Ponderosa Pines – It's a "Sick" Life…Adventure!

Early this morning we visited the phenomenal BEAR LAKE area within ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, located 10 miles south of MORAINE PARK where we are camping. The ranger station near the hiking trailheads was located at 9,475 feet elevation. This gorgeous area was formed 15,000 to 30,000 years ago by a 500 FOOT THICK GLACIER carving a ½ mile path through this subalpine environment. This location was incredibly beautiful with 12,000-PLUS FOOT MOUNTAIN PEAKS surrounding us, gorgeous PONDEROSA PINES and GOLDEN YELLOW ASPEN TREES highlighting the tree lined mountain sides. We hiked two trails, first the BEAR LAKE TRAIL around stunning, pristine BEAR LAKE, and then the ALBERTA FALLS TRAIL to the wonderful cascading ALBERTA FALLS. Both destinations were shockingly gorgeous. We also were able to interact with a PIKA, a very small, very cute, chipmunk looking animal, but actually from the rabbit family. We then moved on to the DENVER, COLORADO area for two days to visit one of my dearest friends in the world, DOUG KLEIN, who I have known for 35 years!!!!!

Exercise and exploration are typically the theme for most of our days, with today being no exception. We hiked the shockingly beautiful and local, SANDY’S CANYON TRAIL, in the COCONINO NATIONAL FOREST. The trail initially followed the canyon edge, with large boulders on one side and gorgeous sheer cliffs on the other side. The path soon took us down the canyon’s edge to the valley floor, filled with tall, majestic PONDEROSA PINES, where we crossed the narrow valley floor to the cliffs on the other side. What a beautiful site to see, stunning cliffs jutting straight upward into the crystal blue sky, with 3 groups of crazy young adults repelling the cliffs. Not for us, but it was sure fun to witness. That was certainly the gem of our day!!!!