At the end of Ben’s final semester of grad school, we’d planned to head to Boulder for his graduation. Ben has never been much of one for pomp and circumstance though so when one of my own grad school friends invited us to Gooseberry Mesa to spend the weekend in a yurt, we jumped at that instead.

Friday, with mountain bikes hitched to the car, we paraded down to red rock country with old friends and new ones too. En route, we stopped to hike one of our old favorites: Kannara Creek. I don’t know if I can think of another hike that offers so much stellar scenery in such a low-key, five mile walk.

It had been a number of years since we last hiked this one and since then human development and flash flooding has dramatically changed the hike, some for the better, some for the worse, but still a beautiful walk among spectacular scenery. Thankfully, the water in the creek seemed warmer than it had been on our many September visits.

Then, we headed south to settle into the yurt. We made dinner, soaking up the incredible views off the mesa right from the front door of the yurt. We watched the sun sink behind the rocky cliffs and then gathered inside, socializing by dim lantern.

Ben learned to play Settlers of Catan and I got in some good hours of reading before we settled in for the night.

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