Rocky Mountain National Park Hike!
So I got up a 7:00 this morning to go hiking with Kayla (Who I met on the Werelist forums) in Rocky Mountain National Park. Even the drive from Ft. Collins to there was a geological extravaganza/ beautiful, etc.
We stopped at the Bear Lake Park and Ride, then took a shuttle up to the trail head. We hiked to the Fern Lake Trail Head to catch another bus. But inbetween those two endpoints, was amazing scenery, critters, and scents.
Kayla knows a lot about the plants/ecosystem of the area from the Pingree Park summer session so she taught me a lot of neat things (like plants that will coagulate your blood if you get cut). She's really fun.
The hike was something like 8.7 miles total. I definitely noticed the elevation (around 8,000 to 10,000 ft) but my lungs still managed. The rock faces were great. There were a few high-altitude ponds that were crystal clear, a water fall or two, and tons of golden-mantled ground squirrels, chipmunks and pine squirrels. We also saw/heard ravens (they're huge!) and a blue grouse. I saw snowfields, but we weren't high up enough to get to them. The water was really cold though. There are wildflowers everywhere. I saw a pine sq. try and take a mushroom cap up a tree (even though it was about as big as him). I love it!!
Kayla had me sniff a ponderosa pine... it smells divine. Demeter needs to make that into a perfume.
The hike took most of the day, but we did get to see some elk in the meadows, and an area where a dam broke and created a big alluvial fan of boulders.
I wanna go up again!
(pictures on facebook)
We stopped at the Bear Lake Park and Ride, then took a shuttle up to the trail head. We hiked to the Fern Lake Trail Head to catch another bus. But inbetween those two endpoints, was amazing scenery, critters, and scents.
Kayla knows a lot about the plants/ecosystem of the area from the Pingree Park summer session so she taught me a lot of neat things (like plants that will coagulate your blood if you get cut). She's really fun.
The hike was something like 8.7 miles total. I definitely noticed the elevation (around 8,000 to 10,000 ft) but my lungs still managed. The rock faces were great. There were a few high-altitude ponds that were crystal clear, a water fall or two, and tons of golden-mantled ground squirrels, chipmunks and pine squirrels. We also saw/heard ravens (they're huge!) and a blue grouse. I saw snowfields, but we weren't high up enough to get to them. The water was really cold though. There are wildflowers everywhere. I saw a pine sq. try and take a mushroom cap up a tree (even though it was about as big as him). I love it!!
Kayla had me sniff a ponderosa pine... it smells divine. Demeter needs to make that into a perfume.
The hike took most of the day, but we did get to see some elk in the meadows, and an area where a dam broke and created a big alluvial fan of boulders.
I wanna go up again!
(pictures on facebook)