Rocky Mountain High

We just returned from our 2nd annual summer hiking trip to Telluride Colorado.  This year, we were lucky enough to be able to combine vacations with the Wills family.  We shared a rental house and spent the week hiking, playing games, eating, laughing, and enjoying each others company. Here is a summary of each days fun....

Day 1: I thought it would be nice if we took a short hike to acclimate to the high altitude before we set out on longer hikes later in the week.  The trail I chose was a little longer than I anticipated and may have had a few more uphill all the way sections than I thought it would.  Nonetheless, the scenery was gorgeous and we worked hard and were rewarded with a small waterfall in addition to that gorgeous view of Telluride.  We definitely earned the birthday cake.  We headed back to the house to have dinner and cake to celebrate Matt's 40th birthday together.  John and Anne gave Matt a new Wits and Wagers board game that included some personalized questions concerning Matt's future exploits.  We all had fun guessing things like "at what age will Matt's knees give out". 

leaving the house on our 1st hike



Emma  keeps up with Alex

maybe this walking stick is a little too big?

quaking aspens inspire me

 

Day 2: We spent our 2nd day in Telluride riding bikes.  We began on the San Miguel River trail and followed it out through the valley floor and back in to town.  It was a great day with a stop for lunch in town park.  We don't usually rent bikes on our vacations so it was a nice change of pace from hiking.  The girls really enjoyed it and we were able to see parts of the town we had not usually been able to get to.  I think we will plan to do it again next year. 

 









 

Day 3:  The 3rd day of our trip was spent hiking a longer hike.  We started the day thinking that we were going to hike past bridal veil falls to Silver Lake.  Once we began the hike to the falls, however, we realized that the road to the trail head that leads past the falls at the top, had washed out and was being repaired.  We changed our plans slightly.  We decided we would continue on the jeep road past Ingram Falls and see how far we could get.  It was a breathtakingly beautiful hike.  It was hard at just around 10miles but so worth it.  Emma had started out the day a little under the weather and under motivated so she had a moment when we thought she would not be able to continue the hike.    After a few motivating words from Matt she was ready to go.  We continued and were able to see so many different landscapes.  Probably my favorite hike of the trip. Mid July is peak wildflower season so we saw tons of those and lots of sweeping alpine meadow vistas.  As we got closer to the top at around 12,000 feet or so it was totally different and pretty in its own way.  Since this is a popular back country jeep trail we encountered lots of tours taking jeeps.  Pretty crazy to see some of them try to navigate the very narrow treacherous roads...made me glad I was on my own 2 feet the whole time.  After lunch at the top we started back down.  Tough hike but nothing a little time in the hot tub wouldn't cure.

That is where we are headed??

we made it to the base of the falls

I will not go any further....

Hannah can always cheer me up!

hiking past the power plant at the top of the falls

we made it to Ingram Falls

a little high altitude yoga anyone?

scary looking mine shaft



yes, we really did hike that far.....

the hills are alive with the sound of music....

pretty barren near the top

I knew I could do it!

 

 



 Day 4: We decided to explore the Alta Lakes area on our 4th day in Telluride.  We drove to the ghost town of Alta and then hiked up to the lakes.  After we got to the lakes Matt decided that he needed to get to the top of the mountain nearby because the view would be awesome.  We gamely followed along and I am so glad that we did.  I know I keep saying it but the views were incredible.  We got to the top and it just went on forever.  The last bit of accent was kind of nerve wracking for me just because it was so steep and the rock was so loose.  It could also have been because we were almost at the top of a very high mountaintop and a thunderstorm was rolling in.  At any rate, we made it to the top for another stunning view of all the Alta Lakes.  We quickly made our way back down before the rain started to fall....not very hard but making Emma pretty happy anyway.  We stopped for lunch at the ghost town and packed up to go back to the house. 

wait up Uncle John...

sure Matt, let's hike to the top...

totally worth the effort

 

 

Day 5:  This was our last official day of hiking and we spent it hiking the Bear Creek Trail.  An easy hike to finish things up.  There was a lot less water in the falls and along the trail than last year but it was still a beautiful hike up to the falls. 

 

can you tell that this is the last hike for the week...



sculpture garden

Emma talks Alex's ear off again...

Alex and Hilary stop for a rest

 





 Day 6:  We spent our last full day in town perusing the shops and checking out the farmer's market.  We had lunch at our favorite spot (the Butcher and the Baker) and ducked in to the shops when the rain started to pour down.  We ended the day with dinner at a brew pub and followed it up with our last games of the week.  Packing up and getting ready for the drive home was sad but necessary.

 

 

the world's cutest mini donuts

it is a tea drinking reading kind of afternoon

the not so artsy food shot...



This years vacation was awesome.  We had so much fun hanging out with the Wills.....hottubbing, hiking, game playing, poi learning, hula hooping, laughing, dessert eating!