It's been a few days since our hike - too much to see and do here. We flew our son, Chase, up for 3 days so this was the hike of choice. None of us have been to Blue Lake but we've heard plenty of folks talking about how beautiful it is. We haven't hiked much in Rocky Mountain National Park this summer because we have Toby, our dog, with us. Roosevelt National Forest allows dogs on all of their trails while RMNP does not. This hike was a bit strenuous for our dog but he was a trooper. There wasn't a dull moment and wonderful photo ops along the way. Once you drive through the entrance to the forest, you'll drive by Brainard Lake and recreation area. You'll eventually come to a fork in the road where Isabelle Lake trailhead is to the left and then Michell Lake and Blue Lake trailhead is to the right. Here's a few pics from the hike up to Blue Lake. Then I'll tell you about this sweet woman who was so endearing.

Once we arrived at Blue Lake and sat down to take in all the beauty, we saw this lady in the blue jacket in the picture setting up here camera on the rock, running over to another rock to pose. She would quickly whip out a scrolled poster out of the inside of her jacket, smile and do a victory dance each time - the dance was different each time (I'm talking about 20 shots she took).  She caught our curiosity and others so she pulled in a small crowd to at least assist her in taking those pictures. She explained that she sojourns to this exact location every year for the last 20 years. The poster she pulls from her jacket says 20 years!  She's 60 plus years old, retired, and has made this a quest in her life.  One gentleman who assisted with taking one picture for her noticed that her camera was about 15 years old. He asked if he could just take pics on his camera and email them to her. She smiled and very politely explained that she doesn't deal with "that email stuff."  Got to love her!!!  I wish you could have seen and felt her enthusiasm each and everytime she set that camera of hers up and posed a triumphant pose for her records. Make us all smile.

My sister and brother in-law, Marci and Keith, and their beautiful twins, Kenzie and Kaitlyn, met us at our cabin around 8:30am to venture down to the famous Glen Haven General Store. What? You have no idea why this store is famous? Two words - CINNAMON ROLLS. These rolls melt in your mouth and keep you smiling just thinking about that cinnamon and hot roll aroma! Chuck cruised his motorcycle down to Glen Haven while we road in the Traverse. Chuck looked a bit official- maybe too official in his motorcycle outfit so I thought I better archive the moment.

Chuck mentioned that a great first hike for the twins would be Alberta Falls at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead. Every one was up for that so after fetching hiking attire and snacks at the cabins, off we ventured. As you can see in the pictures the girls were naturals. They brought their own cameras to capture what's important to them! Here's a few of my pics:

Beautiful day from the very start! Chuck and I stopped on over to the Anderson's cabin to visit with Marci, Keith, and the girls. Thursday is always a great day because the Farmer's Market is amazing. We grabbed Marci and the girls and drove on over that way.  After buying way to much produce we headed on home to get ready for our first official hike with Toby.
Lake Isabelle is one of our favorite hikes because of the flowers, waterfalls, lake, and the fact that dogs are allowed! It's actually located in Roosevelt National Forest, about 40 minutes away from our cabin - well worth the drive!  Getting close to the entrance of that park, cars were at a stand still. I figured the tourists were looking at elk in the stream. But soon enough, we found out there were two HUGE moose (mooses?? meeses?) in the stream. The picture isn't that great but I didn't want to get any closer. Just amazing! Since hiking in the Rockies since 1975, I've NEVER seen moose on this side of the rockies. Such a sight to behold.  In some of my later pictures of the hike, you'll see two cows resting in the meadow- they seemed pretty young. Below are a few pictures from this hike:

Chuck and I noticed a helicopter flying back and forth from the lake to another location. It wasn't until we arrived at the lake that we realized what the helicopter was doing. The lake was pretty much empty! We've never seen this lake empty. Men were working down on the lake releasing items from the helicopter. We later found out that this lake is usually emptied in October each year to irrigate nearby farms. The snow/ice and rain replenishes the lake throughout the winter and spring months. I was a bit disappointed but intrigued at the same time.