Hike to Gem Lake

Gem Lake from Lumpy Ridge Trailhead, 3.5 RT, 1000′ Elevation Gain, 5.5 Difficulty Level, 8,845 Max Elevation

This particular hike started out with my two boys andthe youngest’sgirlfriend. My youngest son was not dressed for hiking whatsoever. Maybe that was intended. My oldest son and I left them in our dust and my youngest and his girlfriend ended up heading back after about half way.

The weather forecast said that it was going to be a tad cooler than it was. I think this is the first hike that I’ve been on where I was actually sweating. Not having showered when I got home, my husband actually told me that I had BO! Me! I kept smelling my shirt, and I think that he was nuts!

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I actually shot this on the way back. The sky and clouds were AMAZING!

This hike has an area with high stairs, and many switchbacks.

My son decided to do a little off-roading, thinking that it would be a more direct route to the trail. It wasn’t.

The trailhead is actually on private property. It’s a pretty interesting story. You can read about the trail here. This is actually where Rocky Mountain National Park starts:

This is the last we see of my son and his girlfriend until we return to the parking area.

The colors were just starting to change.

As I mentioned above, I was getting a little warm, so I rolled up my sweatshirt and left it behind a log in this area, to pick it up on the way back down.

As we were passing these hikers, they asked if we had any extra water. They were visiting from Seattle and weren’t prepared for the hike or the altitude. I just had half a bottle, and my son had his big thermos, so I offered them mine.