JUNE 17 Rocky Mountain National Park Hiking

June 17  Rocky Mountain National Park Hiking

Morning arrived bright and sunny with blue skies. 

Chick had identified a few hikes for us to take today.  The first adventure was the Pool hike to a waterfall on the Big Thompson Creek….a beautiful walk through  woods along a creek full of water… a simple out and back.

 
  

Next was a picnic lunch out of the cooler in the truck… chips, genoa salami, cheese, triscuits, and beer in a magnificent setting.

PICNIC TABLE

VIEW FROM PICNIC TABLE

This was followed by an “illegal” hike uphill 1.5 miles on the Old Falls River Road, now closed, to a waterfall. We got caught by a ranger who told us we shouldn’t be there so we walked the 1.5 miles down and headed out of the park for ice cream.

OLD FALLS RIVER ROAD IS STEEP...VIEW BACK TO VALLEY

 

FALLS RIVER

JUST BEFORE THE RANGER ARRIVED

QUICK LOOK AT FALLS BEFORE WE HAD TO RETREAT DOWN THE ROAD

Last we took a drive to to Mary Lake (unimpressive) and then to Lily Lake which is on the far reaches of the park. This is a small, beautiful lake but we were too tired to walk around it.  We have walked over 8 miles today without even trying.

MARY LAKE

LILY LAKE

LILY LAKE LOOKING LEFT-- STORM APPROACHING

We leave the RMNP tomorrow so we are packing up the stuff and going to bed early.  It is a 500 mile trek to the next stop in Kansas with NOTHING interesting along the way.