Friday Hike Day: Icehouse Saddle, Mt Baldy

Mistletoe blown down onto the ground by the wind.

We returned to Icehouse Canyon to hike the Icehouse Saddle trail. It's about 4.3 miles one way, uphill and rocky. It was very windy this Friday. We could hear the wind approaching like thunder. The hike up warmed us up but that wind was still very chilly. The hike is not easy due to the incline.

It sure was gorgeous though with all the fall colors on brilliant display. Due to all the wind, there were lots of fresh greenery on the ground too. The creek water was also flowing much more than the week before.

The teens all got tired so the oldest (us moms) and two youngest kids pursued our destination and achieved total bragging rights. It was a nice hike thanks to the lovely environment but the wind stirred up allergies in a few of our kids and that was definitely not fun for anyway.

Try taking a selfie with this type of wind blowing!?!

One of the neatest things about our hike this week was discovering this natural spring. A fellow hiker tipped us off and told us it used to be called sweet water spring but now it's Columbine Spring.
It was an amazing sight. You're hiking an then on the right is this puddle, that the hiker told us about. You follow off trail down to the puddle. look back toward the trail and out of the mountain is this fountain of fresh, cold water. It tasted so delicious. 

We filled our water bottles and then continued on our hike. This was so beautiful though. If you aren't paying attentions, you'll walk right over it.

There are other streams that cross the trail randomly. I wonder if those are also natural springs at the source?

Everything was beautiful. Dress in layers, you may get hot/cold, hot/col, hot/cold in our mild weather. Always wear sunscreen and be aware of surroundings.

Enjoy the view!