Ouray, the last day....

I never finished telling about our camping trip! There are more pictures to share, as well.

After we came off the mountain and back toward town, we headed for our original hiking destination: Box Canon. We wanted to see the Box Canon Falls. It is essentially a box canyon with a river running through it. At the point of a fault, the canyon falls and the water follows. But it isn't a typical waterfall, this one the water sort of spirals through the rock. It's pretty amazing to see! So we did the walk on the steel walkway, down the steps, and to the base of the falls. Very loud, a little cool, and the wonderful smell of water spraying as it splashes.

Back into town we headed for the hot springs. The Utes believed this pool was sacred and had healing properties. As a pool of water that naturally stays 102-106 degrees, I'd have to agree. It was extremely relaxing, despite the toddler who loves water trying to get away so he could splash. It was the first time I purposely let him go and sink to the bottom in an attempt to scare him into being a little less wiggly....it didn't work. Granted, it was only about 3 1/2 feet deep, but he thought that was a great moment. He's just too big for me to hold onto now!

Our time of relaxation over, we headed back to camp for a short time of fishing. I was anxious to break my new fly rod in. It had been waiting for this day for about a year and a half. That's a long time! I didn't more than about a dozen casts in, though, because the wind had kicked up enough that I couldn't see my fly (we were on the lake, not the river). Aside from that, Luke had somehow managed to take a header into the lake. I'm not sure how he managed it, but he did get back onto his feet and into more shallow water in the time it took me to drop my rather expensive rod (eek!) and start my own dive. There were three adults, and I was supposed to have a break from my normal parental duties so I could fish...that didn't happen. Oh well. Back to camp for some dry clothes. I did manage to catch a little Rainbow on my spinning rod, daddy caught a Rainbow and walleye, and our friend caught 5 Rainbows (for those who don't know, Rainbows are species of trout). Despite the anxiety I felt before heading out, it was a great evening.

Back at camp I fixed some buffalo chili, which Luke proceeded to devour, we started planning our clean-up and pack-out for the morning, and marveled at the camp host's cat who was out on his nightly walk....on a leash. This cat was better on a leash than most dogs! It cracked me up. After Luke crashed for the night we just sat under the stars enjoying the silence and the campfire. We took a little walk to see the lake by night from the overlook, then headed to bed ourselves. It was late and we did have a five hour drive the next day. It was a wonderful last evening in Uncompahgre Wilderness....