Another of natures beauties.  Driving I-70 from west to east through the Rockies goes from high desert to amazing rock formations to majestic mountians with lots of rivers and streams along the way.  At the west entrance to the Rocky Mountain National Park is a perfect little village and lake,  Grand Lake.   We have been to Grand Lake and the park before and really like the area.  This trip we get to stay in our own home and explore for more than a few days.  We are here through the holiday for a bit of a vacation.  I know, everyone thinks we are on vacation everyday and we are but sometimes we get to stop in beautiful spots and do nothing other than relax, have campfires and explore.

Our first stop was to the visitors center to gather a map and information on hikes that would be good for us.  The rangers were very helpful and even assured us there is no poison oak in the Park, nor poison snakes.  She did say there are snakes but very few.  I’m excited by that because snakes just scare the hell out of me.  We took our first hike in the park to Cascade Falls just above Grand Lake, a 3.5 mile one way hike with a elevation gain of 300 feet.  This was the perfect hike to get used to the thin air.  The air is thin but we seem to be handling it so more hikes are in order for this week.

The beginning of the trail is along a fire road through meadows and a very calm stream.  It was very quiet and the mountains reached right up into the brilliant blue skies.

Soon we were climbing with cliffs and large rock formations along the trail.  The trails are pretty wide and well maintained.

We made it to the top of the falls.  The waterfalls were more of splashing water over beautiful rocks.  It was loud and very easy to get right down to the water.

Soon, he was laying back on the rocks and snoring.

Me, I chose to edge closer to the splashing water.  It was definitely icy cold.  Soon we were gathering ourselves for the return trip.  It always amazes me when you take the same trail back it seems like a completely different trail.   We passed a few hikers going up and even one couple that told us there was a moose about a 1/2 mile up.  Great because we had not seen much wild life other that lots of grass hoppers, a couple of squirrels and one small snake!  I know,  she said there were only a few in the park.

We continued along the trail on the look out for a moose and soon, about 1/3 of a mile past the couple I spot some wildlife!  Another snake!  I thought she said there were only a few snakes in the park and we see two in only a couple of hours!  Of course I screamed!  That’s what I do when I’m startled!  Paul doesn’t get it.  He says, you see it, its not under your feet, it’s going away from you why do you scream?  Hmmm,  31 years of marriage and he still doesn’t understand me! He keeps trying.

So we can handle the elevation if we take it slow, the wild life is elusive, and there definitely are creepy crawly things that along with watching for rocks and roots on the trails I need to be watching for snakes.  We will do several more hikes this week and a lot of lounge chair time here in the Rocky Mountains.

 

 

 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015 at 10:26 am and is filed under Colorado. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.