Our first day in Estes Park we decided we wanted to do a smaller hike that was kid friendly to take the boys on and also for us all to acclimate to the high altitude. We stayed at the same house last year, above the YMCA of the Rockies, where after we left, we discovered was near a back entrance to the RMNP. We went to this back entrance and hiked the back way to Sprague Lake. This is a lake that is handicapped accessible. You can just drive to it and hike around it easily, but you have to drive in through traffic in the park. Our boys really enjoyed the rocks/forest behind it on the trail behind it last year. We hoped this hike would be scenery like that the whole way. And Paul said it was only a mile......
Well it started off in the hot sun and pretty steep. Luckily by the time we were hot and sweaty pigs we got into some shade. It ended up being about 2 miles. Having carried Elliot much of the time and with the boys stopping frequently to climb up large boulders (Noah) or to play in the dirt on the dry path (Elliot), we had spent quite a bit of time on the trail. We realized after going 1.5 miles, the boys would probably not have it in them to turn around and hike back down to the car. So Paul turned around alone to get the car. We would finish the hike to Sprague Lake, then hop on the shuttle bus and take it to the visitor center where Paul would be waiting for us. Brilliant plan.
When we finally got to the lake, it was beautiful, as always. We sat and had a picnic and watched a moose in the water. It was the first time we'd ever seen a moose in Colorado and it was really neat to see. The boys were about D.O.N.E at this point. We were in a rapid pace hiking trying to get out of there to the bus. When we got out we realized there was no bus stop there. The closest one was a mile away. DOH! No signals on any of our cell phones to get ahold of Paul and our walkie talkies were far enough apart that quit working, too. A nice couple gave us a ride in their big Suburban. 5 of us all sat in the backseat (old school style with Noah & Elliot on laps rather than carseats, naturally). We were so thankful for the ride! I can imagine we had to stink and not look too classy, what with Elliot wearing only a diaper and t-shirt and caked in dirt (his shorts were wet from drinking his ENTIRE camelback of gatorade - that boy stayed hydrated for sure).
Once we got to the visitors center we were surprised to see Paul in the car and not the van. Turns out I had the keys to the van in the backpack. So he had to hike all the way back to our house (up a HUGE hill in the sun), after hiking back to the trailhead. We all piled in and made it home. We really got to "rough it" and remember what it was like before being constantly connected on our mobile phones. It is frustrating, but at the same time kind of nice to not be connected all the time. We also had no wifi in our house. We were practically camping ;)
Great first hike of the trip. We had beautiful scenery. Noah got his climb on, Elliot enjoyed the dirt and his gatorade, we saw a moose and all made it home safely.
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| Trailhead. Little E's first hike with his own backpack. |
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| Do you see that sign, boys? Take heed! |
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Noah leading us up
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| Elliot holding his own bringing up the rear |
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| Hot and sweaty |
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| Had to stop at all the rocks while Noah climbed |
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| Elliot clearly didn't read the warning sign above |
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| Big strong boy holding up the rock with his muscles |
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| Someone is dirty and tuckered out. But, wait! We aren't done! |
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| Moose at Sprague Lake |
