We made another trip to Rocky Mountain NP at the beginning of the month. The first few days were the whole family and then we dropped our kids off at summer camp and the rest of the week was just me and the Mrs.

We hiked Gem Lake, but honestly, it was more of a big puddle.


We saw our first Rocky Mountain moose at Lily Lake just before sunset




We hiked the Toombstone Ridge portion of the Ute Trail






The day we wanted to hike Cub Lake we couldn't get an entrance pass to the Bear Lake coordidor so we started at Upper Beaver Meadows and hiked down to the Cub Lake trailhead.





I solo hiked Mills Lake/Jewel Lake/Black Lake/Frozen Lake/Blue Lake.










I think alpine lakes might be my fetish :0

Then we hiked Nymph Lake/Dream Lake/Emerald Lake, but I've shown pictures from those from a previous trip.

Man, I love RMNP

I've been to the south rim several times. The north rim beats it hands down. It's a pain to get to but much nicer.

Jenny Lake at 10 pm just after dinner at the lodge. Half moon light on an iPhone.

Rocky Mountain NP is just such a treasure and it's so easy to get to.

Made a quick trip up there before a flight after working in Denver for the week. There had been a rock slide a couple weeks before at Lake Haiyaha, which deposited glacial silt in the lake and transformed the color, so that was the hike of choice for me.



And the river on the approach to the lake:


I thought this would be a temporary sight and the Baja Blast color would fade after a rain or over time. But per a geologist, this color will stick around for 1000 years. There was hardly anyone on this trail, most were heading up to Emerald Lake instead. But I think this will become a much more popular trail due to the insane color of the lake.


*btw there's no filter or post editing on these photos.

Just got back from our annual trip to the Grand Tetons. I've been having some back issues - 3 herniated discs - so I had to stick in a day of rest between hikes. Still managed some great ones and was able to avoid crowds as we stayed away from the Grampa trails (Cascade Canyon being an example).

Hiked up to Lake of the Crags with my youngest and she was really impressed with both the hike and the scenery at the lake. Some of the best alpine lake scenery available. A fantastic spot to have lunch. Wouldn't want to try bringing meemaw/peepaw/Tommy Tball/Suzy Softball up there. I've never seen anyone younger than 20 head up, but have seen in shape older folk. Did see two bears - one on the way up and another on the way down - eating berries and both were probably no more than 20m away. The 2nd bear was briefly on the trail ahead of me and I did have to wait for a bit until it wandered off to the side. We probably saw about 5 other hikers over the course of 6 hours and that's pretty good considering the trail up starts not too far from where the boat across Jenny Lake docks. This one would probably not be fun if it was raining. Bring plenty of water!

The other big hike was aerial tram => Marion Lake => Death Canyon and also very uncrowded. It's a long hike so time management is important. More likely to see overnight hikers than day hikers and they are great sources of information about wildlife, etc. Lots of wildlife to see and a wonderful appetite builder. You can take Granite Canyon down and make it shorter by several miles if you don't think you can finish before dark. The day we did this hike there were three short-haul rescues needed - all for hikers in their 20s who did more than they could handle - in other parts of the park. Sufficient hydration is really important when hiking 20+ miles. Plenty of water along the hike so bring a filter so you don't have to carry all the water you'll need.

Moose Wilson road closed on weekdays for construction so staying in Teton Village means you need to take either the Valley Trail into and out of the NP or drive the long way around to Moose Junction.

A 3300 year old bristlecone pine at Great Basin NP. There are hundreds of them. We came last October but got iced out of the higher elevations where they grow so we came back to finish the job…

Went the back in 2007.

Crazy how old those trees are. But if my math is right, they were 3300 in 2007, making them 3315 years old when you saw them.





And an odd glacier in Nevada

If anyone ever wants to drive on a dried lake bed, there's an easy spot to do this on the way to Great Basin from SLC. You'll pass Sevier Lake (West of Delta, UT) on Highway 50 and find a dirt road between mile marker 40 and 39 that heads south towards the below pic. Follow that well maintained dirt road for 5-8 minutes and you'll see a turnout to the flat lake bed. Then make rocket noises as you get your rental Tacoma up to 110.

Do National Forest count?

I had some certs to burn and we ventured north from Portland.

Baker National (Lake 22):

Lugged this thing 7 miles and 2k vert on my back. It's a serious scramble with the recent rock slide:


Rainier:


This weekend in Hood National which is every weekend at this point:

Saguaro National Park.
Very accessible, some higher elevation ridge hikes that delivered, great food, fun town, already planning a return trip.

Finally hit up Carlsbad Caverns this weekend and man, did I sleep on this place. One of the coolest experiences walking down. Seriously underestimated how large it was.

Looks like my pic!

I just realized that I forgot to add some Acadia pics from our October trip. This was park #54 for us.