Sprague Lake & the Rocky Mountains

It’s almost embarrassing that we have lived in Colorado for six years, and had never been to Rocky Mountain National Park.

Until Wednesday.

Taking advantage of free admittance to the National Parks, we heading up there right after Elijah got out of preschool. It took us two hours to drive up there, and the sights don’t get really good until you get past Lyons. The winding road that leads into Estes Park has been driven before. It’s a wonder we never got past the town to see the majesty that lies just a few miles later.

The elk were out in Estes Park, which encouraged me that we’d see some in RMNP, and we did. We stopped at Beaver Meadows Visitor Center, right outside the park to get our bearings. The man working in there offered the suggestion we go to Sprague Lake, an easy short hike for our little guys. We took him up on that, and found our way there. We settled at the picnic benches to eat out lunch, while the scrub jays hovered, watching to see if we’d leave them any crumbs (no dice birdies!)

The wind was chilly, so we let Miles finish his lunch in the car, out of the wind. We then bundled the boys in the hats & gloves Daddy brought. Compasses in hand the kids were raring to start the 1/2 mile hike around Sprague Lake.

the hikers

Given that it is still early in the season, the path had parts covered in snow. This did not deter or slow down the boys, eager to explore. There were other families out there too. This place offered a lot of great views to photograph.

For Geoff, the highlight was seeing the boys so excited to hike around the lake. For me, it was seeing a beaver in the lake. That was right after I told Elijah there were no beavers (oops). For the boys, it was a stop at the Rock Shop in Estes Park to build a collection.

The outing really fired all of us up to go camping. Bring on the food on the campfire!

Elijah thought this picture was funny- Elk Butts