Gem Lake/Twin Owls (Rocky Mountain Natioal Park)

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After doing several hikes in the vicinity of Rocky Mountain NP, I decided it was finally time to actually get into the park itself. Just to give you an idea of how variable and extreme Colorado weather can be in the summer, I had tried to do this hike a week earlier and ended up getting rained out before I even started the hike. This week, the temperature in Denver was cracking the 100 degrees mark every day. Even up in Estes Park and Rocky Mountain NP, it was easily in the high 80s or low 90s. Not exactly ideal hiking conditions! That said, this was still a very nice hike. The Gem Lake trail is one of a handful of trails that starts outside of the park and allows hikers to enter on foot. For me, the allure of this hike was that it travels through Lumpy Ridge, one of the most geologically unique sections of the park. Unlike other sections of the park, this area is dominated by large granite domes and outcroppings. Many of the rock formations are perched precariously on the sides of cliffs and look like they could be toppled by a strong breeze. After about a two mile climb, you reach the lake itself. Gem Lake is essentially an oversized puddle in that it isn't fed by a stream or spring, but rather from rain and snow. The lake sits in a bowl at the top of the ridge, with a sheer rock wall on the east side. From here, you get a great view of Longs Peak and the mountains of the Continental Divide. The trail actually continues past the lake and decends into the hills of the northeastern section of the park. On my way back down, I decided to take a little detour and head to the famous rock formation called Twin Owls. Up close, the formation doesn't look much like it's name-sake, but when seen from below, I guess I can understand how people got the "owl" appearance. Overall, this was a very nice hike. I just could have used either a cool breeze or some cloud cover! Visit the guys at Protrails.com for directions: http://protrails.com/trail.php?trailID=20

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