After our morning walk, yummy breakfast, and more visiting, we drove up into the mountains to Golden Gate Canyon State Park for our adventure in the mountains.
We had done our research beforehand and picked out what we thought would be a good hike for us. In hindsight, I think I should have talked to the rangers at the Visitor's Center the morning of and gotten their opinion. Ours worked, but I think we could have found a better one if we had just asked. Oops.
The first sign that this trail might be tricky was that the beginning of it was covered in snow. Earlier in the week Denver and the surrounding area was dumped on with snow. All of the snow in the city was gone, but the shaded forest higher up had 2-5 inches still on the ground in several places.
Although we both had warm jackets, Kate was wearing capri leggings, cotton socks, and her regular school gym shoes (which I learned earlier in the day are way too small for Kate!). Oops again. I asked several times if she wanted to turn around instead of doing the whole 2.5 mile loop, but she insisted on going forward.
Then we discovered some tracks in the snow and watched them crisscross the trail for 1/8 mile or so. I'm glad we didn't meet whoever made these tracks!
Finally the snow cleared off, but then we were into the toughest part of the elevation climb. Kate hasn't had a lot of experience with this kind of hike yet and the middle third of the trek was pretty tough for her. We stopped frequently to refuel, but she wasn't interested in the fuel with a lot of calories, she wanted her cucumber.
But we made it! There were no pretty views at the top, except for this really cool dead tree :)
The way back down was a little more pleasant, except for the steep sections still covered in slippery slush, and the need for many potty breaks.
Poor Kate's shoes and socks were soaking, so she took them off and just slipped her shoes off at our next stop. We drove to Panoramic View Point to see our closest glimpse of the real mountains that we would see.
Unfortunately, we didn't stay long because Kate was ready to be done. She had cold, wet feet and was pretty wiped from the hike. But at least she posed for a few pictures.
And then took one of her own.
We took the scenic drive back to Denver and only had to stop once to take a break from the twisy, turny roads. But even those kinds of breaks are fun with Kate, especially if she's barefoot.
Our evening back with Adam and family was low-key, but enjoyable. Kate and I don't need much. Some food, good conversation, a baby, and a dog ... what more could you want?
Kate was able to spend some more time bonding with her youngest cousin while us grown-ups chatted some more.
We did our best to memorize this guy's face and emerging personality.
And then we headed down the street for some delicious local ice cream to round out our visit.
(Surprisingly, this was the only picture I got of Jess and/or Adam. Either the trip was not about seeing them, or I was having too much fun talking with them to think to take any pictures of them. I think the latter is going to be my story.)
One more post to come!
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