I’m talking about mountain hiking in particular this week.

Needing to get away for some family time, we headed up to LaPlata Canyon for a hike with the kids. We had sunscreen (which we didn’t end up needing) and sweaters (which we DID need), snacks galore, bratwursts for lunch, and our mini hiking cook stove to roast said brats. I should have worn pants instead of capris, but we were pretty prepared even though he forgot one of the camelbacks in the truck.

We didn’t really think about how rainy it had been lately, so we didn’t think about bringing an umbrella. The clouds looked ominous, but we’re used to mountain hiking and knew it probably wouldn’t hit until late afternoon, so we set out!

It was so green and pretty! At this point I think we’re up around 12,000 feet, but I may be wrong. My hubby would know better.

My daughter loved all the pretty flowers we saw up there! With all the rain there were way more than usual!

We also saw some snow, the last remaining bits from the winter…

And saw some pretty neat rocks!

Then we started to hear lightening and decided it was time to turn back and make for the truck before the storm hit! It was a good call because we barely made it back before the rain hit. And then the hail followed suit!

And just kept coming as we drove back down the mountain.

It finally decided to quit so we stopped off at a campsite to cook our lunch and got to see what the crazy storm had done to the river! Crazy way a sudden rain storm will do. That was a lot of mud washed into the river at once!

We had a lot of fun and even though we hadn’t brought umbrella’s, and we had a great day together 🙂