Alberta Falls

The hike to Alberta Falls was great. Both uphill and down, it wound through a variety of terrain and provided some beautiful vistas.


As seen from the trail to Alberta Falls.

Matt likes to climb boulders. He also likes to have his picture taken. So we now have lots of pictures of Matt on boulders. :)

He climbed up from the trail to get closer to the top of the falls. Then he made me join him up there. Actually, it wasn't bad and the view was great. I just kept worrying that he was going to back up a few too many steps and fall into the falls.

Who knew that Rob was going to be tall enough to totally obliterate the falls in the background? But they're there, trust me.

A shot of the falls themselves. It was a nice spot to relax for a few minutes before heading back. There are many more pictures from our hiking adventures around Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, and Alberta Falls here: http://picasaweb.google.com/debdistante/AroundBearLakeRockyMountainNationalPark.

Around Bear Lake

After our day off in Estes Park, we had a gorgeous day to go back into Rocky Mountain National Park. We drove to the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center and used the free shuttle service to go to Bear Lake and do some hiking.

First up was the half mile hike around Bear Lake itself. Yes, I now realize how truly hideous my outfit was. No, I don't know what I was thinking. Please ignore it. A fellow hiker took this picture of the three of us with the lake behind us.

Shortly after we started hiking, we encountered this little guy. He was a most adorable ground squirrel. The fact that he is not striped over his eyes is what lets us know that he is a ground squirrel rather than a chipmunk. Matt got mad at me because evidently after I'd taken this shot and another one, the ground squirrel was practically touching Matt's leg and I didn't get a picture of it.

After we'd finished hiking around Bear Lake, we headed the half mile to Nymph Lake. While it's only a half mile, it's entirely uphill to get there. Still, it was worth it once we'd arrived. The lake was full of lily pads with lots of blooms. I love this shot.

And here's a nice shot of my handsome husband, taken on the edge of Nymph Lake.


The nice thing about climbing a half mile up a mountain is that it's all downhill going back...There was a nice stream on the way down and Matt crossed using the rocks rather than the bridge provided. So naturally he stopped to pose.

After coming down from Nymph Lake, we headed out to hike the mile to Alberta Falls. That get's it's own post, though.

Trail Ridge Road

After leaving Hot Sulphur Springs,we headed for Rocky Mountain National Park. We were headed to Estes Park to stay and the gorgeous Trail Ridge Road drive was right along the way.

One of our first stops along the drive was Farview Curve, which looks down into the Kawuneeche Valley, which you come through when you enter the park from the south. A park volunteer took this picture of us there.

I had to include at least one shot of the mountains here.

We could see snow when we stopped at Milner Pass so we hiked down to it. Matt and Rob contemplated acting out the Robin Hood/Little John fight scene on this bridge but opted to just pose instead.

Matt was thrilled with the snow. Shortly before you get there, there's a sign telling you not to go any further if there are big horn sheep in the area. Sadly, we saw none and so felt safe to proceed to the snow.

Milner Pass also marks the Continental Divide. Rob and Matt had fun being on opposite sides of it. Some other people there liked their pose so much that we saw them doing the same pose for *their* family picture. :)

There are more pictures from Trail Ridge Road up at http://picasaweb.google.com/debdistante/TrailRidgeRoadRockyMountainNationalPark, including lots more mountain views.