A Snapshot and The Scoop: Smoke-Hazed Mountains

I have never, in all my years of visiting Rocky Mountain National Park, seen the sky so hazy. As a result of the fires burning all over Colorado this past summer our visit to the state, and specifically to the park, was filled with smoky skies. The smoke and fires were concerning enough that we mapped out our planned 14'er hikes accordingly, making sure the fires weren't anywhere close to where we would be. That didn't stop the smoke, of course, and on more than one occasion the brown smudge of smoke filled the horizon no matter where we looked. It was particularly bad in Rocky Mountain NP, with the mountains reduced to featurless silhouettes in the not-too-far distance. Breathing never became difficult, but you could smell smoke tainting the fresh mountain air, feeling it on the back of your tongue like a bitter aftertaste. I know fires are a natural part of forest life, especially those started by lightning and not the man-made kind, but it was still a bit sad knowing how much was going up in flames around us.

Leave me a comment below and tell me if you've ever seen the smoke from forest fires firsthand. What was your impression?

National Parks Week 2018

Happy National Parks Week! I seem to need the wild lands and scenic vistas protected by the National Park System now more than ever, and I can't wait until I travel to a few new parks in the coming months. In the meantime, I daydream and plan, counting down the days until I'm hiking soaring peaks and exploring deep canyons yet again. For now, take a look at the gallery of a few of my favorite parks to visit and get out there to enjoy one or two yourself!


Canyonlands National Park

Grand Canyon National Park 

Zion National Park

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Rocky Mountain National Park

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Enough with the Elk Encounters

Torrey and I have had enough elk encounters to last us a lifetime. First there was the elk at our second backcountry site who tried to eat my tent, then there were the herd and young male elk while we prepared for day hiking. After that we got stopped on a trail in the backcountry by a young male who wouldn't move off the trail and we couldn't get around. Our last elk encounter was a good one, but we were fleeing the backcountry after a run-in with a bear, so we were kind of in a hurry. We had noticed fresh elk tracks on the trail just before we turned a corner and found a female elk blocking the way. She moved, but not before her calf joined her and stared at us for a few seconds. We had no choice but to walk the trail way too close to the pair due to terrain, but they remained calm, munching on the leaves of small trees next to a creek. They were adorable, but we just wanted out. We didn't linger.

Leave me a comment and tell me if you agree that we've had enough elk encounters to last us a while. We'll probably have more on our trip next year!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Smells of the Forest

Have you ever been in the mountains and noticed the air smells different depending on that trees you're by? My favorites are the ponderosa pines, which smell like butterscotch and warm caramel. There is nothing like walking through a stand of sun-warmed ponderosas. Then there are fir trees, which smell almost tangy, like citrus. Junipers are tart, and are scented like what I think the color blue should be. Pinyon pines smell like orange juice. And spruce trees? They smell like Christmas.

Leave me a comment below and tell me about the smells you associate with different trees. I can't be the only one!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Spoiled in the Backcountry

TMI ALERT! Unless you've camped like I have you have no idea what its like to relieve yourself in the backcountry. Most places require you to dig yourself a "cathole" at least six inches down, some places require you to bag it out, and all places ask you to carry out your toilet paper. Our last backcountry campsite in Rocky Mountain National Park spoiled us: we had our very own privy! Backcountry toilets are rare, mostly because they're difficult to maintain, but Torrey and I got lucky on what was supposed to be our final night in the backcountry with one of those all to ourselves. It even had a seat and a lid! We hadn't been at the site very long before the bear came along and forced us to leave, and I can't help but feel like we missed out on a golden opportunity. Its the little things guys, it truly is.

Leave me a comment and tell me if you've had backcountry bathroom woes, or have you ever seen a backcountry privy? Fun times...

A Snapshot and The Scoop: A Shortcut To...

Mushrooms! Mushrooms! There were mushrooms everywhere in Rocky Mountain National Park last August! Apparently it had rained every day in the park for two weeks straight until we got there, and the moisture allowed mushrooms of all shapes, sizes, and colors to pop up all over the place. There were bright, cherry red ones speckled with sunshine yellow spots, deep green ones that blended in with the forest floor, and dusty blue colonies that looked more alien than any of the others. Of course, there were the typical brown, tan, and white mushrooms too, and some of those were huge. As big as a football! So there I was, once again getting excited over fungus. They're just so neat!

