enchanted forest in nederland, co
Saturday was Wild Bear’s Enchanted Forest fall celebration at Mud Lake. The floods swamped Nederland last year, but we went two years ago, when Cash was just a few weeks old. Our first time at the Enchanted Forest was the year before that.
Wild Bear is the only non-profit nature center in Boulder County. Zia was in the Bear Cubs program when she was younger, and attended summer camp there a couple of times.
Nederland lies in the mountains at the edge of Barker Reservoir, which feeds Boulder Creek, which runs all the way down the canyon to Boulder. Boulder Creek was named by the miners dodging boulders that fell from the mountains into the creek. The city of Boulder was named after the creek (which seems a little backwards!)
Enchanted Forest begins in downtown Ned at Wild Bear’s storefront location. There is always live music, face painting, raptors (and live snakes last year!), costumes to dress up in, etc. The little storefront is packed with the whole town, as well as out-of-town folks.
After a couple of hours downtown, everyone shuttles out to Mud Lake for the forest tour. We got to ride a real school bus this time, which Cash has been longing to do since school started. He even had uddey sidey on the bus, which I’m sure was his wildest dream come true. 🙂
Cashy-Boy has grown a bit since he was here last:
He was just a little chub. I was a little chubby, too. 🙂 Since then my cheeks have been transferred to his. We was nursin’ persons (and still are).
Several years ago Wild Bear helped spearhead the cleanup of Mud Lake Open Space, which was a wilderness trash dump. They cleaned out 30 tons of trash! I can’t even wrap my mind around that much garbage accumulated in the forest. Wild Bear purchased 5 acres of the open space, and Mud Lake is now part of Enchanted Forest.
This year the weather was beautiful–it feels like summer has finally begun! 73 degrees is rare in the mountains, but we had it Saturday, and it felt so hot. Especially compared to two years ago, when we all huddled around the bonfire in hats and coats.
Me and mah cowboy.
The animals along the forest tour explained their habits and what to do if you encounter them in the forest. The moose, in my opinion, was the most interesting. He was very moose-like and full of moosey info.
The bear was hilarious!
This is the bobcat. An owl and a mountain lion showed up along the way, too.
Zorro also made an appearance (with Joaquin).
Live music in the woods.
Masked mystery boy with diaper bag.
This girl named herself the Animal Fairy.
Our group listening to one of the animals.
At the end of the day we headed back to the bus. We had lots of fun, good fresh mountain air, and some “wild animal” sightings. Just like most days at home.
Well, not quite this close-up at home, thankfully.
Goodbye till next year, Enchanted Forest!
Looks like you all had a fun day!!