Maya is nibbling on Cheerios while I get myself breakfast, make coffee, and get prepared to feed her. I stop to visit with her for a moment and she offers me a Cheerio. Coincidence?
I go about my business for a while, then stop back by, present my palm, and ask, “May I have one, please?” Maya carefully touches my palm with her index finger, then selects a Cheerio and drops it in my palm. “Thank you very much!”
I’m charmed.
The city website’s description of the trail is below; I couldn’t find an online topo of this trail.
While the “actual” trail is fairly short, the walk to the trailhead from the car (and back) adds about 1-1/2 miles.
The trail itself was a little easier than I’d like (maybe a bit short), but we also didn’t make it all the way to Jones Park. Shortly after the 7th bridge, the trail changed from a normal hike trail to rock scrambling. It didn’t feel safe enough to cover with a baby, and several other hikers I encountered confirmed that the top portion is too dangerous. Oh, well.
Seven Bridges Trail (Pike National Forest):
Length: About 1.6 miles from the trailhead to Jones Park.
Elevation Gain: Trailhead 7600’, Jones Park 8900’
General Description: The trailhead is directly off the closed portion of Gold Camp Rd (on the west side). Park at the intersection of Gold Camp Rd, High Dr and Cheyenne Cañon Rd. Hike past the gate to the northwest of the parking area and follow the closed portion of Gold Camp Rd .7 miles to the trailhead. The trail is a moderate hike, which criss-crosses Cheyenne Creek over a series of seven bridges.
If, as you live your life, you find yourself mentally composing blog entries about it, post this exact same sentence in your weblog.
via Margi
Scene: Bathtime.
Maya’s in her tub playing. I’m sitting next to the tub on the floor, sipping a glass of wine and browsing a magazine. A grunty noise alerts me to move Maya from peripheral vision to my direct sights, and I see that she’s about to push. Quick! To the toilet! Maybe she can poop there!
She was done so fast, I didn’t even get the lid up.
Observation #1: She poops MUCH faster without a diaper providing counterpressure.
Observation #2: Boy, she eats a lot of peas and corn. I wonder: does she actually get nutrients from them, considering they seem to go through intact?
I believe I mentioned that she’s teething?
…
…and standing up. Now, is that a pleased-with-myself face, or what?
For Maya’s first 4th of July, I “hosted” (if having it at my parents’ house counts) a potluck. The turnout was small, since a few mishaps (even a broken ankle!) came up for other families — but two couples and three kids came by, plus I invited my cousin Lani and her fiancee to join us. Doesn’t it figure that shutterbug that I am, I completely spaced out on taking photos while all the kids were playing?
The older kids (3yo Alex, 4yo Mischa) all seemed to really get a kick out of the pond, and Alex was just sure that all it takes to catch fish is holding out a stick and encouraging the fish to bite. C’mon fishies! You can do it! Perhaps we have a future motivational speaker on our hands? I originally suggested that Alex might be a natural-born fisherman, but then his dad pointed out that if that were the case, he’d get the concept of a LURE. Oh. Yeah. All of the kids liked chasing Cricket (my grandmother’s dacshund) around, and I think they might have actually gotten him tired (a rare event).
The food was great. I made a pot of Tortilla Soup. Leanne (Alex’s mom) brought a salad of strawberries and asparagus in a sesame/poppyseed dressing — who knew that those would not only go together, but be tasty and *pretty*? Emily (mom to Mischa and CoCo) brought a noodle salad with a spicy peanut sauce. Since I pretty well adore Asian food, I’ll be getting the recipe for this one too! Slurrrrrp. Maya surprised me by taking a liking to avocados; until now, she’s been mostly lukewarm to them. Nope…this time, she was grabbing stips of it, chowing down, then insisting she needed more!
Maya made a new friend. CoCo’s birthday was September 25, 2003, so she’s just shy of one year older — and she seemed to delight in entertaining my peanut. (This is where I kick myself for not getting the camera out earlier!) I can’t imagine that Maya will be that big in a year, but I’m so looking forward to it. While many of the moms I know fret about how quickly their babies are growing up, I find that, to me, each age progressively gets better. I can’t wait to find out what Maya will be like as she gets older!
Side note: at 20 months, CoCo is potty trained, and I’m in awe. Since I no longer have all the puke laundry to handle, I may just have to consider moving to cloth diapers by the time Maya turns 18 months to “encourage” the process along.
Maya, in her patriotic duds.
Deep in coversation with Lani.
Exhausted from a long day (and teething STILL).
We’d planned to see fireworks in nearby Palmer Lake (a teeny town that puts on a fantastic show), but all the kidlets were getting tired so folks headed home. Maya didn’t see any fireworks (she was out like a light as soon as we got into the car), but I think I saw bits of no fewer than five different shows on my drive home! Not bad for not making it to any one of them. Guess there’s always next year for the oooh-ahhhhh introduction, right?
Well, sort of…
On the way out of my complex, I spotted a doe carefully *ahem* cleaning herself. Then I saw these guys. Bambi x 2!
Sweetheart, after all that work, you may clean yourself to your heart’s content.
Here’s the topo map for today’s trail:
The trail starts out at 9700 feet above sea level at the highway, and ends at about 11000 feet. Click here for more info.
Western view from the highway.
Maya’s ready to get moving.
As innocuous as this first section of trail *looks*, it’s STEEP!
The east-heading first section of trail planes out as we approach Horsethief Park. Those meadows look like a perfect spot to camp!
The meadows continue with magnificent rock formations off in the background (which my camera didn’t do justice…time to learn the manual settings). The mountain behind this view amuses me — it looks as if an oversized two-year-old created his own rock pile.
Finally, we reach the turnoff for Pancake rocks — this is the point on the topo where the trail heads south.
I stop for a breather on the southbound switchbacks — they’re murderous — and take in the view.
You can see that the sky was clouding up. By the time we reached the top of the switchbacks, the wind was howling. There wasn’t any rain, but it could happen at any minute, and I still haven’t purchased the rain canopy for Maya’s pack. My gut — the mommy in me — said to turn around. My ego insisted that it was nothing and we could keep going! Ego lost, and we headed back down, after reaching the very top of the switchbacks. Pretty much, we did all the vertical work, but didn’t get to enjoy the views…SIGH.
Chagrinned Allison.
Katie and Clay, aka Thing1 and Thing2.
Back at Horsetheif Park, we come across a mom and her 2-year-old son, and they allow us to join them for the picnic I’d *planned* for at the end of the trail. Maya immediately dumped her Cheerios out and found the container much more entertaining than mere food.
Mom and son, Conrad. Conrad showed off for Maya, and Maya sang for him — making him giggle at the silly baby.
Heading back westward on the trail, Maya and I fall into step with Makayla and Terri, another mother and daughter pair off for a hike.
As it turned out, the threatening rain never happened, and the skies returned to blue. We could have done the full hike. Just the same, we made some acquaintances we might not have otherwise, and it was a great day.
We’ll return to do this hike again another time — likely in September, when the fall color makes the switchbacks worth all the work!
Finally, more than a month after she first pulled herself up, Maya seems to “get it” that she can stand up pretty much whenever she pleases. Yesterday’s help was provided by Mr. Hoover.
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