Mount Falcon with the kids 7,851 Feet/2393 Meters

Mount Falcon is part of the Jefferson Count Open Space System.  Here is the parks website.   We took the Tower Trail from the west trail head.  It is a very easy trail which follows a mountain meadow on a gentle ridge so the views start off almost immediately.  This is perfect with kids because some days you may have to turn around 10 minutes into the hike.  There is also ample wildflowers and some wildlife as well.  For adults this would be a 35 to 45 minute outing, we took considerably longer.  There are much tougher trails from the East trail head in Morrison.

Stats
1.2 miles round trip, .6 miles one way.
231 Feet of elevation gain 
2:40  Total time

Day Off
The kids daycare flooded last Friday after heavy rains, its monsoon season in the southwest!  They found mold in the walls and have to tear down and replace all the walls on the North side of the building.  Mount Falcon is pretty crazy on the summer weekends so this was a great opportunity to take the kids. 

Start of the trail on the West Side of the parking lot. This loops back East giving you some nice views for your start.

I always use trekking poles with the backpack carrier. With Oscar in the pack sitting away from my body, I can be forced to hunch over on steeper parts of the trail to counterbalance. The trekking poles allow me to keep an upright posture.  They can also be shortened so the kids can use them.

I had to remind the kids not to run on the trail especially with trekking poles and especially when carrying them like a spear. Oscar fell a few time along the way losing some skin in the gravel. He'll be 2 in about a week so he is still working on the coordination.

The downside of kids hiking with sandals is they tend to drag their feet and pick up pebbles. Oscar has a bad habit of dropping to the ground to clear his shoes without telling me. I turn around and he is down the trail.

I try to keep Oscar's hat on so the bill protects his face from the sun but he likes to turn it around.  Freya is one stylish 4 year old in her sun hat.

Put a camera in front of Oscar and the show is on!

Great shot of Freya with the trail winding through the meadow in the background. Freya is a great hiker when she wants to be.  I like to have her wear her backpack so she gets used to it.  I tried to fill the water bladder once but it was too heavy for her so I just put her coat and the snacks in there.  She likes the idea of carrying the snacks.

Going left here takes you on Castle Trail to the ruins of John Brisben's house and a second house he built to be the Western White house or presidential retreat. The top of Mt Falcon is straight ahead.

Oscar had a meltdown after I refused to let him splash in the mud. He refused to move. Progress can be slow with the kids.

My attempt at consoling Oscar wasn't working so I let Freya give it a try but it became apparent that the temptations of the puddle were too much to overcome.

I decided to let the kids play in the mud as long as Oscar didn't try to sit down in it.

This is from a "Goats Beard" flower. It's a big yellow flower that must be a relative of the dandelion. Oscar loves these things, with his limited vocabulary he refers to them as "bubbles".   I had to put him in the pack kicking and screaming to get him away from the puddle.  Freya made sure he maintained a fresh supply of Goats Beard for a while, he soon forgot about the puddle.

We soon gained sight of the trail leading up to the tower.

The horse poop was one of the kids favorite sights of the day. These are true multiuse trails. In my opinion Jefferson county is a model for how different users can coexist on the same trails. With small children you have to keep watch because Jeffco Openspace is also a mountain biking Mecca, world class. I'm sure there are exceptions but all my interactions with bikers have been positive, they are respectful and polite to hikers. I try to step off trails and let them pass if they are on a single track climb, its always appreciated.

Sorry kids, there will be no more horse pooh.

Freya headed up to the tower on the Peak of Mt Falcon.

Group photo, great day!

Kids were having fun together.

Mt Evans, a 14,000+ foot peak or "14er". Summers in Colorado can get overbearing with the all the sun. The thin air at altitude can make it feel like you are wearing it. A partly cloudy day like this is much appreciated.

Freya topping out on some fun boulders at the base of the fire tower.

Oscar's top out.  This morning Oscar went into his drawers and grabbed his own clothing!  This was Oscar's first time he dressed himself, I had to turn his shorts around the correct way.

The kids had a lot of fun on these boulders.   I try not to talk to Oscar too much when he is climbing on the rocks so he can concentrate on what he is doing.

I used this as an opportunity to let Oscar touch the needles and warn him about the dangers of cactus.

There is a bee deep down in that Prickly Pear flower.

We found some kind of Ladybug swarm. This was easily the kids highlight of the day, even better than the horse poop.  I found this article on Convergent Lady Bugs.

We were all covered with ladybugs, it was hard to pull the kids away from this, they loved it! Freya found a friend to hike with, she was out with her Grandmother. We passed them on they way up and they shared their snacks with us in the tower. The girls hiked back to the cars together chatting and giggling the whole way.

Oscar descending the steps. He hiked probably 1 mile of the 1.2 we did that day. I put him in the pack at the end when it began to rain so I could get him under the rain cover. He was asleep when we got to the car.

Kids packed up in the minivan and ready to go. Back at home they both took long naps giving me some time to work on this blog post.