January 3, 2023

Five Favorite Hikes of 2022

We had such an amazing adventures in 2022 and hiking is always something we love to do when we travel and close to home. It was really hard to choose but here are my top 5 hikes from 2022:

Plan de l’Aiguille to Mer de Glace – Chamonix, France

Plan de l’Aiguille to Mer de Glace

When in Chamonix we rode the cable car to Plan de l’Aiguille then hiked part of the way to Mer de Glace, we would have loved to do the entire hike but it’s 8 miles one way and the kids aren’t ready for that big of a hike (yet, next time!). This area is so incredibly beautiful, this takes the #1 spot for me.

5 lakes hike – Zermatt, Switzerland

5 lakes Hike

The 5 lakes hike above Zermatt, Switzerland comes in second for it’s views of the Matterhorn and delicious mountain top restaurants. Why do we not have these hiker rest areas in the US, they are amazing. It was a bit brown given the time of year we were there, I would love to see it in the spring/summer with all the wildflowers! This is a 6.8 mile hike but it’s mostly down hill. Easy enough for our 4 and 6 year old kids.

Emerald Lake – Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Emerald Lake Hike

We love hiking to Emerald Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. It’s a bit tricky because the best time to go is in the summer or early fall when everyone else also wants to go. You have to get a special reservation to get to this part of the park and it is hard to come by. That said it is totally worth it. You pass three other alpine lakes before getting to Emerald Lake and the entire hike is gorgeous. It’s only 3.2 miles out and back but I would rate it as moderate difficulty given the altitude and steepness.

Broken Arch Trail- Arches National Park, Utah

Broken Arch Trail

We love visiting Arches National Park in Moab Utah, we are usually at least once a year. It’s hard to pick a favorite hike because they are all spectacular but Broken Arch Trail won out because it has interesting things to see and do all along the trail. Also Sand Arch is along this trail and it’s the kids’ favorite. The trail is an easy 1.7 mile trail and good for almost all ability levels.

Crescent Beach Trail – Cannon Beach, Oregon

Crescent Beach Trail

We LOVE Cannon Beach doing anything on the Oregon Coast is amazing, and you can’t really go wrong hiking any trail here. We choose to go into Ecola State Park because it has beautiful trails, beaches and views of Haystack Rock. This is an easy 3.2 mile out and back hike. You can see the kids are dressed for rain and wind and this was July, Oregon coast weather can be cool even in the summer.

It was SO hard to pick just five, honorable mention goes to:

Tulum Ruins – Tulum, Mexico

Not sure if this counts as a “hike” or just a tour of an historic site, but we walked over 5 miles and loved it so much! A place in Mexico deserved at least a mention here.

Lastly this is not a specific hike as there are many and you can’t go wrong. The “waterfall corridor” in the Colombia river gorge is a dream to hike in.

Please tell me some of your favorite hikes!

We can’t wait to return to some of our favorites and find some new ones in 2023.

December 22, 2022

Winter Solstice Hike + We’re Not Used to This

It has felt like winter for more than a month so Emmy is very confused by today being the first day of winter.

We went to NCAR for a hike to celebrate the winter solstice. It was a bit cold and very windy, I was shocked that the kids didn’t complain at all.

We love this hike in the summer and winter time! You just need to be careful this time of year because ice can be hiding under the dirt in shady places.

Last year when we hiked here it was a struggle to get Emmy to hike more than a mile and now she is loving doing 3-4 miles.

We have lots of hiking/adventure trips planned this year and are going to work on getting up to 6 mile hikes.

We would have liked to go even further but we had to get ready for our upcoming storm and I had a doctor appointment in the afternoon.

we aren’t even getting that much snow but with windchill temperatures could drop to negative 50 and we just aren’t used that that. Cannon’s holiday school party and performance have been canceled and Emmy’s friend’s birthday party also had to be postponed due to the cold weather. We just aren’t used to it being THIS cold!

It was 50 degrees when I went into my appointment and when I left 50 minutes later it had dropped to 14 degrees!

Are you getting hit with frigid weather right now too?

Did you do anything to celebrate the solstice? We usually try to get out in so something to celebrate the changing of the seasons. Summer Solstice Hike

July 10, 2022

Rocky Mountain National Park – Emerald Lake

We finally made it!

After four years of wanting to take Emerald to “her lake” we got reservations and made the hike all the way up to Emerald Lake.

If you include Bear lake this is about a four mile alpine hike. All Trails calls it moderate and I would agree, both kids did really well and hiked the entire thing on their own.

We had to reserve a spot a month in advance, park in the overflow lot and ride a shuttle to the trail head, but it was worth it for this gorgeous hike.

I think Dream Lake is my favorite of all four lakes.

So proud of these kids!

Have you been to RMNP? Do you have a favorite hike?

June 22, 2022

Kids Hike – Lily Lake RMNP

One of our favorite hikes is up in Rocky Mountain National Park called Lily Lake. It’s a very easy to navigate hike with great accessibility. It’s one of my go-to trails when it’s just me and the kids because I know it’s safe and I won’t have to carry Emmy.

The main loop is just shy of a mile and can be navigated with a stroller.

