On Thursday morning, it was time for us to head into the wild, in Rocky Mountain National Park.

At 6:30 a.m., just after breakfast, John and Mary and I checked out of the Country Inn & Suites and loaded our luggage and backpacks into the Land Yacht.  Then, we started our hour-long drive to the Rockies.

The backpacking trip that we had planned would begin at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead, off of Bear Lake Road, and take us about four miles to the Glacier Gorge backcountry campsite.  We could not, however, park at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead; instead, we had to park at a special parking area and take a shuttle.

As soon as we arrived at Rocky Mountain National Park, we stopped at the Visitor's Center and picked up a Junior Ranger activity book for Mary - something to keep her occupied during our three-day excursion out in the wild.  Often times, we found that she hiked better when she had something to keep her distracted; and we hoped that this would be the case.  This was the first time we had ever taken her on anything longer than an overnight backpacking trip, and we hoped that it would go well.

We parked the Suburban at the shuttle parking and began prepping for our hike.  We donned our backpacks, grabbed our hiking sticks, and slathered on the sunscreen.  Then, we climbed on board the awaiting shuttle, which would take us to the Glacier Gorge Trailhead.  By the time we got there, we were the last ones on board the shuttle, so we were able to talk the driver into taking our picture under the ramada at the trailhead.

Our hike began around 9:00 a.m. on that beautiful, warm morning.  With Denver in the midst of a heat wave, the temperatures in Rocky Mountain National Park were just perfect - not too hot, not too cold, but just right.  There were, however, some thunderheads off in the distance; there was a good chance that we were going to have rain later in the afternoon, but hopefully not until after we arrived at camp.

From the trailhead, the Glacier Gorge Trail began to climb gently and steadily up a ridgeline.  Right away, not even a quarter of a mile from the trailhead, we immediately spied a baby deer, huddled on a small ledge, just a few feet off of the trail.  He appeared to be scared and was cowering under the foliage, trying to stay hidden; we looked around to see if its mother was nearby, but we couldn't see any other creatures around.  (We probably scared her away.)  We quickly took pictures of the little deer then moved on, so that mama could return to be with her baby.

After the first mile, we arrived at Alberta Falls, a beautiful waterfall formed by Glacier Gorge Creek.  These falls were about a hundred feet tall and were roaring.  We took a long break here so that we could take pictures, rest, and enjoy the peacefulness of the falls. 

Once the trail left Alberta Falls, it continued to climb up the ridge and eventually opened up onto a spectacular view of the Rocky Mountains.  It also opened us up to the cell towers; suddenly, I could hear a little tune coming from the top of my backpack, signaling an incoming call.  Seriously!  Of course, it wasn't the first time - nor will it be the last time - that that has happened.  Amazing where you can get cell signal now...

Being high up in the Colorado Rockies was an amazing experience.  The views that surrounded us were spectacular.  As we crested the ridge, above Mills Lake, we could see Longs Peak, off in the distance, and the Keyboard to the Wind.  What was even more amazing was that we were hiking at 10,000 feet in elevation, but the peaks of the mountains that surrounded us were still several thousand feet above us.  It really gave us a sense for just how high those peaks really were.

After cresting the ridge, the trail then dropped down towards Mills Lake, where, for the first time since we left Alberta Falls, we encountered more hikers - a pair of backpackers who were taking a break by that beautiful lake.  We took a short breather there, too; during that time, we imposed on one of them to take a family picture of us.

From Mills Lake, it was another three-quarters of a mile to the Glacier Gorge backcountry site - and just in time, too, because Mary was starting to get cranky.  Part of her crankiness was due to the fact that we hadn't had lunch yet; we were trying to wait until we reached camp.  That probably wasn't a smart idea either; it was already approaching noon, and the energy bars were no longer holding us.  There's nothing like hunger to ruin a person's mood.  On top of that, we were long past the meltdown hour, so it was coming.

The trail took us past Mills Lake, then the much smaller Jewel Lake, before it finally arrived at the Glacier Gorge site - our home for the night.  Right away, we dropped our packs at our designated site then started making lunch.  Once we had eaten, we set up our campsite and settled in for the day.

I should say that Mary and I settled in for the day.  As soon as our tents were set up, we crawled in and took a much-needed nap.  John, on the other hand, went exploring further up the trail.  While researching the hikes that we were going to do at Rocky Mountain National Park, John had read about a little-known hike to a place called Shelf Lake.  It was a place that was seldom visited and difficult to access; there was some scrambling and route-finding involved - in other words, John's kind of hike!

The hike to Shelf Lake was both beautiful and difficult, as promised.  While scrambling through the forest, he came across the most incredible waterfall he had ever seen.  He believed it to be the run-off from Shelf Lake, but he was unable to scramble any further to determine if it was so, not without risking serious injury.  Instead, he marked the area on his GPS and took pictures of it, so that he could at least show it to us.  (To this day, it is one of my favorite pictures.)

John returned to camp just before dinnertime; by that time, Mary and I were awake and trying to stay warm.  The clouds had rolled in while he was gone, and we even got a little bit of rain - just enough rain that there was a chill in the air.  And since we couldn't have a campfire...well, we had to just tough it out.

After a nice backcountry dinner, John and Mary and I decided to turn in early for the night.  It had been a long day, and we needed plenty of rest for day two of our trip, which was going to be yet another very long day...

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