Rocky Mountain National Park...take 7

Justin's working on making the pictures look better. (We were unaware of the schmutz that was on the lens whilst we were taking pictures.) But I wanted to put this one up here. This was the view climbing up to Flattop about three miles up the trail at 8:00 AM.We also saw new animals on our hike. There were many furry "little" pikas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pika) running around that afternoon.

Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park

Justin & I spent some more time at RMNP this past weekend. It was a beautiful day for a hike, except for a couple of minor setbacks. It wasn't quite a early as usual, our hike started around 8:30.

Our first "stop" on the trail was the same as when we visited RMNP with my parents. This is a picture from that outing at Alberta Falls.Alberta Falls: there were very few people there at 9:00 in the morning. It was quite different when we visited with my parents.
The trail was very clearly marked, except where it's covered in snow, then you just follow footprints.
The second "stop" on the trail was The Loch. Fed by snow melt from higher up on the mountains, the water was freezing. On our way back down the mountain people were fishing here.View of The Loch from further up the trail:We try to have a good time hiking, Justin really likes the new camera, too.Most of the trail took us along various creeks/streams/falls. This is another one. It might be Timberline falls, but I'm not sure.It's always amazing to see the snow when you're walking around in 70degree weather.

Justin is the greatest. He ordered a backpack for day hiking and carries pretty much everything! We stopped to look here for a short bit while we waited for the people ahead of us to complete the next obstacle.

We reached a point on our trail where we had to do some climbing. In the "summer" (i.e. August) this trail would be just a boulder scramble. At the end of June, because of all the melting, it was a waterfall we had to negotiate our way up.

Shortly after the climb we made it to the Lake of Glass (we thought was Sky Pond) and stopped to have lunch. We realized (with a little help from the GPS) that Sky Pond was further along. After some more boulder climbing and a little confusion when the trail turned to snow field again we made it to Sky Pond and stopped to have a looksee.

By the time we got to this elevation it was colder and windy so I donned my jacket.

There were places where the trail looked like this so it wouldn't wash away and to help get over streams.We're on our way back down at this point and Justin turned the camera over to me for a bit, we also stopped to look at a spot we found on our way up to take a picture.

Besides the snow, there were a couple of places where downed trees created obstacles for our amusement. Justin wore his jacket for a little bit when it started to sprinkle.

The water is so clear because it is fast moving down the mountain and is freezing cold, maybe good enough to drink.
After 6 or 7 miles the we are not necessarily as excited about the trail as we were at the beginning.
Especially when the weather takes a turn for the worst and starts hailing on us. Luckily hats protected our heads from being pelted and jackets saved our arms from wind and damage. Justin was laughing a bit as I walked along saying, "ouch", "ow", "ow" when my legs got hit by particularly sharp pieces of ice.
Afternoons in the mountains lead to interesting weather. We were fortunate that the hail stopped. Justin removed his hood/ear protector, and we continued down the train and home safely.
Hiking is great fun and this time was definitely an adventure!

We've been doing more hiking this year and enjoying the great outdoors. Justin has documented some of our trips on his site, but I wanted to post a picture or two here to share with you all.

My parents came to visit and we took this train to the top of Pikes Peak.

You can see Pikes Peak above the trees on our ride up.

We could see Kansas from the train!

The view from the top. It's always amazing to be above the clouds. I got Justin to sit for a picture:
The easiest Fourteener we'll do this year:

CHEESE!!!

'Tis The Season!

FOR A SNOW DAY!!!!

The blowing and drifting left the patio/sidewalk behind the garage, as well as the deck, fairly clear. BUT............it is still pretty limited space for Mr. Morrie, who is used to having 1+ acre to run around in. Reality bites, sometimes, Mr. Morrie.

This is the view out the front window. Please excuse the smudge on my lens. I didn't wipe it off after we came in from Blizzard Inspection.
I tried to go out to get the mail, but the drift in front of the garage door is about 5' tall. Morrie tried to figure it out, but gave up after awhile. Funny thing, tho. The driveway is clear with the exception of the snowdrift.
I wonder if Randy has a shovel in the truck??

His First Northern Pike

Last night, Mason caught his first Northern Pike. He was a very proud boy (and still is). Mason and Craig called me when he caught the fish, and he could barely breathe as he told me the story.

While Craig was cleaning the fish outside, Mason ran in and said "Mom!! As soon as dad cut the fish, all I could smell was fresh fish, like someone was cooking a fish, really fresh! You need to go out there and smell it!! It smells good!"

He also keeps telling people how he "set the brakes" to reel it in! and how s-l-o-w-l-y he had to reel the fish in because it was so heavy, and how his rod, which is usually straight, bent waaay down. He also likes to point out that Craig only caught a Bluegill, Rock Bass and Perch. Ahhh, what a sweet boy and a great memory for him!

The fish was 19 inches long and Mason just can't get over that! (All he has ever caught before are a couple of sunnies and maybe small trout)

Updates

The wedding website updating was scarce during the move/school year. Now that I'm done with school and my options are wedding/cleaning/packing/sleeping I am more inclined to break up the monotony with some sharing via the internet. Take some time and check out the new posts/pages. I hope to see you all soon.
Oh! if you know someone who has not RSVP'd give them a little encouragement, please.
*love from Denver*