Foggy Morning 07/15/20

Winding River RV Resort, Grand Lake, Colorado

Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. ~ Proverbs 27:6

When we set out at 8:00am, we set out into a heavy blanket of fog. When we got up this morning, we thought it was a cloudy, but eventually, Blaine realized it wasn’t the kind of clouds we were thinking of. It was kinda weird (which is why I didn’t buy it at first) because it wasn’t foggy around the campground – just more in the distance. However, once we started down the road, it was easy to tell. 😊

Driving out of the campground and into the fog.

After a quick stop at one of Grand Lake’s small-town groceries for bananas, we drove to the parking lot for the seven-mile round trip Cascade Falls. We were shocked by how many people were already there!

Now there’s a sign you don’t see on too many grocery store windows!

The trail begins at 8,545’ elevation, but doesn’t change a whole awful lot, so it wasn’t overly difficult, just long. And beautiful! And part of it goes through private property, so there must be some type of agreement in place between the property owner(s) and the National Park Service.

Good thing we’re not alone, don’t jog, and don’t have any kids with us! Yikes!

We didn’t realize we’d be on part of the Continental Divide Trail once again.
It’s not so bad if you do it in bits and pieces. : )

The fog’s still lingering, but it made our moring beautiful in it’s own way. : )

Beginning to break up, which somehow makes it even more beautiful!

And it was pretty exciting, as we had fairly close encounters with wildlife along the way! No mountain lions though. . . Whew!

We sure didn’t expect to see a cabin alongside the trail!
It’s obviously boarded up, but we liked the “slide” over the steps. : )
It’s either to keep the snow off, or keep people from walking up to the door. . .

This shows how close we were, a little more realistically.

We noticed both of them paying attention to something further up our trail, but we didn’t pay it much mind,
until I caught movement through the brush and trees.

Walking right across the trail in front of us!

We both agreed, that wildlife aside, it was a much, much better hike than the Green Mountain Loop we did the other day. Willowy Aspen with leaves fluttering in the gentle breeze, tall stately pines wafting their scent all around us, a sometimes quiet, sometimes raging river, abundant wildflowers painting the landscape with a variety of color, lots of luscious green ground cover, leftover fog or dew droplets glistening on pine needles and flowers, rocky tree-covered mountains, the sight and sound of water from the North Inlet River racing and tumbling over rocks, all culminating into a splendid roaring waterfall, plus the discovery of a few large critters along the way . . . what’s not to love?!?

A couple of times there were bridges to cross.

Look how curved the rock is!
Obviously it was liquid at some point.

The trail ran alongside the river for much of the time.
Oftentimes, we couldn’t see it, or if we did, it was only a glimpse through trees and other growth,
but it sounded so nice!

A butterfly on thistle. And it stuck around long enough for a photo shoot!

This flower is called Fireweed. We first saw it when we visited Alaska about 15 years ago.
Blaine’s app told us that every part of this plant is edible.
We loved the water droplets on it too. : )

This is it! We’re arrived at our destination!
And yes. There will be too many water pictures. Just slide right over them if you want. : )
Blaine’s searching for a way to get over to see the falls from a better vantage point.
We had to cross a run-off stream. I don’t know what they’re really called, you know what I mean, the water that escapes and runs off to the sides of the main flow.
Once we found a place, he had to help me out a little to get across, since I’m not as sure-footed as I once was.

But once we got across, this is our view from a rock “island”!
It was sooo exhilarating! And yes, a bit damp.
But so very worth it!

I like this one because it shows how some of the water slips underneath the rock,
before dropping down to join the rest.

When we were ready to move on (are you ever truly ready to move away from a place like this???),
Blaine found an easier way across.
Not easy. Just easier. : )

We’re moving up to the top of the waterfall.

I know, you may be thinking that we’ve shown you bigger and better waterfalls in the past, but maybe because we’ve not seen this much flowing water since November, it just seemed outrageously spectacular to us.

On the way back, we came across smaller wildlife.

He persisted in running round and round us, so we stopped to talk to him,
and found him to be extremely adorable.

So we rewarded him with a peanut fragment from our trail mix.
I know, I know. We shouldn’t do that.
But doesn’t God want us to care for the animals?

Looks like horses walk this trail, too.
Oh, that’s right ~ there was a sign at the beginning that told us that. *Duh!*

This looked like giant red asparagus to us. lol It’s not. It’s actually Woodland Pinedrop.

We’re back to that really pretty part of the river.
There were also three horses we had to move over for.
Beautiful place for a ride!

We didn’t notice this field full of wildflowers this morning.
Probably because it was still shaded from the sun, due to the fog and mountains.

Oh. My. Goodness! Look how full the parking lot is now!
People had to jostle for position to get in and out!
This is one reason why we head out so early in the morning!

We finished up, and because the trail was so close to home, we went there for lunch.

Then it was back in the Jeep, and off to Trail Ridge Road once again, to embark on another wildlife safari.

The elk herd was closer to the road this evening, and on the move. You can almost always find them somewhere close to the Park check-in booths. But outside our first encounter when they crossed the road in front of us, they’ve always been a fair distance away.

I probably could’ve done a better job filming, but it’s hard to film and watch at the same time, at least it is for me. : )

There was a picnic/parking area close by, and this sign was there.

We thought to check out a small portion of the Colorado Trail, thinking it would take us on a walk along the River, but it was crowded, and it started climbing steeply, so we turned around and headed for home, but not before making a quick stop at the Coyote Valley Trail, where once again, we encountered too many people. Too many people equals no wildlife. I mean, what wildlife would want to hang around yelling, running kids and loud-mouthed adults?