Another weekend at home made for another fun adventure with my family. This weekend, my sister had to hike for one of her classes, so we did that! We ended up going to Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Commerce City and hiked around several of the lakes there.
Saturday was a beautiful day here in Colorado. It was a little breezy but it was still shorts weather (yay!) so all was good. Our first hike was around Lake Ladona which is one of the larger lakes at Rocky Mountain Arsenal. There was a large, paved main path and then heading into the grass, there was a more narrow and natural trail. I decided to take the more narrow trail that lead through the grass. I thought we were going to get lost while on this trail but thank goodness my dad was paying attention and found an easier dirt trail along the way! Along the trail, we saw deer hoof prints, cattails, a variety of bushes, and of course trees. It was wonderful to see the trees displaying their orange, yellow, and red tones for fall. That’s my favorite part of fall. The trees are always so pretty!
As our hike around Lake Ladona came to an end, we got to pass directly over the lake see more plants and algae. I was hoping to see some frogs, but they weren’t around unfortunately. After finishing up the loop around Lake Ladona, we headed over to a smaller lake, Lake Mary. Lake Mary had a lot of beautiful trees and the view around this lake was gorgeous. There were plenty of little areas to go exploring around Lake Mary too, which made it more fun.
Hiking at Rocky Mountain Arsenal is totally a family-friendly experience. The hikes are easy and there are lots of places to stop to rest and also take pictures! At the visitor center, there’s a lot of valuable information about the arsenal and the animals that call it home. One of Rocky Mountain Arsenal’s greatest contributions is to the black-footed ferret population. They’ve helped bring the ferrets back in numbers and do amazing things to educate society on the cute, little prairie dog hunters.
So if you’re looking for a fun, easy hike, near Commerce City, Colorado, Rocky Mountain Arsenal is the place for you. My family and I really enjoyed our time there. What a fun way to spend time in the great outdoors. Have a good week everyone!