Last weekend, Friday, October 14, we went on yet another fall hike (Deerfield Trail was the weekend before). Originally I had wanted to go to Spearfish Canyon since we hadn't done our annual-ish fall hike there yet (2012, 2014, 2016 - so, every other year apparently!). We didn't leave until after lunch and after stopping for some snacks and at the bank, it was overwhelming to think of driving an hour north. I suggested we drive up nearby Nemo Road to Dalton Lake and immediately we made that decision.
We parked just east of the lake, parked, glanced at the map, and started.
I hadn't been there at all since I was a very young girl when my family used to stay at my dad's hunting buddy's cabin up the hill. And actually, I don't have any memories of the lake itself, just playing in the creek below the cabin, so I had zero clue about where to hike. I think I had remembered that my biking friends had gone up there before...
Once we walked through the field we reached the edge of the trees where a stream came out of the lake's dam.
This was the first hike where we let Luna completely off the leash since there were no other people around. She did great, thanks in great part to my dad's training of her to stay nearby and come on call when he watched her during our Utah and California this summer.
Samuel pointing out the funny cattails. We had lots of fun with them later...
We went up to the bridge over the dam first.
Pretty little green lake. We should've brought fishing poles! There were tons of fish.
The littles had fun throwing rocks and sticks down the spillway.
Next we followed the lower path from the fork beside the dam and came to a dock.
Looking back east at the bridge and spillway we had just been at.
The opposite half of the lake.
Luna surprised us by voluntarily going into the lake and even playing with the submerged tree branches and moss. She needed a bath that night. The cat got one too. Ha!
The path ended at that dock so we headed back to the fork to take the upper path.
Just starting out on the Centennial Trail.
The trail switchbacks up the hillside until the lake is out of view. So pretty, green, and peaceful from above!
Walking walking walking.
All we did for about a mile was climb up, up, and up. We would've had quite the view were it not for the trees.
We brought Samuel and Ezra's bikes but needed to leave Samuel's at the trail's start since it was too steep. He therefore sped along on his own two legs, chasing Ezra and Luna. You need a Strider for a trail like that but Samuel is quite the little runner.
There had been extensive forest clearing on the hillside, but it was nice because you could see further. If I had been by myself I would have probably climbed to the top of the hill, which was probably between a quarter and a half mile climb, just to see the view. But of course we didn't do that. I spy little Luna. She had such a great time.
We walked and walked and then stopped to consider the Avenza trail map on Terry's phone, trying to figure out where the trail went. We also considered bushwhacking our way straight down the hillside. In the end we had to turn around after a mile and a half or two but only after we came into some beautiful fall color and it was really getting interesting. Bummer. I never want to turn around but we finally did. I did quite a bit of video recording of Samuel running, Ezra riding, and Luna racing. They had such fun.
Some of that beautiful fall color...and Luna.
Cute Ezzie with a birch or aspen trunk.
I worked extra hard to put all the short videos I took into one longer video. They were too cute to delete and since I haven't made family video DVDs in years, this blog has sort of become our lives' archive.
I walked along ahead with the littles, trying to keep up with them and make sure they weren't eaten by mountain lions. Here they are almost at the bottom of the trail, waiting for me. And oh Luna looks like part of the sunny grass.
Same place but different perspective. I like the trail and trees and skies...and boys of course. :)
We came back down to that first bridge over the creek and discovered what cattails will do if you touch them. They totally explode! I don't know how I never knew that before! None of us did. Very entertaining. There may be a lot more reeds there next year because of us... Ha!
Again, these videos were too cool to simply delete or forget in social media, so I collected them all here.
I left the kids to play with the cattails and water and visited the bathroom but on my way back to them fell in love with the sun in the grass field.
It was so hard to capture how golden and twinkling it all was.
The grass was crazy tall! I tried to get Luna to sit for a size comparison shot but she kept coming towards me.
Pretty golden grasses.
I loved it!
Trying to capture the variety of colors in the fall grass.
The grass was as tall as those boys on their bikes!
So we far as I can tell, we hiked most of that portion to the right of Terry's finger. If we had kept going we would have come out on a road, but then we would've had to walk back down the road to the parking lot. It probably would be a lot of fun to bike.
We should explore more of the Centennial Trail because look at how big it is!
We got back in the van and drove further down the gravel road to where the turn off was to my dad's friend's old cabin. I wish we could've gone beyond the gate to explore! I remember that road being crazy steep and what seemed treacherous. After that we turned right and followed the road miles back to where Terry and some youth had biked several years ago with Ed from Elkcreek Trail. I cannot believe how far they biked that day. Crazy. Anyway, it was a good day. We went back to town and rewarded ourselves with some Culvers for dinner. The kids seem to need some incentive to hike out in God's beauty. Eye roll!
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