When in Colorado, I have to get out on a trail at least once a day. The area is too beautiful not to take advantage and get outdoors in the wilderness.

Lucky for me, Going Mom feels the same way. The other half of our second day in Colorado, after returning from the Vail Farmers’ Market, we took off to the trails in Nana and Papa’s mountainous neighborhood. I’m forever grateful to Nana, Papa, and Cousin Ashlee for happily keeping Avery and playing with her while my wife and I enjoyed several outings alone.

Kelley and I walked the half mile from the house to get to the trail head and set off taking one of two directions presented to us. When I went alone the day before, I took the opposite path we chose this day just to see what was different. Silly wife, she looked to me for direction as she took awesome photos, so I did the best I could to be act confident that I knew where we were going.

I look confident, right?

We trekked through the lush plant-life trying to take in the scenery while simultaneously not tripping over the rock-littered path. We failed at that, by the way, and lost count at how many times we stumbled. I think that’s just a part of trail hiking though. Or is it clumsiness?

Kelley was in awe of the trees, and took many pictures trying to capture their wonder….

…..while I just scalee their trunks.

Getting down was a little painful though. I still have long scratches on my belly, shins, and all the way down my left calf from hugging the trunk and sliding to get down.

That pic is from the next day. Don’t worry, the trees and I quickly made up since I never should’ve climbed on them in the first place.

Of course, I had to be “cool” and throw one of their fallen compadres. Well, after posing long enough for Kelley to snap a pic of me and all of my coolness.

We were having fun hiking through the varied terrain and checking everything out, but knew we couldn’t go on forever since we did have a kid to get back to. So naturally, we kept going and even stopped a stream to pose for pictures.

The flowing water was so clear and probably better to drink than most city water. So I did….

I even talked Kelley into taking a sip from the icy stream. We later read a warning sign saying only to drink water from purified sources. Oops! Well, we’re still standing today, so I guess that was a purified source.

As it got later, I urged us to push on just a little further. Kelley protested a little, but agreed to continue along the path. We hit a steep incline that I saw as a challenge to run to the top. I wanted to put my Soft Star Shoes Dash RunAmoc’s with a trail sole to the test anyway.

The shoes were already performing great across all types of terrain, and they never let me down as I went up.

I’ve been wearing these shoes for a while and use them when lifting in the garage, running outside, and now, hiking outdoors. The perfect for any activity!

I tried to keep quiet and just continue our hike, but Going Mom finally talked some sense into me to turn around and get back to the family. I’ll admit, when it comes to being on the trail, it’s hard to stop. You tell yourself just a little more, but a little more turns into another hour, and then another hour…..much like an addiction to drugs, only much healthier. That is, unless you get eaten by a bear or something….

Speaking of eating, we saw many mushrooms I was tempted to try, but thought better of it since I have no clue about wild mushrooms when they’re actually in the wild. But man, these little guys emerging from a hole in the ground were begging me to try.

But I passed on the delectable fungi and started making the way back with Kelley. Our backtracking journey was obviously faster than when we went out, so figured we would stop another hiker to ask to take our picture. The hiker, originally from Dallas, was happy to oblige and did a good job at pushing that shiny silver button.

She even told us about a 4 mile loop we could hike which was part of the trail we were on. The wheels in my head were already turning, and Kelley knew we’d be returning to complete the loop very soon.

By soon, I mean the next day, after our 2.5 mile walk along the Blue River for coffee at Red Buffalo Cafe. But that completes day two of our vacation. Making the 4 mile hike had Kelley feeling lost for a while, I swear, I knew where I was going the whole time. 🙂

Do you love hiking?

Ever feel like you can’t turn around and have to keep progressing forward on the trail?

Have you tried a wild mushroom not in stores before?