Mike and I headed up to Black Hawk for Friday night to have a nice dinner and do a little gambling. Past elections now allowed casinos to add Craps and Roulette and High Stakes Gambling. So gone are the nickel blackjack tables and the minimum bets are often $25 at peak hours.
We had a great time playing Craps and I was on a roll throwing the 7 to begin with and then the point. Much money was won and we moved on to Blackjack, Mike’s game. I blew my allowance and sat back and watched. We headed over to the new casino in town the AmeriStar, where is sister works in the corporate office. The place is enormous and I think takes away from the small town charm.
To bed we head and dreams of hiking fill our heads. Bright and early we head to Estes. We roamed up Rt. 119 through Nederland, Rt. 72 Caribou, around Mary’s Lake, and into the park. This was a new route for us as we typically would enter from Boulder. The ride was pleasant and solitary.
St. Malo Chapel was so named for Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Malo who donated the land to the church in 1935. The church was dedicated a year later. It is in a beautiful setting with Mtn. Meeker behind it. There is also a retreat built in behind this.
We bought a pass last time through so we went in quick and smooth skipping the long lines. Unfortunately it is “Winter” in the mountain and a great deal of roads are closed.
As we have decided to hike the Bear Lake Trailhead we head off down Bear Lake Road, no getting lost here. We seem some wolves off to the left but to far to capture and image. Wish we did though.
So as we wait 15 minutes to park we see people walking to the entrance dressed in rain gear, jackets, and warm clothes. We see people departing to their cars carrying all that extra stuff. We finally park, grab our walking sticks (best purchase ever!), and head to the entrance. There are 2 trails one to Bear Lake which everyone and their brother is heading down and one to Emerald Lake….we choose the path less traveled.
The trail was icy in spots and we could see some kids had fallen as they were covered in mud as they passed us on their way out. Sticks were very useful. We walked half a mile with an elevation gain of 225 ft. and came to Nymph Lake.
We then continued on another .6 miles with a gain of 425 ft. to Dream Lake. No picture, not sure why.
I am sure these lakes are much prettier in the summer. Looking down on Nymph Lake from above.
.7 miles later with a gain of 605 ft. we are at Emerald Lake
The wind was howling up here so we quickly ventured back. The day was gorgeously clear and warm and I wore a T-shirt as usual and Mike a long sleeve and vest.
On the way down we stopped at a little overhang for a snack. Loads of little critters wanted to share with us…well us with them. As I was taking pictures of the Stellar Blue Jay…
a chipmunk ran up my leg and sat on my thigh. When I screeched and went to look he dashed away. He turned back showing me that he had indeed snagged a nut I accidentally dropped. We had to be careful as they were not shy.
The Nuthatch did stay a safe distance though. You can barely see him at the end of my foot. 
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