Bear Lake!

Come with me for a trip west. You can drive and I will navigate. We will take I-70 west out of Kansas City, through Topeka, Salina, Hayes, Colby, Goodland, Limon and into Denver. When you hit I-25, follow it up to the exit for Colorado Highway 66. Take 66 west to US 36 and go all the way up St. Vrain canyon, through Estes Park into Rocky Mountain National Park. Just past the entrance you hang a left onto Bear Lake Road. Ride it all the way up to the Ranger Station at the end. Hike the final 50 or so yards to the head of the trail at the edge of a small lake hemmed in by forest and rock. You have arrived.

You will not be sorry. This almost-700-mile trek has taken you to one of the most beautiful places (my opinion, for what that is worth) in the United States that you will ever see. In the summer it is a sparkling, fragrant, peaceful high-country lake. The water is clear and cold, catching the morning light like diamonds. The air is cool but you are always warm in the sun. The long, early shadows contrast with the sunlight on verdant mountainsides crowded with fir, spruce and Ponderosa pines. At 9,400 feet, you sense you are in a different environment; in someone else's house. Sounds are muffled, and tourists are strangely quiet. They actually speak in hushed tones as though in church.

To some of us it is a holy experience. Under a flawless blue sky the lake gleams and the breeze rushes through the pine needles. A hike around the lake trail alternates shade and sun. You come upon Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrels (often mistaken for Chipmunks) and the Chipmunks themselves. Both entertain you hoping for a peanut or some seeds which the Park strictly forbids them to do, just as they forbid you from feeding them. Ducks occasionally call at the lake, and trout can be seen darting around the rocks close to shore. And always you are blanketed in the silence of the mountains. Silence is in the thick stands of Aspen and on the trail and on the water. The silence is as loud as the fresh pines are fragrant.

Towering over the lake, the noble grey stone face of Hallet's Peak basks in the full sun. Next to it is the bare summit of Flattop Mountain and in between is a small glacier. The rich emerald of the trees with the bright blue sky and smooth grey of the rocks are set into crystal sharpness by the contrasting shadows. But you are not welcome indefinitely. You are constantly reminded of the harshness of the place. Signs warn of sudden weather changes, and the danger of lightening. Posted warnings declare the hazard of cougar attacks. In some years, even in August, snow beside the trail speaks quietly to you of the closeness of winter up here near the timberline.

Right now I suspect there are few visitors. Bear Lake is probably frozen and the evergreens are set against a thick white cover of snow. But the sunshine and blue sky are there to make it glow when the sun is high enough. It will be inhospitably cold. As beautiful as the winter scene may be, Bear is best enjoyed in the summer as a sanctuary from flatland heat. The colors are spectacular. The climate is perfect and you have some time out of your life to be close to the lake and even closer to its Creator.

The trip back home is on the same roads, just reversed. The moment we leave we start counting down to our next return. Don't be in hurry. Take your time and enjoy the ride. And stop in Colby at the Petro truck stop; they have a Baskin-Robbins ice cream counter. Not scenic like the lake but also cool and refreshing. It is your reward for having to go back to the hot, humid prairie.