Just another six weeks or so of hiking high up in the mountains. The snow usually starts up there around mid to late September. This weekend we hiked below the summit of Mt. Evans at above 12,000 feet. Daniel was on his own this time and hiked higher and further than a lot of adults I know would be able to! We were very proud of him! We use, "You have to get strong legs if you want to learn how to ski this winter," as motivation when he starts to lag.

Summit Lake, elevaton 12, 600ft, appropriately named since it is below the summit of Mt. Evans. This is where we began our hike on Saturday.

We did not hike too far this time since Daniel was walking and there is a significant amount of oxygen missing above 12,000 feet!

Daniel, Eli and Mommy on the edge of a 2000ft cliff. Yikes!!

Daniel and his illegally picked wild flowers. We forgot to tell him we shouldn't pick the flowers and when we turned around, he had a whole fist-full. I smuggled them back to the car inside my jacket. I'm not really sure what the National Forestry personnel will do to you if they catch you picking flowers...
Looking over the 2000ft high cliff and down on Chicago Lakes. We could see tents down by the lakes.
You can drive to the summit of Mt. Evans on the highest, paved road in America. That may sound exciting, but it is also a harrowing experience. This picture does absolutely no justice to the shear drop off from the highway. It is straight down for thousands of feet. And we were driving this while it was sleeting! What is disconcerting is when you see the areas where the pavement has begun to crumble and break away. Eeek! Have they not heard of guard rails??!