With a 3 day weekend and a promise to hubby that it would be a weekend for us (i have been hiking every weekend just about) i did not think a hike would happen. We were talking about what we wanted to do last week and he actually said hey lets do that hike you thought would be fun for us! i was shocked he suggested it but jumped on it. We got up at 5am Sunday morning and were out the door by 6 with the pups in tow. made it to the forth of july trail head in record time. out of all the hikes to do in CO this one trail head i have hiked more times then i can count, it was one of my first hikes when i came to visit my aunt many years ago. we took one of the last few spaces at the TH and were up on trail by 7:30am. this was Kens first hike all season so we took it easy and the dogs did not mind the pace. it was weird how calm they were with out Eddy's pack getting them all worked up with trying to keep up
we ran into a few people on trail but man did we run into a TON on the way down. we had the summit all to our selves and it was a great family hike and we all had a good time
the only down fall was my camera battery just about died on the summit and i also forgot to fill my tank with gas so on the way back driving down a one lane dirt road with the gas light on and the needle on E i was freaking out! people were driving all slow and cars were parked on the side of the road making this into a TIGHT one lane road that should have been at least 1.5 car road, with cars trying to come up! talk about nervous, we made it to town to fill up, thank god! now we were on our way to boulder for some burgers and fries at Mustards last stand, they have the BEST tempeh burger around. we also took S&J around a art fest that happened be be going on and we were stopped every few min. it was a great day
Hiking stats.
13,038ft
9.3miles round tip
5h32m
3,623ft in elevation gain
ok now im sure you all want to see pictures so here you go
Ken took Jack and i had Sierra
we had a few water crossings
Sierra found a chipmunk
Jack got to far ahead and all most got ken to fall in!
heading up the switchbacks
the men in my life
me and the kids
glacier
"old Baldy"
South and North Arapahoe peaks, i need to head back up to get North!
Family Summit!
Ken and kids
Me and kids
Sierra
S&J
Jack was pulling to much so i took him and Ken got Sierra on the way down
Stupid Marmots! but to S&J they leave behind a tasty treat
hope you enjoyed
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I'd love a good mountain to hike, especially once Ghost gets a bit older. We just have a bunch of pine trees and rattlesnakes around here....