Phelps Lake

Today we hiked in to Phelps Lake

to celebrate Carrie's Birthday - too bad

she wasn't here to go with us. 

The road to the parking lot was closed,

so we hiked from the Death Canyon trailhead

near White Grass Ranch - it is a little farther

and a little steeper, but the view from the top

of the moraine is really nice.

It was an amazingly beautiful day

and really warm for this early in the season.

There should still be ice on the lake

and snow on the trail, but today

it was 70 degrees and really nice.

Jared and Amy overlooking Phelps Lake. 

Jared caught the first fish, the biggest fish, 

the smallest fish, and tied for the most fish. 

 You should have seen the ones that got away.

An amazingly beautiful day.

Because the road was closed, we did not see anyone

else at the lake - we had it all to ourselves.

Except there was a cow and calf moose

on the trail near the lake and we had to take

a small detour because they would not yield.

On the way back to the trailhead we saw this Grizzly Bear.

We guessed it was about 200 yards away.

My camera focused on the brush in the foreground,

and I didn't get a chance at another try,

so the photo is blurry, but that was close enough.