Happy Day

For the third week in a row, weather and circumstance has kept me from hiking Byers Peak. But Sailda Dara and I took advantage of this soupy-sky day to hike to Columbine Lake. It was a beautiful climb up a mountain valley alongside a gushing stream. Wildflowers abounded — Indian paintbrush, aster, arnica, parrot's peak, elephant's head ... yellow, purple, orange, fuchsia, red, white, green. As we neared treeline, rock cliffs jutted into the low clouds along the valley's edges, leaving us to imagine what the peaks looked like. Definitely have to go back and find out.

We had a huge egg and potato breakfast for lunch and, later, we took the kids for a quick hike up in Rocky Mountain National Park. Twas a perfect day as far as I'm concerned.