Beautiful fall day in the mountains

While exploring the town we came across a city park located next to the Arkansas River. There are several hiking and bike trails that begin at the park and climb through the rugged hills. Linda and the boys checked out the options and came up with a good trail for us to try.

They picked a very good one that started along the stream and climbed up a scenic hillside. It also included historical and educational kiosks that gave us great insight into the town and the area.

As we gained elevation, we could look across the valley and see the 14,000 ft Collegiate mountains in the distance.

Cory is always on the lookout for nice rocks to climb and this trail provided several good candidates. This one at the top of the trail included a wonderful view as well.

It was a good tired that we all felt as we found ourselves back at the bridge where we started. A beautiful place with fly fishermen applying their trade in the creek. This is also a kayaking hot spot in the season. Looking out over the rapids, we all thought that would be great to see.

After our hike, we drove across the valley to the east face of the Collegiate mountains and up to Cottonwood Pass. We were quickly piling on our coats as the temperature according to the truck was 22 F - quite the contrast to the warm temperatures in the valley! We didn't have our warmest coats, only light jackets so we were quick in catching the sights from the 12,000+ elevation view of both sides of the mountains.

The view was breathtaking as we gazed upon mountaintops as far as we could see toward the west....

We stopped a few times on our descent back on the eastern face for Cory to try out sledding. Alas....he was gravity challenged as the slope wasn't steep enough for a good ride.

One face provided pretty good speed for him, but the altitude and cold were taking their toll.

We thoroughly enjoyed the ride further down the mountain including this view of Rainbow Lake, surrounded by a few lodge buildings tightly sealed up for winter.

We returned to the RV for dinner and battening down for forecasted cold and more snow. What an intriguing fall season we've had so far!