On the last weekend in August we headed back to Rocky Mountain National Park for another fun weekend of camping. This time we were staying at the Glacier Basin Campground with Natalia, Barry, & Alba. We had two great campsites with amazing views right next to each other so that the girls (and us) could easily move back and forth between the campsites.
View from our campfire area
We had planned on doing a hike with the girls and Dave suggested a hike that he and I had done backpacking 9 years ago. I remembered the hike as being beautiful and not that bad (after all we were carrying 30-40 pound packs then). Well, the 4.5 mile hike up to Sandbeach Lake was tougher than either of us remembered and the almost 2,000 feet of elevation gain was not kind to us. The boys were champs and carried both girls all the way up to the lake. Unfortunately we arrived at the top at the same time as the thunderstorm. We quickly ate our lunch and enjoyed the lake for 10 minutes before taking a group photo.
Seconds after this photo was taken, lighting struck the lake in one of the most amazing flashes of light I have ever seen and hope never to see again. Dave and Natalia ran for cover with the girls and Barry and I grabbed the bags. We set a pretty fast pace down in the rain, but it still took us more than three hours to descend. On the way down, Natalia and I helped out and carried the girls. The were both troopers, despite the rain they seemed to have a great time.
Claire and Alba in their rain gear back at the bottom of the hike
The whole gang in front of the trail head, post hike. Look at all t
hose smiles, we were proud of doing 9 miles with the girls!
Back at camp, we all hung out around the fire and enjoyed a great meal of lentils and rice prepared by Barry before snacking on some S'Mores made in the campfire. The girls enjoyed the campfire and seemed to understand that it was hot and pretty much stayed away. They were both adorable in their head lamps!
On the last day we returned to the picturesque (and flat) Sprague Lake to enjoy a walk and lunch before heading back to the real world. We feel very lucky to have such a great family to spend time with and that Claire is blessed with a great friend like Alba.
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