Colorado in August

omg.

I have officially discovered a love for hiking.

I went to visit a friend recently for 4 days, who lives in Denver, CO. Our plan was to mingle some much needed girly bonding time (jane austen/knitting/blankets/alcohol) in the mountains with some challenging hiking.

I flew in to Denver on Friday, and then we headed out to the mountains that night to check in at our lodge. I haven't seen mountains.... since I don't even remember lol. Just being able to drive through them was exhilarating, and I felt like my heart had woken up! Everything was so pretty compared to icky Texas.

Saturday morning we hopped into the car all ready for some hiking, with our little lunches wrapped up and packed in the backpack and our water bottles filled and sparkling. And then we realized after driving and driving and searching and squinting, that trying to find the very few trails secreted away was going to be a more daunting task than anticipated lol. Really, the area that we weere staying in had only a few places and they were more the 12 mile backpacking trails rather than any friendly day hiking. Once we bitterly accepted this truth, we salvaged the day by hanging out in Salida, a nearby little mountain town.

 

{Cafe in Salida, CO}

 

I begged Tyler to let us stop someplace (anyplace!) for coffee, and we had to stop in at a cafe in the end lol. It was a super cute place though and I wish we could have tried some pie! I always want to try pie lol.

 

{I loved this little yarn and fabric shop!!!}

We had a fun time exploring shops and things, and then went back to the lodge and just vegged out and watched movies.

Sunday we headed back to Denver in girly shame lol. Such fools... ah well. We then planned on doing some hiking in Boulder, CO bright and early Monday morning!

Again, we packed out little lunches and headed out to the little college town. There are the Flat Irons about 2 minutes from the downtown area *jealous* so we parked out there, and started our trip!

 

{Flat Irons in Boulder, CO}

 

Even though it was August! the temperature was only about 70 when we started out at 11ish in the morning. It was so perfect for exercise... and to think Dallas would have been in the high 90s at least! Ick.

 

{my Kill Me face}

 

So... this was me, struggling up, and up, and up, and up that trail lol. Not only am I admittedly not in the best physical shape, but I had never hiked up at a constant slope before, with a backpack, at a heightened elevation. It was hard lol.

 

{See that above me? Yea, that was the trail}

 

 

 

 {more rocky trail}

 

 

 

{ok, not the actual trail, but it would have been cool if it were lol}

 

.

 

 

{we finally reached the top! yay!!!}

 

 

 

{this was the Royal Arch we were hiking towards}

 

 

We almost turned back before lunch, but after snacking on our salads and drinks I felt much better and we were able to keep going. Thank goodness too!

 

 

 

{the view}

 

 

 

 

{victory photo lol}

 

 

 

{chillin, on some big rocks} 

 

 Aaaand after about 4 hours of hiking upward, we got to go back down! Yaaaay lol! That part was actually pretty fun! We were basically bouncing down the trail because of the steepness, and although I felt like it only took 20 minutes it really was about 1.5 hours. 

 {finally back in the foothills}

 

 

 

 

 {leaving Boulder forever... *tear*}

 

It was just so amazing and fun. I did this hike in crappy cheap athletic shoes, and definitely felt it. Before I do anything serious again I am absolutely investing in some hiking boots, now that I know I really love hiking. Although I am not sure anywhere near Dallas will be worth the investment...