Emma Lake, hiking the high country.....

Yep, it was one of those kind of days. A really good one, although when Woodsie and I run around the mountains it's almost always good. We left the Springs at 3:45, as we wanted to get a parking space at the trail head to the 14ners Bross, Lincoln and Democrat, but we weren't going up those mountains, we were headed up the other side of the valley to get a geocache at Emma Lake. Getting there by 6:15, we were successful getting a parking space fairly close to the TH and were on the trail by 6:30. It was very chilly and felt like the first of Autumn, but as we hiked up, up, up the trail we found many wildflowers still in their prime, with fields of brilliant elephant heads, fuchsia paintbrush, globe flowers, marsh marigolds and many others. The trail became a bit wild with very uphill, slippery dirt stretches, but we finally got to a place where we could cross the creek and get to a better trail up to the Lake. Emma Lake was a beauty nestled into the cirque and we quickly found the cache, signed it and ate a snack. Then back down the trail where the scoot-on-your-butt technique came in handy on the steep stretches. Back at the car by 9:30 and on to the next cache. We got 3 caches up at the Windy Ridge Bristlecones, another one at Paris Mill, another one hiking up out of Hoosier Pass, and finished off with a couple in Alma and couple in Fairplay. I made a good dent in the South Park GeoTour. Needles to say there were plenty of times for crazy humor and a bit of gawking at some fit male 14ner climbers (I ain't dead yet!). Nice hiking up at 12,500', enjoying the wildflowers and perfect day.