On the morning of Kolbe's 1st birthday, we headed up to the mountains to do a bit of hiking together. Kolbe is our Colorado boy and loves getting outside in the fresh air, so we figured it was a pretty great way to celebrate his first year of life.
Driving up to the trailhead
More lovely views as we get closer to treeline.
The hike Chris chose for us ending up being about 5 and a quarter miles. Sophie (2.5 yrs) was able to hike nearly half of that (and the harder half, the half that was uphill) up to the Square Top Lakes. The hike begins at about 11,600 ft. and climbs to about 12,270 ft, so it's definitely one that is up there and therefore extra precautions should be taken to drink lots of water, take breaks as needed along the way, and move at a steady and slow pace, so you can keep an eye on how each member of your hiking party is doing.
Kolbe was a happy little hiker in the Ergo at the beginning and then fell asleep for the majority of the hike.
Kayla really wanted a picture of one of the creek crossings so I obliged.
Lovely wildflowers and mountain views. It was gorgeous.
This was not the lake but a little pond along the way.
Still climbing up, up, up.
At one point, Sophie picked this flower for me (we always tell them not to pick the wildflowers, but she's 2, so she's not necessarily the best listener nor does she understand why we shouldn't). It was such a sweet gesture and she was so proud of herself picking her mama a flower. So I snapped this fun picture to capture the moment forever.
Look closely for the many wildflowers (in person it was breathtaking, but hard to catch the vibrant colors in a photo)
More lovely wildflowers and my favorite hiking buddies
The first of the two lakes.
I caught this sweet shot and it kinda melted my heart.
Continuing up to the next lake...
And we made it!
We stopped for a snack and the girls dipped their feet in the ice water.
Kolbe woke up at our lake stop and wanted to walk around a bit.
Birthday boy!
family selfie at the 2nd lake
And then we headed back down
Passing back by the 2nd lake on our way down was such a lovely view.
The little pond again
It was a good hiking day for the kiddos. We have been so hit and miss with our hiking and haven't been as regularly as usual since we have had so many visitors this summer, so some hikes are tough because she kids have to get their game back. Well they had it back for this hike. Elise brought the little camel pak to carry some things in to help "train" for her first backpacking trip with Daddy this year. She got a bit tired and Ava and Kayla took a turn carrying the pack as well. The three of them stayed ahead for the most part and trotted along the trail, looking for views and interesting insects and flowers to add to their nature journals. There was some complaining but it was very minimal and the girls got over their negativity pretty quickly when it did try to surface here and there.
And on the way home, we saw these guys on the side of the road.
It was a lovely day for hiking and we had a great hike together, made more fun family memories, and caught some amazing Colorado views.
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