New Study

Here's the new study arrangement: a big desk, leather chair, and reading lamp from Ikea. All the battered old furniture went to the dump or the Salvation Army. When we returned from our 12 weeks out west, we could really see how bad it looked. We also purged a lot of old saved paper -- our recycle bin runneth over. No hoarders here. Well, not counting the closets in the attic. The living area of the attic is also very much cleaner now.

Five Lakes

We managed to arrive at the Bear Lake hiking area by 7:00 this morning to avoid the July 4th crowds in Rocky Mountain National Park. Our reward was not only being nearly alone for the first hour of hiking, but also splendid morning views of the snow caps mirrored in Bear Lake (above). Other lakes we saw while hiking today: Dream Lake, Nymph Lake, Emerald Lake, and Sprague Lake. We also hiked up to Alberta Falls.



Emerald Lake is still mainly frozen. A few daring (or maybe reckless) hikers were walking on the ice. We had to walk on quite a few snow piles that still cover the trails. By the time we were returning down the trail, the crowds were really making the surfaces hard to walk on. At one location, a number of energetic hikers were sliding down the snow on their backs. Although it's steep in places, the trail is mainly not very hard to walk where it's dry.



Sprague Lake, our last stop before leaving the park, was "improved" around 100 years ago by a resort owner who brought vacationers here before the creation of the National Park. He wanted to make the lake more attractive to fishermen -- evidently, they still like it. Much lower than the other lakes, Sprague is completely unfrozen and the trail around it is a very easy, flat walk on a smooth surface.

In total our hiking today was over 6 miles.

Rocky Mountain National Park

We spent the afternoon driving on the famous ridge trail, and walking a bit at the highest point. The Alpine tundra is in bloom, and though the flowers are tiny, they are extremely delicate and beautiful.

Hunter Creek Trail

Our Aspen hike of the day: Hunter Creek Trail above Aspen, looking toward the Maroon Bells, whose color is definitely maroon.

Happy Independence Day!!

Repeated from last year: the best version of the Sousa March I can find. We heard a good wind quintet play it in front of the Paradise Bakery and Ice Cream store here in Aspen last week, but I don't think there's a recording.

And for nostalgia, here's a photo of Evelyn and our dog Dolly in the Burns Park neighborhood parade after she was in fifth grade:


We leave Aspen tomorrow and plan to be in Rocky Mountain National Park for the 4th.