As the traveling restriction started to ease off, we started venturing to the outdoors. During spring break in March, we went to Southern California to visit the girls. During that time we went to the Joshua Tree National Park for a couple of days.
In July we went on a six-day trip to the Glacier National Park. The weather was hotter than we expected. We were sweating even at the peak of the trail. There were many beautiful trails, the most memorable one was from The Loop to the Grinnell Glacier Overlook where we look down at the glacier from the top. It took us 11 hours to hike the 9-mile round trip. We were planning on hiking the Grinnell Glacier Trail the next day to see the glacier from the bottom up but will have to leave that for our next trip. From Many Glacier, we hike to the Iceberg Lake. A spectacular view with many “icebergs” floating on a glacier lake. We definitely will have to come to Glacier again some day.
For the Labor Day week in September, we were in the Rocky Mountain National Park for five days. This time, we bought an annual America the Beautiful Pass. For sure we will be visiting many more national parks in the next 12 months. Similar to the Going To The Sun Road, the Bear Lake Road requires a timed pass for entry between 5 am to 5 pm. We could not get a pass on the first day, so we got up early and got to the Bear Lake by 4:30 am to start the hike to Sky Pond! This is the first time we hike in the mountains in total darkness. It was quite an experience to see the starry sky and rising sun over the mountain range as we ascend the trail. The second day we took a cross mountain hike from Bear Lake to Fern Lake, then on the third day toured the four lakes around Bear Lake. On the final day we drove up to the Alpine Visitor Center before heading back to Denver for our flight back to Chicago.
Next, we are planning for an eight-day trip to Utah for Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase, Canyonlands and Arches during Thanksgiving holiday.