deerfield trail hike II

After I returned from the hairdresser where I got a foot of hair chopped off, we loaded up everyone for a hike. We drove west up Highway 44 past Rimrock, and then turned right onto 385, and then left toward Silver City. We first visited this Deerfield Trail back in February when the snow and ice first started to thaw. I had wanted to get back prior to this since it was picturesque, but less so in the snow, but we used up all our outdoor energy during sabbatical vacations. The day we finally did it was Friday, October 6, and it started raining as soon as we started getting into the hills... Thankfully it quit when we arrived. It made for an overcast sky though.

The hike starts out crossing Rapid Creek. There are many bridges and you walk next to water pretty much the whole time. Perfect! 

The view from the bridge and thankfully there was still color.

The next bridge had the most amazing turquoise color to the water.

So so beautiful.

View from below.

The rain was still clinging to the pine needles.

There was just enough remaining color to make it just perfect.

Same view but up and down. Love the cottonwood color.

I made this photo my Facebook cover photo. Prettiness abounded.

Nearing the next bridge.

More deep blue water.

View from over the bridge.

I climbed down to the bank and click, click, clicked.

More color from the bushes.

I clambered out onto a slippery log to look downstream. I wanted to keep going and explore but Terry called me back and said we should actually hike. Ha! I just love exploring. And it was just SO beautiful. Perfect. I keep using those words...

This was at the next bridge.

Selfie with my hair. We kept going to the bank behind me where we previously stopped for a long time, climbed out on the ice, and threw rocks.

This is how it looked in February.

And now. Way better. But hiking in the winter is so refreshing.

I snuck behind these red plants on my way down to the kids.

View from the bank.

There was no ice so they had to skip from stone to stone to get to this bigger rock.

We got to go another half mile or so beyond where we turned around before. I wanted to keep going!

So beautiful!

This section moved away from the trail a bit. 

I'm so glad we brought both littles' bikes. They loved it. They felt so big riding on rocks like they were really hard core. Ha!

Big trees.

Pretty little wet path. Ezra was so dirty from splashing water onto himself from his bike.

We turned around at the next bridge because it had been a mile and a half and we had to get back home so I could make pizza for family movie night. Not a bad family picture. I made this one my Facebook profile picture. :D

Looking downstream from the bridge.

Turning around to go back through the big trees.

Yay, a new perspective on all the beauty!

Say Cheese boys!

They'd bike until they couldn't see me anymore and then stop. We didn't want them getting eaten by a mountain lion!

When we came back to the previous bank we felt brave and explored the cave that freaked us out so much the last time.

It didn't even go back far, at all it was just too dark to see the back.

Terry found where the water was coming from, just seeping in from the hillside above. Evie's face, ha ha.

Evie and Samuel on that rock this time.

Looking back just a little later.

Happy boys approaching another bridge.

Behind me Evie and Terry were talking some nonsense. 

I let everyone go ahead of me and then took their picture with all the color surrounding them.

Then I walked up close.

Just beyond the bridge was an open space. I remember there was a ton of snow here before.

Noah kept getting in front of me with Luna...and making silly faces.

Yellow leaves!

Aspens... or birches? Just gorgeous.

Noah again :D

I made the littles go through that puddle again to capture it. 

Back to the second bridge.

More trail. Can you tell that I couldn't decide which pictures to include because they were all so great? I'm so glad we got ourselves out of the house that day.

Back to the blue pool. Looks like a fun place to swim in the summer.

When we got back to the first bridge the sun finally popped out and made all the yellow glimmer.

All the leaves looked like gold.

 It was incredibly more beautiful in person.

Love love loved it.

Thought these red burrs were cool. Luna had so many stuck in her leg fur.

Didn't take long for Ezra to conk out. Loved how his legs are crossed and how dirty they are.

I sent this selfie to my sister while I was making pizza sauce. Ha! She suggested I drink the sauce like a smoothie.

I had forgotten that the previous day was Luna's one year birthday, and took a picture that night while prepping pizza. Evie had all sorts of plans for Luna but we didn't actually get to do any of them. Oh well. We love our dog. She's great.