Our camping is like a tapas meal; a lot of variety but small intense portions. After we dropped our pop up at the Glacier Basin campground, our tapas serving of Rocky Mountain National Park started with a one-way trip up Fall River Road. It allowed us to explore the majestic beauty of the alpines with a side of nerves brought on by its dirt road precariously close to the cliff edges. Near the top of the road we encountered a herd of elk on the side of a mountain. We took our first family “elkie”. That evening Eli caught a nice brown trout at Sprague Lake. Early the next morning Sam was out of bed in record time. She was anxious to embark on the trail to Sky Pond. Due to 1700 feet of elevation change over the 10 miles round trip, the trail to Sky Pond is one of the most strenuous day hikes the park offers. On the way up, we were like fish out of water gasping for air because we are Delaware lowlanders. Eli commented that the hike took our breath away, literally. After we passed Alberta Falls and swichbacked our way to Loch Vale, our jaws dropped when we saw the Timberline falls rock scrambled before us. Ascending it was no easy feat for three of us however we discovered that Eli is spider-boy. At the top of the falls we were in a bowl canyon that had Lake of Glass, Sky Pond along with katabatic winds strong enough to send the yellow belly marmots flying. We were surrounded by rugged beauty like an uncut jewel. On the way down Matt caught a few fish but at about 2 ½ miles to go, Eli declared his feet were screaming at the top of their lungs. He spoke for all of us.
We tried to get to glass lake, but the wind was insane that day! Hiking is hard with the elevation so high, we had to stop to catch our breath!!!