Father's Day hike near Como Creek

For actual Father's Day the plan was a hike again. Our intended destination was some sort of gulch or canyon or gully or gorge or valley off the side of Peak-to-Peak highway between the Land and the town of Ward. We didn't really know what it was, we just knew that people seemed to park there a lot and it looked pretty. Como Creek did show up on our awesome Boulder County map and was listed along with part of the Sourdough Trail, so it didn't seem completely crazy to pull off the side of the road and head for the really deep canyon. For some reason there were no people parked there on Sunday, so it took us a couple of tries to find the trailhead. Eventually there was a thing that looked a little like a road, but was blocked and had a thing that looked a little like a sign, but was blank. This must be it. In my impatience I went ahead a little, just enough to realize that although it was nice and warm in the sun on the top, it was significantly colder in the shade of the path. Sweatshirts required. So we headed down the trail. With all the rain we have been having we weren't surprised to see trickles of water crossing the path occasionally. Not really a problem to just jump over or walk around. Then there was one with some rocks to step on. Thanks to the person who put those rocks there. After a little while we came to a little campsite with a fire pit including an unopened can of soup. At this point the trail didn't end, but we had reached the stream and the trail continued on the other side. But again, thank you to previous hikers who had made a little bridge out of dead trees. Alex went first, then Wee (who was showing off the skills he'd learned in gymnastics), then Rory, then me. No problem.
We continued down the trail in a gorgeous, lush valley. We were surrounded by Aspens with the creek rushing along side. The walls of the canyon were pretty deep, but the floor was fairly even and soft.

But again the path crossed the stream. At this point the stream was rushing faster and the downed trees were higher. We found one "bridge" with a lot of branches for handholds and Alex found another smaller tree to use as a railing. Alex, Aidan, and I took the tree, but Rory thought swimming seemed like more fun. Mmmm. Wet dog. In any case we all made it across and continued down til we found a nice rock in the sun that was perfect for sitting on and having a snack. The fact that the rock was really big and we couldn't figure out how to get Wee and Rory down past it also made it a good turn around spot. So we headed back up the trail planting cherries along the way. Good father's day...