Rocky Mountains

Well, enough already about Medicine Bow National Forest.  We've mentioned that it's close to Laramie, that it's beautiful, and that we enjoy hiking, walking, etc. there when we're able.  This past weekend, Charlotte and I decided instead to use our place in Fort Collins as a mountain home base.  That's because, while we'd never taken advantage of this fact before, Fort Collins is only about an hour away from Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP)!  You get there by driving through the town of Estes Park, which, as you can see, has some decent views of the park.

Anyway, we didn't have all day to sit in Estes Park and look at the pretty mountains-we had new snowshoes to test out!!!  Fortunately, this time of year, RMNP has not only amazing mountains, but also a LOT of snow, so we were in luck.

The "official" snow depth measurement at our particular trail was 28", but do you see those hiking poles Charlotte is holding?  It was at least as deep as those (we just couldn't push them down any further without losing them)!

Anyway, the scenery and experience was nothing short of amazing.  We got to snowshoe across three frozen alpine lakes...

...including one fed by an active glacier at the Continental Divide.

We ate lunch nestled between a boulder and several feet of snow, while adorable mountain chickadees landed on our hands (unfortunately, we were unsuccessful at snapping a photograph).

And, of course, we were treated to some amazing mountain views.

Anyway, it just goes to show that you never know what you'll find when you go exploring in your backyard!  As for this "little" find, I think it's safe to say that we'll be back!