Seven Bridges Trail
It turned out that this weekend Colorado Springs had a Hot Air Balloon launching event at a park downtown and the family we are staying with mentioned that we should go see it ’cause it is rather cool. The balloons would start launching at 7am but they said we would want to get there early to be able to find a parking spot. So off again early this morning and arriving to the park around 6am, we found ourselves a nice spot to capture some shots of the balloons as the passed by us. They started launching the balloons right on time and as they went by us they would dip their baskets into the lake that is in the park and then keep going on up into the open blue sky. Was neat to see and fun to watch…
After watching about 15-25 balloons take off and cross over in front of us, we were ready to scoot. Heading over onto Lower Gold Camp Rd. we took it into the mountains which lead us to a hiking trail right above Helen Hunt Falls. The road led us through two tunnels that were completely carved out stone and around the mountain into a canyon. Parking the truck we hiked in a mile or so on the closed part of the Lower Gold Camp Rd and came across the Seven Bridges Trail which literally followed the Cheyenne River up into a canyon crossing over the river seven times (reason for the trail name…). The trail was beautiful and the river even more beautiful! The water was cold as ever and the terrain around us rose on both sides with huge boulders cascading along the edge. On our way back our stomachs started a-growlin’ so not soon after we got back to the truck, we drove into a pull off along the Cheyenne River and ate our lunch. Since we weren’t in any hurry to scoot on outta there, after lunch mom laid down in the truck and I proceeded to create a dam in the river. Did I mention that the water was freezing?! Well it was and I couldn’t feel my feet after about 5 minutes in the water, but it was all good. Definitely fun and a continuing tradition whenever we Groots stay near a river/creek.
Making our way back to basecamp, we cleaned up and went out to eat with the family we are staying with. This will be our last evening with them so it was nice just to relax and enjoy each others company. Tomorrow we pick up my brother Austin from the Denver airport and continue our journey into Salida CO. where we will be staying for six days. Colorado Springs is a beautiful place and I definitely would recommend visiting here if you get the chance. There is a ton to do here and we have just touched the surface. I look forward to the next week and what the future holds. Until then, G-d bless you all.
