Hi,

Today we hiked over 11 miles and climbed about 1300′ in just under 5 hours. Allen’s Fitbit on his wrist calculated 22,000 steps. I am 1 foot shorter than Allen,let’s say I took 25,000 steps. That’s just data.

We were on the Colorado River Trail at the Little Yellowstone Trail Head in Rocky Mountain National Park. I’ve never been to Yellowstone, but I read that the baron steep rock panoramas and monuments resemble Yellowstone. The petite river was way below It was a spectacular view. I’ve attached a few pictures. This is the headwaters of the Colorado River. It was another beautiful day.

The Colorado state flower is the Columbine. Here is my picture. The red flower is Indian Paintbrush. I was also very excited to see a Red Headed Woodpecker (unfortunately no picture). I’m getting interested in bird watching.

July 10,

I went to bed early last night with a sharp pain in my lower back, right side. I was thinking that our planned bike trip up Trail Ridge Road was in jeopardy, well it was, and not because of my back,luckily a majority of my pain eased so I figured I’d try. No sooner than I had my neon green bike jersey on Allen gave me the news that his car battery was completely dead. Allen ended up calling a tow truck. He came two hours later. Prior to this I had went out for an hour long mountain bike ride on the dirt road to the Lake Granby Dam that’s on the way to this campsite. On route I saw a falcon on his perch looking like the proprietor of the Lake Then, this afternoon I saw a iridescent humming bird pause rather close to me and watched as he flitted away. No sooner than I mentioned this to Allen the little bird came back and landed five feet way on bunch of purple thistle and drank some nectar.

Tomorrow, we are packing up the RV and heading to Rifle Gap State Campground.

I already checked…there is a Crossfit nearby.