With the pandemic taking its toll on everyone, it’s been a while since Carly and I have had much contact with anyone other than each other, so it was nice when my parents decided to come to Denver for a long 4th of July weekend. Planning a visit from my parents during this, though, proves difficult, because most of the things that we want to do involve going out on the town and being near crowds of people, which obviously isn’t a great idea right now. We’ve been spending a lot of time hiking around in the mountains, as it allows us to get out and about, but still be in the open air and able to space out from others. So we decided to take our parents up to Rocky Mountain National Park near Grand Lake, Colorado, but not the busy parts that you have to drive into.
We left the house around 8 in the morning and stopped once along the way to enjoy the views from the mountain pass and snap some pictures by the waterfall cascading down the mountain. It was also a pretty good halfway point to get out and stretch our legs.
The parking lot of the East Inlet Trailhead is extremely large to accommodate the traffic that Adams Falls regularly sees, so it wasn’t too hard to find a parking spot, even when we arrived around 10:30 on 4th of July weekend. It was warmer than we expected, about 70, so we took a few minutes to properly equip ourselves for the journey ahead before starting on our way.
The hike to the falls is fairly easy terrain and not too far from the parking lot, so we quickly made our way up, but went counter clockwise on the loop, avoiding a large group of people. This meant waiting until our way back down to go to the outlook for the falls, but avoiding large groups of people was more important at this point, and we knew we could still see it on the way back.
We made it to the meadow with breathtaking views of the surrounding mountainsides, and our journey slowed down for the many pictures that had to be taken. It really is hard to describe how incredible this spot along the creek is in real life, but it’s one of the most spectacular views that I’ve found in Colorado, rivaling some views from being on top of a mountain.
We were keeping our eyes peeled for any wildlife that we could find, especially being in the national park. While we didn’t spot any moose, elk, or deer that we hoped to find, we did run into a family of geese trolling around on a pond and a tiny chipmunk along the way.
We made it about a mile down the trail before deciding to turn around and head back towards the lake. It was my parents first day in town and taking them too far at elevation didn’t seem like a good idea, plus we were ready for our picnic and to take the kayak out on the lake.
We took the other route on our way back to go past Adams Falls, which was much more of a waterfall than it had ever been when we have been here before. We’ve always hiked this trail in September when the snowmelt isn’t nearly as abundant, and it was amazing to see it much closer to full strength!
We made it back down to the lake and had some snacks and drinks that Carly had prepared, relaxing after our journey. This particular picnic area is where we had our welcome picnic for our wedding, and it holds a special place in our hearts. The warm weather today is what we were hoping for 3 years ago, but it was nice to enjoy it on this afternoon.
The picnic area also happened to be the perfect place to drop the kayak into Grand Lake, something that we’ve never done before. Carly and I took the kayak around the bend first, quickly realizing how much we were having to fight the wind on the lake.
Next, it was my dad’s turn to take it out for a spin, but we let him go by himself to explore wherever he wanted to!
After our hike and being out on the water, we were all pretty exhausted, and it was time to make our way back to Denver to let the dogs out. After our wedding, every time we come to Grand Lake it has a special meaning, but this will be a day that we will all remember for a long time to come!