Monday, April 26, 2010

Hike to the Punch Bowls

Yesterday some friends invited me on a hike near the Garden of the Gods to the Punchbowls.  The creek that runs through there is running very high, and we had to cross it a couple dozen times as we made our way along the trail.  We knew we would be getting our feet wet, so Grace and Payton wore their five finger shoes and I wore my neoprene water shoes.  We felt like a tribe of Indians quietly running along the trail.  I wonder if they ever had five finger moccasins.  Probably not.  If they had, perhaps they would have defeated the white man.  Immunity to small pox would have helped too.

Each river crossing was like an adventure, hopping from rock to rock or balancing on a fallen log.  There was some rock climbing involved a couple of times, and some scrambling up a gravelly hill.  Peyton caught a fish by hand, Grace found some sweet smelling bark, and I found a frisbee.  The weather was great, the water was freezing cold, and we all had a great time.

The beginning of the trail


One of many crossings.  The next jump was to the large rock in the bottom left of the picture. 
For the record, I made it.

This is one of the bigger logs we crossed

Grace and Payton looked much cuter in front of the waterfall than me
On the top of a rock formation

Looking down on where we've been
The water is as cold as Grace's face looks like it is.  Payton walked up the stream, I slinked along the rock on the left, Grace went exploring and found some bark with sweet resin
The largest of 3 punch bowls.  I've got to go swimming here in the summer.
The other two punch bowls
Peyton's new buddy