New Year's Day

A new year, an old goal. We've been wanting to hike up to the ranger station at the top of the two trees trail since we moved into the area. We tried several times but we couldn't find the trail head the first time and it was too hot to make it very far the second time. Actually, Emily tried another time in between those two times. She went up with our neighbors but they ran out of daylight and had to come back before making it up to the top.

So, on new year's day, we decided to pack a snack and work our way up the mountain. It was a beautiful day for a hike as the clouds gave us some cover from the hot January sun. It took us several hours but at last, we made it to the top.We had several rest stops to enjoy the scenery along the way.And of course, the girls did a little rock climbing too.Here is the view from the top.While we were having our little picnic at the top, we saw other hikers and horses. One of them was kind enough to offer to let the girls pet their horse. Caitlyn found that being that close to a real horse was a bit too daunting. But Emily mustered enough courage to go up with her dad and touch the horse.
Apparently, from the ranger station, the trail leads off in several other directions. In fact, you could just drive up and park there to take the other trails (of course they will charge you though). We hope to all be in better shape soon and will have more time to explore the other trails another time.

We also spent some time along the way taking pictures...of course.


We knew that Emily would have no problem with the hike but we were happy to know that Caitlyn could do it without any help as well. We never pushed them around in stollers and things much once they were able to walk and run strongly on their own two feet. We usually made them walk on their own and we are continually training them in the hopes of taking them on a real hike and camping trip as we used to do.

Here is a picture of Caitlyn and her Dad when we got back down to the trailhead.Caitlyn also found a big stick that fell from the tree at the trailhead and wanted to take it home. Christian shrugged and said that if she could carry it back on her own, she could keep it. It was rather hilarious watching her drag this big stick down the streets and all the way back home. She only complained slightly about it once when one of the ends of the stick got caught on something and she ended up carrying it above her head for some time. You can't say that she wasn't determined to keep the stick...but really, it was more of a branch than a stick...
The arrow shows where the ranger station is from our house.