Friday, June 1, 2012

The Alluvial Fan Hike

A little history: "On July 15, 1982 at 5:30 a.m. Lawn Lake broke through the terminal moraine that had held for thousands of years. The release of 29 million gallons of water swept trees and car-sized boulders four miles down to the valley floor. In addition to tons of lighter rocks, gavel and sand creating a 42-acre alluvial fan. A trash collector heard the waters crashing down the Roaring River and called park rangers, who evacuated campers at Aspenglen campgrounds. Two were lost to the flood at the campground and one along the Roaring River. Much of the flood's force was weakened while submerging the meadows of Horseshoe Park, but still had enough force to flood the town of Estes Park to a depth of six feet. Lake Estes to the east of town contained the floodwaters preventing further damage."

Closer in:
 
 A perfect place for our little mountain climber to do some scrambling!
And where the son can explore many intriguing rock formations,
and make discoveries such as: dirt tastes the same in every state.
 Sunset by the falls:
 Being Cheeseballs

Future Spelunker
 After all that exercise we need to hydrate!

And as we were leaving... doesn't this look like the beginning of a fairy tale?

2 comments:

Janna said...

Yes on the fairy tale picture! Beautiful!!

Aunt Marjean & Uncle Dick said...

WONDERFUL. Thanks for including us & we commend you on the plans, the execution, & the wonderful pictures & captions of your Estes Park outing. Yes, maybe this seed will germenate into the beginning of a new fairy tale. Those 2 precious children certainly do continue to look like clones.

I always think of Bob & intend to write, but just a few words now of gratitude for him & the legacy he & you & your family are merging. Don't know how, but I believe Bob has a bird's eye view of these things & is smiling his unique smile & rejoicing!