I've been asking Dempsey for awhile when she wanted to do the Gem Lake hike. We would sometimes do mini hikes and she would complain about how tired she was and I'd tell her that we were "strengthening her legs for her Gem Lake hike." I knew that she would be able to do it, but wasn't sure how much she might dislike it! Hah.
As summer dwindled away I realized that we needed to make this happen. Since Gem Lake is technically in RMNP, we needed a pass (which means we had to commit to a certain day and time) OR we needed to get in the parking lot before 6am. Thank goodness for grandparents that live about 10 minutes away, we decided on the second option.
Dempsey luckily loves sleeping in a bed with me, so we were able to go to bed earlier so we could make the cutoff time. I was so proud of Dempsey because she jumped up and was ready to get at 545 in the morning. We left with bags packed full of snacks, handpicked by Dempsey! I was quite impressed how many people we saw over there, but we were able to have our own hiking space which was nice!
Each of the kids have had their own way that they "survived" the hike...AJ it was using logic to let him know how much closer we were getting, Ryk appreciated climbing all the rocks, and Dempsey counted animals. I believe our final count was 17 chipmunks, lots of birds, 2 llamas (so coooool they worked for the park service), and 3 bunnies (one was a teenager).
We made it to the top and enjoyed our lunchables, and then headed down. Dempsey totally beat me down, which I figured would happen. And truly didn't complain that much. It was an awesome hike and built up her confidence for hiking and mine with my knees! Crazy, our last kid to do this tradition! Of course she picked a dog pattern camelback.
Adorable and fierce, my Dempsey Snow.
Love,
Mom
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