We had planned on going skiing over the long holiday weekend but Emma got the flu last week so we had to change our plans a bit. It was a beautiful day on Monday and we knew we needed to do something outside that wasn't too strenuous for Emma who was still recovering. Mike found a new trail that we had not hiked yet so we all got in the car and headed on an adventure. We headed north to County Line Rd and then turned west towards the mountains. We drove through Monument and Palmer Lake until we came to Spruce Mountain Open Space. We started our hike at the trailhead of Spruce Mountain and then quickly took the Oak Shortcut trail to get to the Greenland Overlook on top of the Mesa. The first few sections of the trail were fairly easy with only parts of the trail covered in snow. Everyone loved walking in the snow but the trail quickly became treacherous as the snow covered trail turned into an icy mess. At first it was fun to slide on the ice but we soon discovered that it was nearly impossible to hike uphill on ice. We decided that in order to get around the really icy parts of the trail we needed to go around the trail. So, we headed up onto the mountainside and hiked through the trees and deep snow. Everyone enjoyed the fun adventure except for Abby who was initially nervous about falling on the ice and then hiking in the steep parts of the mountainside. It was definitely a team effort to get her to stop crying and to keep moving forward. She eventually calmed down when she realized that she was ok and that it was actually fun to trail blaze through the woods. At one point we decided to just head straight up the mountain to the overlook on top. Up at the top there was a 5 mile loop around the Mesa but we decided our little adventure up to the top was enough adventure for one day. Besides, it was colder up on top and we didn't want to keep Emma out too long. I gave her one of my layers so she wouldn't get too cold and then we headed back down the mountain. Mike found a short cut down through the trees that cut out all of the icy parts of the trail. That made the girls happy. The boys were a little disappointed to not go back the same way we came. We all had fun making our own trail through the trees and snow. Mike even found a giant walking stick and back at the bottom he and Andrew played baseball with snowballs and that giant stick. It was definitely entertaining. We can't wait to come back and explore more of this area when the trails are a little more passable.
