Gem Lake

Yesterday we went with a group from church for a "walk in the Park" to Gem Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. We had three kids with us and we thought we better take a picture before we started the hike of 3.6 miles round trip with 900' elevation gain to Gem Lake. We didn't know how long the smiles would last and the whining would hold off...


The kids took off a head of all of us and pretty much ran up the first 0.5 mile! They really seemed to be enjoying the beautiful day and even noticed a few things along the way like fun holes in rocks and lots of butterfly's!



Kaylynn had to be right next to the person leading the way the entire time. Every time we would stop she would say "Let's keep going"!

The girls led the way much of the time. They really seemed to be having a lot of fun showing their independence by saying "Follow us".

We hiked passed Paul Bunyan's boot.

Lunch at the top on the shores of Gem Lake.


For those of you in MN reading this, you may disagree with the distinction given to this body of water ("lake") but, hey, this is CO!

And look at this, still smiling on the way back down!! The kids were real troopers and did a fantastic job!!


This was John's favorite place of the hike on the way down. A personal rock "couch".



So we all made it the entire way and the kids had a great time, which allowed the adults to have a great time as well! This was K's first major hike and we were very proud of her. She had to be out front and she really wanted to reach the destination as fast as possible - That's my kind of girl!!