Hometown Hikes

You're not a true Coloradoan if you don't like the outdoors. With 300 days of sunshine, there's no reason to not embrace the nice weather and get some fresh air. In my time home, I tried to maximize my activities and went on a few hikes, these were my favorites!

Horsetooth Rock

Always a classic. I've been going to Horsetooth ever since I was a little girl. This hike will always represent home to me. The nice thing about living in FOCO is that you only need to travel 15 minutes away and you're right at a trail head. Gina and I met up with McKenzie since she had just moved to Colorado for school! She's the first Washington friend to hang out with me in Colorado (granted I'm never home, but I can't wait to show more friends my hometown in the future!)

The whole way up we discussed college, the future, and our favorite spots in good ole Fort Collins and occasionally stopped so I could catch my breath since I was still adjusting to elevation. We were surrounded by pine trees and rocks and under blue skies; it doesn't get much better than that!

I have no idea why it is called Horsetooth, because it really doesn't look like a horse's tooth, but whatever... At the top, you can climb the rock (which you always have to do).

To your right you have views of the the valley below and more of the Rocky Mountains in the distance.

To the left is all of Fort Collins and the sprawling eastern plains. 

It doesn't get much better than this! We jumped and posed and took in the views.

After having fun taking photos, we traveled back to the downtown area for a post hike meal at Snooze. I'm super happy that I got to spend time with McKenzie and show her some of my hometown!

Long Lake {Roosevelt National Forest}

Mom took a random day off in the middle of the week so she was able to spend some more time with Gina and I before we had to head off to school. We knew we wanted to go on a hike, but didn't know where. In the end, we wasted the whole morning trying to decide and just hopped in the car to get ourselves out of the house. 

After much deliberation, we settled upon Long Lake trail in Roosevelt National Forest. The winding road took us through the gorgeous mountains where we could catch the first glimpses of the fall foliage. Now it was just past noon and we were only getting started. 

Close to the parking lot, we found a little trail that lead to a lake. 

We really needed to find the main trail, and eventually found it, but could see the dark clouds in the distance. Halfway in, the rain began, but we trekked on. Thank goodness I had my mom's old pink Patagonia to keep me dry.

Well, the rain only picked up and we were still far from our end destination, plus the thunder started, so we turned around. As the rain picked up, we jogged back which was not fun, but kind of funny. Gina kept remarking how I looked like Patrick from Spongebob. Though we didn't make it to the end, I had fun with my family and saw some great views!

Chautaqua

I ended up going to Boulder on at least five separate occasions. Trust me, I have no idea how that worked out, especially since I was only home for about two weeks. Anyway, I hung out with Kass and Parker one afternoon after they had finished classes for the day. To kick off our time together, we ate burgers at Snarf's before embarking on our hike (probably not the best idea, yet also not the worst). Our original grand plan was to hike to Royal Arches, but there wasn't enough time for that, so we just decided to go and wander. The running joke the whole hike was that Parker would never make it to the top. On every other occasion, his hike had been cut short by an incident or someone wanting to turn around, and this hike was no different which was hilarious at the time. 

When you see scenic pictures of Boulder and the flatirons, you're probably looking at Chautaqua. This is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I remember the first time we visited, we left the parking lot and walked all of twenty feet and were presented with THIS view.

Literally, how can you beat that?

Unfortunately, most of the way is uphill. It was fine though, we took our time and goofed off (mainly Parker). He kept practicing his modeling skills.

 It was way too much fun catching up with these two!