{"id":2632,"date":"2013-10-04T20:48:55","date_gmt":"2013-10-05T01:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/?p=2632"},"modified":"2013-10-12T11:19:20","modified_gmt":"2013-10-12T16:19:20","slug":"colorado-discoveries-14-farish-recreation-area-near-woodland-park-co","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2013\/10\/colorado-discoveries-14-farish-recreation-area-near-woodland-park-co\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Discoveries 14: Farish Recreation Area near Woodland Park, CO"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"That<\/a>
That is the WEST side of Pike’s Peak behind us. We have a view of the east face from our house. Cadet Rob took this nice picture of us.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I don’t know about you guys, but fall is officially here!<\/p>\n

Heck, let’s just call it winter! We awoke this morning to rain while the temperature continued to fall below freezing. The water droplets FROZE to the car…which made getting the kids to school this morning difficult.<\/p>\n

(Yes, I drove the kids to school, since it was raining).<\/p>\n

This is going to be a COLD weekend, and I’m looking forward to \u00a0doing INDOOR stuff. Sorry, it’s going to take a whle to shake the Florida thin blood out of my system. On Saturday the family is heading up to Loveland, Colorado for the Northern Colorado Mini Maker Faire<\/a> (read more about it here<\/a>). Sunday should be a day at home.<\/p>\n

But last weekend was delightful! We spent Saturday hiking in the mountains, and Sunday up in Georgetown, Colorado visiting the tourist railroad<\/a> there (which is for another post).
\n<\/p>\n

The Farish Recreation Area<\/a> is the U.S. Air Force Academy’s recreation area near Woodland Park. It’s only open to DoD ID card holders and there’s an admission fee per vehicle for day visits. It has cabins, campsites, fishing ponds, and tons of trails for hiking, ATVs, and cross country skiing in the winter. Unfortunately, due to funding constraints, the facility won’t be open this winter. It will be open from April – September of 2014.<\/p>\n

You can also hike due west from the Air Force Academy about 7 miles (over the Rampart Range through Stanley Canyon) and hit Farish that way<\/a>. If you want to do this, this website has directions to the eastern trailhead on the USAFA campus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A Volksmarch<\/a>\u00a0at Farish caught my attention late last week and we decided to check it out. It was 10 kilometers, which we’ll find out really pushed our boys’ limits. Our sponsor cadet joined us, he’s the uniformed young man in some of our pictures. 10K didn’t bother him one bit.<\/p>\n

I was hoping to see some color in the aspen, but not quite yet. Probably this weekend, especially with the temperature change.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7565\"<\/a>
We’re probably about a week from those aspen on the left turning brilliant gold in color.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Meet<\/a>
Meet Rob, the 4th class (read: Freshman) cadet we’re sponsoring<\/a>.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The trails at Farish are absolutely beautiful! However, 10K was tough for Timmy, and he wore the wrong shoes for the trip (slip-on Vans). We tried to carry him, but he didn’t seem to enjoy being carried either. It was pretty traumatic for him towards the end. But he stuck it out and completed the 10K.<\/p>\n

The terrain isn’t super-rugged, which makes this area perfect for all-ages hiking.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_7567\"<\/a>
It looks really flat here, doesn’t it? I don’t remember it being that flat…this was taken during one of Timmy’s tired moments. Rob offered to help him.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don’t know about you guys, but fall is officially here! Heck, let’s just call it winter! We awoke this morning to rain while the temperature continued to fall below freezing. The water droplets FROZE to the car…which made getting the kids to school this morning difficult. (Yes, I drove the kids to school, since … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[385,100,386,429],"class_list":["post-2632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-air-force-academy","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-discoveries","tag-farish-recreation-area"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t