Something you may not know about me #3: I love to hike...

One of the big reasons that I moved to Colorado was for the hiking and camping. I LOVE being outside. My wife heard a lot of talk about this while we lived in West Virginia, but she didn't see a lot of movement on the subject, so she thought I was full of it when I told her I would be in the mountains almost every day once we moved to Boulder.

Then I dragged her all over creation for abut two months. We bought a year-long pass to all Federal lands and started the fun by hitting Rocky Mountain National Park six or seven times in the first two months we were there. We went camping in Leadville (altitude 10,000 ft above sea level), spent a weekend at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, did the Flatirons more times than I can count, and destroyed the greater Colorado Springs area. When people came to stay with us (which they did--we hosted six different groups of family/friends in the first two months), it was like a forced march every other day; I'd tell them the night before, "We're up at 7 a.m. so we can get to the Park before the crowds." I wore my family out, and I wasn't all that good about it either. I don't get altitude sick. It turns out my wife and oldest son do. Camping at 10,000 ft in our third week as Coloradans was unwise. My poor kid spent the night with one of the worst cases of which-enders coupled with a terrible headache that I've ever seen. We won't be doing that again.

This is RMNP, but William was suffering the same
issue there after a short stint at Alpine Pass. Poor kid.

The Great Sand Dunes NP trip was a huge success. The boys had the times of their lives and list it as a main reason not to move back to West Virginia: "We'd never get to go to the sand dunes again!"

The boys atop GSDNP's tallest dune, sitting at approximately 770 ft above the
surrounding plain (not to mention about a mile above sea-level). For comparison,

 Huntington, WV (where we moved from) is only 564 ft above sea-level.

The Flatirons are a great nearby location for day hikes. I have yet to make it to the summit on foot because I'm still travelling with low-land children, but I'm definitely going to make room in my schedule this spring or summer to get up there by myself.

This is the trailhead to the Flatirons. The boys have to stop at every rock. It's like walking three dogs.