Ockey Family Adventures: Colorado Day 2

We made on early start on our second day. We slept well at the house in Montrose, but we wanted to get some hikes in before it got too hot. It's a 25 minute drive to the Visitor Center on the south rim from our house. We arrived a little after 7 o'clock and started around a two mile loop that stays up on the mesa. Dax's foot was really hurting, so there was a bit of grumping, but we turned it around when we spotted a few deer and three wild turkeys. The hike was really flat and pretty, and by the time we got around the loop, the Visitor Center was open.

Mom liked that there were still a few wildflowers on this trail.

We spotted a few turkeys in the brush.

There were great views of Black Canyon.

Seth stopped to meditate for a second.

Dax really was a trooper for this trip.

The sun didn't help with pictures, but we liked this hike.

We love exploring the National Parks.

The ranger gave us the booklets and the badges as soon as we got inside, claiming that we might not have enough time finish the books by the end of the day. The boys still worked hard on the books, but they were glad they didn't have to do the pledge again!

Dax's foot was hurting, so we put some ice on it and drove to the end of the South Rim Road. That gave him a bit of time to sit with the ice. When we arrived at the end of the road, he was well enough to try another hike out to an overlook called Warner Point. It was nice enough, and not steep at all. Again, we oohed and aahed as we looked over this deep, expansive canyon.

The end of Warner Valley trail.

Hiking together!

We saw some great wildlife on this trip. This cool lizard.

Clark's Nutcrackers

And a beautiful collared lizard.

On the way back, we hit overlooks. We made it through about half, but each of these overlooks has a short hike of a few hundred yards, so it takes some time. It was getting close to lunch, so we stopped about halfway and decided to do the final scenic drive. This actually takes you to the bottom of the canyon out East Portal Road. It is very steep, and it goes considerably upriver, so by the time you get there, you really aren't at the foot of the 2,000 foot high walls, but it was still cool. We had a picnic right along the river at a small pavilion.

We were excited for pics since it was just the first overlook! ;)

Seeing the river wind through the bottom was cool.

The painted wall is pretty cool.

Dax sat out for some of the overlook trails and we missed him.

Mom couldn't get enough of this interesting canyon.

The overlooks were really short hikes. We got a lot of steps in!

We wanted to dip our feet in the water, so Mom grabbed the towels and we went down to the shore. After battling thousands of ants, we stepped into the water. It was so freezing cold that we couldn't keep our feet in it for more than a few seconds. We only spent about five minutes attempting to take pictures before giving up and battling back through the ants to the van!

It was super beautiful at the bottom of the canyon!

Mom and Seth were nearly crying after this picture from the cold.

Back at the Visitor Center, there was another hike we wanted to do. This was a steep one that went below the canyon rim, and we weren't sure Dax could do the two, tough miles. He agreed to go, and we started down the trail. The boys spotted a little green snake, but Mom and Dad were worried about the steep drop. At about the half-mile point, Mark stopped dead. "Bear!" he shouted. Sure enough, we saw a little black bear just fifteen feet off the trail. If it hadn't bumped a branch, we would have walked right into it.

We immediately retreated up the trail. We weren't carrying any bear spray, but the bear seemed more interested in eating, even though we were only about 15 yards away. We watched as he climbed a tree and then bent another and started to strip its branches. Before long, we heard voices coming down the trail, and two rangers appeared. They were more excited to see the bear than we were! We watched until it started coming up the trail toward us. Then we started clapping and shouting. Of course, we let the rangers stand in front of us!

We stopped at Gunnison Point on our way to the hike.

Someone was kind enough to take our family picture.

Look at the difference in the north side and the south side slope.

Mark seriously almost stepped on the bear.

He wasn't too interested in us.

But he kept walking up the trail to eat!

After a while, we walked up the way we'd come. We never did finish the two mile hike, but no one seemed to mind. It was a really great face-to-face sighting!

Next, we drove out and hit the remaining overlooks on the South Rim Road. We were getting tired, even though it was only about 3 o'clock. Dax and Seth mostly stayed in the car. When we got our fill of that, we left Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It was early, but we'd done it all, and seen more than we expected.

Another overlook

We even got a family picture by the sign!!

Mom made dinner that night in the house. We had tacos and then went out for ice cream to Cold Stone. We even had time to play some games and read scriptures back at the house. We hoped that Dax's foot would feel better after some rest.