Lots of lake hikes, a black bear, and a Decalibron

Good afternoon from Colorado! What a wonderful week. We packed it full of epic hikes, tons of wildlife sightings, and good times spent with friends. Today we're on our way back east with clear heads, tired muscles, and an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for everything we've had the opportunity to experience this summer. We visited Rocky Mountain National Park this week, which we didn't even include on our original list of places to stop, but after visiting, you should add it to yours! 

Hidden Falls

Inspiration Point

View of Tetons from Cascade Canyon

Lake Solitude

Teton Sunset

Day 1- Today we decided to make up for one of the rainy days spent “indoors” last week and sneak one more hike in at Grand Teton National Park. This was a highly rated hike that I was really excited about. It started out in a unique way by taking a shuttle boat across the gorgeous Jenny Lake that offered great views of the Tetons. We could have hiked around the lake, but the journey was already 15 miles so we decided the boat would probably be a good idea, plus who doesn’t want to hop in a boat on a hot summer day! Once across the lake, our trail started by weaving through tourists to get to the iconic Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. Although we were shoulder to shoulder with strangers, Hidden Falls was the most beautiful waterfall we’ve seen on the trip. These wide and powerful falls snuck out from the side of a mountain and elegantly fell around large boulders. Inspiration Point was a lookout that boasted a view of expansive Jenny Lake backed by the Tetons. After a quick bit of elevation, we were treated to a five mile long journey through Cascade Canyon. This may have been my favorite bit of trail we’ve hiked so far. We were sheltered on both sides by beautiful mountains, some of which were the massively stunning Tetons. Within the canyon itself, the landscape switched between forest and meadow with every type of wildflower making an appearance along the way. We also followed a winding creek along the trail for a few miles, which happened to have a young moose eating its breakfast. Further down the trail, we stopped for an apple where we could take in a small waterfall surrounded by mountains and then headed up to our final destination, Solitude Lake. It was a beautiful day, so the exposed, rocky final ascent to the lake was tough and sweaty. Solitude Lake was in the middle of a meadow surrounded by snow-sprinkled mountains with the Tetons in the distance. The trip back down was stunning because we were looking at the Tetons the whole way, we got a better and better view of them peeking through the canyon with each step closer. We decided to take a horse trail back down to the shuttle that avoided the tourists we struggled through on the way up through the popular spots. It was much quieter, so we shouldn’t have been surprised when we stumbled upon a medium-sized black bear. It was close enough to us to make us both uncomfortable, but it didn’t seem to care about us at all. We learned how both of us react in intense situations— this is why Matthew carries the bear spray. We made it down quickly and safely and could now say we had seen pretty much every possible animal we could while hiking on this trip. That night we decided to catch the sunset from a cool viewpoint and enjoyed another breathtaking view of the Tetons all lit up in purple and blue. We drove around a while longer looking for wildlife and saw a huge group of elk- maybe around 30 of them crossing the road in the dark. I went to bed feeling grateful for a day full of so many memories.

Hell's Half Acre

Day 2 Travel Day- We had the luxury of waking up slow this morning. We did some research on which parks we wanted to visit next and mapped out our route to get there. We also made some tasty egg sandwiches. We eventually landed on Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. We contemplated a few parks in Utah, but realized the nighttime sleeping temperatures outdoors would not be enjoyable (90s). Our adventure followed the Rockies all the way from Canada and we thought it would be neat to keep on the same path. Once we got on the road our travel day consisted of stops in Dubois, Wyoming for a tasty ice coffee, a random tourist attraction we found called Hell’s Half Acre- this was essentially a giant hole in the ground with crazy rock formations all throughout & was also used to film a movie set on a made-up planet, and then Casper, WY for some dinner. The drive was beautiful as the terrain started to change into the red rock Colorado is known for. We found a great dispersed campsite tucked away in some boulders and called it a night.

Mother and son moose at Sprague Lake

Day 3- Rocky Mountain National Park- This morning we decided to check out Wyoming’s capital city Cheyenne and our first stop in Colorado was Fort Collins. Fort Collins was really neat, very walkable, with loads of local shops, restaurants, and breweries to check out. I would definitely visit again. After checking into our campsite we decided to do a few short afternoon hikes to start exploring Rocky Mountain National. It was a sunny afternoon, so we packed our suits and towels in hopes of finding a good swimming spot. Our first attempt was at nearby Sprague Lake. Matthew noticed a moose in the lake immediately as we were driving in. Turns out there were two moose, a mom, and what looked like an adolescent male moose with his antlers just coming in. They were both perfectly satisfied eating in the middle of the lake even while dozens of people on the lake loop trail watched. Everyone was so quiet and content, it was a peaceful, awesome moment. We walked around the short loop and hung out for a while after to just be that close to such magnificent animals. On the hunt for an afternoon swim, we checked out another trail that passed by three different beautiful lakes. This short hike was well worth the effort. First, it passed by Nymph Lake covered in lily pads and surrounded by tall pines, next it followed a ridge with Rocky Mountain views up to Emerald Lake and then we jumped into a very cold Dream Lake surrounded by a jagged mountain backdrop. 

