Friday, July 4, 2025

July 4, 2025

Things just feel not right right now. Our country is messed up, I just accepted a new job and will no longer be able to call myself a librarian, no celebrating the 4th with my parents, and just other stuff. 

At least I got to hang out with Kenz and Cam today and get some gelato.



Wednesday, July 2, 2025

July 2, 2025

Morning hike to Red Pine Lake for some mountain air. On Darren’s hike yesterday he saw a moose so he must have sent one to me for my hike as we saw one from the parking lot. 



Saturday, June 28, 2025

June 28, 2025

“Never doubt the Maverick.” - Darren.  Home to unpack, relax, and have homemade raspberry ice cream the girls made. What a delicious homecoming. 

A few observations from our days in Rocky Mountain National Park:
Always use the stakes for the tent. (Thank you random campground neighbor for saving our tent.)
Don’t forget your sunglasses. Just because you don’t need them when you start hiking at 5am doesn’t mean you won’t want them at some point. (Rookie mistake and I’m not a rookie.)
Put the micro spikes in the pack. They’re not that heavy and they may mean the difference between sketchy/stressful or easy peasy. (And you can smile at the people without them making their way up the snow patch on their knees.)
Pack the soda for the top of the hike. It’s so refreshing. (Although bottle is better than can because you can put the lid back on.)
9:30am is a perfectly acceptable time to have lunch on a rock. (And a rock is the best place to eat lunch, especially if it goes out into the lake.)
Don’t ask someone if they saw the moose if you can’t immediately show them said moose. (It’ll just make me sad I missed the moose.)
You’ll never win the game - guess what I’m going to want to eat at camp when I’m at the grocery store. (Your past self never buys what you want now.)
It’s OK to save some hikes for next time. (I’m looking at you Chasm and Black lakes.)
If you see a guy set up for sunset photos and ask him his name, you can then call the spot John’s Lookout. (His name was John and we would reference his view many times from different places.)
When you chat with the three older ladies and they tell you to hike past Helene to Bear instead of going back the way you came, you listen. (And you’re very thankful you ran into them because it was the much better way to go.)
Just because someone tells you a little girl climbed up to the top of something doesn’t mean you should feel pressured to do the same thing. (Little girl may mean 14 year old rock climber.)
Campsites are always good if a deer walks through. (Two deer in this case and they had antlers.)
Always look at the stars. (They weren’t Canyonlands stars but there was the Milky Way and tree shadows.)
Go ahead and say yes when someone asks if you want them to take your picture. (Some will turn out great and some will turn out not great.)
Sometimes gas stations have delicious burgers. (Thank you Fresh Burger Stop. Delicious burger and amazing fries.)
This Rocky Mountain Park is so beautiful but hard to capture in photos. (But I did get a shot or two I like.)

Friday, June 27, 2025

June 27, 2025

This morning we decided to hike to Odessa Lake.  We questioned our hike decision for 4 miles as we hiked up (and up) through burned trees. Thankful for wildflowers to get me up past Fern. 

Then came the beauty. The approach to Odessa was breathtaking along the river with flowers (Rocky Mountain Marsh Marigold), plus snow mountains and far away waterfalls behind a big lake. Sigh.

After having a snack and relaxing at the lake we decided to try and add on Lake Helene which didn't seem too much farther. On the way we passed 3 older ladies who told us to just keep going to Bear Lake. So we did. Great decision. The hike to Helene was awesome. That and the Odessa turnoff were my favorite parts of the hike by far. Then we topped out and came down the other side that was not in a burn scar and had some shade. 

We grabbed the shuttle after our 9.5 mile hike and then split up with me packing up camp while Darren took another shuttle to our car. A delicious burger and fries in a gas station in Estes Park and we set out for Rock Springs again. What a fabulous time in RMNP. 






Thursday, June 26, 2025

June 26, 2025

What a hike to Skypond! Loved it! Early morning as we started hiking at 5am. The water here in the park is raging. So much volume coming down. Amazing! Add the early morning light and the waterfalls and lakes were gorgeous. Sigh. 

First lake was The Loch and it was beautiful. Then came the snow crossings which were sketch unless you had spikes and then they were no problem. Then came a stressful part for me which was climbing up the side of some cascades. It was a little tricky and a bit cold. 

Lake of Glass was next and then we made our way over to Skypond. We had the beautiful alpine mountain lake to ourselves minus the two rock climbers up high. I love these high alpine lakes with the tarns and flowers and granite rock with snow. Sigh. We would have stayed longer but people started coming, it was cold, and I was worried about the cascade down climb (I wish I wasn’t but it is what it is.) The down climb was not too bad (more wet) and we found a fabulous lunch spot (even though it was 9:30am) back at The Loch on a rock. Eating on a big rock by a beautiful lake is awesome. We took a side trip to Mills Lake where we relaxed, saw John’s Overlook view from a different spot, and soaked feet for a minute. 

We drove Trail Ridge Road to the Alpine Visitors Center. Talk about crazy mountain skinny way up high road. Views were amazing and the herd of elk we saw at 11,000 feet was cool. Also the marmot on the rock posing for pictures. 

This evening we took a little drive over to Sprague Lake. We saw some geese and got a few new to me birds. We also called Cam and Sade. 










Wednesday, June 25, 2025

June 25, 2025

After a night in the Sweetwater Lodge in Rock Springs that was like a room from the 80s in Vegas, we made it to Rocky Mountain National Park. We had a disappointing lunch at The Forks somewhere before Fart Collins (thinking of Ry and Mason and when they called it that 8 years ago.) Elk greeted us just outside the park. Those animals are so large. We set up camp at Glacier Basin. It’s a pretty good campground. The sites are quite close together (we’re on the outside of the loop which helps) but the location can’t be beat.

We went on an afternoon hike from Bear Lake. The drive had wildflowers lining the road- white and light purple and pink. More importantly the parking lot had open spaces. We hiked Nymph, Haiyaha, Dream, and Emerald lakes. Haiyaha was new to us and had some boulder hopping and “swarms” of mosquitoes. Then on to Dream and Emerald (we were more impressed with it this time than when we were here last). Back to camp for a late dinner of chili Fritos since they are fast and easy and we were hungry. 



Haiyaha, Emerald, Dream, Dream

Emerald Lake


Saturday, June 21, 2025

June 21, 2025

Watching Emperor’s New Groove last night made me laugh - at the movie and at Mason laughing at the movie. Also - I’ve been rocking the bean game. Bohnanza has been the go to game with Mason and Rachael lately. Oh, and Darren climbed Timp today just for fun. 

In the middle of my workout at the Leg, the lady next to me answered the phone with, “Hi dad.”  Well that triggered something because there I was teary on the elliptical. I miss my dad! I wanted to call him and have him answer, “Is this you?” Then I’d say, “No, this is me.”  And then we’d go back and forth about you and me and that would pretty much be our phone call. :)

(I love that my dad has his work gloves in his lap.)