blue bird lake

In honor of my friend Betsy, I took the troops up to the trail head for BlueBird Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. The ranger SWORE to me that the parking lot at the trail head was full, and that we needed to park down below. Why not? We were there to hike, right?
A wiser woman might have given more consideration to the fact that the trail was not wide enough for the stroller - leaving the 2 year old under his own power for the adventure and Max in the backpack - and the fact that I am not the queen of spatial memory.

It took us 2 HOURS to get up to the actual trail head. I'm pretty sure that Alex needed to stand on every rock we came across. For about half the time I carried Alex on my shoulders. We had lunch at the trail head, and I seriously considered turning around and starting back to the car, but I just couldn't go that far and not actually hike any of the trail. Calypso Falls was only .3 miles away, so off we went again. The rejuvenating powers of goldfish and yogurt are quite impressive.

Katie and Alex had a good time playing on the bigger rocks by the falls, and on each and every rock on the trail up to them.

On the way back down, the question of how we were going to get back down to our car became more pressing. I did not have it in me to carry Alex on my shoulders all the way back down, and by this time Katie was wanting to be carried too. A number of people passed us on the way back down, including a lone girl in a red sweatshirt. I ALMOST asked her if we could hitch a ride, but she was going to finish too far ahead of us and I didn't want to push her potential good nature by asking her to give us a ride AND wait 30 minutes for us to get to her car. So we soldiered on, got back to the trail head, and started down the road back to our car.

A few cars drove past us as I was praying for some help with my predicament - and some courage to flag someone down for a ride. Then some folks in an SUV stopped and asked if they could give us a lift. Inside the car was the girl I had thought about asking for a ride, sitting behind her parents. They were on their annual vacation from Texas. HOORAY for Texans! A cynic might argue coincidence, but seeing that girl - who I had already had a good feeling about - in that car assured me that we were being looked after.

When we got back down to the car I drove up to the trail head to see how far we had walked. OVER 1.2 miles!! Katie and Alex are total troopers, and I am a superhero!

We all had a lot more fun when we went back in August with Roger. We made it up to the top of the falls (Calypso again; we're not quite ready to make to to Ouzel Falls), and the kids had a blast throwing rocks in the water.

I about had a heart attack because little billy goat Katie likes to jump from rock to rock - sometimes jumping towards the water. There was much more energy for playing since we actually started at the beginning of the trail, and skipped the 1.3 mile introductory walk. Even Max got to escape from his cage for a little climbing.