The 11-Mile Canyon

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We picnicked in the beautiful 11-Mile Canyon one day during our Colorado vacation in June.

The 11-mile Canyon is a canyon that is, you guessed it, 11-miles long! The canyon is literally adjacent to the 11-mile Ranch, the development my grandparent's cabin is located in. The 11-mile drive along the washboard dirt road to the end of the canyon is beautiful. A roaring stream runs either side of the road to the canyon's end, where the Eleven mile reservoir dam rises high into the sky. Several crude tunnels (that I'm pretty sure used to be railroad tunnels) are carved over the road along the way. The river that runs alongside the road at the canyon's bottom is rocky and whitewater in most places, but the water is shallow and calm enough in a few places for wading. And wade, we did!

Travis took the oldest three out in the ice-cold water. I wasn't in the mood for having numb feet, so I played lifeguard from the edge and kept a VERY close eye on the kids. More water than usual was being let out of the dam, and the current was more swift than usual. Jillian was unsure about the roaring river at first. She is very cautious anyway, but the huge walls of the canyon and rushing water were very awe-striking and ominous to Jillian until she got warmed up. THEN she cooled her piggies off in the water!

Madalynn fed the chipmunks out of her hand. The rest of the kids tried to hand-feed the chipmunks, but were too fidgety and kept scaring the chipmunks away. I am convinced that someone re-named them chipmunks because they are always looking for potato chips that campers leave behind! So cute, though.

Travis and the kids spent nearly a whole hour wading in the water between the time we were waiting for the charcoals to get hot and then again after lunch. Travis is a mean rock-skipper. The kids were mimicking Travis while he taught them how to find the right skipping rock and the proper throwing technique. Travis skipped several rocks clean across to the other side of the bank before we called it an afternoon.

We left the canyon exhausted, but filled with the joy only nature brings...and sporting suntans!