Our feelings about hiking after our Mystic Lake adventure could have gone one of two ways: totally hooked, or, holy fuck I am never doing that again. Lucky for me, though not necessarily for my family, we (I) fell into the latter. Though with every hike I worry it will never match up to the glory that is Mystic Lake, it usually always does, first proven to me on our next hike to Woodbine Falls.Not-so-much-the-novices anymore, Jacob picked this particular hike, which is just under one mile. We packed a decent lunch, the now-standard dog blanket, and set out in search of spectacular sights. If nature does one thing, it's that it does not disappoint.
I saw this log, being repeatedly beaten down by the water, and was like, I feel you, homie.
Someone who I don't know on Instagram posted a photo of a trail with the quote, "Don't look back, you're not going that way," and I could not disagree more. If you don't look back, you can't capture views like these. And those yellow dots are some hard-core kayakers, of whom I took their picture and cheered because 1) they're awesome; and b) to keep me focused off the fact that where they were was a straight drop off one side of the trail.
If nothing else, our hiking attire is on-point.
The end of July, it was a very warm day, so during a calm part of the creek (yes, those raging waters are part of a creek; Woodbine Creek), we cooled off.
No childhood is complete without playing in river (creek) water.
Holden hearts hiking.
If you're not singing Climb Every Mountain right now, we can't be friends.
In spite of the effort, we didn't actually make it to the falls. Some Patagonia-wannabe we passed on the trail asked us if we had our Bad Weather Gear, poking a hole in our otherwise semi-confidence. Taking into account that we don't, in fact, have anything resembling bad-weather gear - on the trail or at home - and the time it takes to hike back to the car (which usually ends up being a lot faster), we decided to set up our picnic lunch in some grass beside a calm, not-so-deep portion of the creek.
So, this is how we greet nature now.
Enjoying a cold one.
Every hike should end with jewelry.
The views heading back down, which can be even more awesome because you don't have to concentrate as much on the trail.
And, of course, because everyone had lunch, and the sun is noticeably more absent.
In the woods, take a seat wherever you can find it!
I'll admit, while a very enjoyable and beautiful hike, I felt a little unfulfilled not having seen the actual falls. And - thanks a lot, Patagonia Jerk - it didn't actually do any kind of storming or "bad weather," so we could have kept going but didn't. It will probably be one of the first hikes I insist on doing come late-Spring, but we did go back to the area in early December. I wanted to see how far we could get down the trail before we would inevitably hit too much snow, but we drove up a mountain road behind the Stillwater Mine and wound up doing another trail - Rabbit Gulch Trail - instead.
That swimming-pool-looking circle is part of the Mine.
This was on a one-lane dirt road with more mountain on one side and thin air on the other.
Louis wasn't part of our first Woodbine Falls hike for the same reason he wasn't part of the Mystic Lake hike - too old and crotchety. But with the snow and chilly, late-fall weather, we knew us humans wouldn't be able to go very far so we knew it wouldn't be too difficult for Loony Louis to conquer. He is a good sport, and sticks with us out of pure loyalty, but on this particular hike, once we decided to turn around and head for the car, he high-tailed it down the trail and was waiting for us at the car.
Much to my family's chagrin, I'm usually the one shouting, "Onward and upward!" The look on Zoey's face pretty much says it all...
Us Colorado/Montanans aren't going to let a little snow stop us! A lot of snow, now that's a different story. The trail we happened upon - Rabbit Gulch Trail - is 8-miles long and
turned steep and snowy at the precise moment we decided to turn around
and head back (Louis' pack-a-day-smokers-cough was also a big deciding
factor), so once we got back to the car, we continued on our
mountain-road drive.
These two mountains - this and the picture above - are so littered with caves that I dubbed it Bear Condo.
Somehow we all turn into models in the mountains.
This picture and the one below are from the exact spot, just facing different directions. We drove the one-lane mountain road until we couldn't anymore; and by "couldn't anymore," I mean that literally. With the icy creek and rocks on one side, and rocky mountainside on the other, the car hit what can only be described as a comforter of ice. With absolutely zero control over the trajectory of the car, it slowly slid back down the small road until Jesus took the wheel and it stopped just short of rolling down into the water.
Pretty? No question. Scary? Without a doubt.
Given that it wasn't summer anymore, I wasn't counting on seeing the falls, but our literal backslide happened with the falls within ear shot so once again I was foiled. But we saw some great sights, had an adventure, and added another hike to do come warmer weather (oh, you better believe I will attempt the 8-mile Rabbit Gulch Trail hike; maybe while listening to Eminem).
