Hiking at Devil's Backbone

Today we decided to drive over to Loveland, CO and go for a family hike together.  We didn't know exactly where we were going to go, but Devil's Backbone was one of the closer trails to the city.  I (Paul) had never been there before, and Erin hadn't been there since she was in college.  Before the hike we sat down near the parking lot and had a nice lunch together.  Jude must have eaten half a container of Pringles.  I don't know where he puts it all.  Here is a nice pre-lunch picture:

 After lunch we got all of our gear together and took a few more pictures.  Here is one of Idelette ready for her first hike with Daddy.

Here's another picture of her showing how excited she was.

About 1/4 of the way up the trail I thought I would try to get a few pictures of the boys as they were hiking.  Here is one of Jonah blazing the trail for the rest of us.

Before long, Jonah had moved from the front with Daddy to the rear with Mommy, and Jude took over leading the group.  We were having a great time and it was a beautiful day.  Jude was getting quite a ways away from us so I ran to catch up with him.  When I got closer I told him to stop so that I could take a picture of him in all his hiking glory.

Great picture, right?  Not really.  Let me show the picture again with a little more clarity and perspective.

That's right.  About a foot away from Jude was a pretty angry rattlesnake.   Let's look at a closer picture of Jude in the same place.

Jude had stopped by the snake for maybe 30-45 seconds so that I could get a picture and moved on.  However, as I walked past the same spot I heard the following:  "HIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSS......*rattle*  *rattle*"  About 2 seconds after I heard that noise I died a little inside and was mentally in the fetal position.  I moved quickly past the snake and would have probably collapsed in fear if I didn't have the other half of my family to warn as they approached the same spot.  I grabbed Jude and told Erin to pick up Jonah and stop moving.  A few hikers walked up to the spot and when I said the word "rattlesnake" you could literally see the color go out of their faces.  One of the hikers said "Well, they can't jump that far," so he started to walk past the snake but the rattler wouldn't have any of it and soon that same brave hiker became a little less confident.  Long story short, Erin & Jonah left the path to get around the snake and we spent the rest of the hike in fear wondering when we would run into the next one.  When we got back to the car we felt relieved.  Before hopping in the car to get as far away from there as possible I took one more picture of Idelette after her first hike.  Here she is with her beautiful mother.

We went to a great park in Loveland afterwards and the boys were able to get out some more energy.  Jonah sat on a little bucket that spins and thought it was hilarious.  The second time he sat on it....well that's another story altogether.  Let's just say Erin doesn't know how to hold back when spinning her children.  We had a video of it, but it magically disappeared from my phone before I could upload it...

That was pretty much our day.  In hindsight, we are just so thankful that God allowed the rattlesnake to be there, and yet not harm any of us.  The day could have been VERY different had the snake decided he didn't want a 2 year old boy standing next to him or a 29 year old man walking past him.  It was kind of neat for all of us to see a rattlesnake out in the wild, but I think we all prefer them behind an inch of glass at the zoo.
  
All in all, a pretty uneventful day...