Castlewood Canyon 2010

Wanted to get out and hike today, but I thought anything in the mountains would still be pretty muddy, if not snowy. So I found Castlewood Canyon in a book my sister-in-law got me for Christmas and thought I've give it a shot.

Somewhat surprisingly, both kids agreed to come along!

Nice view of Pike's Peak to the south.

Monkeys see rock. Monkeys must climb rock.

I believe this valley was flooded back when the Castlewood Dam was still intact.

Zak spotted a garter snake crossing the trail. Better that than a rattlesnake.

This was the official "bridge" crossing Cherry Creek at one point. Taryn was a little apprehensive, but Zak thought it was awesome.

And like a good big brother, he lent her a hand.

We left the Inner Canyon-Lake Gulch loop to go see the ruins of the dam. It was much bigger than I'd expected.

The view back up Inner Canyon Trail was gorgeous, and certainly different than anything you see in the mountains.

The highlight of the home stretch was a little crevasse between two boulders that the kids were excited to explore, with the help of a beam of sunlight reflected off my iPhone.

Poison ivy, I'm pretty sure. At least that's what the REALLY BIG SIGN next to it said.

This shot doesn't do justice to the view to the west. The windy conditions had kicked up a lot of dust, which limited visibility. But it was still impressive to be able to see so much of the Front Range.

We covered about 2.5 miles in roughly two hours, with frequent breaks and detours. All in all, a great start to the new season!