bed early…

Day 13 weather: An unsettled day of weather. Started off with just clouds, but turned into a chilly day with intermittent rain and heavy downpours.

emalloy

So glad the kids are still into the trip and not whining for electronic time. I'm hoping we can make another trip soon too.