Family Hikes...

During Ryan's month home, we plenty of outdoor adventures, or at least we did a lot in August. We knew when he returned home in October, it was going to be a bit too cool for hiking in some of the higher elevations.

Two hikes we did in August were, Engineer Mountain, and Cascade Canyon. We wanted to attempt Engineer Mountain because the elevation is almost 13, 000 feet and we wanted to test if I would have some of the same difficulties I had when we hiked our 14er. The top became extremely steep and rocky, Ryan was a bit nervous wearing Henry and climbing the last bit, we didn't summit, but we did find an awesome spot to sit, have a snack and take in the beautiful views.

Views from Engineer Mountain. 

The second hike started near Purgatory Ski Resort, and took us to Cascade Canyon. In the winter, the Durango, Silverton  Train makes trips to and from Cascade Canyon. Ryan and I were able to ride the train to Cascade Canyon back in February when we first visited Durango. The hike was a bit unusual, or at least different for us in that you actually descend during the first part of the hike to a meadow, cross a meadow, ascend in elevation, then descend again to the Animas River. It was a lot of ups and downs, but it was a beautiful hike. The only negative of the hike, Ryan commented, "I'm surprised we don't see more snakes while we are out hiking." Apparently the snakes heard the comment, and took it as a challenge. Plenty of snakes made themselves present, luckily, only small snakes, but it did not keep me from screaming, a lot.

Our final hike before Ryan left was with friends we met since moving to Durango. They are very active like us, and have a daughter 7 months older than Henry. It turned out to be an excellent adventure, for our second attempt at Highland Mary Lakes. Stay tuned for post.