Hiking to Lost Lake

Hi All. I know it’s been like forever since I’ve added a blog post. Well today I’m making amends for that. Last weekend Jess and I took Phoebe for a little hike to Lost Lake. We packed a bunch of stuff into the car and drove up above Nederland in order to avoid some of the heat down in Boulder. As we approached the trailhead, we discovered it was a little overcrowded. We grabbed a nice roadside parking spot and Jess set to feeding the bottomless pit of Phoebe. I pulled out her kid-carrier backpack and changed into my hiking boots. The last time I tried putting Phoebe into the nice backpack she got from her Grandpa and Grandma Gribble, it was comic how large the seating compartment was in comparison to her tiny body. Even with the chin rest removed, she was practically buried in a deep hole and there were a good 3 inches of space between the shoulders and the harness in it’s smallest position. Jess didn’t think there was any way Phoebe would fit into the backpack yet, but I wanted to try again anyway. The last time it was pretty close. While she still sits down a bit, she can see out pretty well, and although there’s still a bit of space in the shoulder harness, it was clear she wouldn’t fall out. And best of all, unlike the last time I tried the backpack out, she was all smiles.

It was a little awkward shouldering the pack without upsetting Phoebe, but in short order we were off and hiking. Initially there were a few low-hanging branches to worry about, but luckily Phoebe is a bit on the small side and well protected by the back and sides of her, ahem, mobile throne. Not long after leaving the trailhead, we realized that while we had a whole host of snacks and things for Phoebe, we forgot to bring any water or food for ourselves. We decided to go for a shorter hike than we’d planned in order to avoid catastrophic parent dehydration and Jess’s bigger fear, starvation.

Along the way, we passed a number of hikers, most of whom thought Phoebe looked adorable in her new backpack. I had to get Jess to frequently check on the little tyke, as it made me slightly dizzy to turn my head far enough to see 1/2 of her head and one of her eyes out of the corner of my vision.  She managed to blark a few times along the hike, which is becoming somewhat common at altitude. So much for being a native! Or maybe it’s all the uncontrollable bouncing.

Up at the lake we took a few photos and pulled Phoebe out of the chair for a little fun time. Jess provided a little snack and we had fun watching a nice doggy fetch sticks from the lake. We also spotted a nice hollow log that Phoebe enjoyed posing in once dad brushed out all of the little droppings. We put on a little more sunscreen and saddled up for the hike back down to Luna (that’s right, we finally settled on an name for the new car). Since it has a moon roof, we came up with this predictable and boring name.

On the way back to the car, I came up with a terrific way to combat our growing thirsts and hungers (Phoebe excluded). We’d stop by this “new” smokehouse and microbrewery in Ned for a plate of fries and something to drink. I was going to try a nice cherry wheat, but they had just run out when we arrived. I settled on some soda and Jess happily downed some root beer. The fries were tasty and really hit the spot.

Since we were supposed to meet up with Ben, Elijah, and Christina for a little soccer and were already a bit late, we packed up and drove back down the canyon to the heat of Boulder. When we arrived at the soccer field, we discovered that our friend Jehanne and Ben and Christina’s new neighbor Claire were already playing a little two-on-two, so we joined in for a little aerobic exercise. After an hour or so, we packed up and headed home to watch the Steelers-Broncos pre-season game. All told, it was a very fun weekend.