Minton Park Cemetery Trail, Empire Colorado hiking

Empire Colorado is one of my favorite towns on the Front Range; its at the heart of the Rocky Mountains and the gateway to Berthoud Pass with Clear Creek River running through it.  Last weekend I wanted to try a hike with Josh and the dogs someplace new, farther into the mountains to get away from the 100 degree heat in the city!  I also wanted to test out the second of two hiking packs that we were given by friends now that Magnolia fits into this one.  I tried out the first pack by myself at the Centennial Cone trail but it bothered my shoulders, and this second one that I wanted to try with Josh around so that he could help me adjust it while I was wearing it.  This pack is an Eddie Bauer pack, and I was hopeful that it would work for me after trying on every single pack at REI and not finding one that fit me comfortably.  Even with the staff helping me to find the best fit, none were quite right.  I guess that's a downfall of being petite.  
I was pleasantly surprised that after several adjustments with the Eddie Bauer pack, that it ended up feeling pretty good, not great, but I could get used to it and this trail starting at Minton Park in Empire Colorado happened to be a great trail to test out the pack on.  The hike was easy with scenic views of the river and surrounding mountains and no other hikers to speak of, probably because its more of a local walking trail than a hike. 

Denver Mountain Parks, hike in Morrison Colorado with Yeti Sighting!

Yes, a Yeti sighting!  
Our friends recently moved into the foothills outside of Morrison, Colorado and found this trail last summer.  I had been meaning to hike on it numerous times, but just never got around to it until now.   
I hiked this trail with Laura her daughter Amelia, who is the exact same age as my daughter Magnolia, who was also in attendance.  On our way back down the trail, we came across this scary creature (in photo to left) and it stopped us in our tracks!  The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I was pretty sure we were seeing something crazy, a small bigfoot perhaps or a bear in a tree?  We stood there, it stood there...then Laura said that she didn't think it looked like any of the primates she saw at the zoo the day prior and it wasn't moving, so she ventured forward.  I was still a little tentative, and decided to hang back with the camera to take some pictures, ha!  As we got closer, we got braver, it got smaller and it still wasn't moving and I said "its a fake bigfoot" and indeed, it was.  There was a tube with paper for your signature attached to the tree that said 'Yeti Registry' and I actually remember seeing the tube as we passed it on the way up the mountain, but the Yeti was out of site from that direction unless you looked back on the trail and I just ignored the tube because Magnolia was fussing.  There are more photos of this farther down in my trip report.  

Baw Beese Walking Trail, Hillsdale Michigan - part of the North Country Trail

Road trip!  We spent half of June in Michigan to spend some quality time with our families and introducing Magnolia to her extended family who hasn't seen her yet.  During this time I was itching to get out on a trail for some hiking and one of our friends suggested the Baw Beese walking trail, which connects to the North Country trail which is a huge trail that spans 4600 miles in 7 states from New York through Minnesota.  There is a section of the North Country Trail which is around Baw Beese Lake and I was glad to hike on such a cool trail which was so close to my mother in law's house.  I wondered why my husband never rode his bike farther on the trail, but he didn't really get into hiking until we moved to Colorado 10 years ago.  

With the entire family in tow, we loaded up the stroller with water and started out of the house.  It was at least 1 mile before we reached the paved trail and started down the path.