Taos Vacation: Hiking

One of the things we were really looking forward to on our trip was hiking and being outdoors.  As I mentioned, the weather was pretty perfect all week which made us want to be out even more!  

 Our first full day in Taos, we spent the afternoon at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.  We walked across the bridge and took lots of pictures of the beautiful scenery!  

Halfway across the bridge.

We had seen online that there was a hiking trail out there, but we didn't find it at first.  After we'd gone across the bridge and come back we saw the entrance to the trail so we went out a little ways and took a few pictures, but decided it was about time to head back for dinner and bedtime.

Tuesday we got up and decided to head into Taos Ski Valley for a hike into the mountains.  We really wanted to try a hike up to try to get some good views.  So we researched and found one of the "easy to moderate" trails to Williams Lake (fun fact, from Williams lake there is a 1.5 mile trail to get to the top of Wheeler Peak which was the original destination of the hiking trip I went on in 2012.  Once again, it was so close yet so far away!)  It was labeled as a 2 mile trail, which seems doable enough, but add the altitude and constantly changing elevations and it was rough for me.  But we are so glad we went!

Also have to add this guy on my back.  We had a backpack with our waters and snacks, but Cooper was actually more comfortable for me to carry so I wore him and David carried our backpack.  We took it slow and steady up the mountain.

We made it over 2 miles before we decided to go ahead and stop for a snack break.  It was so fun  being up in the snow capped mountains!

While we were taking our break, a guy was coming back down and told us about how far the lake was.  Even though it wasn't too much further, we decided we'd gone far enough for the day and had seen a lot of the scenery we were looking for, so we headed back down.

At least half of the trail was covered in ice and snow (which we hadn't really considered or planned for, silly us) so that made it more slow going too.  The way down was less taxing than the way up, but we also had to be pretty careful most of it.  A few times I'd go off the trail to walk in the snow so I didn't risk slipping on the ice--my little traveling buddy LOVED that part.  His favorite thing was when I would slip a little or when my foot would go way down into the snow and we'd step down quickly.  He would giggle and giggle.  He kept us laughing through the crazy trip down the mountain!

And then he fell asleep.  Glad he was comfortable back there.

So amazing this part of the Earth that God created.

We made it back down to our car!

Thursday afternoon we decided to head back out to the Gorge Bridge and try out the hiking trail since we knew where it was now.  We packed a lunch at ate at the rest area before our hike.  Then we headed out.

Cooper was on my back for most of the hike again, but when we got to the point where we were ready to turn around we let him get down and run around a little.  The trail itself is about 10 miles long (I think) so we hiked out about 1.5 miles before turning around since we had to once again get back in time for nap.  But it was a great walk, beautiful weather, and amazing views.

Our little hiker.

Our week away was such a fun time as a family of 3.  I know I said it before, but we really feel like Taos was a perfect location for our first family vacation-- it had plenty to do in town and lots of places to be active and run around.  The weather was beautiful.  The food was delicious.  There was so much to see.  We ended up not doing much of the historical stuff (pueblos, churches, etc.) in favor of more hiking, but it seems to have some stuff for everyone there.

Cooper's first family vacation is in the books!  And it was definitely one to remember!