Day 3–Touring the Park

After so much time spent traveling, Little Bird slept like a champ in the tent.  When she woke up the first morning it was “HEY GRANDMA!!!” and non-stop excitement for the kiddo.  We hiked to the bathroom to brush our teeth, wash our faces, comb our hair, and then put on our tennis shoes and hiking boots, layered clothing, and loaded up the car to visit Ranger’s Stations and take in the scenery.

Little Bird loved the trails.  She could run and hike on them without wondering if she was going the right way, and her Grandpa was right beside her incase of a gigantic rock where she would “need help” to “step step” over it.  The Ranger’s Stations have hands-on programs and talks for kiddos, so my sisters and cousins had a blast learning all about the geology of RMNP.

They learned about the mountains being pushed upward from merging plates, and how the Rocky Mountains were partially shaped by glaciers that have been receding.  They also learned that the Rockies are relatively young mountains, and that is part of the reason they still are so jagged along their peaks.

The late spring snows this year have made the waterways in Estes Park and in Rocky Mountain National Park fill to the brim, making the streams and rivers even more spectacular.

We visited Sprague Lake, a glacier formed lake.  Little Bird chased ducks and observed the trout in the Lake.  She also climbed rocks. 

 

 

Believe it or not, she climbed to the top of that rock all by herself. 

She is a mountaineer in the making….and may be getting a climbing harness for Christmas.

 

And after all that climbing and running, it was time to relax around a campfire and watch the beautiful sunset.