Happy Friday!!!
Honestly, I can’t believe that’s it’s already Friday. What have I been doing?!? Haha oh well, two more days to enjoy!
Today I wanted to re-cap my hike in Cheyenne Mountain State Park! I know some of you may be interested after an instagram picture I posted… haha.
On my way out to Cheyenne Mountain State Park, I drove through Garden of the Gods (for the millionth time… this is like my backyard here and I love it). As I was driving I saw a small crowd gathered so I parked, hopped out, and got to see these guys!
How cool is that?
Then it was off to Cheyenne Mountain State Park! Cheyenne Mountain is a smaller mountain in Colorado Springs but has soooo much cool stuff, especially for kids and tourists (The Zoo, The Broadmoor Hotel, many parks, etc), oh and the Air Force base… but I don’t think I can go there? Aaaaanyway, I’d never been to this park (that I remember) and saw online that they had tons of trails, so I could pick based on how far I wanted to go.
After speaking with the Ranger inside the visitors center, I picked a path that would take me about 4.5-5 miles and then headed out. Unfortunately I was greeted with this sign:
I legitimately almost turned around.
Did anyone else read Laura Ingles Wilder books? Well there was one where her father was stalked by a panther, and seriously ever since then I am SO FREAKED OUT by mountain lions (the present day version of panthers).
I hoped the sign was overly cautious and tried to put the potential for attack in the back of my mind. So glad I did because the hike was gorgeous! By the way, they had a lot of informational signs throughout the trail area, and there was one for black bears and another for mountain lions that said if they attack to “fight back”… Seriously?!? I think I know who would win that one… Me. HA.
It wasn’t too much of an incline, so great for families (and an adorable older couple I passed!) but enough of a challenge that I enjoyed it. I love getting “lost” in the woods. I came upon one area that was a field of boulders inside the forest and seriously felt like I was in another world:
The pictures do it no justice.
After a while I came upon this big rock on a ledge with a tree growing on it. My first thought was: “I bet a lot of people try and climb that. Stupid, I’m sure it’s dangerous.”
As I got closer… “I’m totally climbing that.” (don’t worry, it was pretty easy to climb up there).
Ta Da! So glad I did! I felt like a little kid, like an adventurer!
You could even see Kansas! Well… maybe…
Another cool thing I discovered (okay, my friend Caroline showed it to me but I just finally tried it) was the panorama feature on my iPhone! You just click options when you’re trying to take a picture and you can take a panorama shot!
How cool is that?
My hike was a lot of fun, and I also ended up jogging bits of it (I get impatient on the way back, especially the downhill and flat parts), and loved that I only came across a few other hikers.
And now what you’ve all actually been waiting for… the Ellie GIVEAWAY WINNER!!
The winner is….
Michelle at Eat, Move, Balance!
Congratulations, Michelle! Just send me an e-mail (peaceloveandoats@gmail.com) with your mailing address and I’ll get the outfit to you ASAP!
Have you ever tried the panorama feature? Haha is this just new to me?
Are you a fan of hiking? Do you ever go solo?
Ever seen a bear or mountain lion in the wold? I’ve only come across deer…
I LOVE hiking but don’t get to go nearly enough, and the places I go definitely aren’t as cool as Colorado. I’m glad you turned around…that sign would scare me too! Hope you enjoy your last couple days!
oh no, I didn’t turn around! Haha I wouldn’t have gone on the hike otherwise!
I’ve played around with panorama a little bit, but I haven’t found too many uses for it yet!
And i would absolutely be climbing that tree too :-p
I don’t know if it’s necessarily “useful,” just fun!
I consider myself pretty adept at my iPhone and I’ve never heard of that feature! So cool! I’m going to have to try it ASAP. thanks for the tip, and enjoy the rest of your trip 🙂
It’s very cool, give it a try!
Wow, looks like such a great time! Your pictures are amazing. I’m hoping to get to CO sometime.
You really should, it’s a fun state!
I do a lot of hiking. Colorado is one of my favorite places. I hiked two 14ers within 3 days on my road trip! Spectacular views from way up there. I hike solo sometimes, especially out here in Cali, the trails are always full of people.
Oh I bet the trails in CA are gorgeous! I went on a couple hikes near San Francisco and LOVED it!
I had no idea the iPhone had that feature!! That’s awesome 🙂 love to hike and keep asking joe when we can go…he says when it warms up…i say we need to try next weekend…we’ll see who wins 😉
HAha, just keep pushing!
I’ve fortunately never come across a mountain lion or bear in person, but when my family went to Yellowstone 10 years ago or so a bear ran RIGHT in front of our car. We were seriously thisclose to hitting it! That’s as close as I ever need to be to a bear haha.
Haha that’s closer than me!
we like hiking, though where we live there is not much great places to do it.
one reason why we would love to live in Colorado area to do more hikes 🙂
Have a great Friday!
Yea, not many places near Chicago! Too flat…
I can’t get enough of all those gorgeous pictures! Glad you’re having a great time. Yay for winning the giveaway!! Thank you!
Congrats!
I wish I lived somewhere where I could hike more. I love being outdoors but unless I want to walk through the city I feel kind of limited by what I can do in Chicago.
Lol yea, not a lot of hiking near Chicago…
I’m definitely a huge fan of hiking. I actually just got back from Hawaii a couple weeks ago where I probably did some of the most beautiful hiking ever. Rainforests are kind of amazing 🙂 Never seen a bear or mountain lion before, and I’d kind of like to keep it that way!
So jealous of your Hawaii hiking!
That looks like such a fun place to be hiking, minus the warning signs of course. I love the panoramic picture, I will have to figure out how to do that.
I went on a massive hike/camping adventure last weekend…it was THE BEST. So nice to take a break from the online world, my phone, the city and just chill in nature. I want to take up hiking as a reg. thing now!
Those pictures are beautiful! 😀
Omg, that hike looks so beautiful!! I really want to do some travelling soon and visit some beautiful places like that! Like is too short to stay in one place!
So pretty! it sounds like you had a great time. I can’t wait until I get to visit Colorado in May – it will be my first time out there.
I thought the panorama feature was only for the iPhone 5, but it’s totally an option on the phone I have now -very neat- thanks!
There’s a panorama feature??? I must figure this out.
When you go to take a picture, click on the options button that shows up in the top middle of your screen and you’ll see it!