It's About the (RV) Journey....: A Little More Hiking in Rocky................

Tuesday morning, we were greeted by a herd of deer in our backyard...a beautiful way to start the day as we headed out to our next hiking adventure in Rocky Mountain National Park. Again, we decided to take the shuttle, since it worked out so well the last time. There are different shuttles for different areas in the park. The service was wonderful, and really allows more visitors to get to the more popular trailheads (read: easy!), especially the ones with limited parking.

Good Morning!

beautiful morning here in our backyard....right behind our camper

Our hiking destination for the day was "the Pools" in the Fern Lake region, about a 1.7 mile hike in. Were we glad we took the shuttle! There is very little parking at this very popular trailhead. Anyway, if you take the shuttle, there is an additional 0.8 mi hike in to get to the trailhead, which means that this was going to be a 5 mile round trip for us. Perfect! And...it really was an easy hike! Just lovely, right along the river almost the entire way and lots of shade too. My kind of hike:)

we are following the green loop today....heading to Fern Lake

we are getting the mini-bus!

see Tom....I actually know where I am today! Hahaha!

the shuttle leaves us off here....0.8 miles from the trailhead

nice

at least its mostly shaded!

striking colors (I like this color combo....yellow/blue)

We had a lot of company on the hike, so we were not surprised that we did not see any wildlife. There were a lot of blueberries, looking nice and ripe, so we half expected to see a bear. Anyway, we were on alert...don't want to surprise any of those guys! It was perfect bear habitat, and we laughed that they may have been there but ducked when they heard hikers coming. Haahah.

we've been warned

ready to head to the "Pools"

we are going to the first stop.....The Pool

lots of greenery

the river flows gently next to the trail

this is a first for us....seeing a baby stroller on a trail like this...good luck with that!

Oh thank you for clearing the trail

watch your step

I gotta watch my step too....horses went through here

tons of ripe blueberries ..... right next to the trail and up and down the hillsides next to it

sweet

lots of little stream crossings

here comes Grace!

nice views...

The scenery along the way was very nice...what with the river rolling beside us most of the way, and the rocks that seemed to be abundant (Hmmm....imagine that in Rocky Mt. National Park!). As we walked along this trail, we were reminded of some of the canyon hikes we did in the Grand Tetons. Good memories of fun times!

looking for wildlife in the open meadow

a little like hiking in the Tetons (in some places)

we are in the Rockies

love the views

a fun trail...a little variety along the way

cool

we love these river spots

the views were awesome

no trees here so we can see the view over yonder a little

huge rocks

a fun little walk through the rocks

nice shade too!

still walking along the river

refreshing

heading up slightly again

still along the river

nice view

Before we knew it, we were at "the Pools"! Very nice....and refreshing too! Love the sound of rushing water, especially in the shade...just seems to cool me off no matter what. Hahah. The temperature was creeping up into the uncomfortable zone, and I had not packed my cooling kerchief! I was prepared for cold and rain, not heat. Arg! Thankfully, I had an emergency cooling scarf which I had never tried, and miracle of miracles, it worked. Add a little water, and snap it....and wala.....cooling kerchief!

we are here already?

the pools look inviting to me

so refreshing, isn't it?

a beautiful spot

nice!

close up

you can't tell from this pic, but there are a ton of people here!

The way back was just as scenic, only in reverse! We really liked walking next to the river. Before we knew it, we were back at the shuttle stop....and just in time. Very dark thunderheads were moving in and already we were hearing thunder. So cool....echoing through the mountains. The weather really does change on a dime here. You can see from the pictures that we had a bright blue sky/sunny morning!

lucky for us there was a little spot to get off the trail here

pretty

so nice!!

my idea of heaven (well, one of them anyway)

here the rush?

the only wildlife we saw on this hike

woah...that thunderhead is moving in really quickly!

In our travels through the park, we had noticed a really great picnic area down by the river. It looked so peaceful. Since we were getting pretty hungry, we headed out in hopes of not only finding that spot again, but securing a table too. Truly lovely lunch spot!

snagged a table near the river and in the shade!

great view

so refreshing

great to see flowing water....not sure if Colorado is in a drought situation too

serenity

mesmerizing

In this area of the park, the sun was shining brightly, so we went to check out Sheep Lakes again, in hopes of spotting big horn sheep. We hung out for a while, but no luck. Maybe another day (we are on a mission...ahhahaha!)

Back at the ranch, I was able to box up some of the hats (chemo caps) and blankets (for NICU) I had made in the past couple of weeks for Knots of Love, ready to be mailed out while we are so close to a post office. So far, since I've become involved with this group in July, I've been able to donate 22 caps and 4 baby blankets for NICU. My goal is 100 chemo caps for the year. We'll see. This charity is a perfect match for me, being on the road. For more information on Knots of Love, click here. I also have a gazillion other projects going on too! The days are just not long enough!!

getting ready to mail out

The next day, after dropping off the box at the post office, and running a few other little errands, we walked along the Riverwalk in downtown Estes Park. Its a very short, but lovely, little walk behind the shops on the main road (still with access to the shops!). Eventually, we picked out a restaurant to enjoy a "meal out" in Estes Park. Two thumbs up....we had a great (but filling) lunch riverside. I guess you can tell...we are not exactly foodies.....but more into outdoor dining spots:)