Anniversarying at Grand Lake

We headed out to the town of Grand Lake for an anniversary getaway last year. There are a variety of ways to actually get there, but we ended up driving through RMNP on the way and then down through Granby, Winter Park, etc on the way back. Crossing the high point in RMNP we discovered a freak hail storm and were a bit worried for a second! Kora came through fine though.

The hike up to Lone Pine Lake was a little longer than we anticipated (can’t remember why – maybe we went farther than originally planned), but it ended up not mattering much because 1) the weather got better as the day went on, 2) it’s a fairly gentle slope trail anyways, and 3) we still got back in time for dinner. The big s-curve river view was only about a mile into the hike – what an incredible way to be introduced to a wilderness area. Especially on the way back with the sun coming through, that view was amazing. The trail wound up a river canyon, occasionally going over rolling pine forest, occasionally hugging a vertical wall with just enough of a shelf to hike comfortably on.

Another fun experience – this was the first time (and only time since) that I’ve seen a hummingbird moth. It was buzzing around some barrels full of flowers down by the lakeside walkway. Another person overheard us talking about it, wondering what it was, and let us know. They’re actually quite pretty.