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