Estes Park

Kind of a whirlwind visit to Estes Park - in and out in about 24 hours, courtesy of Jennefer’s tricky work schedule. Glad I got to meet her cousin! We went for a short walk down to Lake Estes on Friday afternoon after we got there. It was cold and windy, but we saw some beautiful views.



 

So it’s “bugling season“ in Estes Park, and apparently that means you never know when you’re going to run across a bunch of elk in town. We saw this herd just down the street from our hotel on Saturday morning.





 

We enjoyed a somewhat strenuous hike up to Kruger rock, in Hermit Park, southeast of town. There were still a few Fall colors to be seen.

There's a spectacular view from the top of the hill - of Estes Park, Lake Estes, and the surrounding area!

Visit with Sis

Mandy and I spent a fun week visiting my big sister and her dogs, cat, and chickens on the northern California coast. Such a beautiful area. Mandy was once again a great little traveling companion, taking the voyage in her regulation-size airline pet carrier in stride.

We went on lots of walks and hikes in the lush Arcata forests.

My sister has beautiful redwood forests within walking distance of her house. Such a treat.

Mandy liked exploring the forests at her own pace. I think she really enjoyed getting to explore the forest off-leash.

Three independent dogs, and three possible ways to go. It figures, that each dog would position themself at a different choice.

Hike to St Mary's Glacier

We hiked up to the ridge above Saint Mary's Glacier on Labor Day Monday. We made it up much higher than I've been able to climb here, so far! One or more, of time, weather, energy, and poor planning always seem to conspire to keep me from my goal of making it to the actual top. This time, it started to rain/snow on us. And, hey, the glacier is back! Small and separate (there are actually three small glaciers right now), but it's here. Mandy was once again our intrepid hiking guide dog. Once she realized that I wanted her in front, she did a great job leading us up the loose rocky trail. She made lots of friends, of people and other dogs.

Looking down from above St Mary's Lake, with the bottom of St. Mary's Glacier a little below us. We were about halfway up as far as we were eventually going to get.

Looking around at the height of our climb, a little above 11,000 feet, it's mostly high tundra up here

I'm always a little amazed, at how well Mandy does on our mountain hikes. She's such a little dog, but she acts like a big old mountain dog. Here she is, leading the way back down toward the upper part of the glacier. Nice view of the mountains and weather off in the distance.

Here's a striking view of another hiker looking down on the lake, from the ridge across the glacier from us, with some rain clouds in the background.

There are some interesting twisted pine trees around St Mary's Lake!

Hike from Echo Lake

Enjoyed a gorgeous hike at the beginning of the Labor Day weekend. We started from Echo Lake, tried an interesting trail that headed West away from the lake, got partway up that trail toward Chicago Lakes, and turned around at Idaho Springs Reservoir. Mandy is such a great little hiker! We saw the beginnings of some of the Fall colors that make our mountains so pretty. We finished up with dinner at BeauJo's Pizza in Idaho Springs, on our way home.






Pretty view of incoming weather while we were hiking.

Mandy had no problem leading the way on the trail. Beautiful view of the mountains off to the west of us. We didn't make it that far!

Our intrepid little hiking guide, Mandy led the way across the creek with no hesitation.