Yesterday…
Jul 8th, 2008 by woodstone
… we finally did something we’ve been meaning to do since we moved here. We hiked up to Castle Rock. Castle Rock is a landmark around here, and the town that surrounds the rock is named after it. It’s a bit of high bluff, a ancient remnant of the high plains that covered this part of the country eons ago.
We’re only about 20 minutes away from “the rock” and have talked about hiking up it ever since we discovered it was open to the public.
Castle Rock is huge and sits up on a hill. You can hike up to the base of the rock, but not climb up the rock itself.
Here is the base of the trail up to the rock. We went up the summit trail and back down the perimeter trail. Both were beautiful…
Both kids were excited at first and I had to remind them not to run. They slowed down some once the trail started to get steep, but they both kept going with no complaints.
There are massive rocks along the trail, R liked this one and wanted a picture of it.
M saw several lizards out sunning themselves. They are VERY quick, but I did get this picture of one… Can you see it? It’s sitting in the shady part of the rock, about in the center of the picture.
There were only a few wildflowers left along the trail… It’s been so dry that most of them are already dried up.
Finally we made it up to the base of the rock. R liked the way this part of the rock felt…
The view…
… with the town of Castle Rock down below.
Heading back down, the kids were in a hurry to get back to the car…
It was a nice afternoon. M had a very rough morning yesterday, so it was especially nice to spend fun time together after struggling our way through his rough spell.
Both kids enjoyed our little hike (and both were proud of themselves for continuing on even when the trail got steep and they started feeling anxious), so I told them we hike again soon. I’d like to hike at Castlewood Canyon next… We hiked there a couple of years ago, and it was beautiful…. I’d love to go again.
Hi,
I found your blog when I did a google search for civil war lapbooks.
I am enjoying reading your blog on my Google reader.
You amaze me, each day you are stretched beyond anything I could imagine. Yet, you get up the next day with optimism that this day will be a great day with M. Your strength and perseverance is awesome.
I also love how you know your children and engage them in opportunities that work with their strengths.
Just wanted to say hi,
blessings,
Linda
Sometimes I look at all we’ve done since moving here and think “WOW! We’ve done a lot.” And then I look at everything we haven’t done and think “Wow! We haven’t done nearly anything!” LOL!
I didn’t know that about Castle Rock… DD isn’t much into hiking, so someone will have to set that up as a coop in order to get her up there. LOL
I can remember Castle Rock. I never went as far as I remember though. Looks like a good hike!.
What a great hike! These pictures are terrific.
That looks like a fun hike. Did you ever hike up Scotts Bluff? i was always too chicken; afraid there would be snakes sunning themselves instead of lizards. How nice that both kids enjoyed themselves.
Oh, Oh! Pick me! We’ll go to Castlewood with you to hike. We haven’t been there yet and I passed it one day and thought it looked like a neat place.
I have to go to the AFA to see if I can exchange Joel’s blue pants Thur or Fri……it’s not that far from the canyon.
I did not know you could even hike up there! We have to try that!
We would love to go to Castlewood too!
It was Aaron’s dad favorite place to go, and I have not been there in a long time!
Looks like a great hike, and it does kind of remind me of Scottsbluff. I remember us hiking up there at least a time or two. A great sunny day too! We are barely out of the June-gloom. it gets sunnier as the summer progresses. Thanks for the nice post and pictures.
I’ve never done that, either. Next time you’re going to do something like that, call us if you’re looking for buddies, we’ll hang out