Yellow Assspens & Mt. Royal

Summer was fun. It's over for now and I'll miss it. Now though, let's talk about Fall. I love Fall, I love changing leaves, cooler temps, fall fashion and a little thing called asssssspens.

This past weekend I wanted to lounge in bed take advantage of the changing aspens, so I decided to hike to Rainbow Lake with my dog and brother's dog. This easy two-miler turned out to be a half-miler, too easy and too short for this little guy. So I continued down another trail, though the beeeeautiful, yellow aspens, where I made my dogs pose for a picture, obviously.

Stella and Ziggy. Welcoming you to Fall!

Through the aspen alleys we went, probably a mile. Then the trail started to climb. I got sort of tired, but tired in a good way, so I kept going. Then the trail got really steep and this made me grouchy, but I kept on going because Penman's are no quitters. At one point, another hiker passed and I asked what trail I was on. The hiker told me we were on the Mt. Royal trail and I was about halfway up.

I continued hiking on the steep trail, watching my dogs sprint effortlessly up and down the trail in front of me (showoffs). I definitely felt the burn in the booty, but it was okay because I HAD to stop to take pictures of the beautiful views. 

Zig + beautiful view.

Finally, after another mile-ish of steep hiking, when I thought I could take no more, it was over. I reached the top! Glorious! I could see I-70, Buffalo Mountain and gorgeous, yellow, dancing aspens in the wind. The hike was hard and I was sweaty, but it was definitely worth it!

Asssspenssss!

Overall, the hike took me about two-and-a-half hours, including several stops to let the dogs swim and take pictures. It was about a four mile hike from where I started. I think without all the breaks I could have finished in an hour-and-a-half. Although Mt. Royal wasn't my intended hike, I am very glad I happened upon it. It became my new favorite, booty-blasting hike!