Summer Rocks! Part III

This is the third in a series of posts called Summer Rocks! that chronicle our adventures in hiking this summer. Why Summer Rocks!? Because my kids were so lucky this summer to get outside and see so many beautiful things, and it seemed that everywhere we hiked, there were huge rocks for the kids to climb on and beautiful sites to see.

I posted about our family hikes up at Golden Gate Canyon State Park here and here. Go check them out!

I posted about our Summer Rocks! Part I hike to the Palmer Lake Reservoirs here.

I posted about our Summer Rocks! Part II hike to Four Mile Canyon here.

Here we go - Summer Rocks! Part III - Glen Eyrie

First, this hike takes place on private land - well, at least the trailhead is accessed from private land, so you have to make reservations! Who knew - reservations to hike into the National Forest - sheesh! You also have to have reservations about a month in advance because they only allow a certain number of people in each day. Yay to the limited number of people - boo to having to have reservations.

Anyhoo, we had a 9:00 reservation with our friends and were sooooo excited! According to all the maps and reviews on the web and even the signs on the trail, this was a short maybe 2 mile hike in and 2 mile hike out. The destination is the Punch Bowls further up in the canyon. I’ll start out by saying that this trail is NOT well-marked after the first mile and it is NOT easy! BUT, it IS beautiful all the way, and especially at the punch bowls.

So, off we go! The kiddos are always ready in their camo . . . even Princess got on board with actual hiking clothes today instead of a skirt

 

 

This trail crossed back and forth over the creek a TON! Sometimes we had make-shift bridges like the tree below to navigate. Other times we had to rock hop and even walk right in the creek. The trail wasn’t marked real well, and I’m sure we didn’t come back the same way we went It was a blast, though! Follow the creek and you’ll get where you need to go.

 

Our first stop was the beautiful Dorothy Falls. It was way high and way cool! We didn’t actually go under the waterfall, but the cool spray was very welcome on a hot hiking day.

 

According to the map and everything we read online about the hike, we had to go up a steep hill to the right of the falls to get to the punch bowls. Sooooo, we saw this steep hill and started climbing! As it turns out, it wasn’t the right hill . . . because when we got to the top, one more step would have led to a certain death (and I’m not exaggerating!).

 

See that tree up there? That’s where that hill took us! Seriously, one more step and anyone would’ve fallen much further than they would have liked to.

 

So, we hiked back down to the falls and wandered around for a little while trying to find the trail. We tried a few times and didn’t have any luck. The kids had fun walking around and climbing rocks while MS and I decided what to do. We really wanted to see the punch bowls, but really had no clue how to get to them!

 

After we had kind of resigned ourselves to the fact that we’d gone as far as we could, an ex-Search and Rescue guy came along . . . Randall. He offered to take us up to the punch bowls, and we jumped at the chance! You wanna know why we couldn’t find the trail? Because we didn’t expect the creek to BE the actual trail!

 

The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever that they got to rock hop through the creek pretty much the rest of the way to the punch bowls. At one point, there was a huge rock that we had to slide down, except we had to wait for quite a while for Randall to help some other folks back UP the rock. They’d gotten stuck and couldn’t climb back up - he had to rig up a rope for them to climb up! One of the men asked incredulously if we’d helicoptered the kids in because of all the hiking and climbing they’d had to do so far Proud mamas we were of our little ones who are always up for an adventure!

Anyway - we finally made it to the punchbowls, wet feet and all, and were not disappointed.

 

We didn’t swim in them because they got really deep and the rocks were so slippery that we would have had trouble getting back out. So the kids just enjoyed standing by them and posing for me :-) 

 

Dude, who is always on the lookout for the next perfect spot to climb or have lunch, found this perfect spot to do both. He was in HEAVEN! I love how he loves nature and totally appreciates it. All of our hiking doesn’t seem to get them bored with it . . . they’re always wanting to explore more and more.

 

After a wonderful lunch by the punchbowls, we headed back to the cars - those nasty afternoon storms were once again making their way over the mountains. Another fun part of the trail in the photo below . . . seriously, what kid, or adult for that matter, wouldn’t think that was the coolest trial ever?!

 

Remember that rock that Randall had to put the rope on so those people could get back up? He was nice enough to leave the rope so we could use it when we got back . . . he confessed that he would need it as well All the kids did such a great job climbing up that rock with the rope - they totally left us adults in the dust!

 

After the rock climb, it was clear sailing down the rest of the trail. Even though we hadn’t forgotten about the big hill we had to climb near the falls, we hadn’t realized how big it actually was. You know that whole it’s easier to go up than down thing? VERY true here! Look at Dude checking out the hill. Um ya - the trail does follow that treeline over that ledge you can’t see over. All the kids were fine hiking down it, but it sure was rocky and the rocks were not stable. But we all made it safe and sound.

 

When we got down, we spent a little more time enjoying Dorothy Falls with a small snack before we hightailed it out of there to beat the storm. The kids were for moving quickly so they could get back to the cool bridge that was built on the side of this huge cliff.

 

We’d been so lucky with our group hikes so far that we weren’t surprised when we saw this near the trailhead. We were all enjoying the cool cave when one of the kids noticed the bighorn sheep on the hill! This is a zoomed in picture - those sheep were UP there! I had to giggle because Princess kept saying “Get away from the edge! You’re too close!” She listens to her father

 

We decided to take a small walk through Glen Eyrie to get to the public restrooms - the only place hikers are allowed to go on the private grounds other than to the trailhead. The storm was moving in and we got this amazing view of the castle. The castle was General Palmer’s gift to his wife . . . her dream home. With the dark storm clouds in the background, we half expected to see robe-clad boys flying around on brooms trying to catch a snitch

 

One more hike down in our summer scenic series . . . we’re 3 for 3 and so grateful for the wonderful places we’ve gotten to go and see so far this summer!

Tune in Thursday for Summer Rocks! Part IV.