2022 Fall Trip - Day 6/42 - 8/30/2022

Tuesday, August 30, 2022 - It is up into Rocky Mountain National Park today!!!:

After an excellent "Hiker's Breakfast (scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee), I said goodbye to Doug and Mia:

My "Park Access" pass for today was good from 8 AM until 10 AM - I figured I would get there about 9. I followed the FedEx truck all the way up to Estes Park:

I reached Rocky Mountain National Park at 9:17

I LOVE seeing the license plates at the Park-and-Ride:

I took the Shuttle Bus up to the Bear Lake Ranger Station:

I started the day with a quick little loop around Bear Lake:

I then continued on the rest of Four Lake Loop Trail

8.53 miles in 4 hours 14 minutes.

What a Beautiful Day to be out in the mountains:

It is pretty wonderful being up at Emerald Lake:

Continuing the hike:

Reaching Lake Haiyaha at 12:15 (after a very cool "rock scramble"):

A rockslide on June 28, 2022 exposed glacier sediment in Chaos Canyon above Lake Haiyaha. Summer rains caused this sediment, sometimes referred to as glacial flour, to flow into the lake.

More woods, streams, and views:

A very nice visit up at Mills Lake, 3 hours 15 minutes into the hike:

and then 1 hour back down to the Glacier Gorge Trailhead, where I got the bus back to my car.:

I didn't bring my extra battery pack/iPhone charger because I didn't think I needed it. When I got down to the bus, I was at 3%!!

Charged it back up at the car, then took the bus back up Bierstadt Lake Trailhead:

Wow, I see that instead of just "circling Bierstadt Lake", I could go around it, then 1.4 miles back to my car.

So that's what I did - 3.5 miles in 1:38

Very pretty through the trees:

You then break out and start going zig-zag up the Bierstadt Moraine:

Once you reach the top, you're back in the woods:

As I took the side-trail down to the lake, I saw a deer:

The beauty of Bierstadt Lake:

Back down at the Park-and-Ride at 4:42

But that's not the end of the day - on my way out of the park, I ran into an "Elk Jam::

I checked in to the Quality Inn near Rocky Mountain Nat’l Park a little after 5, and got to park right outside my room:

When I checked in, the desk clerk looked out the window and said "That looks like a Colorado-car." Pretty cool.

WOW - THANK YOU GOD for this wonderful Rocky-Mountain-National-Park Hiking Day!

Music for today - only 1 cd:

The Crystal Method - Drive, 2006:

pretty cool electronica - not aggressive.