Summer Vacation 2013- Part 1
It should come as no surprise that Mike and I scooted out of Des Moines as soon as school let out to enjoy a vacation much like we did in the past years (read here, here, and here).
This year it was just the two of us and we returned to Estes Park, CO to enjoy Rocky Mountain National Park yet again. Last year we went with Mike's parents in their RV and to say we loved it would be a great understatement. We decided last year while we were there that we wanted very much to return and try out the tent we received as a wedding gift that has yet to be used. So that was that, our Summer 2013 vacation had been planned.
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*Our campsite... and that view is real, no backdrop or photoshop work here. It was just incredible.
For the record, Mike is much more of a camper than I am but when you camp in June in Colorado, in all honesty, it's the easiest camping you'll experience. There's no humidity whatsoever so you don't ever get that damp feeling often associated with camping and we stayed here for 4 days and saw not one drop of rain the whole time. It's not good for the wildfires I know but for camping, it certainly makes it easy for a non camper. And we stayed at Elk Meadow Lodge and RV Park which is actually an RV park and they have ah.mazing bathrooms. You get your own little cabin and the showers are actual showers. So, again, as camping goes this was pretty easy.
*We went one month earlier than last year but we were still quite surprised to see as much snow as we did. Here's Mike at the very top of the mountain. Lots of snow!
*Our first hike to Cascade Falls.
*Day 2's hike started with Mills Lake which was hands down our favorite location. It was completely breathtaking to be here in the midst of the mountains. You could hike further from here to a few other lakes which we were all for but most of the trails going up in altitude from here were snow covered.
*I'm glad we didn't even brave the hikes higher than Mills Lake because we encountered plenty of snow on the hikes we did take after Mills. This is a picture of what the trail was like. You'd have a ledge of packed snow with a crazy steep mountain going up and down on either side of you. It was the kind of steep where you'd look down and have no idea where you'd even stop if you slipped and fell. There were spots that were pretty intense and we even saw a family with a baby in a backpack carrier hiking the same trails! Crazy. Needless to say, once we reached the end of the snow coverage we were very happy and are also happy about the fact that we hopefully won't see snow again for many months.
Even though we were walking on snow it really was a beautiful day. Completely sunny and about 80 degrees, can't beat that!
*On our last day we hiked to Fern Lake. This wasn't our farthest hike but it was our steepest so we were excited once we reached the lake because it meant we could take a break and the rest of our adventure would be downhill.
Personally, I think this is one of the greatest places on earth. The pictures are great but being there is incredible. Needless to say, we highly recommend this vacation destination to anyone. We'll certainly be back :).
This year it was just the two of us and we returned to Estes Park, CO to enjoy Rocky Mountain National Park yet again. Last year we went with Mike's parents in their RV and to say we loved it would be a great understatement. We decided last year while we were there that we wanted very much to return and try out the tent we received as a wedding gift that has yet to be used. So that was that, our Summer 2013 vacation had been planned.
*Our campsite... and that view is real, no backdrop or photoshop work here. It was just incredible.
For the record, Mike is much more of a camper than I am but when you camp in June in Colorado, in all honesty, it's the easiest camping you'll experience. There's no humidity whatsoever so you don't ever get that damp feeling often associated with camping and we stayed here for 4 days and saw not one drop of rain the whole time. It's not good for the wildfires I know but for camping, it certainly makes it easy for a non camper. And we stayed at Elk Meadow Lodge and RV Park which is actually an RV park and they have ah.mazing bathrooms. You get your own little cabin and the showers are actual showers. So, again, as camping goes this was pretty easy.
*We went one month earlier than last year but we were still quite surprised to see as much snow as we did. Here's Mike at the very top of the mountain. Lots of snow!
*Our first hike to Cascade Falls.
*Day 2's hike started with Mills Lake which was hands down our favorite location. It was completely breathtaking to be here in the midst of the mountains. You could hike further from here to a few other lakes which we were all for but most of the trails going up in altitude from here were snow covered.
*I'm glad we didn't even brave the hikes higher than Mills Lake because we encountered plenty of snow on the hikes we did take after Mills. This is a picture of what the trail was like. You'd have a ledge of packed snow with a crazy steep mountain going up and down on either side of you. It was the kind of steep where you'd look down and have no idea where you'd even stop if you slipped and fell. There were spots that were pretty intense and we even saw a family with a baby in a backpack carrier hiking the same trails! Crazy. Needless to say, once we reached the end of the snow coverage we were very happy and are also happy about the fact that we hopefully won't see snow again for many months.
Even though we were walking on snow it really was a beautiful day. Completely sunny and about 80 degrees, can't beat that!
*On our last day we hiked to Fern Lake. This wasn't our farthest hike but it was our steepest so we were excited once we reached the lake because it meant we could take a break and the rest of our adventure would be downhill.
Personally, I think this is one of the greatest places on earth. The pictures are great but being there is incredible. Needless to say, we highly recommend this vacation destination to anyone. We'll certainly be back :).
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