On Friday morning, we woke up right about sunrise time but it was already pretty bright outside...I learned that the sunrise time reported on weather.com is actually when the Sun is already completely up.
The first place we went, which is also my favorite place this trip, is Bear Lake. I passed by the lake on the way up to Flattop Mountain the day before but didn't get the chance to stop by and enjoy it or take photos. So was glad that John enjoyed it because I get to walk around it and take a bunch of photos.
To get to Bear Lake, we had to hike for 2 miles to get to one of the park information center - Moraine Park - to catch a shuttle that took us to a park-n-ride area to catch another shuttle that took us to Bear Lake.
The view of the mountains and the desert from Moraine Park.
What is so special about Bear Lake? It has awesome reflections and it is sooo clear that you can see the bottom of the lake! It is also surrounded by colorful pine (the green ones) and don't know what yellow-leaf trees. I like how there are also the 'red' colored pines but sadly, those are actually dead pine trees due to infection by mountain pine beetle. Poor trees...
After walking around the lake, we hike another mile to get to a waterfall, Alberta Falls. It is not a very big one but definitely not one that you can go near (like the one at Titi Kerawang) because it is very rocky and it does not end in a pool but keep going down a rocky path.
The hike to the waterfall is very enjoyable as it is a very relaxing trail with lots of colorful plants and cute little squirrels. Even though they are wild, they 'boh kia lang' as they will come very close to us.
We spent the rest of the afternoon looking out for wildlife as the wildlife guide point out to us and at the same time, get to go all the way up to the highest visitor center - Alpine Visitor Center. The wildlife at the higher altitude are all small rodent type animals like the marmot and the pika, which I think looks like Pikachu!! Hehe, although I don't think that is where the character Pikachu originated from.
Since it is the elk season, of course we have to see some elk! Only a few elk photos that I took came out nice but am still waiting to get the raw files so I can edit it. John took lots of awesome shots of the elk, and he got one when the male elk was bugling! The elks are always in a group of females with only one male. Their social life basically revolves around how many females the male can gather and mate with.
I did get a shot of this deer because we were much closer to it. This is the baby one. We kept 'bumping' into a mum deer with her two kids. I think that it is the same family! :P
There are lots more photos that John took during our trip.
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