Adventure for Four: Running About in Colorful Colorado: Adventure #6: Not similar...special!

Date: Sunday, August 3rd 2014
Location: Copeland Falls, Wild Basin Ranger Station, Bright Trail, Allenspark

We spent Saturday at the park watching a kickball tournament that Drea's boyfriend was playing in so that "only" left Sunday to get into the mountains. It was a great day outside to enjoy the beautiful Colorado summers and hang out with Dre, just relaxing.

Sunday late morning we ventured off toward Wild Basin Ranger Station in Allenspark. Jenny met us at our house and we all packed into the 4Runner. The reason the word "packed" is significant is because, as usual, I drove and Krystal graciously gave the front seat to Jenny. We weren't even out of the driveway and Krystal was whining about the tight fit. I said I didn't care and took up my post in the middle seat between the kiddos. It actually wasn't all that bad. I had plenty of legroom, and made the hour plus drive just fine minus a little bit of car sickness up the mountain roads. Toward the end of the drive, Logan and I started to both "maes" out as it was nearly lunchtime. I finally gave in and grabbed our lunches from the back. During this all, I told Logan that "you know kiddo, you and I are pretty similar". To which he responded"Noooooo". I pushed it a little further and said "ya, we act a lot alike and are similar". To which he started to go full on breakdown cry and be totally crushed nearly sobbing, then he says "I'm not similar, I'm....special". We all busted out laughing hysterically and poor Logan figured himself out and started laughing too. So the saying goes "kids say the darndest things" and it couldn't have been more true in that moment.

We made it to the trail head after getting lucky with a close parking lot. We seriously have to get all these popular hikes out of the way because they are insanely busy and it's not that fun being surrounded by people and fighting for parking when you want to be alone in the mountains. All in due time, we'll find more and more remote locations and as Fiona gets older it'll be easier to commit to longer travel times and hikes.

Anyway, our goal was to make it past Copeland Falls and to Calypso Cascades. Copeland Falls showed up pretty early in the hike and it was a short waterfall but really flowing strong and loud as can be. Logan and I ventured as close to it as possible and he got pretty adventurous climbing the rocks. It's that fine line you have as a parent to give them freedom to gain confidence but also not allow them to fall into the raging white water rapids below. I'd say I did a pretty good job with it and he seemed to embrace the freedom. We got some nice photo ops of the family with our able photography Jenny tagging along :) Trekking along we found this cool tree stump that had checkerboard like cuts into the top of it. Logan and I played around with some rocks on it, but he'll need some checker practice here shortly at home.

We thought we made it to Calypso Cascades so we found a nice spot tucked behind some tress and out of the way of the trail for lunch and sat down to enjoy some grub. I always love taking a food break and just sitting down for a few moments to enjoy family time. It's a peaceful quiet time with no intentions or plans that we simply get quality time together. At this point we decided to head on but after a short little bit, Logan was getting tired so I tossed him in the backpack and we turned back. By this point we had hiked for about an hour and a half so we figured we had a hike ahead of us heading back. Well turns out, that with Logan on my back and going downhill we made it back in about 20 minutes haha. Also turns out that we didn't make it to Calypso Cascades. We really need to get the GPS loaded with the Colorado topomaps so that we have a better idea of our location out on these adventures. Either way, it was a beautiful day with family and a close friend.

On the drive home we took a quick detour to check out some 4x4 backroads (Bright Trail) for potential camping sites. They had signs for moose in the area but Jenny assured us moose aren't that big of a deal since she's seen plenty before. After some lively discussion :) about the difference between elk and moose, we unfortunately didn't see either. We climbed the backroad to the top of the mountain and I hopped out for some quick photos at the edge while Logan was sleeping and Krystal was keeping Fiona entertained. We didn't find any great camping sites so the quick trip was a success in that we were in the area and ruled out any potential spots. Although there looked to be some solid remote hiking trails. I also had some fun poking at the females in the truck, and how it appears that the amount of bouncing around and general discomfort while wheeling is directly proportional to if their significant other is driving or not.

All in all it was a fun day, and we enjoyed having Jenny share an adventure with us. We did learn something important today, setting up the crock-pot in the morning before we leave is a fantastic way to come home after a long day in the mountains......well that and Logan is special ;)