One of the things that drew us out to Colorado was a time we came on vacation, while we were still living in Tulsa, and stayed in a tiny home in Golden. It had no air conditioning and was definitely outside of our comfort zone at first, but we felt a certain peace by being so close to nature.
A couple of pictures from our tiny home adventure:
Drawing upon that experience, the weekend of July 1, 2017, we wanted to feel that peace again, so Carly and I set out to have a relaxing picnic in nature. After doing a little searching, I came across Lair O The Bear Park and the Bear Creek Trail, described as “shady, close to the creek, and plenty of picnic spots”. Sounds like exactly what we were looking for!
We arrived between 11:15 and 11:30 am, and the parking lot was already full, but we decided to make the loop around the lot, hoping that someone would be leaving and we could have their spot. Almost right away, there were a couple of cars backing out. It was our lucky day!! I even made the comment to Carly that “this never happens!” Feeling the good vibes about the way the day was going to go, we parked and geared up with my backpack full of picnic treats, ready to tackle the trail and find the perfect spot.
We followed the Bear Creek trail, and there were quite a few people along the creek, stopped and enjoying the beautiful day. It wasn’t crowded by any means, but there were certainly people around. There were plenty of short offshoot trails that connected the main Bear Creek trail to the creek as we walked along, so we decided to continue hiking up the trail until we found an offshoot trail where we felt like we would be left alone.
I started my AllTrails tracker a little late into the hike, but gauging from the distance of our return, we hiked approximately 1.2 miles down the trail (far left black dot). 
As you can see, it was an easy trail to get there, with barely any elevation change. The trail was wide, allowing Carly and I to hike side-by-side, which is something we really enjoy, but can’t ordinarily do.
We picked one of the offshoot trails and followed it to the most perfect, serene spot on the creek, where there were a few fisherman fly-fishing.
As they were fishing, we assumed they would be quiet and decided that this was a pretty amazing spot, even if we weren’t totally alone. We set up our picnic blanket underneath a shady tree by the banks, and we were ready to relax!!
We unpacked the picnic that we had brought, which consisted of sandwiches and snacks (classic picnic!!), and enjoyed our day along the creek.
The water was extremely cold at first, and I could only keep my feet in for 30 seconds at a time before getting back out, but eventually my feet went numb and I was able to wade around while Carly relaxed. Feeling the ice-cold water flowing around my feet and ankles immediately made me feel like I was one with nature, even if just for that quick moment.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukMHlEWcmbc]
We spent a few hours at this spot, watching as a fly fisherman journeyed into the spot in the creek right in front of us for a few minutes, catching only a few small fish that he threw back. It was exciting for us watching the fly lure float down the river, only to disappear when he got a bite. After watching him, Carly and I decided that fly fishing would be something that we’d like to try!
All in all, it was an extremely successful picnic, and a spot that I’m sure we’ll be coming back to visit very soon. It was fantastic to get back in touch with nature and recapture the feeling we had when moving out here!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfHwe4r44LM]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk0knaP7o-w]