Hiking: Day One

Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park was amazing! We found a lot of different hikes that would be doable with an 8 year-old and a toddler in a pack in tow. Our first full day began with a program called "Coffee with a Ranger," where we met with a park ranger who shared some information about the park with us. It was a beautiful setting! We sat in an outdoor amphitheater overlooking Moraine Park which is a sprawling meadow below a range of gorgeous evergreens below, again, the mountains...

When we finished that program, we wanted to go to Bear Lake to hike but if you don't get there by 8:30, there is nowhere to park! We learned our lesson and returned earlier the next day In the meantime, we went to Sprague Lake to hike. Jonathan got very familiar with the carrier pack and did pretty well! He also went out and walked a little himself...

After hiking the Sprague Lake trail, we stopped back at the Moraine Park Discovery Center to check out their exhibit about how the Rocky Mountains were formed and the boys took some time to relax...

After returning home for lunch and J's nap, we went out again to Lily Lake to check out the scene there. It was a lake full of ducks! Mother and baby ducks were all over the place and J liked that a lot. We cut this hike a little short as the typical afternoon rain clouds began to move in on us over the mountains...