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On the Trail: Easy jaunt down Thompson Creek

Katie Redding
The Aspen Times
Aspen CO, Colorado

CARBONDALE ” My husband and I have no friends.

Well, we have friends, just not many in Carbondale, where we recently moved.

The upshot is that we’re suddenly spending whole days on the weekend hanging out together, something we rarely did in Leadville.



It wasn’t that we didn’t like each other. My husband just isn’t that excited about my passion for long trail runs and cross-country skis.

And as much as he’d love me to love the idea of hanging on to the back of a motorcycle for 30 miles, I don’t.




So finding a common activity is not that easy for us. He doesn’t have a mountain bike, which rules out biking. It’s too cold right now for water sports. It’s too warm for skiing. And I draw the line at spending Saturday at the auto show.

But given the omnipresent fact that the dog always needs a walk, I pitched the idea of a hike.

OK, he said, but not a long one, because his arches hurt.

I googled “hikes for kids in Carbondale,” and came up with Thompson Creek. Billed as a great easy hike for kids, I figured it would suit my husband.

OK, he said, but first he needed a pastry at the coffee shop.

Thus fueled, we headed out to Thompson Creek. And the funny thing was, as soon as we started actually walking, he got into the idea. (He’s just not that excited about actually following the trail. So the next thing I knew, the dog and I were climbing over rocks and following him up a steep side canyon.)

For roughly a mile, the trail ” if you stay on it ” just follows the creek on a gentle contour. Then it gets slightly trickier, with a little rock jumping and some minor route-finding.

But the website was right. It is a good hike for kids. Or, I guess, a couple like us.

Next time, we’ll have to check out the climbing we scouted. That’s at least one more sport we can do together.

As long as we don’t go for too long. And I get a pastry.

kredding@aspentimes.com