Colorado Day 4

Today we started out at the Bear Lake trail head and hiked to Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, and Emerald Lake. We got a pretty late start, but luckily the hikes weren't very long or very steep so we were able to cover ground pretty steadily -especially once we got warmed up.

Nymph Lake was first on the trail - I think it was less than a 1/2 mile - real small lake, we saw some ducks, had a snack and then moved on towards Dream Lake. The scenery on this hike was so killer! Huge views everywhere totally made for a super hike.

look!

We definitely ran into a little bit of weather, nothing major though. Just enough to keep us from sweating or getting too hot. I really like hiking in that kind of weather.. little bit of sun, little bit of rain, some wind, repeat!
There was also a lot more snow on the trail than any of us were really expecting, which also made for a fun day. I was kicking myself a little bit for not packing my boots for this trip - I guess it shows my level of ignorance about June in the Rockies! No trouble though I didn't fall into any of the lakes and my two pairs of socks kept my feet plenty warm.


After Dream Lake, we were on to Emerald. There was a lot more snow for this part of the hike, and I was lucky that a guy on his way down gave me the hiking stick he'd picked up. It really made sliding around on the snow more enjoyable for me.

We hung out at Emerald Lake and ate some lunch before heading back down. The views were pretty special and it was hard to get myself to leave.



My favorite part of today was watching my dad stomp through the snow. It cracked me up - it was like seeing him as a 7 year old little boy back in the UP. I tried to get a movie of it, but I was a little late - the deep and steep snow was pretty much done and there wasn't much reason to stomp through it.