hiking chubb trail

after finding this photo of chipmunks making out on the camera from yet another elijah photography session, it was clear that it was time to take the kids out to some real wilderness and see some real wildlife

so the beautiful mrs k and i loaded up the freestyle with the kids and headed to a popular mountain bike destination. the little guy had about an 8 minute nap before we had to get out into the 33 degree air.

chubb trail has seen more mountain bikes than just about any place in our region over the last 20 years, and now it was about to meet the kakouris family wilderness brigade.

eli hit the deck 30 or 40 times. he just kept tripping over rocks and root and logs. sometimes he just fell over nothing. he's a tough little guy, and never once missed a step after falling. sometimes he just kept talking through the fall and during the time we would be brushing him off. he's a tough guy, for sure.

hanna was very happy to be hiking and didn't seem to mind that she was wearing gloves meant for shrek.

the family on a big rock close to the beginning.

we ventured off the trail a bit to find some fascinating rock formations. i have never noticed much at chubb, mostly because the trail requires your attention but somewhat because the foliage is so dense. winter time is great to explore this stuff because the chiggers and ticks are nowhere to be found.

very cool overhanging rock. this type of thing was everywhere.

the kids wanted to get under some of the overhangs. me and mrs k would go over and kick the rocks to make sure we weren't going to get caught under anything if it fell. they were all pretty solid.

so much cool stuff just a few feet off of the trail. all you have to do is look. we hiked for about 90 minutes and it was all good. believe it or not, eli did not need to be carried but the last 100 yards or so to the car. the kids were troopers.

after hiking, we drove through lone elk park. this was a heard of bison. i'm not sure what the big guy is doing in the ditch. maybe he saw something the others didn't.

we had to search for a while to see the elk. they must have been cold. but we caught some of them lounging around. i had to get out of the car and venture down a hill a little ways.

normal deer were in abundance. they lined the service road leading out of lone elk park. this guy was only a few steps from the car.

.

i'd like to thank the johnsons (heather and ethan) for the hiking suggestion. we had dinner and a great lasagna over at their house last weekend and mentioned that they frequently went to castlewood to hike when the kids were going stir crazy. it sounded like a good idea and we all had a great time!