Lorima Loc: Colorado

We head up to Estes Park, in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado every year on the 4th of July to watch the fire works. This year my teenage son thought it would be great to hike up to Gem Lake before the fireworks (he had been there on a field trip and we had never been before). It was beautiful but he forgot to mention that it takes 2 hours to hike up the steep terrain and 1 hour to come down. Good thing we left home early.

There are a few photo's to load so may take a while to upload them.

Trail Head


Our mountain guide for the day, my son


Very rocky cliffs the whole way up


The trail up was pretty well kept


The view from half way up


Looking down on the town of Estes park


The boys


Almost to the top of the mountain we see this sign


and hidden away off the beaten track is the outhouse, only thing is it has no roof and your head sticks out the top


Finally made it to Gem lake which was more like the size of a small pond than a lake, but was still beautiful


Gem Lake


and again but the storm clouds were rolling in fast


Sat the camera on a rock with the timer set for a group photo, to show we conquered the mountain


Last look at the lake


on the way down we see this weird rock formation that looks like a boot with a hole in the center


Just around the trail coming down we see this very old mule deer


Poor old guy was skinny and had a lot of scares


more rock formations

wonkytripod Loc: Peterborough UK

Good set of shots, love the look of the composter privy. :thumbup:

Lorima Loc: Colorado

Thanks wonkytripod, I think I was still uploading photo's when you were looking at these. There were 18 photo's altogether.

It was rather strange seeing a privy up in the middle of nowhere, I thought we might have to squat behind a bush if we needed to go :)

Ive Fallen Loc: Chula, GA

so good to see a family enjoy time together. in a lot of homes its a thing of the past.

Lorima Loc: Colorado

Thanks, we do a lot of fun things together as a family. Trying to keep the boys busy over the summer break is a challenge.

But you are right this does seem to be a thing of the past, sadly.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Wow, that's a long hike when you're not expecting it! Some really terrific photos here. You have conquered your SX50 in no time at all :)

DOOK Loc: Maclean, Australia

Great pics-every one of them. The first one (Trail Head), when downloaded, really demonstrates the sharpness of that lens. Well done. :thumbup: :thumbup:

treslek Loc: London

what a beautiful country you live in and the pictures certainly do it credit very well shot so big thumbs up from me :}

Lorima Loc: Colorado

Thanks Linda.

It was a long hike, I kept asking my son "Are we there yet", he said Mum you sound like a kid and I'm the parent :)

Lorima Loc: Colorado

Thank you DOOK

Lorima Loc: Colorado

Thank you treslek

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

:thumbup: :thumbup:

treadwl Loc: South Florida

I've walked that trail many times on my annual visit to Rocky. The rock formation is called Paul Bunyan's Boot

Larry

sands Loc: Jacksonville, FL

Great shots of RMNP! It's one of my favorite places to go backpacking. I've been there many times, but never done the hike to Gem lake. Will have to put that on my list for the next time I make it out that way. Thanks for the preview!!

Reed123 Loc: Henderson,Texas

Looks like you had a great hike and took some great pictures to remember it,enjoyed.