Memorial Day ‘North Fork” Trail Hike

I have spent much of my adult life in the backwoods of life with the theory that the best places in the world to see you can't really drive to.  You have to lace up the hiking shoes and do some manual labor to truly enjoy some of the best sights there are to see.

So, we laced up the shoes on Memorial Day and took our dog Maya out for her first real hike up in the mountains.  The North Fork Trail had been calling my name for years and it was time.

The drive is an easy one up to Drake then take the road to Glen Haven and about 9 miles down you turn right on 51B and the another 2 miles down the dirt road to the trail head.

The hike is just breathtaking and will eventually take you all the way into Rocky Mountain National Park, Crystal Lake etc.  You truly could just keep hiking with all the trail junctions and the scenery is just amazing.  {Had my phone not died I would have had many more pics to share.  We hiked the trail about 4 miles one way along the North Fork exploring along the way and finding several really nice backcountry camping sites that are now on our Summer "to do list."

One of the best days yet and we even got snowed on...in fact, I am pretty sure we went through all 4 seasons yesterday and enjoyed every minute of it.  Maya even got to go for her first swim and let's just say that is now being referred to as "the incident" as titled by my youngest, Cade!

If your looking for a great day hike or even just a "half day" day hike as we did Monday, you can't go wrong with this trail.

If you have know of a great trail that follows water or leads you to a great spot please share them with us so we too can lace up the hiking shoes and check it out.