Vail, Colorado: A Morning Hike

by Jorje
(Houston, Texas)

My favorite activity in Colorado is hiking. I know it sounds kind of lame, but it is great. Once, we went to Vale and stayed in a nice hotel. We got up early in the morning, ate a quick breakfast, and left for a day out in the woods.

We went to the White River National Forest. It was in the early spring so there was a bit of snow still on the ground. I remember seeing some chipmunks for the first time. I had seen them in the zoo but these were real wild ones. We searched for a trail that would lead us to a place my father had been to a couple of times. The spot had a playground and a log cabin playhouse. My little brothers ran to the cabin first and then played on the swings. After awhile, we moved on to our main goal of that day, the top of a smaller mountain to take some pictures.

We were not accustomed to the altitude, so it was rather difficult climbing, especially with younger kids. We had to stop a couple of times because my youngest brother had a nosebleed that would not stop. Tissue nose plugs were the final treatment and it seemed to work well.

When we did get to the top, it turned out that the camera batteries were dead and the only spares that we had were a few miles away in our car. With no pictures, we returned. Even though we failed in our main objective, it is still my favorite Colorado vacation.