Nymph Lake & Dream Lake

The next morning we hurried and packed up and ate breakfast then headed out to do some hiking.  The road to Bear Lake (where we were planning on starting our hike) is under construction and you have to take a shuttle up there from 9am-4pm, but you can drive up other times.  We were able to get past the stopping spot before 9, but were told the lot was already full and had to take the shuttle anyway, but from an upper parking lot.  Long story but we ended up having to wait for quite awhile.  But we made it and hiked first to Nymph Lake and then on to Dream Lake.  It was pretty warm, even up there and there were a lot of people, but we had a great time.  The boys did really well.  Austin hiked for quite a ways, and I carried him some in the backpack.  Zach was a trooper and I was so proud of him!  They were tired by the end, but not bad.  We went 2.2 miles, which is a long ways on little legs. 

It was beautiful, even though it was a bit hazy from various forest fires.

Nymph Lake.  It was covered with lily pads.

We bribed the boys with "power pellets" aka M&M's.  It worked nicely.  :)  

Zach checking out neat roots from an old tree that had fallen over.

Zach just cruising on ahead.

Dream Lake.  We made it!  It is nestled up in this valley with a big rocky mountain over it (I don't know which one).  Lovely.  Of course, where there is water, there is rock throwing.  We ate a few snacks next to the lake and watched fish swim by. 

Zach has a great smile, but has a hard time smiling on command, so this is what we get.  Funny boy.  But on a side note, you can see here where he has lost his first 2 teeth (front bottom), and the new ones are coming in.  He is on the young side to have lost teeth, but that's okay.  Crazy though.

The usual afternoon storm clouds were just starting to move in, so we didn't stay long and made a surprisingly quick descent back to Bear Lake.  I could seriously hardly keep up with the boys on the way down.

On the way down, Zach climbed up on this rock next to the trail, put his hands on his hips, and said, "Oh Mom!  It's just SO beautiful up here!  Look at this view!" 

That's my boy.

We feel lucky to live so close to somewhere so pretty.  We got a National Parks pass this year, so we'd better take advantage more!  Such a fun trip.