Today, I was hoping to go hiking up to Ouzel Falls in the Rocky Mountains National Park but was turned away by the ranger as I didn’t have a reservation (a novelty due to COVID). So I went and did an impromptu hike from Meeker Park Lodge up towards Lookout Mountain instead.
I tend to be somewhat of a planner so having to not only change my plans suddenly but also do a hike for which I had no maps at all (neither with me nor at the trailhead, which was quite “unofficial”) was a bit of a mental shift — but I embraced it with enthusiasm (I was mostly bummed because the trail to Ouzel Falls is supposed to be really beautiful).
And all in all, I truly enjoyed my day hiking — my biggest satisfaction being the fact of conquering some fear of hiking totally by myself (I often go on hikes/runs alone but today there wasn’t a soul along the whole trail all day!) with no map and the real possibility of encounters with bears. And the biggest joy being the butterfly I saw perched on a tiny evergreen tree towards the end of my hike — as well as getting back to my car just in time before the rain started pouring down!
The Little Prince and the Fox 