Lumpy Ridge Trailhead is only a few minutes away from our motel, so Gem Lake was an easy choice for our warm-up hike before we went up Trail Ridge Road for the day. Goomz rode in my backpack for the moderate uphill hike, but he made me stop every so often to get a look at the trees and flowers growing around us.
We stepped down into a breathtaking grove of aspen and fireweed amidst the boulders, then made the final climb up to Gem Lake. Gem Lake is small, but the granite layers in reflection are quite breathtaking. Gem Lake’s water level had receded, yielding a fine gravel shore and the root systems of several pine trees.
Goomz and I were examining these roots when we were approached by a chipmunk, which had the nerve to ask for snacks when it already had food! (It’s really important for people to not feed the wildlife in national parks and forests. Not only are they perfectly capable of finding food on their own, but human food is really bad for them. If nothing else, some of them carry plague.)
On the way down, the sun had risen enough to get some light on Paul Bunyan’s Boot, a boot-shaped rock with a hole worn into the toe. Goomz got impatient with me while I tried to take this photo of a pine through the hole. We had Things to Do.