Leave me a comment below and tell me about the coolest mushroom you've ever found. Where was it? I need to go there!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: You Know What They Say About Karma...

While hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park Torrey and I came around a bend in the trail to see three girls carving something in an aspen tree. Not only is this ugly, it damages the tree. Also, its illegal - defacing federal property. I was polite (at first) and asked them to please not do that to the tree. I became less polite when they argued with me, telling me there are millions of trees and its only one. I stood still and stared at them until they started getting things like sunscreen out of their packs, clearly waiting for me to leave. I didn't. I'm kind of known for being stubborn, and these girls had pissed me off. I stood and watched them until they became uncomfortable and eventually left with a nice wave of their middle fingers at me. I got the last laugh though: Torrey and I had noticed rain clouds moving in and we had been booking it down the mountain so we wouldn't freeze in the cold mountain rains. These girls were in tank tops, capris, and weren't carrying any sort of rain gear while they were headed up the mountain. The sky opened up on Torrey and I as soon as we reached our car, and there was no way those girls had made it down in time to avoid getting soaked in the afternoon storm. I like to think Mother Nature had her revenge.

Leave me a comment below and tell me if you would say something if you saw someone defacing a park or something else important to you. What do you you let slide, and what makes your blood boil?

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Potatoes

While exploring in Rocky Mountain National Park this past August Torrey and I stumbled across a potato floating in a mountain lake. Seriously. Somebody had brought a potato three miles up a mountain and it had somehow ended up in that lake. Seeing it got us talking and we discovered that we both love eating raw potatoes! How did didn't know this about each other after almost twenty years I don't know, but as soon as we had finished our hike we decided to slip into town and stop at a store that just so happened to sell little potatoes - perfect for snacking on in the backcountry. Score!!

Leave me a comment and tell me if you like raw potatoes. Some people do, some don't, and I want to know who my fellow potato lovers are!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: The Rival

Torrey and I were preparing for a ten mile day hike the fourth day of our stay at Rocky Mountain National Park when a loud cry made us turn around. An elk had bugled right behind us, and as we watched she led a whole herd out of the forest towards our parked car. There were several females, a few young, and one huge male with a giant set of antlers. He crossed the road last, rounding up a couple of straggling youngsters to join the herd on our side of the road. Not long after they had safely crossed we noticed a young male pick his way out of the trees, his antlers hardly more than spikes and still covered in velvet. As soon as the big male saw the young rival he charged and the young male made a hasty retreat. I'm willing to bet he will continue hanging out around that herd though, until the big male chases him off for good.

Leave me a comment below and tell me if you've ever heard an elk bugle. It is eerie!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: The Visitor

Torrey and I were in the tent on the second evening of our Rocky Mountain National Park Adventure, waiting out the rain and hoping for dinner before dark. Torrey was dozing, I was writing, and all of a sudden I heard branches crack. I froze, listening, and heard them crack again. I quietly woke Torrey up, and she froze when she heard it too. We grabbed the bear spray and I put on a show of bravery that I did not feel at the moment, unzipping the tent and popping out to find myself facing a large female elk less than ten feet away. We stared at each other for a few seconds, then she put her head down to graze and I whispered to Torrey that it was an elk. We got out of of the tent and watched her for a while before Torrey noticed a herd of elk in the meadow across from our camp. We headed that way to see them, but I was too fixated on her and missed the herd. The female grazed around our camp for thirty minutes or so, forcing us to stay away and give her space until she moved on. At one point, only my four foot wide tent separated her from me. I had elk slobber on my tent where she bent her head down to check it out and nibble on the fly zipper. I was afraid she was going to eat my tent, or trample it at least! I was so thankful we had gotten out when we first heard her; if we were inside with her that close I would have been freaking out. What a cool experience!

Leave me a comment below and tell me about a close wildlife encounter you've had! I want to hear your close-call stories!

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Adult Tetris

If you think loading a dishwasher is hard, try cramming anything that smells but you absolutely need into a bear canister. Torrey and I were backpacking in Rocky Mountain National Park where they require bear canisters in the backcountry, and we had to figure out how to shove everything we needed for three days and two nights into one. Meals, snacks, the stove, pot, and spoons were priortiy (obviously), but we also wanted to fit in things like sunscreen and bug spray and toothpaste/toothbrush, and deoderant. It was a challenge, but we managed to get everything in there alright. In hindsight we didn't need to bring near as much food as we did, which wouoold have saved us weight and space, but oh well. At least we didn't starve!

