CO hikes

Howdy, Hey, Ho!

Last week I went on a 6+ mile hike with my mom, dad, brother, and cousin, Toby. It was fun and super pretty…but yes, I also almost died (ish…though maybe slightly dramatized)

Does anyone know what these flowers are? 🌸

In the beginning, we walked about a mile ( I think) on a dirt road before we got to the trailhead.

Oooh, look at the view already. 😍

The cousin crew. 😎

Y E L L O W

We used to have a big bush with these flowers at our old house, I think it has the name honey in it, maybe, maybe not. 😛

W I L D R O S E

I love creeks. ❤

What are these? They were all over these bushes. 🤔

Humm…Someone’s underwear waistband?!

Sadly this photo turned out kind of blurry, but there are super neat flowers that I had never seen before!

We were hiking along, then all of a sudden my mom pointed out this caterpillar hanging over the trail. It was hanging from a very tall tree. I’m not sure what it was doing..making its cocoon maybe? 🐛 This was the only photo I took that was actually focused. 😛

I really like this photo that my mom took of me! 🙂

A ladybug with no spots. Interesting. 🐞

A small waterfall along the trail.

Here are more of those neat flowers.

Thanks for photobombing, Toby. 😛

Well, hello there buggy.

I love these flowers too. 😀

N A T U R E

Oh my, we’re almost there. Now, my mom and I just need to take it slow and not pass out from the heat, high altitude, and all the hiking struggles.

“Turn back” “0.5” People made some edits to the sign that made me laugh.

Ahh…almost. to. the. top.

I think these might also be wild roses?

Yesss I madee ittt!!

The view was very pretty, the view of the city below, and St. Mary’s Falls in back of us. 💞

Woah. Look at what the altitude did to my snack! 😛

Ahhh, look at Colorado Springs down below.

My photography bro. 📷

P U R P L E

More of St. Mary’s Falls.

Hydro Flask, please sponsor me!! 😛

W A T E R

Oooh, look at dat mushroom. 🍄

I had a lot of fun taking pictures along the hike, and accomplishing this hike felt so amazing because I thought I wasn’t going to make it. 😀

Do you enjoy hiking? ⛰

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{All photos are not edited}

Retreat

Hello friends!

Two weeks ago my church had a retreat in the mountains, for us high schoolers. I had a lot of fun taking pictures over those 3 days. 🙂

This was the whole gang. Lots of wonderful people. 🙂

It was a cool building, see that neat cross made of stone?

This was the room where we all met for Bible lesson time and worship every few hours.

A quick picture I took of my room I shared with another girl.

They had complimentary tea and hot cocoa. {Photo by Josh}

People playing the game Dutch Blitz.

The first night after dinner, worship, and a lesson, some of them played some sort of card game involving M&Ms as a prize. 😛 I just hung out and took pictures. (INFJ for ya)

Everyone was having fun goofing off…complaining about being tired. But I had just gotten back from a hike that was as long as the amount of sleep I had gotten the night before. 😛 (Keep reading to hear about the hike)

My friend Josh had some fun using my camera taking photos for a few minutes. That was a fun time. 😛

I had fun taking pictures of them playing from up above them. Such a fun view!

Some of my amazing friends and I are enjoying the wonderful mountain air! ❤

On Saturday night we played Bible Jeporday. That was a lot of fun!! Lots of laughter and brainpower were used. 😛

This is the legendary – Josh. He epically failed at jumbo Janga. 😀

Made two lovely new friends and got to get to know some of the other girls better. All the laughter. 😛 ❤

❤ f r i e n d s h i p ❤

On Saturday afternoon some of us went on a 3 hour (ish) hike! I was a little nervous because I had only gotten 3 hours of sleep the night before. But I am so glad I went!!

We got to explore two old train tunnels!! It was super epic!! 🚂

I see the light at the end of the tunnel. 😛

This was the entrance to the tunnel above. There was a big snowdrift that we had to climb over. Such fun. 😎

Some pretty nice views of the city.

❤

Love these people!

Mommy and her son. Love this photo. 🙂

r a n d o m p i n e c o n e

This was the second tunnel. This one collapsed at some point so we couldn’t walk all the way through but it was still really neat!

This one was a little more sketchy to go into. More ice and loose rocks and it was dark.

Nice find!! Right after I took this picture it slipped out of his hand and broke. 😦

After almost dying and some neat finds, we climbed back out. The few of us who actually went in. 😛

The hiking crew, plus the lady behind the camera. 🙂 …and the boy kind of hiding…can you find him?

I like the shadows in this photo. This is my current lock screen photo. ❤

It was fun!! The snow was so deep…

I was up to my knees in the snow. Haha, so fun! ❄

Found some super neat purple rocks!! Possible signs of past volcanic action. 😮

Such pretty rocks! ❤

Found a pair of scissors in the dirt road. He pulled them out before I could get a picture, but this is kind of a cool picture anyway. 😛

On our way back we heard voices then through the trees (using camera zoom) I could see some of the girls hanging out in hammocks. haha!

Sunday morning we had a gaga ball tourament…that was exciting.

After gaga ball, and after we were all packed and helped clean up the building, our youth pastor announced what team won with overall points earned from the different events we did, as well as with kindness. We played other games throughout the weekend too but sadly I didn’t get to take pictures all the time.

Our team got third place!! 🥉 Did not expect that. 😛 Oh man…I loveee Reese’s pieces soo much!! ❤

Second place!! 🥈

First place!! 🎉🥇

All the amazing leaders who made this weekend possible!! 🙂 ❤

A pretty little river running through the camp.

Everyone went running once the van got there. 😛

It was a good weekend. My favorite part for sure was the hike!! So much adventure and photography opportunities! Also, it was a smaller amount of us so I was more comfortable.

The Bible lessons, worship time, quiet time, and hearing about things going on in my friend’s lives were also so encouraging and wonderful!! Can’t wait for next year’s retreat!! ❤