West Creek Falls

So. The day after all our running, we spontaneously decided to head for the mountains to get in some hiking while the weather is still beautiful. We opted to head for Rocky Mountain National Park since we still have an annual pass but ended up taking a trail off the beaten path, such that we didn't actually go through park check in (though our final destination ended up just inside park boundaries). 

In any case...Asher requested a trail that led to a waterfall. Nathan wanted it not to be too crowded (and there were *plenty* of others up there who obviously had the same idea as we did about getting in another hike before it gets too cold). So we ended up starting from the Cow Creek trailhead (which also leads to Bridal Veil Falls...which we're thinking about trying another time) and hiked to West Creek Falls. It was gorgeous...both the weather and the location. 

Here we are at the height of the trail:

(According to Nathan, the trail had a total elevation change of roughly 2600 feet. Yes, really. Round-trip was about 4 miles. I'd not rate this one as "easy." Fortunately (??), the boys are in better shape than Nathan and me, even with Micah's cute little legs that had to sit all the way down to descend some parts of the trail, lol.)

Here are the boys once we'd reached the falls:

I can tell you exactly what was going through each boys' mind...Noah was wishing I'd stop with the camera already (almost 11 years is really enough, he thinks)...Asher just wanted me to hurry up so he could get to where he was going...and Micah, as is often the case, just wanted to pose for the camera with his impish little face. :)

And here are some other pics from the trip:

Yes, Nathan waded out into the pool at the base of the falls. It was *cold.* The boys (and Nathan) managed to scramble up to the top of the falls, too, and enjoyed tossing things into the flow of the water. And the rest are just pictures along the way. ;) Don't remind Micah, but shortly after that last picture...just at the end of our hike...he happened to step right over a live snake on the trail (which Asher then spotted and pointed out to us all as it slithered into the grass...which had Micah running down the trail a bit to get some distance, lol). (It was only a little snake...probably a garter or something similar, about 18" long. Still. Don't see that everyday.)

My Micah was such a trooper and made it the entire way on his own. He has, though, dictated that our next hike will be flat, LOL. (And I'm okay with that, lol.)

So. That was the tail end of our lovely weekend... 

Comments

[nan]

Lovely!