Leave me a comment below and tell me if you've ever packed a bear canister. What did you put in, and how did you do it?

A Snapshot and The Scoop: Mountain Raspberries

Late summer in the mountains in raspberry season! Torrey and I hiked through several patches of raspberries on our trek through the Rockies in August, and it was lovely. We were on the look out for bears and spotted this adorable little thing stuffing her face with fat, ripe, juicy raspberries. She would scurry to one plant, eat a bunch of berries, then hurry to another. She wasn't bothered by us one bit. Berries are an important food source in the mountains, especially in late summer when everything is fattening up for a long and cold winter. Chipmunks aren't the only animals to hang out around a berry patch; lots of birds eat the berries too, as do bears! We were always cautious when entering a berry patch because surprising one of the park's thirty or so bears was not high on our list of things to do. Especially not a mother with her cubs. We didn't have any problems among the berries though, and enjoyed watching the little chipmunks run around with fat cheeks. Happy harvesting, little one!

Leave me a comment and tell me about a berry patch you came upon while on a hike or walk. What kind were they?

Rocky Mountain Adventures: Upper Wind River

Confident. Our morning at Boulder Brook dawned bright and cold. It was by far the coldest overnight we had weathered in Rocky Mountain National Park, and I for one had my mummy sleeping bag cinched all the way down so that only my nose and mouth were exposed. If I was cold, I know Torrey was freezing. Our bags are rated for twenty degrees and I'd guess the temperatures to be somewhere in the thirties so we were toasty as long as we stayed in our bags, but unfortuantley nature calls. We unwillingly slid out of the tent, pulling on gloves and hats to try to fend off the chill. We made ourselves a warm breakfast and found a sun spot, waiting for the tent to dry out and our limbs to warm up before we got moving.

Our hike back down Boulder Brook Trail went much better than our hike up, though the trail was just as steep as we remembered. Steep trails seemed to be the theme of our hikes this year; I don't remember hiking trails without switchbacks like the ones we hiked here in the history of my travels. It was killer on my ankles, unfortunatley, and I would slip or misstep every few feet and send my ankles rolling in every direction. I was lucky to only cause myself some minor pain and swelling; I easily could have ended up with a sprained or broken ankle.

We were picking our way down the last stretch of steep trail before it leveled out, Torrey some way ahead of me, when I saw her stop dead in the center of the trail. I caught up to her and she pointed out something big and brown moving just on the edge of the forest, not far from us. As we stood still and quiet, watching closely, a young male elk, his antlers barely more than velvet-covered spikes, wandered onto our trail a few hundred feet from us. He was taking his sweet time, munching on small aspen trees, though every once in a while he would pick his head up and stare us down. We knew better than to get too close: young male elk are particularly unpredictable with their high levels of testosterone. Unfortunatley, he was right in the middle of our trail, and there was no going around him without losing some of our tree cover protection. We were blocked in for probably ten minutes or more until we eventually had to scared him off by throwing rocks and me yelling at the elk like an idiot. I'm pretty sure if another hiker had heard me they would have wondered what the hell was wrong with me.

It was around the same time that Torrey confessed she had stashed a Dr. Pepper in the car back at the trailhead, and since we really weren't all that far away... So we made a detour back to the car and grabbed a snack while we were at it. We were only there briefly, but it was long enough to watch a couple of storms growing over the mountains near us, and we knew that it was a matter of time until they reached us, whether we were at camp or not. We finished up and got moving, following a trail that stank of horses a few miles back into the lush Wind River valley filled with beaver ponds and stands of pine trees.

It really was a beautiful place, and I was excited to spend our final night in the park at Upper Wind River camping area. We didn't waste time getting our tent set up and gear sorted for the night; the storm we had seen from the car blew up almost as soon as we arrived and pelted us with soft, half-formed hail and freezing rain until we zipped ourselves into our tent to ride it out. It didn't last long, though, and pretty soon we were back out, making ourselves some celebratory backcountry apple crisp before exploring the area. We spent the afternoon content and relaxed, Torrey reading and me writing, and otherwise just being lazy. I almost didn't register the sound of galloping hooves or the cracks of branches breaking, but I glanced up just in time to see the blur of a giant bull moose running through the meadow next to our camp, then I went right back to writing. In hindsight I should have wondered what in the world would cause a huge animal like that to run, but I was absorbed in my own head and it didn't even cross my mind. Not even five minutes later Torrey broke my concentration again with a chilling whisper. "There's something over there..."

