rocky mountains

Sky Pond

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I explored a new part of Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) that I hadn’t hiked before. My traditional hike is up to Emerald Lake, but we were in for a bigger, longer, and more difficult hike. And we definitely found it!

We hit the trailhead (after having to ride the shuttle because it’s #summer and everyone is in RMNP…) at 7:52am! This was a great time to start despite there being more people than I expected in the park during Covid-19….but it was a Saturday so that explains it a little.

Anyways, we started out the hike and it was honestly really easy. We read that this was a “difficult” hike yet nothing seemed difficult at all. It was a great trail, well marked, and extremely beautiful! We made it to Alberta Falls pretty quickly and stopped to take some pictures! The waterfalls along this trail were phenomenal.

We continued to hike and came to Loch Lake! This lake is INCREDIBLE. Seriously. Even if you only make it to this lake, it would be well worth your time. The trail hugs the side of the water most of the time so you have a great view of the lake as you make your way around. There were picnics and people fishing all around the lake. (On the way back we stopped to hammock by the lake for a little break, while we enjoyed the fresh air and great views!)

After hiking around the lake, the trail begins to get steeper, but still not at “difficult” level. There were a lot more steps and a steeper incline that led right up to the base of another waterfall.

Only this time… you have to hike up the waterfall! This is why this trail is marked “difficult.” Everything began to make sense!

(This is the waterfall we hiked up.)

We watched several people hike up and down the waterfall before it was our turn. By this point, there was a light off and on rain but either way we were going to get at least a little wet during this next section of the hike. We made our way up the waterfall, scaling the slippery rocks, helping each other out, and double checking every foothold to see if it was secure.

Once you make it over Timberline Falls, you reach Mirror Lake. This is the lake that feeds into the waterfall and it was marvelous! From here you have to hike around this lake to get to the final destination, Sky Pond. Now, this should be an easy thing to do, and it is if you know where the trail is, but we didn’t. We got some “directions” from a couple hiking down from Sly Pond who said, “Yeah, you just go up and around. It doesn’t really matter where you go, you will make it.” So we took that as a fact and headed over the rocks… and over the trees… and into the bushes… and then under the trees… and then we were lost. And yes, we did literally hike on top of trees.

So that happened, but we finally made it back to the trail. (And yes, there is an actual trail that was literally 20 feet away from us when we got directions from the misguided couple.) We made it to Sky Pond by 10:50am, which is a 3 hour and 2 minute hiking experience! We found a place to sit on some rocks, eat our uncrustables (which are now a required food item for all of my hikes!), and just gaze on the beauty of creation that stood before us. It really was unbelieveable.

Until it started to rain more than just a drizzle. Plus it was cold rain…not the warm, enjoyable rain, but the cold, sharp, almost hail kind of rain. So we shoved the rest of our food in our mouths, zipped up our raincoats, and headed back down the trail (the real trail) and towards the waterfall.

Everyone made it back safe and sound, and we rewarded ourselves with coffee at Kind Coffee…mostly because it’s a tradition of mine, but also because we needed some warmth!

If you are looking for a little (or a BIG) adventure, then Sky Pond is a great place to go. I hope to enjoy this hike several more times in the future since it was so beautiful. This honestly may be one of my top favorite hikes ever, which is truly saying a lot!

The reason why I love hiking so much is because you get to see the beauty and creativity of our Creator! He made each of the rocks you climb over and the particles of water that fall down into the rivers. He knows exactly where each tree was planted and how long it has been living. The beauty of God truly comes out in His creation and I love getting to explore new places in order to see even more facets of His creativity!

And the Lord will guide you continually
    and satisfy your desire in scorched places
    and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
    like a spring of water,
    whose waters do not fail.

Isaiah 58:11

The Most Delightful Dinner.

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Think about the most delightful dinner you have ever had. What made it so great? The scenery? The people? The journey to get there?

After our crazy backpacking experience, which you can read about in my other posts HERE, we decided to ditch the last 14er and head into town early. We were all way more tired than we expected and we still had to backpack down the mountain and drive an hour into town.

With the crazy hiking portion of our trip finalized, we decided to go to the store and get a good, savory meal to cook for dinner. We grabbed all the essentials: steak, asparagus, potatoes, and wine. Then we headed to our perfect little Airbnb in the middle of an aspen forest! We took hot showers, short naps, and began cooking dinner. We found a small picnic table outside and decided that it would be the perfect place for dinner.

And it was.

This was the most delightful, content, and filling meal I have had in a long time…. dare I say, it was the best dinner ever. It is pretty hard to beat good friends, fine food, and cool mountain air. Plus we were completely surround by Colorado 14er… sitting in a forest of aspen trees… as the sun was setting… listening to deer prancing about in the trees nearby.

Yep, that’s hard to beat.

This was the most delightful dinner. And I think what made it so delightful was not just the incredible scenery, but also the journey to get to that dinner. We had just spent several days eating granola bars, oatmeal, and instant meals. (Though the astronaut ice cream was pretty tasty!) To be in a place where we had a hot meal (that was not made by heating up water) was pure joy.

The only thing we thought of that could make this dinner better was if Jesus Himself was there in the flesh with us. This truly felt like a dinner He would have enjoyed with us if He had been here in person. And yet, He was with us. He was with us on the mountains and during the cold nights and throughout the tough hiking. And He was with us during this most delightful dinner ever.

And friends, I can’t wait to have more dinners like this for eternity with Jesus. Can you imagine?! Eternity with Jesus is going to be delightful!

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:3-4 (ESV)