Chief Hosa Trail-Our First Colorado Hike- July 4, 2012

Chief Hosa Trail could have been the beginning of the end of my hiking career in Colorado.  We always joke about how hot, miserable, and unpleasant the whole experience was.

Brad had been there a few years back, and it was beautiful (according to him), with a creek flowing the whole way through and abundant fish and wildlife on the trip.  For us, it was quite different.  Colorado was in a serious drought when we first moved here (there were even several wildfires burning throughout the state), and the trail had seen the effects of this drought.

There was a creek bed, but no creek.  The fish were either dead in the dry creek bed or floating in tiny pools of water that were too small for even one fish, let alone the 15 or 20 who were trying to survive in about a cup of water.

Needless to say, I wasn't an avid hiker at this point anyway, so I was done with hiking after this trip.  It was hot and unpleasant all day, and I had already made up my mind that this wasn't for me!

Of course, if you know me at all, you know that isn't the case these days.  Thankfully, Brad convinced me to try a different trail soon after, and our love affair with hiking began soon after.

Here are some shots from our first hike at Chief Hosa.  You can tell that most of the shots from the end of the trail overlooking the mountain look cloudy.  That's from the wildfires nearby.