Hiking...Ward Style

We have found that our favorite hikes, don't include trails!  We just pick a spot and GO have an adventure!!

 

On our hiking adventure we came across what we call "Elk Mountain".  An Elk head complete with fur, antlers, structure, eyes...aided in the name of the mountain! 

 

 

CJ found a "sword" in the general area.  After a few swings with the sword, Laura and Clay said, "You know CJ...yes that looks like a sword, but if you turn it around it also looks like a cross.  Someone might have built a grave site for this Elk and we aren't being very respectful."  So with that the sword was transformed into a cross and the kids built a nice monument for the poor elk on Elk Mountain.

 

Scenic Picnic

 

 

After our motorcycle ride through the mountains everyone was tired and hungry.  So we plopped in the mountain meadow that was across from our campspot and enjoyed our meal with beautiful scenery!  Everyone was super excited about the chips and oreos!  Then for our after meal entertainment we shot at our pop cans (Clayboy decided to use Aparri's head to steady the gun...lovely!)  Preston ate until he had a full belly then closed his eyes for an afternoon siesta!

 

 

motorcycling in the mountains

 

We took the motorcycles camping with us!  This WAS the place to ride too!  It seemed everyone was there riding their outdoor play thing...gators, razors, 4 wheelers, dirt bikes...you name it and it was up there cruisin' around the mountains.  It was a gorgeous area to do it too!  Now where to ride? We tried one trail first - but Laura and a few of the kids didn't like the rough terrain - it was a little beyond our abilities (some of us are still beginners here!)  so we coasted (literally) down the trail and tried a more conservative - easy ride on a mountain road.  MUCH BETTER!  Laura was happy!  It was a gorgeous ride and the perfect amount of slope up and down!  Preston even found a "friend" on the side of the road!  The kids all thought it was amazing!  Plus we all have on our motorcycle gear (thanks to Clayboy) now we look legit!  We are a Motorcycle Family!

 

 

If you look really closely.....you can find the orange tent on the mountainside.  Our camp was right next that on the left!  It was fun to see the camp area from up high!

Red River Camping

On our last camping trip, we went South - this time we headed North.  We ended up in an area called Red River by Taos.  It was GORGEOUS!  We were a little nervous when we arrived - it started to rain the second the car stopped!  But, it was a short lived sprinkle and we were able to set up camp and set settled on dry land.  We chose a camp spot that had lots of trees - just in case it decided to rain again (and it did)  we would have some natural shelter.  This camping experience was a little different from our last secluded area where we saw maybe one/two people the whole 3 days we were up there.  Red River area was a popular area for off road toys!  There were motorcycles, four wheelers, razor things, pretty much any kind of off road man toy you can imagine was up there!  It was the perfect area for it too.  We became good friends with the campers right beside us, did some bead crafts, rode motorcycles, cooked smores, explored Red River, went fishing, and all within a 2 night 3 day time frame!  We also learned from our last camping trip that we have graduated from a 1 tent family to a 2 tent family!!!    It sure is a lot of work to get ready and go camping- but it is soooo worth it!