Hanging Lake

Hanging Lake

We're headed to Denver today, with two nice new shiny tires!

The drive between Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs was uneventful, mostly drove through high dessert following the Colorado river. Once we got near Glenwood Springs the drive changed from dessert landscapes to mountains with pine trees.

Hanging Lake

Our friend Mike Reed who lives in Denver recommended that we do a hike about seven miles west of Glenwood Springs called Hanging Lake. It was a relatively short hike, about two miles round trip, but it was beautiful and difficult. The trail went up a canyon and crisscrossed a stream several times and went over huge boulders and rocks. It was beautiful! Once we got to the top of hanging lake it was breathtaking. There were two waterfalls into the very small lake and the water was crystal clear. The colors of the lake, the vegetation, and the canyon walls were beautiful. The hike was fantastic.

Crystal Clear

We had originally planned on heading to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, but the Hanging Lake hike was so highly recommended that we bi-passed the park. We may check it out when we leave CO.

The remainder of the drive to Denver was great. We went through the ski town of Vail and it was beautiful. We also drove over a 10,000+ foot pass. For the most part we were in the pines for the majority of the drive. Right before reaching Denver we came out of the mountains and through the foothills for a while. The views here are awesome!

For the next week we're staying with the Reeds just south of Denver. We're looking forward to some great hiking and checking out as much of the area as possible. We had a great night catching up with Mike and Jaimee and meeting their daughter Aralyn. It's been way to long since we've seen them! They gave us all kinds of information about the area and things that we need to check out while we're here. Sounds like it's going to be a busy week!