Emerald Lake

Wednesday was another early morning as we wanted to get to the popular Bear Lake parking lot before it filled up. Which we did.

Ready and waiting.

First part of hike took us to beautiful Nymph Lake.

Lots of rocks/cliffs to climb along the way.

Next milestone was Dream Lake.

Gorgeous Emerald Lake. Note rugged Hallitt Peak to the left, one of the park’s highest peaks at ~12,700 feet. Kids wanted to climb to the spires to the right. Or to the saddle between the two.

But first, a rest.

Eventually, Ben took off climbing solo, and the other three big kids took off around the lake. Bottom left corner in picture.

Dad and three hiked around the lake awhile, resting and snacking awhile before hiking back to where I was hanging out with a few extra jackets and bags. See them in bottom left corner?

Big kids left for the saddle around 9:00 and returned around noon. The rest of us enjoyed our morning resting, snacking (no we didn’t feed the chipmunks of course. They were cunning little things and perfectly capable of find crumbs all over the rocks), watching the bigs, playing in the water, climbing rocks, and snacking some more.

A nearby rocky hillside that the little kids and Dad climbed. Find three kids in the red circle.

They said it was a good spot from which to watch the big kids, who got so far away they were invisible except for Tori’s bright pink shirt.

Wearing gray, Ben was pretty invisible against the gray rocks. Tori took this picture as they climbed toward each other, eventually joining up to finish their trek to the saddle.

There was a ledge, circled below, that we dubbed “big toe” (for obvious reasons) where we could see the girls (using a kind hiker’s binoculars)(because ours were back in the van, how dumb is that?) for a long time. We assumed they were resting, which, come to find out later, they indeed were. While the boys attempted to climb the spire. Which they did not because it got too steep and risky for their comfort level. With Ben in gray and Jacob in black, we never saw them separate from the girls. Only Tori’s shirt ever revealed any of them to us.

At any rate, thankfully the boys very responsibly turned back, caught up with girls again, and all four kids continued on together to the saddle. There was a large flat rock that we named “the table” on which eventually all four kids showed up. Zoomed in, they are visible in the left side of the red circle below.

Kids at the top. See Emerald Lake and Dream Lake. Nymph lake wasn’t visible.

Circled in red is our camp for the morning.

It was another 2.8 miles back to the the trailhead after the kids got back to us; we headed back to the cabin for some rest for many and for more rock-playing for some.

After supper we did a drive looking for backcountry dirt roads and moose. We were rewarded with many beautiful views and a few dirt roads, but no moose.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Psalm 19:1

Alluvial Fan, Old Fall River Road, and Estes Park

On Tuesday morning, Josh tried his hand at a little fishing while the other kids climbed up the Alluvial Fan. Back in 1980 or so, a dam gave out way up the mountain; the ensuing flood carried lots of rocks down the mountainside, creating this rock/boulder field called Alluvial Fan. Great place to climb and rock hop. And fish.

Five kids went way up past all the other tourists, almost to the end of the trail (I vaguely remember from other years that the rock hopping abruptly ends when the river enters a canyon with high walls on both sides. I think.). Kate allegedly saved Ben from a dunking at one point.

The five adventurers.

The trek back from Chasm Lake about did my knees in (yes I know that makes me feel horribly old), so I was pretty content sitting kind of in the middle of the waterfall and enjoying the beautiful day. Count Dad and seven kids on the rock near the center of the picture.

Lunch in the van as we headed on this historic road that was at one point the only way across RMNP. Narrow, steep is extremely accurate.

Climbing at Chasm Falls at a pulloff along the road.

Kids climbed; Dad & I enjoyed resting beside this quiet little stream awhile.

Old Fall River Road ends at the Alpine Visitor Center at the highest point of Trail Ridge Road, the paved road that was built in the 1930s to replace Old Fall River Road. It was really chilly up there, and wet shoes and bare feet from Alluvial Falls made for a chillier experience for some! Thankfully, no one got sick.

A few kids hiked to the lookout from the Visitor Center, but we didn’t stay long because those clouds and the weather forecast kept us moving. We drove home in a little rain, and it was pretty tense for Dad. Rainy roads look entirely different when the roads have steep dropoffs. Thankful for God’s protective hand over us.

Back to cabin for supper.

More rain a little later - - - then hail!

After the rain stopped, we headed to Estes Parks’ tourist district awhile and did touristy things like gawk at people and buy souvenirs and eat fudge…

…and ride bucking bronc-rocks…

Good times.