I have one more story to tell, and it's my best one yet! Stay tuned for the final installment of my Rocky Mountain Adventures on the next full-length post. In the meantime, you can review the rest of our adventures with The Eclipse, Skeleton Gulch, Box Canyon, Thunder Pass, Glacier Basin, Unfinished Business, and Boulder Brook!

I'm Thankful For... V.2017

Thankful. Sometimes I forget to be thankful. I get so caught up in life, in what is going on around me, in what I still need to do and what has to be done, that I forget how much I already have. And I have a lot. Last year I wrote about how I'm thankful for my fiance (now husband!), my family, my pets, my jobs, and my travels. And while I am still thankful for those people and things, this year I want to get specific. This year, I'm especially thankful for...

My Adventure Partners: Alisha, Jared, and Torrey
These three amazing people put up with me for at least a week each, alone in a car, in the backcountry, on a crazy cross-country trip.

I spent a week in the desert with only my sister for company, backpacking in one of the most inhospitable places in the United States, the Grand Canyon. We took care of each other and helped each other make it through the desert heat, thunderstorms, and scorching climbs, and I am so happy I got to share that experience with her.

I got to go with Jared on two-week a cross-country road trip to see most of his extended family, meaning he had to spend days in a car with me. Our reward for making it through such a trip was getting married! I am so thankful to have Jared in my life, to go on crazy adventures, to come home to any time I go alone. I can't imagine life without him.

Once again this year I met Torrey at Pike's Peak in Colorado and somehow managed to convince her to backpack for a week in Rocky Mountain National Park. Not only did she spend  hours in a car with me, but only had me to hang out with while in the backcountry. We relied on each other to get us through tough mountain climbs, and we got to share the experince of being faced with a bear. I don't know who else I'd rather have to share those things with!

I am so thankful for these adventure with each of you, and can't wait until our next trip together!

My Adventure Buddies, Callie and Ghost

What would I do without my adventure buddies? My solo travels would be a whole lot less fun and fulfilling without my dogs! Callie is always ready for an adventure, so much so that when she hears my alarm go off early in the morning she is up and ready to go by the door just as soon as I let her out of the bedroom! Ghost is learning the whole camping business, but I am so thankful for his boundless energy and his trust in me. I can't wait to take him to some amazing places, with Callie right by my side too.

My New Family

If you missed it, I got married! I am so, so thankful for my new family. To be loved and accepted as an addition to their own family makes my heart swell, and I am thrilled to have been able to spend time with them this summer on our adventures up north. Having everyone there for Jared's and my marriage is something I will always cherish.

Trail Toes

This one is material, but you guys, I am so thankful for Trail Toes. This amazing product has kept my feet happy on every hike since August, and I no longer get blisters! Where a ten mile hike in four hours would normally have left me with massive, painful blisters on my toes and heels I got away with none! I've used this stuff on every hike since Torrey introduced me to it on our August backpacking trip in the mountains and couldn't be happier. If you run or hike a lot, check out Trail Toes at their website here and use the code BCyber12 to get a discount!

The Skills and Experience I've Gained 

A less quantifiable item, the skills and experince I've built up over my years of travelling have allowed me to push my limits and made backpacking possible. It took me two years from when I started travelling to work up the gear and courage to begin backpacking, and I still continue to learn new things with every trip I take. I am thankful for every lesson I've learned, the good and the bad, because they make me a better traveller, hiker, and backpacker.

There are many more things that I am thankful for, but this list hits my highlights for the last year. I am going to strive to remember everything I have to be thankful for, even in the face of challenges and difficulties that may come. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Rocky Mountain Adventures: Boulder Brook

Wearied. We were ready to backpack again! Torrey and I had finished a ten mile day hike in the front country of Rocky Mountain National Park and just barely missed an afternoon downpour when we found ourselves sitting in our car at the trailhead for our next two nights of backpacking, waiting out the last bit of rain. We were fatigued from our fast-paced morning hike, but I was itching to get into the backcountry again. Our gear was loaded, the rain let up, and we set off, knowing our camp was only three or so miles away from the trailhead.

