Thursday

 

I shared in a prior post that my husband and son took an impromptu trip to Des Moines, Iowa, to go see Grandma this past week. It was the last half of Spring Break. I stayed home to be with the puppies and we had a great four days together.  I almost always have my iPhone with me and I am tempted to take photos of the beautiful Southern Colorado scenery, even when the lighting in the canyon is not optimal.  It's a canyon; it's shady.

 

This is trail at Tunnel Drive. It's just a few miles from our house and it's spectacular year 'round.  I never get tired of it and I am so lucky it's so nearby.  The trail dead ends at the two mile mark.  At the end of the trail, if you look to the right, you see this really old, hand built rock wall.  Suspended above it is the remains of a water irrigation system that follows the path of the Arkansas River through the Royal Gorge. It never occurred to me to pass under the big pipe and hike up into the canyon until this past Thursday.  The doggies and I enjoyed checking it out. 

 

Above:  See all the cacti growing above the wall?

 

Above: The canyon was wet. We had a crazy, heavy wet snow the day before (Wednesday).

 

Above:  I found another hiker's cairn. I love finding these! 

 

Above: Boy, oh boy! The doggies loved jumping up the rocks; lots of great things to sniff!

 

 

 

So fortunate to live in such a beautiful place!  And we had the trail mostly to ourselves...

 

Above: Another great cactus-growing-on-old-hand-built-wall photo.

 

 

Above:  I just had to include a photo of the Arkansas River. Those are train tracks below running alongside the river.  I love he color of the water in this photo.

 

 

I wore my pedometer on the hike. I am shooting for 10,000 steps per day. If I get in 8,500 steps before 9:30 am, that's a great start!

 

I was so busy the four days the guys were gone, I am going to post a bit more about it over the next few days.  I went on some great hikes and even saw some wild life.  Stay tuned!