Matthew at Sky Pond

Timberline Falls

Day 4- Rocky Mountain National Park- We got up early this morning to get a good start on our hike before predicted afternoon thunderstorms. This is a common weather forecast, almost every afternoon here in The Rockies there is a chance for a storm. This was a lovely hike with lots to see along the way. The trail started by having us travel alongside a picturesque waterfall and through some forest area. After gaining some elevation we made it up to Loch Vale, which could have been the destination on its own. It was large, calm and surrounded by mountain views. We continued up towards our final destination after a short apple break. A tall, powerful waterfall spilled out at the base of the next lake that we had to scramble up to. Again, Glass Lake could have been our destination because of its shimmering waves shining in the morning sun and the surrounding Rockies view, but we searched further for Sky Pond which was tucked away in the rocks. It was hard to decide where to look because of the beauty all around. Sky Pond featured unique spire-like mountain peaks sheltering one side and giant rockfaces as its backdrop. Looking back where we came from, each of the lakes we had passed looked tiny now down in the valley and were framed by mountain rock. On our way down we saw a group of mother and child elk eating along the trail— probably 12 or so of them. They kept getting closer and closer to us because there must have been something tasty right along the trail. We did our best to give them space and make our way around them. We were down by 2ish so we headed into a town nearby, Estes Park, to explore. Among other things we found happy hour nachos, avocado margaritas (don't knock it til you try it!), and a souvenir sweatshirt.

Columbine with Peacock Pool below

Breathtaking Chasm Lake

More Chasm Lake because we couldn't pick just one

Day 5- Rocky Mountain National Park- We had another early morning wake up and epic Rocky Mountain hike planned for today. Our trailhead was a short drive from our campsite and Chasm Lake was straightforward to get to. The path started in the woods alongside a nice stream that we crossed back and forth. We started gaining elevation right away and didn’t stop until we got to the top. The last few miles of the hike were exposed to the hot sun, but also to some incredible views of the surrounding mountains. It had similar vibes to the tablelands area before the final push of Katahdin, very rocky and somewhat flat with grasses growing here and there. The ascent from this area was absolutely spectacular. I may have already claimed this week that Solitude Lake was my favorite hike so far, but this stretch of trail is the new #1. It had every beautiful thing you might wish to see on a hike, all at once. There were of course the mountains all around you in the distance, the trail itself hugged a rock wall of many different colors, you had a bird's eye view of Peacock Pool (which had colors that did look like the top of a peacock feather), the massive Rocky Mountains towering above you and a thin, but tall waterfall pouring through the middle of it all. And the wildflowers! I had never seen flowers like this before, in the center it was a normal white flower, but it had a layer of purple petals surrounding it. The park ranger told us they were called Columbine. These unique flowers were growing in bunches down the side of the ridge towards Peacock Pool and below the waterfall. Name anything else you could ask for in a view! You simply can’t do it. After this breathtaking stretch of the hike, there was a short, but demanding rock scramble up to the lake. Much like the views below, Chasm Lake was on another level than what we had seen before. The sheer size of the Rocky Mountain peaks surrounding this turquoise glacial pool was jaw-dropping. The lake was very clear and the rock faces that surrounded them were hard to look up at without getting a smidge dizzy. This mountain bowl stretched almost all the way around the lake. We had a quick snack and appreciated how lucky we were to be right there. Then some shady-looking clouds started rolling in so we got on our way. We made it down just fine, the clouds possibly turned into something, but not that we saw luckily. We drove through a few Colorado towns and made our way to see Sean again in Silverthorne. 

Democrat Summit

Day 6- Breckinridge, Colorado- We decided it made sense to conquer our first 14,000 foot mountain while in Colorado. Then we decided, why not do four? This admittedly made much less sense, but somehow it worked out. We took off around 6am for an hour drive into the mountains. When we arrived there were already a ton of cars, so we parked a good way down on the side of the road. The hike we chose has a fun name, the “Decalibron”, it combines each of the 14,000-footers you summit; Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln and Bross. Usually, our hikes start out in the trees, pass through meadows of wildflowers, or dance across trickling streams. Not the case with this one. It was a relentless rocky climb from the very start. This also meant we had views of the massive Rocky Mountain range for the entirety of our hike. The view from the Trailhead was honestly as good as some summit views. We were at the very bottom of a bowl of giant mountains and could see exactly each peak we would hike and the ridge we would hike across to complete our loop. The summits we were planning to reach towered over us with an intimidating air. The trek to the first summit was a tough one, each step towards the top made carefully on steep, slippery gravel or wobbly boulders. The view however, was absolutely worth it. The phrase “on top of the world” comes to mind— 360 endless views of layers and layers of mountains, some close up and some very far away. The toughest part of this hike was up to Lincoln’s summit, the highest point in our journey. Again it was an endless, steep slog up a path mixed with boulders and loose gravel. Add to that our lungs adjusting to the lack of oxygen at 14,000 feet and we were moving at a pretty slow pace. Once we reached the top here though, the remainder of the hike was mostly along a rocky ridge with continued epic views. We thought going up this terrain was tough, going down was harder, like a slip and slide of rock. Turns out Matthew is actually part mountain goat and ran most of the way down. I am so proud of all of us for completing this crazy hike and for Matthew and I for crushing our first Colorado 14,000-footer hike! We treated ourselves to a tasty beer and some lunch in Breckinridge on the way home.

Our way home next week isn't really mapped out, but we do know we want to make a pit stop in Pennsylvania to see sister Sarah, Julian, and their doggies at their new house! Also, our final destination is to celebrate Matthew's childhood friend, Stephanie, and her husband-to-be Ryan, at their wedding in Scituate, MA. Sounds like another great week to me.