Diamond Lake

Diamond Lake lives up to it's name and is one of the prettiest hikes we've done this year. Just a few miles above Eldora, we drove up a steep gravel road for 4 miles to the trail head. We were not disappointed on this hike. The trail was interesting with big vistas, waterfalls, small creeks crossing the trail, and deep woods with ponderosa, blue spruce, aspens, and fir trees. The wild flowers were out in force reminding us that God renews nature each year, and in a similar way He renews us.

We stopped to get a group photo at Boulder Creek, pictured below. Here, there is a nice cascade of water we enjoyed, taking in the beauty of it all.

My first impression of the lake was this. Covered with Indian Paintbrush, Blue Bells, and Fire Weed, the shores of Diamond Lake were just as beautiful as the setting in this high mountain bowl.

At the lake we enjoyed some great laughs, good fellowship, and an excellent lunch together. This is a place I would recommend to all and will certainly return when I get a chance. On the way back we caught a rainstorm about five minutes from the car. It's a good thing we were all well prepared with rain gear. The rain in Colorado is of course, a welcome site.

Comb Ridge, Bluff hikes

Bluff, UT is off in the distance, where the sun is shining. We are hiking the rough trail to the Sand Hill petroglyphs. The purpose of this long trip was fellowship, and finding Puebloan ruins and rock art from 500 years old to 1,000 years old. We found quite a bit of interesting places on this trip. To get to this point, we hiked up a ridge to the edge of the cliffs. This is where we began to see the rock art.

As you can see, Sand Hill is sandy. We were in the shade much of the morning, but the hike down was hot and in the sun. We probably hiked a couple of miles in total but it was a little rough and rocky, and then sandy in places.

We hiked to four or five different places. The one pictured below is call procession panel. It depicts migrating natives, the animals they killed and ate, as well as their way of life. This hike took us up the slick rock on Comb Ridge for about a mile and a half. We were not disappointed, it was the best yet. The fun part was to try to figure out what they were trying to say and illustrate in their art.

At the top of Comb Ridge, we looked over the other side. Dan enjoyed getting a real birds eye view of the valley below. During our trip we visited Monument Valley and the Moki Dugway as well.