What better way to spend Father's Day than doing what daddy loves the most, being in the mountains with his family! Reid is still on his quest to hike all the 14ers in Colorado, so we decided to see what it's like taking a small one camping so we could venture farther away from Denver. In typical Jennings fashion things never go as planned, but we had a fun time together in the end. Here is how our weekend unfolded!
Since we were going to attempt to hike a 14er with a little one, we knew we had to head down to the Sawatch Mountains where there are some easier access hikes. With this being our first overnight with Carson, we thought a well established campground would be our best bet. So we booked our spot at the
Cotopaxi/Arkansas River KOA Campground. If you ever need a campground to stay at I highly recommend this one. Great amenities and the park was relatively quiet. It's a good thing we settled in a well established ground because as we were unpacking Reid discovered his stove was not in the container so we had to buy stuff to grill at the convenience store. This just made it feel more like a "camping" experience and Carson even got to have his first s'more, which he LOVED! I think he loved being outside and just wanted to crawl everywhere. Surprisingly the constant dirty baby didn't bother me. But what I was most worried about was bedtime. Carson is one of those kids that has to "play" in his crib before finally settling down. This includes throwing things over the side, jumping up and down, and crawling/rolling all over the place. After an hour of crawling all over the car, he finally settled down and slept through the entire night! I was so shocked and very relieved. The next morning we woke up, packed up and headed to the mountains for some hiking.
We had our minds set on one mountain, Mt Antero, but at the last minute (while getting directions) we found out that the trial was 14 miles round trip! Yikes...that is a little too long. So we tried to find another mountain and settled on Mt Yale outside Buena Vista. This was one of the prettier hikes we have been on in Colorado and I would recommend it to anyone, but only if you are up for a challenge. It was an uphill workout, especially for Reid who was carrying Carson. Also being a little pressed for time, we decided he would not be able to summit with Carson so he dropped us off below the summit and pressed on with Snyder. While we waited, Carson practiced his
crawling skills up the trail and thought it was fun to throw rocks and watch them topple down. Such a boy! But, in the end dropping Carson and I off was the best decision because Reid said the summit was cold with 30-40mph winds (even gusting to 50). Needless to say our biggest lesson learned is Carson will not summit his first 14er anytime soon. It was too much of a struggle carrying a baby up that much elevation. Reid will just have to save some, and repeat some, to hike up with his son later on.
Even though we had some minor mishaps and things not go as planned, we loved being out together as a family and had a wonderful time celebrating Father's Day in the mountains. It's a good thing we had this thought in our minds as we headed back home, because the 2 1/2 hour drive turned in to a 4 1/2 hour drive thanks to a highway shut down. A Father's Day we will always remember!
