Fall outing?? Feels more like winter!

For the up coming weekend (10/08) we planned to spend a nice fall Saturday at RMNP, watching the elk and viewing the colors. The weather was not as accommodating as we had hoped. We woak to grey drizzly skies and reports of snow in Estes Park. We thought about staying home and dong nothing but figured why not? Lets go! 

It was kind of a magical winter world with all the colors of fall. I miss living in the mountains sometimes. We had fun, ate our picnic lunch in the van, watched & listened to the elk, tried not to get stuck in the muddy ditch, and Justin even did a little fly fishing along a very snowy river! So glad we made the trip.  

I was hoping to get a good family portrait on this trip... We'll have to try again later. 

 

 Here we are at Bear Lake, elevation 9450. Not a very long trail to hike up from the parking lot. But in the slippery snow it was interesting. The kids basically slid their way back to the car. (not really sure why I included the elevation!)

 

 That would be 3 wild turkeys! What a surprise, didn't realize they lived in the park.

Labor Day Outing

We decided to head up to RMNP again today. Not a preplanned trip so it was a late start but a great day to be outside in the mountains. We hiked up Lawn Lake trail to the river, where Justin tried fishing for awhile. The kids and I discovered some wild raspberry bushes. They were awesome, made me miss the ones in my old back yard. (Grand Lake) It was fun, eating them as fast as we could pick them. Kids climbed around on some of the large rocks and found a cool cave as we hiked back down. Next, we headed to the Alluvial Fan at the base of the river. There was a dam at the top of the river that broke in 1982, sending down a massive amount of water and washing out much of the banks and leaving in its trail some awesome boulders to hike. In all my years living just over the divide I don't think we ever came to play here. I was excited, and we all had a blast.

 OH YEAH!

 Of course after all that hiking we kids wanted to put their feet in the water. Yes, it was cold.