Fathers Day hike to Jewel Lake

We drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park for Father's Day to do the Jewel Lake hike. Even though we were up there by 9am, the parking was completely full. We had to park at a park and ride and take a shuttle bus to the trailhead. It was a bit of a hassle but we were quickly distracted by the beauty of the park. 

At the shuttle stop. Jewel Lake is on the
same path as the Mills Lake hike

 We let Josie walk for the first part of the hike

The kids were excited to lead the way. I even caught them holding hands.

We followed the signs to Mills Lake

 It was a beautiful hike!

We reached Alberta falls quickly but we didn't stay long because there were several steep drop offs and dangerous areas

We met up with Nani and Papi here

Finally it was time to put Josie in the carrier where she quickly fell asleep

Now we really had to start hiking

Finally we reached Mills lake and it was beautiful. We stopped and ate lunch and Luke and Jack tried fishing

 They didn't catch anything

 So we hiked up past Mills Lake to try fishing in Jewel Lake. Luke and Jack took off through some muddy ground to a secret fishing spot. There they found a place with lots of fish and they spent a good 1-2 hours catching fish after fish.

Meanwhile I stayed on the trail with the girls. Josie loved walking on these wooden planks

 We took lots of selfies

 And the girls splashed around in the freezing water

 Finally the boys came back and we headed back home

 The hike back was much hotter so the kids kept stopping to get their hats wet

 We also saw several chipmunks. Here are Jack and his chipmunk friend having a stare-off

 Finally back at the trailhead waiting for the shuttle to take us home!

 The total hike was over 6.5 miles! The kids did amazingly good. It was a great day!