First Hike

About 12:30 last night, we got back from Estes Park, CO; finishing up our first full week family vacation.  All things considered (mainly that we have a toddler) it was a great week.  We had a good mixture of sight-seeing while also not pushing Dawson too hard and even sticking to his nap schedule.

The first morning in our secluded cabin just a few yards from the boundary of Rockies National Park, Erin needed to sleep in.  Our cabin was cozy but a bit small, so it was impossible to keep Dawson quiet enough to allow Erin to continue sleeping.  So after some encouragement, Dawson agreed to go on a walk with me.  Of course, I didn't have a camera (these pictures were from a later hike along  paved path) but I have some great memories.  I was really, really proud of my son on that hike.  The hike was almost two miles and it was along a rough path, up and down hills, over rocks and along a high ridge but Dawson strongly blazed through the path, speeding along ahead of me.  I did carry him down a steep hill and after he freaked out from a bug bite, but he walked almost the entire two miles.

At the start of the hike, some deer walked in front of us.  While Dawson was quite excited to see it, that reminder of the fact that we were in a national park had me keeping a look out for bears the rest of the trip.  I wasn't sure what I would've done had we come across a bear but considering how Dawson had been freaking out over the chipmunks outside our cabin, I kept my fears to myself.

My favorite moment was watching as a snowy peak rose up beyond Dawson's head as he crested the rise of a hill. I watched with pride as he hiked over the peak of that hill and kept moving deeper into the forest.  Dawson was alive with all the wonders of nature all around him.  At one point, I wanted to walk along a patch about 15 feet down the side of the ridge, but Dawson was worried that trail wouldn't take him back to mommy.

The hike did wear him out though, evidenced by the meltdown he had just before nap time. The next morning, I tried to convince him to go on a walk again but he must've remembered how intense that hike was because after about 20 feet up the first hill he announced, "Daddy, I don't want to go on a walk."  So we sat on a bench and spent the next half hour listening to the mountain wind, looking for more deer, tossing pine cones, talking about how God made the mountains and just hugging on each other.  That time was also sweet but his lack of desire to do the hike a second time confirmed just how special that first hike truly was.