Return to Ute Valley

Last Fall, my friend Lisa and I took our boys to Ute Valley Park for a hike and some kid-style rock climbing. It was lovely there that day, in all its Autumn glory, but today, with the Spring greens and wild flowers in full bloom it was stunning! I've been wanting to go back there, so the boys and I decided to go today. We met up with a group of church friends, that included four mommies and 15 kids, and ended up hiking a loop of about four miles around and through the park. With such good company and beautiful scenery surrounding us, I think we were all a little surprised it was that long. We had a great time!

Josh during one of our snack/water stops with north Colorado Springs stretching out behind him.

Proof that Luke and I were there too! At one point, most of the kids had run up ahead of the adults. When we finally caught up to them, we found that they had stopped to wait for us at a fork in the road, got bored waiting, and decided to climb this not-so-small tree. That teeny tiny body with the orange shirt you can see the best is Zach. You can't really tell, but there are five kids up there! It's a good thing the tree was strong and the kids sure-footed or we'd have been carting a bunch of broken-boned kiddos across a very big park.Ben was about eight branches above Zach. Yipes! Although their hands were covered in sap by the time they got down, and a handful of mommies with pounding hearts were waiting at the bottom, they were mighty proud of their great climb. The rain here has brought out the best in the wild flowers.
Josh was part of the back group of kids, but on the downhill slopes he'd always pick up speed. Here he is, rounding the bend in the trail at full run with his buddy Dallin.

And here's the whole gang. We had a few extra adult hikers with us, since my friend Heidi's family is in town, so they took this picture of all of us.This is the actual "valley" of Ute Valley. Surrounding this breathtaking valley are two huge ridges, both of which we hiked up and then back down.

We didn't have a lot of time for rock climbing today, but the kids got in about five minutes on a small set of boulders. Ben's there in the purple shirt getting ready to climb across the rocks.

Josh picked these lovely wild flowers for me, which I thought looked kind of like chives, so I gave them a sniff to see if they might be wild chives...well, they could be in the same family, but instead of smelling like onions, they smelled like dead skunk!! Oh stink! So I took this picture for posterity, and ditched the flowers by the trail.

Zach, who had been ahead with the trailblazers, needed some water and decided to stop and wait for me, as I brought up the rear with Joshie, on this perfect natural tree seat.

Another scene of wild flowers, the orange, yellow, white, purple and blue among the green: so lovely! The picture is a little lacking, but maybe if you can click it to enlarge it....

The boys back at the cars with their friend Kate. The weather cooperated perfectly, not too hot, not too cold, not windy at all (rare!). It was a perfect day for a hike in a beautiful location with some dear friends! What a morning!