Adam had the afternoon off on Monday, Presidents' Day. And it was a pretty nice day. So we thought we would honor the nature-loving, conservation-driven spirit of President Teddy Roosevelt by hitting the hills for another beautiful Colorado hike. This time the hike took us up to Catamount Falls in the tiny town of Green Mountain Falls, Colorado. I know I always put up tons of pictures from our hikes, but that is because there are so many beautiful, breath-taking things to see! This wintry hike held treasures that will be long melted when we go back and hike it again this summer. I can't wait! It is going to be a completely different hike on a warm, sunny July day. Enjoy the pictures, we sure enjoyed the hike!
Luke and I at the starting point, overlooking a frozen-over pond. One lone goose, seen on the ice just below my back, seemed to have missed the bus to Arizona. Fortunately, the cafe next to the pond takes care of his dietary needs, as for the cold? I hope feathers are enough!
For much of the first half of the hike we were a little disappointed. The town won't let you park close to the actual trail head because it is off residential streets, so we had to start following along the roadside. It's a cute little town, with a lot of buildings/homes from the early settlement days (i.e. mid to late 1800's), but we were hoping for a little more "nature." We followed a lot of rustic home-in-the-woods and log-fishing-cabin lined streets too. My favorite thing about this part was seeing all the cute names for the houses like "Blue Haven" "Love in the Pines" and "Sutter's Effort." Unfortunately, the boys were not as excited about well-picked names for vacation cabins. They were whiny, and not thrilled about the lack of boulders to climb and the steepness of the streets. 
However, as soon as we got off the road and onto the trail, they perked right up, and not a whine was heard...until the descent, once again on the cabin-lined dirt roads. A sign posted at the entrance to the trail warned of mountain lion sightings. So we made sure to walk not-softly and Adam carried a big stick (get the Teddy Roosevelt reference there? Hardy, har!). We chuckled at ourselves, like a stick would help if a hungry mountain lion wanted us for dinner! But it made us feel better anyway. Don't worry, we didn't see a single one. Here's Adam and the boys heading up the mountain-lion-free trail.
This was just a cute picture of Josh, climbing one of those boulders the boys missed so much on the first part of the hike.
And then we arrived at a big surprise, which turned out to be best part of the hike...Catamount Creek, a.k.a. Catamount Ice Flow. The entire creek was one giant ice slick that had risen above the level of the trail. As one layer froze another would rush down and freeze on top and around the first until it reached up, out, over and around the bridge and proceeded to continue this process, making its way down the trail. Layer upon layer of frozen water covered the trail for at least 45 feet. It was like a giant version of the ice slick that used to grow in front of our driveway every winter when I was a kid when the drain got clogged. It was so cool (and I don't just mean cold!) and so incredibly slippery! Here Ben is taking out my legs as he goes down .
Zach getting in some dramatics while trying to stand up. Josh just opted for the one-foot crawl.
Some of the mega-icicles.
More frozen cascading creek. When the creek became solid, the water that hadn't yet frozen just started going wherever it wanted!
A little portion of the creek goes through a rock cave. You could hear the water still flowing underneath the thick ice.
Ben could hardly stand, not that he wanted to. He thought the falling was the best! You can see the "ripples" in the frozen creek he is trying to walk up.
Luke thought the slipping and sliding was so funny. Ruby did not. And I love this picture, because you can see Ben mid-fall in the background. 
As you can see, we spent some time here on the frozen, expanded creek. Did I say yet that it was slippery? Ice skating arenas have nothing on this ice flow! I could hardly stand, and just when I thought I had my balance, I would nearly go down again.
This was just a cute picture of Josh, climbing one of those boulders the boys missed so much on the first part of the hike. And then we arrived at a big surprise, which turned out to be best part of the hike...Catamount Creek, a.k.a. Catamount Ice Flow. The entire creek was one giant ice slick that had risen above the level of the trail. As one layer froze another would rush down and freeze on top and around the first until it reached up, out, over and around the bridge and proceeded to continue this process, making its way down the trail. Layer upon layer of frozen water covered the trail for at least 45 feet. It was like a giant version of the ice slick that used to grow in front of our driveway every winter when I was a kid when the drain got clogged. It was so cool (and I don't just mean cold!) and so incredibly slippery! Here Ben is taking out my legs as he goes down .Zach getting in some dramatics while trying to stand up. Josh just opted for the one-foot crawl.
Some of the mega-icicles. More frozen cascading creek. When the creek became solid, the water that hadn't yet frozen just started going wherever it wanted!A little portion of the creek goes through a rock cave. You could hear the water still flowing underneath the thick ice.Ben could hardly stand, not that he wanted to. He thought the falling was the best! You can see the "ripples" in the frozen creek he is trying to walk up.Luke thought the slipping and sliding was so funny. Ruby did not. And I love this picture, because you can see Ben mid-fall in the background. As you can see, we spent some time here on the frozen, expanded creek. Did I say yet that it was slippery? Ice skating arenas have nothing on this ice flow! I could hardly stand, and just when I thought I had my balance, I would nearly go down again.
You can see a good portion of the ice flow here, as well as the icicle covered rocks. It was a creek gone crazy and then flash frozen.
To get to the actual falls you have to climb up the mountain above the ice flow. Look at Ruby's cute little face. We got her this hiking pack, which she surprisingly seems to really like. Like it gives her purpose. But she can't seem to remember that she is wider because of it, and gets stuck when the path goes between boulders, or bumps us off the trail when she wants to get by. We called her our "Little Buttinsky" the entire hike, as she butted one or the other of the boys out of her way with her pack.
Me and my fantastic boys.
I really liked this picture of Adam, so handsome!
This is Catamount Falls. It was amazing. I don't know if it will be nearly as impressive after the thaw. The entire falls was encased in this glass-like ice tube. I didn't have the camera that has video capabilities, so you can't really tell, but that part that looks clearish, that was really like a little ice window, completely frozen over but clear. The part in it that looks like icicles hanging down is actually the water falling behind the "window." You could hear and see the falls still plunging down the rocks! Awesome! 
Here are the boys in front of the falls. You can see it isn't a very big falls, that is why I think it was definitely more amazing to see in the winter. We are planning on heading back this summer so we can see the difference.
This sign is posted on the other end of the trail loop, as in, the end of the trail that we didn't start from. Would have been nice to know ahead of time, not that it would have stopped us!
Luke was tired and cold by the end of the hike, so I ended up carrying him down the mountain, snuggled in my jacket with his little mittened hands in my armpits to warm them up.
This sign posted by one of the log cabins says it all. What a great afternoon with my favorite boys in the world! I do love this family!