Bike Ride with Claire

I have been wanting to take Claire on a bike hike for over a month. First she had Covid and was in quarantine for 10 days, then we had two family Halloween activities on Saturdays. I was afraid the weather would be getting too chilly for bike rides, but thankfully we have had a really nice fall so far and today was forecast to be 72, so I decided to go for it. I picked her up and we went to the Cherry Creek Trail in Parker. She's ready to go!

Just a few minutes along the trail is this little waterfall and we stopped to look at it for a bit.

We both put our hand in it and it was SO cold! Claire wondered if it was snow melt. I didn't know the answer. I would think snow from last winter would be all melted by now. Surprisingly, we haven't had any snow yet this fall here in town, but maybe there has been some in the mountains.

Claire is very tricky on her bike. She put both of her feet on the bar and is just coasting. Don't crash! 

There are a couple of bridges on the trail and we stopped again to look at the water.

Several families have put benches in memory of a loved one along the trail. They are usually by trees or bushes and so there is some shade to rest in.

Taking a break. I was glad Claire had some sunglasses because the sun is really bright today.

There are mile markers along the trail. I think we went 10 miles! Peaclock! Quite a bit farther than I was thinking. This is not a loop, the whole trail is 40 miles and there are several places where you can get on. I just planned to go for a bit, then turn around and come back, which is what we did, but I never imagined we would go 10 miles! Good job Claire!

We turned around at this over pass with all these rocks. We (mostly Claire) spent some time climbing around before we headed back. I did climb to the top one time.

Holding up the road! Strong girl.

 There was a big, flat rock at the top which made a perfect table for a snack. I had some granola bars and Claire had some crackers and Halloween candy.

We might have gone a bit too far. One the way back Claire was hot and tired. We took quite a few rest stops. The trail is mostly flat, but there are a couple of tiny hills and we pushed our bikes twice for a few minutes. When Melissa asked her if we had fun, she said, "Kind of, but I'm exhausted!" Haha. Next time I'll keep better track of far we go and turn around sooner. It was a great day, a great ride, and I had some great company! Can't wait until next spring to go for another ride!