The Loch Hike….

We had told the kids that we would go hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park on Monday and they were all really excited. With all things COVID-19 right now one has to get a timed entry pass to get into the national park which we figured wouldn’t be an issue because we were able to easily get an early 6AM one for our anniversary a couple of weeks ago. However with the holiday weekend and such it turned out to be much harder and the 6AM passes literally sold out in 10 minutes. So Clint and I looked at each other and had to decide if we could get all 5 kids up and ready to hike and into the park before 6AM (you don’t need a pass prior to 6AM). We decided we were up for the challenge/adventure and so we went for it. Clint pre-packed breakfasts and lunches and I grabbed snacks and waters and the kids all laid out all their clothes. We got up at 4AM and got everything set and ourselves ready and woke the kids and had them in the car by 4:35 and we were good to go. We entered the park just as the sun was starting to rise which was gorgeous. We were on the trail before 6AM with the sun still just poking through the tops of the trees. Everyone had really good attitudes and we pretty much had the trail to ourselves on the way up. The kids all had their bandanas and practiced pulling them up as we walked so we looked like a bunch of bank robbers but it was fun. We stopped for a snack about mid way to the top and then had another big snack at the top which was still early morning. At the lake the kids found a couple snow banks which they thought was super fun to play in. We explored a bit around the lake and then started back down. There were a lot more people on the trail by the time we were going down but we still had a great time. We made it back to the car and decided to drive to another spot in the park for a picnic lunch. All in all the hike was 6.75 miles which was pretty awesome for the kids to do. Paxton was asleep in his seat before we even pulled out of the parking lot at the trailhead and Coppelia was close behind him. We woke them for the picnic lunch and enjoyed that together. We made the trip home and then had a relaxing afternoon and evening.