With the median in between the east- and west-bound lanes, that wasn't too bad. We were actually running ahead of schedule this morning, as we were planning to catch the 8:15 bus from the Frisco station. But when we walked into the terminal area at 8:01, we saw the earlier 8:00 bus just leaving. So we settled for our planned 8:15 bus on the red line, which took us to the nearby town of Silverthorne, Colorado.
We had a thirty minute wait in Silverthorne before the next bus left on the Wildernest green route. We were a little bummed about narrowly missing that 8:00 bus in Frisco, as we wouldn't have had that wait and would have gotten onto the trail earlier than we had planned. Mark visited with the driver at this stop, explaining our hiking strategy for the day. He had never thought of this option, but then again, not too many people consider running across an interstate in their hiking plans.
We gained lots of elevation on the Wildernest bus route, as it seems to drive straight up the mountain. It dropped us right off at the Lily Pad (and several other trails) parking lot. Great, that's elevation gain that we don't have to use our legs to accomplish! The hike starts with this uphill section, and then most of the trail is downhill for the rest of the day!
We realized that this first 1.5 mile section wasn't very picturesque, as we didn't take another picture until we arrived at Lily Pad Lake. True to its name, it was covered in lily pads!
We knew this was a popular hike for families, and we saw lots of them on the trail. What we didn't know was that a family of ducks has made their home on this popular lake. We spotted the first baby duck swimming in an open spot in the middle of all those lilies.
Then we spotted another . . .
and another . . .
and another!
If Denisa wasn't taking enough pictures of fuzzy ducklings on the water, she was also taking close-ups of the beautiful lilies and their intricate centers.
What a cool destination for our downhill, bus-assisted hike today! Just a few steps away was a second lake, that actually had prettier scenery around it. It had mountains peeking from behind the pine-beetle-killed pine trees that surrounded it.
But with only one clump of lilies and no baby ducks, it didn't hold our attention like the first lake.
After taking way too many pictures, we are headed further downhill through the white-trunked aspen forests on this beautiful day.
This southern trail is steeper, and the people we are meeting coming up the trail are really working hard. But we are enjoying the downhill only because of our bus ride earlier. This southern section is greener,
and has more wildflowers. Denisa is only taking pictures of new-to-us flowers, and this lovely purple stalk caught her attention.
We've seen these white flowers before, as they are big and hard to miss. But we think it is interesting to note that one big flower cluster . . .
is made up of so many perfectly-formed tiny flowers. We have wandered into more of God's tiny wonders.
For us, this was a short trail. We only hiked three miles, and almost all of it was downhill. The best part was that we didn't have to repeat either trail going up and back. Instead, we got to see both the north and south trails. What a win-win hike, made possible by the free bus system! Our car was there waiting for us on the front row of the parking lot. To illustrate how popular the Lily Pad Lake trail is, we found a half-mile of cars parked on both sides of the road to get to that trail head.
We have had a great time hiking here in northern Colorado! We started our stay hiking with our family members, and we are finishing with learning the bus system to take us to even more interesting hiking opportunities.
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