I must admit that it almost seems like cheating when I see the number of people hauling children of all ages up the same trails that seem difficult to me as I haul only myself. Front packs, backpacks, resting on shoulders or hips - I am not sure how they do it. I am always happy during the second half of the hike when my water bottle is nearing empty and I don't have to carry those couple of extra pounds.
Our last hike of the day was a short steep climb up to 12000 feet. I am sure the scenery was beautiful - but I basically only looked at it when we were at the bottom and the top - during the climb and descent, I mostly watched my feet to keep from ending up in the Estes Park hospital. I did stop and take one picture on this last climb.
One perk of being this wallflower is that it doesn't have to climb to get to this beautiful alpine meadow.
Tomorrow - we leave the mountains and make our way to Salina, Kansas.
