New Castle, CO

7/1/26 - As we entered the small town of New Castle (very near Glenwood Springs), we were surrounded by beautiful scenery and wildlife right outside our door. We started the 3-day adventure with arriving at night to our new campsite at Elk Creek Campground.

7/2/26 - Inness snuck out for an early ride since he was so chivalrous the previous day . Today is HOT and we started the day with coffee and bfast in town to pick up Inness and then by taking a stroll on the campgrounds trails to an easier entry to the creek, Elk Creek that is. Our dogs are loving the trip but the two old ladies, Pali is 14 and Zuma will be 14 in September, have stiff old bodies!

After a quick dip, Inness, Kennedy, and Mackenzie set out to a rec center as Mackenzie was dying at the lack of getting to swim. Kelly stayed back and did the painful stuff that needed to be done, organizing the camper. The whole fam (not including puppies) set out for a 5:00 pm hike at Hanging Lake, the intense vertical incline (1,300' in just under 2-miles) was insane but the stunning reward at the top was mesmerizing. The lake was literally "hanging" off of the cliff due to where lower rocks had fallen away. The scene belonged in a fairytale. After a snack and gazing the beauty a bit longer, we set back down the treacherous path.

The unbelievable beauty of these two girls, and Hanging Lake

Spouting Rock above Hanging Lake

View from Almost the top

On the way down we grabbed some raspberries off a nearby bush, and that's when Kennedy saw it. The adorable, but also slightly frightening face of a young black bear, covered in soft back fur and adorable little ears. Kennedy was freaking out while the rest of the fam was busy taking pictures.

Cute wittle Black Bear!

After the hike was over, we were all starving, so we went to a pizza place called Hogsback Pizza in New Castle. It was so good and the staff was super friendly and allergy friendly (so nice to find that!) but we had quite a few "food incidents".

7/3/26 - Todays a Carbondale day for us, Kelly really wanted to revisit trails she had ridden with her Dad in 2022 so we went to the Prince Creek trail system. We rode early 7-miles and it was too hot to be riding period, but the girls were champs and we got to do some

fun flowy downhill.

Nearly the top

Kennedy hitting a side hit on Ginormous

The girls on the bottom flow trail Prince Creek

After the ride we went in search of food and found True Nature Cafe that was a real treat. they had an amazing garden out back that we wandered while waiting on food and drinks and even a foot massaging walking path! We needed that.

The rest of the day we hung at camp and finally did some laundry :) It's hard to take care of normal things right now, we will need to get in a groove for checking emails, doing laundry, grocery shopping, etc. I will say that we have been pretty good at our Duolingo at least.