Back in 2018 Cory made it around with our double stroller and a busted Achilles in a boot.

Now the kids hike on their own!

We brought lunch to enjoy while watching all the wildlife. I LOVE summer in the mountains so much.

We choose to add some elevation and distance by going up over the ridge. There are many other trails that connect to the main Lily lake trail so you can add distance if you like. You can also paddle on the lake and the kids want to bring our boards next time.

If you are in the Estes Park area we can’t recommend this trail enough! We have also visited in the fall and winter….all beautiful!

Previous years:

June 10, 2022

Chautauqua Loop Trail

Today was a super fun day, we met seven other mamas at Chautauqua Loop Trail where we took all of our kiddos (at least 14 kids) on the 3.6 mile hilly hike.

It’s so beautiful and the kids did great!

We stopped at the playground after the hike after so the kids could play. We ended up leaving way later than I thought we would.

My favorite trick to get kids to hike further is brining dum dum suckers (we call them power up suckers) works like a charm!

We relaxed for a bit after lunch before heading to the pool.

I am aware that we go to the pool an obscene amount but it’s either that or stay inside when it’s above 85 degrees, and we are always working on 1,000 hours outside.

April 23, 2022

Earth Day 2022

Happy Earth Day! I hope you found a way to celebrate the earth and the beauty of nature.

Cory had to work but the kids and I got to run up to Rocky Mountain National Park. Seemed fitting since it’s national parks week.

We found Lumpy Ridge to hike since most of the trails deeper in the park are still covered in snow.

There were so manny wild flowers and bees and birds out.

Lots of stairs, a couple tumbles and a few tears but it was all worth it for the views and the time out together.

After our hike we grabbed lunch then stopped at a playground.

This season of life where the kids love to play and move their bodies is the best. Anytime I can say yes to a playground I will.

On the way home we grabbed a pie to share with Cory to make up for leaving him out of our adventure.

How did you celebrate the earth today?

March 23, 2022

SPRING BREAK ’22 | Fruita Colorado

We woke up in a hotel on the day we were supposed to drive home, towing our trailer, problem solving our blown tire.

We were stuck in town without a car and being told it would be at least two weeks before they could fix our truck. We rented a car so we could get out to our trailer and get around. My kind parents offered to come and tow us home (huge favor to offer) but luckily a mechanic was able to fit us in between his other work so we didn’t have to leave our Tahoe out in Moab for weeks! We really lucked out with the kindness we were shown! The tow truck driver was also very sweet to us, our crazy dog and two sleepy kids.

It felt like magic when we got our truck back just a few hours later totally fixed.

We got a later start then planned so we decided to drive just part way home to Fruita Colorado.

This little campsite is one of our favorites.

The kids weren’t sad about our extended trip.

March 22, 2022

SPRING BREAK ’22 | Goblin Valley State Park

Utah has some amazing National Parks but the State Parks should not be overlooked! We LOVE Goblin Valley State Park so we made the day trip over from Moab. It’s only 1.5 hour drive so not too bad.

In the morning we woke up to a bit of snow in our campsite.

It was a surprise but also pretty.

On our way to Goblin we stopped for coffee and treats.

When we arrived we decided to start with a hike.

We did the Entrada Trail along some drainage areas and it was such a cool, unique experience. Dogs are allowed so Humphry came along with us.

We then made our way to the Valley of the Goblins, which is a big open area full of Hoodoos that you can climb and explore.

It is so fun to see the kids playing in the best (biggest) playground ever.

It’s the perfect day trip from Moab or this is a good stop if you are seeing some of the other National Parks. Last year we camped here on the way home from Capitol Reef.

On our way back to Moab we decided to grab a pizza and go back into Arches National Park to eat dinner.

This was such a fun way to eat dinner I highly recommend. At this time in the evening the park is pretty quiet.

Then we went down to the Double Arch area to go for a little sunset hike.

We have been down to this area many times but always hiked up to the Windows section. This was our first exploring the double arch side and I can’t believe we waited so long, it was stunning!

This hike is super easy and accessible to view the arches. To get up inside takes some scrambling.

The kids loved the sandy trails.

It was amazing watching the sun go down over the desert.

I will never get over this place! Hiking out in the dark was a fun experience since there is so little light out here.

Then on our way back to our camper disaster struck, I won’t go into the long story but we ended up in a hotel overnight, searching for a way to get our Tahoe fixed. Luckily we were all safe and together so it could have been WAY worse.

March 21, 2022

SPRING BREAK ’22 | Arches National Park

We spent our second day in Moab visiting Arches National Park. This is one of my favorite places and it never get old.

We started our day by going to the visitors center.

We needed to pick up our workbooks so the kids could do the Jr. Ranger program and stamp our passports.

The visitors center is super beautiful and has so much good information.

Our first stop was Broken Arch Trail, this one was a new one to us and a new favorite! It was really kid friendly and so fun.

I think this might be our 5th visit to Arches and we still find cool new places to explore. I am excited to do more epic hikes when the kids are bigger.

We had our picnic lunch and enjoyed some more overlooks. Then we went to Sand Arch which is our kids’ favorite.