Desolation Lake

 Grandpa Ham sent a text to Rockwell letting him know what a great job he did hiking to Emerald Lake, especially through a rainstorm. I was surprised to read Rockwell's response saying that he wanted to hike again soon. Although we had all said we didn't want to hike again for a long time, I think we felt quite a bit better after we had dried off and recovered. :) Jonah had also expressed interest in hiking with Grandpa and Grandma, and so we planned one more big hike this summer. Wyatt decided last minute that he wanted to come too, so it was a fun little hiking party.

It was a very beautiful trail! It was also very cold on the way up, which was nice. Luckily I grabbed a long-sleeve shirt on my way out, so Rockwell and I took turns with it.

The hike was a little over 7 miles, and had some pretty steep parts. All the boys did great!

Desolation Lake is gorgeous! I have been there once before with Grandpa and Matt, but we took a different trail to get there. It's one of my favorite lakes. It's so peaceful and beautiful.

The boys had a great time skipping rocks on the lake. They had some seriously good skips!! And I had a great time visiting with Grandma and Grandpa while we enjoyed the beauty.

Then it was time to head back down.

We had been bummed that we didn't see any moose on the way up, and figured it was too late to spot any of them out and about on the way down. But we rounded a corner, and there were two moose eating across the stream. That made the hike feel complete. :)

Grandma took a pretty hard fall on the way down and got a bloody lip, a few cuts and bruises on her arm and hand, and a bruised knee. Grandpa and I found some tissues, sanitizer, and band-aids and tried to help her get as cleaned up as possible. Jonah was so sweet the rest of the way down and made sure to stay close in front of her and call out any root or rock that might trip her up. She did trip one more time, but was able to catch herself on Jonah's shoulders. We were all glad that he took such great care of her! It was a great morning hiking with so much family, and visiting with my nephews on the car rides. I really love spending time hiking with Rockwell. We have good conversation, he's so sweet to always check on me and how I'm doing along the way, and I love to see his appreciation of the beauty of this earth.