What we hadn't counted on was the trail condition. With the afternoon thunderstorm everything was wet and slick, and the trail itself was just as steep if not worse than the first trail we hiked up to Skeleton Gulch when we arrived in the park. We moved slowly, methodically placing one foot in front of the other, bowed forward to try to counteract gravity. Each of us was lost in our own exhaustion-hazed world and we hardy acknowledged each other; I didn't even have enough energy to call out to Torrey that I was stopping to take a picture.

That is one thing I try not to lose, no matter how much my feet hurt or how much my lungs sear: I want to notice everything around me, be in the present, hold it in my mind's eye, and if I see something that I want to keep forever, I set up a shot and snap a photo. There's a good chance I will never return to the exact spot I was in at that moment, and I take pictures as much for the emotional memory as the physical one. I can look at one of the pictures I took and tell you what was going on around me, what I was feeling, and why I decided to take that exact photo.

On this particular trail, everything was vibrant, still dripping after the recent rain. The greens stood out vividly, from the mosses on the boulders to the needles on the trees, and every once in a while the pop of a red mushroom or a splash of purple wildflowers swam across my field of vision. The world was overcast, perfect for a quiet hike through a forest that smelled like damp earth and wet plants and cool mountain rain. Boulder Brook itself ran next to the trail for much of the first half of our hike, loudly and cheerfully bouncing from boulder to boulder as it raced down the mountainside in the opposite direction from where we were headed. I love camping near water, especially loud water like this mountain stream, and I was excited to reach our destination and get a good night's sleep on its banks.

It was with relief when we finally reached our campsite for the night, and we set up near the brook's rushing waters but far enough away that we were out of an area where it had clearly flooded before. Trees and rocks were piled up at unnatural levels, creating dams against living trees and bigger boulders. The vegetation in the area had been stripped away except for a growth of grasses and mosses  directly lining the stream. A flood of some force had ripped through the area, and we were not eager to be in the path of another one should it storm too badly that night. As it was, it only sprinkled on us a little before the sky cleared and we were able to watch stars appear overhead as evening enveloped our camp.

Other Rocky Mountain Adventures: The Eclipse, Skeleton Gulch, Box Canyon, Thunder Pass, Glacier Basin, and Unfinished Business.

Rocky Mountain Adventures: Unfinished Business

Pacified. I don't like leaving things unfinished. It feels wrong, and it bothers me if something is half completed. Maybe that's the perfectionist in me, that Type A personality, or whatever, but this aversion to unfulfilled tasks is what led Torrey and I to plan an ambitious ten mile dayhike in between backpacking treks while at Rocky Mountain National Park in August. We had attempted to hike up to Sky Pond last year after our epic hike to Andrew's Glacier, but were forced to give it up and turn around less than half a mile from our goal due to a storm that blew in off the Continental Divide. This year we were determined to finish it.

We got up and packed our camp at Glacier Basin as the sun rose, driving to the trailhead where we would leave to go backpacking later in the day. We caught the park's shuttle up to Sky Pond's trail and finally began. We hiked quickly, feeling as light as a feather without our heavy backpacks, flying up the mountain trail to our first stop at The Loch. We had stopped at this gorgeous pond on our previous hike in the area and it still ranks as one of the prettiest mountain lakes I've had the pleasure of hiking to. We took a lot of pictures, spending about twenty minutes enjoying the early morning and mountain views before continuing on.

We continued to make great time up until we began the approach to Timberline Falls. Here, I lagged behind. The trail becomes steep and slippery, with wooden and stone steps cutting into the mountain in front of you. If I learned anything on this trip its that climbing is my downfall; whether that is actually climbing up something or otherwise using my feet (and still sometimes hands) to gain elevation. I can handle coming down like nobody's business, but if you ask me to go up something I will come in dead last. Oh well, something for me to work on, right? Once I finally reached the falls the fun really began: we had to climb them. Yes, I mean actually climb up a waterfall. It was scary, trying to climb up the slippery, wet rocks while water rushed down next to you, but I made it up after much huffing and puffing and cursing. I was greeted by Glass Lake at the top, stretching from the falls back almost as far as I could see. Last year the lake was grey and choppy, stirred by the storm; this year a calm lake lay at our feet, surrounded by deep green trees under a bright and sunny sky.

