Its mid-August which means heat in Colorado. That typically means hiking up high in elevation where it's cooler to beat that heat. So when we were planning out our weekend hike, that's where we were looking. But the weather up high had chances of thunderstorms on both days this weekend which isn't great for hiking (let alone safe). However, the weather has been extremely mild for this time of year the past week, so we thought we could get away with hiking a little lower in elevation. With the chance of rain still being present, we had to pick something where we would be below the treeline, but we could still enjoy the hike even if it was cloudy.

Hiking to the B-17 Crash site that starts at the Colorado Mountain Campus seemed like a good fit. We've done this hike once before in 2022 and I've always wanted to go back. This hike doesn't have spectacular views or a nice lake, but instead some rusty metal. When we were there last in 2022, it was fully sunny, making photographing metal things difficult. So since it was going to be overcast with a slight chance of showers and moderate temperatures, this seemed like a good day to do it. It's also 6 miles, a further distance than Katie has hiked since her accident, but a moderate elevation gain of around 1,200 feet. That distance and elevation combination meant we could push her in distance without pushing her overall since the elevation gain was less.

The weather was nearly perfect for the hike. It was low 60's when we started with a slight breeze and overcast skies. At the crash site, we put on our jackets because we weren't moving and the breeze was a little chilly, but it was overall still quite nice for me to photograph and for Katie resting and lounging while I was finishing up. On the way down, the sun came out and started to get a little warm, ending the hike in the low 70's. Overall, we couldn't have asked for better hiking weather. It was overcast for when we were at the crash site for perfect lighting and we didn't sweat too much.

We snagged a timed entry permit into the Bear Lake corridor this weekend so that's where we hiked. We haven't been to Rocky since March when we hiked to Emerald Lake which was too much for Katie's ankle with where she was at in her recovery. We haven't been back here because the summers are overly crowded and you need a timed entry permit to get in which can be a pain to get sometimes. but since school is back in session, we thought that maybe the crowds would be better. I'm sure they were better this weekend than previous weekends, but it was still busy.

Our timed entry permit was good between 8 and 10, so we planned to get there right before 8. With traffic at the entrance, we got in right at 8 and made our way to the shuttle lot. Having to take the shuttle to Bear Lake added about 30 minutes to our morning and we didn't get to start the hike until about 9 am. Taking the shuttle crammed with other hikers started the hike off in the wrong vein, but that's the only way to hike here in the summer (other than arriving before 5am), so that was our only viable option.

The hike started great. It was in the low 60s temperatures with a slight breeze which felt wonderful. Despite the hike starting from the most popular trailhead in Rocky, there weren't that many people at the start. but as we hiked further, it was busier and busier, with each lake having way too many people to enjoy. We made our way up to Nymph Lake and then Dream Lake before forking off the busy trail to go to Lake Haiyaha. Even though we've hiked by several of these lakes multiple times before, this is the first time we've done them in the summer together, and the views are different. Some of the lakes are better to enjoy in the summer (meaning the way they look and the areas you can lounge/rest at), but some are better to enjoy in the winter.

I've wanted to hike to Lake Haiyaha in the summer for about 4 years now since there was a landslide that caused the lake to turn a beautiful teal color. We've hiked this twice in the winter and have seen the teal ice, but I wanted to see the whole lake that teal color. When we got to the lake it was quite crowded, and it was a scramble to get to a spot where I wanted to take a photo. I'm still glad I got to see this lake in the summer, but the crowds were too much.

After Haiyaha, we headed down a connecting trail to Glacier Gorge. This is a lesser-used trail, so it was much nicer to hike on with fewer people. The connecting trail meets up at a junction where you could go back to the parking lot, go to Mills Lake, or go to The Loch. Katie was feeling good about her ankle, so we went to Mills Lake, a 1.2-mile detour. The hike back after that was a little brutal when we were hiking on sunny trails and the temperatures crept up above 80. We ended our hike at the Glacier Gorge trailhead where we took the shuttle back to our car.

I had to work on Sunday this week because of a customer visit, so I took off Wednesday to compensate for working a day I normally don't have to work. Since Katie already had Wednesday off, we took the opportunity to go hiking. We ventured into the Mount Blue Sky area in the Arapaho National Forest. Neither of us had been to this area before. Since this area has one of Colorado's 14ers, we figured we could find some cooler hikes at high elevations to take a break from the heat in town.

Our first stop was to hike to Chicago Lakes from Summit Lake. This trail starts above 12,000 feet in elevation above the tree line and was a brisk 50 degrees. It was so cold we started wearing our puffy jackets, gloves, and hats. That hike steeply descends to Chicago Lakes where we ate a snack overlooking Lower Chicago Lake before going back up the brutal mountain back to the car. The trail had a lot of large steps and a lot of loose gravel, making the ascent and descent much harder. It was a good test of Katie's balance.

After the hike, we went to the summit of Mount Blue Sky, one of two 14ers that you can drive to the top of. We ate lunch in the car (because of the wind and cold), and then I "hiked" up to the summit of Mount Blue Sky which was just a few hundred feet in elevation gain and a third of a mile.

We saw two herds of mountain goats. The first one was a pack of about 18 that were on the side of the road. The second heard was at the summit of Mount Blue Sky and there were only 6 of them up there sharing the views with the humans. We haven't seen any mountain goats on any of our hikes, and that was one of the things we were hoping to find on this adventure.

Every year in late August we go to the CSU Annual Trial Gardens in Fort Collins. This garden has a beautiful display of flowers that they do water trials on to see which flowers do best with what amount of water. As such, the public gets to enjoy a beautiful garden.

Since we don't live in Fort Collins anymore, this was an outing that we planned with a few other Fort Collins errands. After a few quick stops, we went to Purpose Brewing to have a few beers before going to the gardens to catch the last hour of sunlight. It was overcast the entire time we were there, which made for better lighting but also worse lighting at the same time. Harsh lighting is bad for photographing, but softer golden-hour lighting is ideal. But with the clouds, we just got overcast lighting which was okay.

We made it to a new location at the gardens this year. The perennial gardens are on the north side of the UCA building that we didn't know existed. I knew there were more flowers over there but didn't know what they were about. There were some cool trellises and some taller plants that were a nice change of pace from what is in the normal garden space.