Hiking Big Meadows RMNP

Recently, we hiked the Big Meadows trail at Rocky Mountain National Park. I had read somewhere that it was an easy hike. I am still getting over my view of an easy hike. Coming from Texas, my version of an easy hike is like something we did at the Nature Reserve near Fort Worth. Here that doesn't even exist. Big Meadows really was an easy hike compared to many of the hikes in the park, but not compared to Texas hikes. Regardless of whether it was easy or not, the views were awesome. It was an uphill hike, through the forest, for about 1.8 miles. The last bit was down into the big meadow. The high mountain meadow was beautiful with a clear stream running through it.  We saw two moose, squirrels and numerous mosquitoes. Round trip it was 3.8 miles. It is definitely a good hike for beginners like us.

Winter Sky and Stars

We have been studying the sky since early Autumn. In the beginning we didn't even have binoculars. We started off only knowing the Big Dipper, but over the months we have been able to find a number of other constellations and planets.


Once we were able to purchase binoculars we were able to see 4 of Jupiter's moons. This was truly amazing! I couldn't help but think of all the school text books that talk about the very things we were looking at with our eyes! It was strange to realize all this was not just in a book, but it has been out here in the night sky all our lives.

With our binoculars we have been able to see quite a bit. The only difficulty is that ours are heavy, which leads to tired shaky hands. Christmas brought a telescope, much to the delight of the boys. I guess if I really wanted everyone to get in bed on time this was a bad idea! Nevertheless, we have been able to see amazing views of the moon and Orion's nebula.In Texas we do have some cold nights, but as you can see most nights we don't even have to bundle up! This picture is the boys looking at the Nebula on Orion's sword. Our two primary books on finding the constellations and particular stars and planets have been, The Handbook of Nature Study, and Find The Constellations, by HA Rey.

Now when I get up with the baby at 3am, I can't help looking out the window to see Orion and the Great Dog emblazoned across the Southern sky. Now that the winter stars have become so familar, we are anxious to see what Spring and Summer bring.

9 Year old's Journal entry of the Andromeda Galaxy.

7Year old's Journal entry of the Andromeda Galaxy

Vacation Nature Pictures