Attitude/Altitude Adjustment

Hiking is hard!

It's true, especially coming from Florida. However, with lots of practice and patience, hiking becomes a whole lot easier. The Anderson family wasted no time getting acclimated to Colorado and it was a little painful at first. We all needed a little attitude adjustment to go along with our altitude adjustment. :)

We started "small" I guess you could say. However, in this family, small is pretty significant!

Eagles Peak is located on the USAFA and a hike Daddy used to run up and down in less than an hour. There was no running with the crew, our motto was "slow and steady wins the race!" I don't think Daddy agreed but he quickly realized that we needed practice. Getting to the top is a huge confidence booster. The tough part about being on the top is, you are only halfway done. Going down is usually faster but it can be slippery in these parts. We had to practice the slip and slide technique with the boys explaining that being a little out of control is okay.

Just about to the summit.

Eagle Peak summit photo with Pikes Peak in the background. I'm sure we will soon have a photo from the top of Pikes Peak!

Estes Cone was on our list too. This trail starts out flat for some time then finishes strong up the cone. The boys were excited to hike by an old mine and Mommy made sure there was gold to find. The real gold was finding wild iris flowers!!

Gold! We stuck GOLD!!!

Purple gold!

 Estes Cone starts at the Longs Peak Trailhead. This means you get a great view when you reach the summit. Again, I'm sure one day we will have a photo with the cone in the back ground when we summit Long's Peak!

Lucas, hold on!!! Don't fall off the cliff!!

Everyone is smiling. We distracted to boys by talking about their favorite video game while hiking the steep section. All smiles!

Here's the beautiful meadow where the Wild Iris' live.

The meadow reveals a beautiful view of the cone too.

They did it!! We are getting better!!

 One morning Daddy decided to take a solo hike in the Indian Peaks. It was good for his soul to get out early and go as fast as his feet would allow. He was greeted by some mountain sheep and incredible views. The boys and I had a mellow day with Grandma & Grandpa J.

Furry flowers...so cool!!

You don't get views like this in Florida!

A marmot, a fat one!

 The boys really did great with all our practice hikes. It is hard work but everyone was getting stronger and faster. When we weren't hiking, we were climbing or resting. Grandma and Grandpa J helped out a whole bunch taking the boys while Mom and Dad headed out for early morning climbs. The boys were very thankful not to be woken up at 5am. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!!

Taking a walk with Grandpa J

Grandma J getting ready for an airstream trip!

 

 This is where Mom and Dad would spend our mornings climbing. Wizard Gate is located just South of Estes Park. It's a steep hike but beautiful and all ours!

Daddy resting and soaking up the gorgeous views.

The base of the cliff is on a big slab.

Looking down from the slab to a cool camping spot. This is where the boys hang out when we drag them up there.

 

Team Anderson was getting in shape and starting to love the mountains all over again!

The Search for a Wild Iris

 We had arrived to Colorado but our house still had a good 6 weeks of construction before we could move in. This coupled with the slow season at Daddy's work made for some much needed climbing trips. Lander, WY is a wonderful place to climb early summer. We arrived just after the snow melted and the flowers began to bloom. I don't know what the perfect conditions were, but the flowers were tremendous!

We told the boys that we were in search of a real Wild Iris. They were used to climbing at Wild Iris but to see a real one in the wild was a little trickier to find. The search was on! Climbing days were really just climbing morning which left a lot of free time to go search and explore the country side. We did have real rest days at the Bechtel's so Axel and Sam had plenty of superhero time too.

Meadows filled with Lupine.

 Up at higher elevations, these beautiful magenta colored "shooting star" flowers were the first to pop up. They blanketed the hillside and we fell in love with them.

 

Axel smelling all the flowers.

 Daddy spent some time at Wolf Point with some of the locals. It's a hike for sure, down one side of the canyon and up the other. Needless-to-say, the boys and I only made it out there one time. It was worth the trek and we were very impressed by the little hikers we have in our family!!

Hiking down to the river.

There's the cave...looks pretty small from across the canyon.

 After meeting a baby rattlesnake on the trail, we made it to Wolf Point. The cave in enormous and we were happy to arrive without any other snake sightings. Those things make me a little nervous!!

 

Yep, it's a big cave!!!

 

 

Axel and Sam had a wonderful time together. Lucas could only handle so much younger kid time and he was thrilled to have a good book to read.

 Hiking to the crag made us realize just how much we love the outdoors. The cliffs, the flowers, the mountain background, the clouds...we really were out of Florida!!

Daddy trying out some new Trango Tarifa shoes!

I'm excited to try out mine!!

The weather was unpredictable. Sunny one minute and storming the next.

For the most part, the mornings were good for climbing. When skies turned gray, we ran for the car!

 During our climbing and hiking adventures, we did come across some real Wild Iris' and the boys were pretty excited. Good thing, Mom & Dad went through great lengths to find them. As the summer progressed, they became less and less scarce. Beautiful for sure!!

One morning we headed up to climb and this is what the weather looked like. We decided it was a bit too humid, rainy and cold to head to the crag. Instead, we enjoyed the roadside flowers and headed back home to wait for better conditions.

Looked like winter!

Shooting Stars!

 

After the Shooting Stars ran their course, these yellow flowers dominated the hillsides. It looked like someone tossed hundreds of yellow paint cans all over the hills surrounding Lander.

 

 

Little Blue Bells.

 





 We did get a few photos of the yellow explosion but not at the peak. Imagine this times 20 all over the hills! Truly amazing!!

 

 

 



The purples were really strong in some places too.

 

A family of Antelopes you can barely see in the center of the photo.

 

It felt like every climbing day was a bit more colorful as flowers came to bloom and died out. A new type and color always surprised us and it was such a treat! We were so happy to be home...in the mountains and able to enjoy all this wonderful color!!!