On Saturday, we decided to load up the kids and make a trip up to the mountains to take a hike. We’d read about a few good trails near Breckinridge and decided to check out one called the B&B to Reiling Dredge to Minnie Mine. It’s an intermediate level trail that takes you past some old abandoned gold mines.
Spoiler alert: We didn’t find any gold. Shucks.
Peak fall colors were supposedly about a week ago, but we were super impressed by how beautiful it was up there. It was a perfect day, and and a great way to get out of the house, away from the insanity of daily life, and into nature. Also being the week after peak colors, it wasn’t very busy so we had plenty of space and distance to do our thing.
Honestly, this is one of those posts where I’ll mostly share pictures because nothing I can write can add to them. It was beautiful. The hike was about 3 miles, and we saw a lot.
Amelia spotted a little chipmunk, which she surmised could be our friend Chiply! That was the chipmunk that hung around our campsite earlier this summer.
This one one of the old mine structures.
Lots of beautiful vistas and fall colors.
Also the ruins of another mine building.
It was definitely hazy from the smoke, but there weren’t any fires near us, so the air was crisp and fresh. It felt so good being up there. It was a great hike, and a really lovely day together as a family.
We feel very fortunate to live in a place where we have access to places like this, especially in times like these. And this is not to say that Colorado has a corner on this kind of thing. Everyplace has its special bits of natural beauty and places to be outside and take it in.
Fall has always been our favorite time of year, no matter where we’ve lived. I remember living in Chicago and making an annual pilgrimage to Lincoln Park to stroll around and take in the colors. Here in Colorado, we’ve spent some autumns visiting Aspen or Rocky Mountain National Park. This was a new adventure for us, and we loved it.
I think things like this help ground us and put things in perspective. The world is so much bigger and grander than the problems we mortals are facing. This is not to trivialize our challenges…far from it. But I do find comfort in the fact that the leaves change and fall comes every year, as it always has. It’s a rhythm and a reminder that, even though this year has been chaotic, stressful and horrible, life marches on and there are throughlines of consistency to be found.
We ended the day by grabbing a carryout pizza in Idaho Springs and taking it back home with us.
By the time we got home, it was pretty late and the kids ate a quick dinner and actually wanted to go to bed. That is the mark of a good day. Parents out there know that kids asking to go to bed is a pretty rare thing.
And as a last bit of perspective, on the drive home my Apple Watch activity app pinged me to inform me that “I can still do it!” Yup, after a fairly challenging 3 miles and change hike at high elevation, my watch was telling me, “move it, tubs!” There’s just no pleasing some folks.
