December Hiking

A beautiful December day called for our favorite hike at Curt Gowdy. We climbed some rock features we haven't fully explored before, and we went further down the path than we usually do. It was glorious! There is nothing that feels so good as a parent than to let your kids roam in nature and watch them soak up the fresh air and beautiful scenery. It's rejuvenating and peaceful. 

We brought stuff to make a fire at one of the campsites along the trail. We felt kind of like traitors not stopping at our favorite campsite where we actually camped this summer, but we did wave to it as we hiked by. 

this picture looks really safe...

Stockton was immediately drawn to these logs along the path. He asked me if I would sit down with him and watch the sunset. Of course I told him I would absolutely love to! He called it his "sunset log." He's so cute. 

A little past our hike-in campsite is this glade in the middle of the rocks and trees. There were clear signs that this was an elk resting ground! So cool! It was kind of startling to come up out of the trees and see this open space. 

To the left of the field was this big empty riverbank, or dried up pond, or just runoff sinkhole. It was fun to explore, and Austin had to help the kids get back out again since it was steeper than it looked. 

These two huge tires are some sort of human made water source for the elk, we deduced. 

Heading back along the path. Claire walked almost the whole time but got tired at the end, little cutie. 

 We are loving this easy access to so many beautiful wildernesses around Cheyenne. I hope that as the kids get older (and Stockton gets more compliant) we can explore even more.