Camping at Montaine Day Three: Natalie Comes to Visit

Tuesday night Jeff's sister Natalie drove up from Denver to hang with us. The kids were so excited to see their aunt. On Wednesday we decided to be a little more ambitious and try a hike twice as long. The hike would take us to three different lakes and back in 3.6 miles. The first lake was Nymph Lake, .5 miles up the trail:

Next was Dream Lake probably about halfway up. It took my breath away!


After Dream Lake we started hitting some serious snow. I've never hiked in so much snow and been warm in a short sleeved shirt and shorts. It was weird. The snow was very wet and slushy as you can imagine which made it pretty treacherous to walk in. Very slippery, which is scary enough when it is just you walking (or falling) but very nerve wracking when you are carrying precious cargo.
The kids were delighted about the snow. They walked through a lot of it, which was great.
We almost gave up, and then we made it to Emerald Lake, and boy was it worth it! What a great accomplishment. Jaden and Carter loved climbing on the rocks:




This was one of the prettiest hikes I've ever been on, especially for only being a few miles. I am so glad we tried it!




That afternoon we took a drive up the alpine loop, which took up almost to 12 thousand feet. There were some crazy fear-of-heights inspiring twist and turns and stunning vistas and views. Unfortunately we needed a wide-angle or panoramic lens to really capture anything, so our pictures just didn't do justice.

That night we had traditional camping "Gut Busters" which were soo yummy (and yes, most definitely gut, and diet, busting) and smores once again. They never get old. After one more night of falling asleep to the wilderness sounds we awoke the last morning to our tent almost falling down around us. These crazy winds blew in every thirty minutes starting in the wee hours and each time we almost got lifted into the heavens. It was crazy. Finally at 6 am after another almost collapse we gave up on sleep and decided to start the packing. We made it home, pretty exhausted, bringing home much dirt and debris, with big smiles on our faces and some memories that won't soon be forgotten.