Sunday 27, 2014 We got up at our usual time and got ready to meet Suzy and the kids for a day in the mountains. She called to say they were on their way about 8:45 and the plan was to meet them at a place where we could leave our car for the day. We met them at 9:00 not far from the park and we all rode together in Suzy’s SUV. It was a beautiful day with sunshine and temps in the 80s. It was a perfect day for a hike up to St. Mary’s Glacier. We took I-70 into the mountains and the ride was beautiful into the canyons and mountains. We could see snow on the tops of the mountains. It was smoky/hazy today. The news said that Colorado was being affected by forest fires in Canada. Who knows?
Bob commented on how many homes were in the mountains now….a lot more than he remembered.
Suzy pointed out a gold mine that was still operational. It occupied the whole hillside.
We passed through the Twin Tunnels that are normally under construction, but not today.
We made a stop in Idaho Springs for Subway sandwiches to take on the hike with us. The Subway shop was next to the river where there was a rafting company and an old mine.
While I waited for everyone to get their sandwiches, 4 rafts came down the river. That always looks like fun!
There was a lot of traffic in the Interstate going into the mountains. Since it was such a beautiful day, everyone was going somewhere.
We turned off the highway and took the road into the canyon to St. Mary’s Glacier. Suzy dropped us off and went to park the car. We waited for her at the head of the trail.
Once Suzy parked the car she joined us and we all made our way up the path. It was only 3/4 mile to St. Mary Glacier.
As you can see, lots of other people had the same idea on this beautiful day. We followed the kids up the path as best we could, but eventually they had to stop and wait for the “old folks”.
Eventually, we reached the lake at the base of St. Mary Glacier.
We passed lots of dogs, skiers, snowboarders, and swimmers on the way up. Yes, I said swimmers! Someone spotted this guy who was diving off the rocks across the lake….naked! He screamed when he landed in the icy cold water. That water was freezing!
We climbed up higher towards the glacier to get a better view.
The closer we got to the glacier, the more people we could see on the mountain.
From where we stood, we could watch people walking on the glacier, skiing, and snowboarding. This young man came too close to the ridge of the glacier, went over the edge, and started sliding down towards the rocks. People stood there in horror and watched him hit the rocks with his board. He sat there very still for awhile. Bob finally yelled up the hill and asked him if he was ok. He gave us a thumb’s up.
His little dog was with him and followed him all the way down. He stayed by him as the young man made his way down to the lake.
We all climbed up to the glacier to get a better view of the lake from above. Look at the shades of blue in the mountains. Awesome!
Suzy and Bob posed for this picture on the glacier.
The kids walked up higher on the glacier and Ashley found a way to slide down on her jacket. She wasn’t the only one. It was a little hard to walk down on the glacier without slipping.
We stopped to take some family pictures while we were up there.
Hey, which way did they go?
By this time, there were lots of people walking around the lake and a lot more people taking the plunge in the icy cold water.
We hiked down to the car and took the scenic drive back through the mountains to avoid the Sunday traffic. The road took us past Echo Lake.
We stopped to take a look in the lodge and the gift shop.
Of course, Bob spotted the jackalope on the wall.
Inside, it was a cool, old log cabin-style building with a bar and fireplace in the middle of the room.
We left there and passed the road to Mt. Evans (El. 14, 260 ft.).
The road wove through the mountains and was very steep in some places.
We eventually came out in Morrison where we took another road that paralleled Bear Creek. It was a very beautiful area with lots of interesting homes tucked into the hillsides. We wound around and followed the river until we came out at Red Rocks.
Red Rocks is a huge, red sandstone rock formation that is used as an outdoor music amphitheater. The amphitheater was closed today because they were setting up for a concert tonight. Too bad! It would have been cool to see the inside.
The rocks are so unusual and many people come to hike around the area. The rocks stick out at an angle from the ground and continue on along the foothills.
We could see Denver off in the distance from the entrance at the top of the amphitheater.
We took the scenic drive through the Red Rock area. On the way down, we could see Bear Creek Lake in the distance.
We had to pass through this rock tunnel on the road around Red Rocks.
Bob noticed a giant beehive in a hole in one of the rocks. He is such a good observer.
We weren’t far from our dropoff point, so once Suzy brought us back to the truck, they went home and we went back to the camper to clean up and spend some time with Auggie. We had such a wonderful day! The scenery was awesome and we enjoyed spending time with Suzy and the kids. We joined Suzy back at her house around 5:00 where Bob and Chloe worked on making dinner for tonight.
On the menu tonight was salmon and rice pilaf. Chloe acted as the chef with Bob’s supervision. Don’t you love her chef outfit?
The dinner was delicious and again Chloe did a super job of presentation at the table and on the plate.
On our ride back to the campground, we got a special treat of a beautiful sunset with streaks of blue and orange across the sky.
Once we got back to the campground, Bob took Auggie for his evening walk and we relaxed with some TV as darkness fell. We were treated to a starry sky with some bright planets off to the east. What a great day we had!
