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
Lorima wrote:
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.
We head up to Estes Park, in the Rocky Mountains o... (
show quote)
Good set of shots, love the look of the composter privy. :thumbup:
wonkytripod wrote:
Good set of shots, love the look of the composter privy. :thumbup:
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 :)
so good to see a family enjoy time together. in a lot of homes its a thing of the past.
Ive Fallen wrote:
so good to see a family enjoy time together. in a lot of homes its a thing of the past.
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.
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:
what a beautiful country you live in and the pictures certainly do it credit very well shot so big thumbs up from me :}
Linda From Maine wrote:
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 :)
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 :)
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
Lorima wrote:
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.
We head up to Estes Park, in the Rocky Mountains o... (
show quote)
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!!
Looks like you had a great hike and took some great pictures to remember it,enjoyed.
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