Photos with description from the Colorado Trail
Chuck and Tiphanie, our niece, started the Colorado Trail at Buffalo Creek Trailhead due to fire and floods having recently impacted the trail from Denver to Buffalo 
Creek and at the time it was closed to hiking. Tiphanie was with us most of the time we hiked the Colorado Trail and she hiked a large portion of it. The Colorado Trail winds through the mountains from Denver to Durango.
Susan (our daughter), EJ and the boys lived in Colorado Springs at the time and EJ, Bren and Bob would come out on several occasions. EJ would hike with Chuck and Tiph and the boys would spend the day with me. On several occasions Susan came out with the boys and we would 
all hike some and have a great deal of fun. Mike was just beginning to stand up and walk around things and, in fact, on one of my trips back to Colorado Springs he took his first steps.
We car camped – camping out of the car but still in a tent. We could carry lots of luxuries because we had a big area to store things. Chuck and whomever he was hiking with that day could get an early start while the support person (usually me but not always) packed things up and drove to the next site. There were always chances to be a trail angel because after a little while on the trail you began to run across the same hikers. “Mo” and “Heidi” were two such hikers that I had encountered several different days and would pick them up at a trailhead to take them into town or I would find them hiking back to a trailhead and give them a ride. Some of the interesting towns the trail goes though or near were Breckenridge, Leadville, Gunniston, Silverton and Durango. Gunniston was a ways off, but we did go into Gunniston for our anniversary. Leadville was interesting because it is the scene of the Leadville 100. Runners ran a 100 mile trail over the mountains. We met some of the runners who were training for it.
The boys and I would skip stones in the water. They really loved that. They also
liked to climb trees or just run around. We would sometimes start up the trail to meet EJ and Chuck coming down. Driving down the road from Aspen we found a stopped police car along the side of the road. It had a “dummy” behind the wheel and a burger king sack and wrapper and fries laying on the dashboard. We had to get out, check it out and take some pictures. These were two little guys with lots of energy.
So, as is usually the case, the trail was fun for Chuck who had a chance to finish the trail, hike with EJ, Tiph, Mae, Susan, the boys, and me. It was also lots of fun for me – hiking, supporting and spending time with Susan and the kids.