Torrey and I spent a little time at Glass Lake, taking in the view, before finding the trail that winds along next to it on the approach to Sky Pond. Beyond Glass Lake, the trail is amazing. Beautiful wetland meadows full of flowers lay in between small rocky rises and the stream that feeds both Glass Lake and Timberline Falls splashes and plays among small cascades. When we finally reached Sky Pond under blue skies it was to see a clear, deep green alpine lake just above treeline, fed by one of the few glaciers left in the park. We clambered down to the water's edge, picking a spot in the sun and enjoying a few well-earned snacks next to the gorgeous little pond. Time seemed to stand still while we sat there, and we only decided to leave when we ran out of snacks.

The return trip flew by, with Torrey and I fast walking, sometimes jogging, down the trail past other hikers on their way up. We reached the trailhead in record time, marking our fastest round trip hiking time at 10.40 miles in four and a half hours, including stops at The Loch, Glass Lake, Sky Pond, Timberline Falls, and other short rests (where I took pictures of waterfalls) along the way. I'm still not completely sure how we managed to hike up and down the mountain so fast, with the only plausable explanation being that we had grown used to mountain climbing with heavy packs, and once we removed those we could fly.

We're more than halfway through my Rocky Mountain Adventures, but I'm not done yet! Read my other stories about The Eclipse here, Skeleton Gulch here, Box Canyon here, Thunder Pass here, and Glacier Basin here.

Rocky Mountain Adventures: Glacier Basin

Reflective. Our third day in the park dawned quiet and overcast. Torrey and I had spent the night at Box Canyon on the extreme northern edge of Rocky Mountain National Park, and our third morning had a different mood to it than the previous few days. Maybe it was the cloud cover, but it also could have been my sadness at leaving the area so we could move to the east side of the park. I never really spent much time on the west side of Rocky, and neither do a vast majority of visitors to the park. At most they'll head up to the alpine visitors center, maybe drop down to the Continental Divide, then head back east. We were on our third day exclusively on the west side of the park, and it was gorgeous and peaceful. I didn't want to leave.

Unfortunatley, we had to. We had reservations to honor, and our permits for staying where we were had expired. We packed up and hiked away from Box Canyon quietly, muted, almost. The loudest sounds were our footsteps on the trail and the occasional clack of my trekking poles against a rock. Even the birds and the streams seemed quieter than usual as we passed through the forest in an early morning lull. We reached the portion of trail that had given us such trouble two days before, where it was so steep that we were in danger of tumbling backwards down the mountain with one wrong step. We marvled that we had even been able to hike up it, and hiking down presented its own challenges in the form of loose rocks and twisted ankles.

We made it back to the Colorado River after carefully picking our way down the mountain, and the world seemed to wake up as the sun burned away the clouds as we approached Lulu City. We explored the ruins of the ghost town again, spying more cabins than we had on our first pass through the area. We were greeted (and by that I mean yelled at) by marmots sunbathing in open, rocky areas next to the path, where raspberry bushes grew plump and ripe. Our hike out of the forest took far less time than our hike in, but I'm not sure if that was because we were headed downhill or because we were better acclimated to hiking with a pack. Either way, we reached the car before I was fully ready.

I have to admit, I was a little relieved to see the parking lot at the trailhead. As much as I wanted to stay in the backcountry away from people, a parking lot meant my vehicle, and my car meant I was that much closer to getting real food and a change of clothes. Torrey and I ditched our packs in the backseat and piled into the front, taking off along Trail Ridge Road - always a favorite - with a stop at the Alpine Visitors Center for a meal and some trinket shopping.

Once on the east side of Rocky Mountain we descended into Estes Park, the town on the edge of the national park, to find ourselves showers and more food before we headed back into the park for the night. We stayed at one of the four established campgrounds in the park, Glacier Basin, where we sorted through our gear and prepped for another few days of backpacking as well as an ambitious day hike we had planned for the next morning. That night we were a lot more brave than we had been the previous few nights, actually staying out of the tent as dusk fell around us, watching the Milky Way blossom above our heads and catching glimpses of a few shooting stars. We were ready for more adventures.

Did you read the first few adventures in Rocky Mountain? You can see them again here, here, here, and here.