We have been busy the last week and a half at Snow Mountain with our second group of visitors. Every time we return to SMR, it seems that we have more to do and less time to do it. Plus, we love just hanging around the campsite with our camping friends who are now regulars 😉

Aside from reworking the geocaching program and spending time with the sled dogs, we have played hard with the VanAlstyne, Beintum, and M families!

After relaxing for one short afternoon,

the Van Alstynes came in the day our first group left and we moved across the campground from near the yurts to a perfect party village site next to the grills and bathroom.

All the kids learned how to do some primitive fishing.

They also made a massive fort!

They were followed shortly by the M family and Beintums.
One time is never enough, so we enjoyed more climbing

 

while the girls wait (they won’t be old enough until next year),

mini golf,

 

running,

wildlife viewing,

more sled dogs,

roller skating (which the girls are finally catching on and loving it!),

 

s’mores, zip lining for B (who was injured last time),

walking sticks and visiting the homestead,

and of course, more tubing with our giant group.

 
We held everybody off from crafts for awhile, and eventually went in for a couple days of painting their latest creations.

 

 

The “Icy Bike” even made an appearance in the craft shop for free freeze pops.

Gav and I participated in one of the most unique activities, a human hungry, hungry hippos game,

and Braden enjoyed trying soccer golf after we lost our own soccer ball down the mountain.

There has been a lot of rain this last week, so we are loving our nice big camper to stay warm and dry…

And for having movie and ice cream socials with all the kiddos.

Rain gave us time to play games

and obsessively finish a 1000 piece puzzle.

And lots of rain means… You guessed it, more rainbows!

We are getting used to using public restrooms and showers once again.

One of our all time favorite activities is spending time with the M family on their boat,

 

and both Gav and E jumped in for a new challenge.

 

Crazy tubing always follows.

The M family was so welcoming to the other two families we had with us, and they spent one of the days on the boat giving everybody turns in shifts, while others enjoyed the beach.

  

We always seem to miss the Fourth of July festivities in Grandby, but we are so thankful we stuck around this year.  The Granby Rodeo

with the whole crew was a blast,

followed by some super cool fireworks.

We lived it up on the 4th, and loved the super cool Granby parade,

SMR snow cones,

games,

and festivities,

and a grand celebration for Rick’s birthday in Grand Lake with their neighborhood friends,

followed by more fireworks.

Departing on the 5th was difficult after all the great fun!  It seriously breaks our hearts every time we leave Colorado, and we already miss SMR,

but thankfully we were so fortunate to win this 2 night cabin stay to come back again soon!

We are looking forward to our new adventures in the wilds of our favorite national parks!

 We have been fortunate enough to be assigned a fun task while here at Snow Mountain Ranch.  In the past, we have enjoyed geocaching between activities.  The kids love finding the hidden treasures and trading out trinkets.  Our first year here, we were exploring the old mining cave, and stumbled upon our first cache – we were so excited about it, we had to look for more! 

Over the years, the program fell by the wayside and many of the caches have disappeared.  Trueman allowed us to revive the program by figuring out which caches are still there, and replacing the others.  His lovely wife, Wendy, donated a bunch of water bottles to the cause and we collected some trinkets from our car and friends. 

The last few days have been spent looking for caches, creating new ones, replanting them, and revising the clues. 

Caches can be found at 18 locations, including the Rowley homestead,

Just Ranch,

reunion cabins,

beaver dams, waterfall,

stable,

reservoir,

Sanctuary Point,

mining cabin, cave,

grill,

Meditation Labyrinth,

tunnel,

2 of the 5 Snow Mountain peaks,

Nine Mile trailhead, Nine Mile trail,

and the yurt village. 

Thankfully, whatever guests have been with us were happy to go along for the ride. 

While down at s’mores one day, we looked for the caches at the Just Ranch and Reunion Cabins, and came out ½. 

Many of the clues have become outdated – for example, the one inside the grill was supposed to be with the salad dressing, which is no longer kept out.  After asking where the salad dressing was, we got lucky and found it behind an old computer desk. 

Some of the caches have moved from in a tree to a under a pile of rocks, like the beaver dam. 

Others like the waterfall are gone, so we replaced them.

The cache at the Meditation Labyrinth was either eaten or destroyed by the elements when we found it.

The most difficult ones to find are on Snow Mountain, a hard 6 mile hike straight up and down.  One early morning (we even ran into 3 moose that day!),

the boys and I hiked up only to discover both were missing, but rest assured, they are now replaced and ready for someone to find!

The other hike was up Nine Mile Mountain, and we found ½ there in the mailbox. 

 

The Beintums joined us for the adventurous search on a sunny afternoon.

It was a lot more work than we thought to get things in order, but after 2 weeks at SMR, it’s done!  We have replanted all of the caches, and now that we have retyped all the clues, hope that geocaching will be back in action for many families who vacation at Snow Mountain Ranch!

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The dog sled program at Snow Mountain Ranch has had a tremendous impact on our family, and our group wanted nothing more than to give back to it.  Every Saturday morning, Chaplain Steve does a life-changing presentation, describing the value of perseverance and his experiences with dog sledding, followed by time with the dogs and a fun sled dog craft.  The value of his presentation is so great to our family and others that we find ourselves returning week after week to hear and experience it again and again.

The highlight of our week was taking a few of the Snow Mountain Ranch sled dogs (Aspen, Indigo, and Zoey) on a hike around Monarch Lake with one of our favorite SMR leaders, Chaplain Steve.  As our group continued to grow, Steve happily agreed to allow all four families (the Beintums, VanAlstynes, M family, and us) on the hike, followed by a visit to his beautiful home to see all the dogs.

Monarch Lake is a must see for those who visit the Granby/Grand Lake area, and the 4 mile hike around it is beautiful and rewarding. 

The sled dogs were so excited to go, and did not slow down for anyone!  Luckily, all 12 kids did a great job of walking quickly all the way with no complaints. 

 

Upon finishing the hike, we continued on to Steve’s home to visit the dogs. 

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Our plan was to have the kids help do some chores, but after learning what Steve’s real needs were, we cleared the kids out and left the guys there to build a dog run from their individual houses to their playpen.   Chuck loves digging, working hard, and helping out when he can, so he was ecstatic to lend a hand.  While it rained, we spent the afternoon playing games at the library, while the guys worked on the run.  It was such a fun and rewarding day!  There is nothing like having the time and being capable of helping out such a great man and his dogs.

 

By the time the guys returned to the campsite, we were rewarded with rainbows all around camp, and a fun magic show for all.  We are feeling so blessed!  The Hoffpack and friends will definitely lend a hand when we can in the future.