RMNP

Our second day in Colorado had us at our third National Park this summer!  Rocky Mountain National Park was gorgeous and another amazing landscape and set of wildlife completely different than what we saw at Joshua Tree or Yosemite!

This park actually sprawls over a good part of the state.  Figuring it out on our own would have been intimidating, but Heather has been researching!  The hike she picked for us was at at little over 9000 feet.  It was 5 miles long and offered views of 3 different waterfalls while we hiked right along a rushing river. (Pictured above the flow coming off the first waterfall-- Copeland Falls.)

Not only did the hike afford views of waterfalls and the sound of raging rapids, sometimes so loud it swallowed up our trail conversation, it also had a ton of beautiful wildflowers.  Here is the columbine, Colorado's state flower.

Calypso Cascades was probably my favorite falls of the hike!

You know hiking is not Delia's first choice of vacation activity.  She was not without complaint, but still completed the hike with us and we were proud!

The third and final waterfall, Ouzel Falls, was the most grand and dramatic of the three.  We sat here and enjoyed the mist a good while before making the 2.7 mile return.

On our way down from the mountains we stopped in the picturesque town of Estes Park for some ice cream...and wildlife sighting!  We found a couple elk swimming in a pond!

Then we found these cool bighorn sheep hanging out on the side of the road!  They looked like a family, complete with Big Daddy Horns, nursing mama, and a few little babies.

They hide well!  Can you see them? ;)

It was another remarkable and memorable day in God's glorious creation!  Thank you, Lord, for wildflowers, waterfalls, rushing rivers, elk, bighorn sheep, able bodies, strong minds, and the National Park system!