Glen Haven, CO and the North Fork Trail

Hiking In Glen Haven, CO has been one of my favorite activities this summer! Just a few miles from Estes Park brings one to an idealistic little town with a quaint B and B, a General store that sells mouth-watering cinnamon rolls and my  favorite place, Leah's.  Leah's is a gift shop and tea room.  I discovered it when after hiking Crosier Mountain, I wandered into the store and was delighted to meet the proprieter herself, Leah and Carol, her sweet Mother.  One of their specials of the day was Hibiscus Iced Tea.  One taste and instantly it was one of my favorite drinks of all time; completely renewing after a long, hot hike.  The next time I visited Leah's, the special was Wild Berry Iced Tea.  At that point, I had to know Leah's secret.  She confessed that the tea was made from Boulder's Celestial Seasonings Wild Berry Tea and they naturally sweetened the tea by adding fresh blueberries.  After purchasing the cutest mini flower floating candles and bath confetti and sucking down another heavenly iced tea, I bid ado to Leah and Carol, until I saw them several other weekends this summer. 
http://leahshop.com/

This summer I have made all types of combinations of flavored iced teas from Celestial Seasonings, experimenting with various summer fruits to naturally sweeten the tea.  It is the most refreshing aperitif for summer!  To spicen it up a bit I add a little vodka or American Honey. Now, Leah has directed me to other great hikes in Glen Haven, of which one of them is the North Fork Trail which is located at the Dunraven Trailhead.  This past Sat. I hiked the North Fork Trail for the second time with my best friend Mary and dogs, Oliver and Scout. http://www.coloradohikingtrails.net/wiki/North_Fork_Trail_929

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The North Fork Trail has about 1/4 mile that is steep, otherwise the trail meanders nicely along the Big Thompson River for 4.3 miles until you reach Rocky Mountain National Park.  This is where I turn around, since dogs are not allowed in national parks.  The trail literally follows the river the entire way which is very convenient for not having to bring along water for the dogs and for the peaceful lull that the sound of rushing water creates.   

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Gorgeous, numerous wild flowers of every name abound along the path, generating a clean, fruity smell in the air mingled with fresh pine.  About two miles in, you will pass a camp and horse stable.  Saturday, the path alongside the horse stables was teeming with horseflies, which bite by the way.  That part was not fun, but we ran through there quickly.  Unfortunately, Mary was bitten a few times.  I guess I am not sweet enough. 

We hiked this trail about a month ago and had to turn around a bit past the horse stables due to time constraints.  Saturday, we were able to hike the trail to the point right before entering RMNP and then turned around for a round trip of 8.6 miles. 

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Oliver and Scout love the hike as much as I do.  They stopped at several water holes along the way to drink and play.  Scout (the black and white little girl) is a swimmer at heart, but Oliver doesn't seem to have faith that he can swim.  Once he dove off of a limestone rock into deep water and immediately freaked out.  I lead him by the leash to a shallower area, but the whole time he was swimming to the shallow area his eyes were panic stricken, but as soon as he put paw to land, he let out a big, deep sigh, almost to say, "Whew, I made it.  That was a close one."  Too funny! 

Of course, after our hike we stopped in to see Leah and Carol.  I tried their new Lavender and Blueberry soda water with a fresh sprig of mint-- delightful!  Mary stuck with the Rasberry Iced Tea, always refreshing!

This time we didn't stop at the Estes Park dog park while heading home.  The park has a lake where the dogs can swim as well. We needed to get back because we had evening dinner reservations at McCormick Fish House and Bar at the historic Oxford Hotel in downtown Denver.  After dropping the dogs at home to sleep off their hike, showering of course, and primping for our evening ahead, we made our way to downtown.

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