Lily Lake. Twice.

We drove through Estes Park and arrived at Aspen Lodge a little early, so we drove back to Lily Lake and had a short hike.

Note the nearly 9,000 feet elevation. I heard talk about elevation, but I didn't really realize it would have an effect on me

At Lily Lake, you could choose to head off into the the back country wilderness. We did not do that.

Instead, we took the Lily Ridge Trail that climbed above the lake. It added about a half mile to the hike which I figured would be no big deal.

It turns out that elevation does affect me. I wheezed my way up the hill, panting as if I had never hiked in my life. At the top of the ridge, we were rewarded with this view of the lake and the mountains.

We sat and rested awhile. Rest turned out to be the key for high elevation hiking and Patricia Collins.

We hiked down the ridge and to this viewpoint.

We were in mountain country.

A Lily Lake self portrait.

We returned to the lodge and met up with everyone. It turned out that the pre-wedding picnic that night was planned to be at Lily Lake. Matt and I were dispatched to "reserve" tables by sitting on them. Which we did quite well.

While we were waiting for our wedding party to arrive, a different wedding party showed up. The bride was wearing zebra-striped heels and the groom was wearing blue jeans. They walked about halfway around the lake and then were married. Lily Lake sees a lot of weddings.

Our picnic was lovely, with sandwiches and two kinds of dessert. Sadly, I have no pictures of the event.