Plus I'm feeling a little pressure to plan some last minute fun, memorable, family activities with Bennett up and leaving us for college in less than 2 weeks. So after talking the kids into my latest plan, we pack up the car with what seems like everything we own, including a picnic lunch.
We make it to the State Park 40 minutes later. The guy at the gate tells us it's a mile hike up to the reservoir. Okay....I mean, that's doable. Not ideal, but we can manage. We sure will be ready to jump in that lake after walking a mile. Remember how I said we brought everything we owned with us? Ya. We carried it all. Each of us. The whole way. "Everything" included: hiking backpack with hammock (because you know, what if there are trees and we want to hammock?), camping chair (in convenient holding sacks) slung over our shoulders, our picnic lunch (2 bags - Chuck and I are each carrying one), the towel bag (Bennett has that one), and our ginormous already aired-up tubes (because we go ready people). We are all in our swimsuits and flip flops. I so wish I had taken a picture of this. We literally look like pack mules.
For a split second before making the trek to the lake we thought maybe we should sit here under the shade of the trees eating our lunch at the multitude of picnic tables available. We were all already hungry. But then as quickly as that thought came, it was shot down. What?! Eat at a regular picnic bench by the river when we could eat at our own private spot by the lake?! Some of us were aghast.
Lucky for us most of the hike (the line in red) was on a flat, gravel service road. The signage, leading us to where we wanted to go was poor, at best. See how the red line takes a sharp left? Well, come to find out, you have to climb a steep hill, in flip flops, holding everything you own (the tubes were now on top of our heads). Then once you get to the top with all your crap, you find out you are at the top of the dam. There is no way to get to the water from this vantage point.
See that straight line in the upper right hand corner of the picture? That's the dam. That's where we lost our marbles. The trail you see on the right hand side of the picture is a very steep, long, dry, hot, impossible to navigate in flip flops trail that takes you over several more hills until you get to the far side of the lake where you are allowed to swim. Apparently, the part you see here is "off limits." There were no signs indicating this was the case. Granted, there were also no people on the lake. We thought, "Sweet! We have the whole lake to ourselves." But that was not to be the case. A park ranger came riding up the trail on a bike. We asked him how to get to any part where we can put our tubes in. He told us the only way was over the mountain and through the woods. We just about revolted. We just spent the past 20+ minutes hiking in 90+ degree weather carrying everything we own on us to a lake that is now inaccessible except through a steep, narrow, precarious, trail laced with rattlesnakes. Well....this wasn't working out how we planned.
So we did the only thing we could do...we walked back down and all the way back to where we started. We saw several of the same people we passed before. We wanted to announce, "We made a grave error in judgement" to explain ourselves. But no, we just kept walking, kicking up dust on our mile walk back carrying those stupid, huge, hot tubes on our heads. Why didn't we just bring them all flat and folded neatly in our towel bag? Why didn't we just bring the air pump with us? Why didn't we ask more pertinent questions of the park ranger at the front gate? Why did we only wear flip flops? The list of questions is endless. And there are no answers. Hindsight truly is 20/20.
We ended up back down by the picnic tables bordering the Poudre River. We ate like we just walked through the Sahara. We were famished, hot, sore, sun burned, and tired. Plus, the kids weren't too happy with us. We were laughing at the hilarity of how it all turned out. But the kids weren't quite there yet. Live and learn, right?
Usually, the Poudre River is freezing cold. But it's been such a hot summer, we were actually able to get in and enjoy it. We took our already aired-up tubes and walked along the rocky banks of the river until we found some low-lying spots and got in and basked in the coolness of the water, the warmth of the sun, and the time to rest in nature.
Another Mallott Family Adventure. You can't plan this or make this stuff up. It just happens to us. And in the end, it is what you make it. We make it a fun adventure.
