Ouray

Ouray is my favorite place in Colorado.  We try to go every year, and there's so much to do there that it never gets old. This is the first year we camped, and despite some rain, it was a really fun trip. The Ice Lakes hike near Silverton was my favorite.  There were a million wildflowers, waterfalls, and a  mountain lake. We thought it would be tough for the kids, but they made it, and weren't even excruciatingly slow.  Our friends joined us the latter part of the week and the kids were psyched to have their playmates.  To them, camping is just one long play date. 

View of San Juans at sunset from hike above the campground

The start of the Ice Lakes hike. We saved a few hundred feet of elevation gain by driving up a dirt road instead of taking the main trail.  We thought we were pretty smart... and then we immediately had to cross a river at the base of a raging waterfall on the edge of a steep cliff.

We made it safely across

This valley below the lake was full of wildflowers and waterfalls

The wildflowers were almost as tall as the kids

We made it to the lake!

Heading back down

Mark rapelling down a waterfall

Kid hike.  We made a 3 mile piece of the Ouray Perimeter trail into an epic half day adventure. Luckily we got Kristin & Amy's shuttle service to come pick us up at the end!

Hiking the perimeter trail

The upside of rain is rainbows

Logan learned to play chess during our trip

Ladies hike up to Bridge of Heaven

The thin air up there made everything seem super funny... we were pretty entertained by our shadows

Brozie

Turquoise Lake

We spent a weekend camping at Turquoise Lake with the usual suspects. It's a beautiful spot and pretty close by, with camping right on the water. You can swim in the lake too, which is kind of rare in Colorado.   Of course its freezing, so you wouldn't want to.  I love that the kids are old enough that they happily play with the other kids all day and mostly babysit each other. Camping is probably the most free time I get to myself.... I got to read at least 3 pages of a book.

Turquoise Lake

This hammock was a huge hit

Alayna is the reason I get time to myself on these trips.  Amelie loves her and she's a great babysitter.

Ladies hike

Ladies hike

The whole group

Wind Rivers backpack trip

We went to the Wind Rivers in Wyoming for our first family backpacking trip. It's one of my favorite places. The mosquitoes were horrible, but the weather was great and the scenery was beautiful.  The kids walked the whole 7 miles in and out on their own, following a trail of M&Ms.  We hoped to make it over Jackass Pass and into the Cirque, but there was still a lot of snow so we stopped a bit short. We all crammed into a 2 person tent, and there was just enough room (but not enough room to make us want to stay another night).  We entertained ourselves jumping into the snow fields, playing Uno, raising our bear bag, and trying to make the water filter work.  All in all it was pretty successful first backpacking trip.

The hike in.  Mark carried almost everything.

Rest stop

We had planned to camp at this lake, but the mosquitoes forced us to keep moving higher

Onward!

Our campsite

Ama & me at camp

The kids favorite activity, a family pile up

We made it!