After a great hike to Dream Lake with the Deuter Ambassadors the day before we were ready to head deeper into the wilderness of Rocky Mountain National Park. Our destination was Mills Lake, up the Glacier Gorge. (Did you just look up at the headline and wonder why it talks about The Loch and not Mills Lake? Patience...)

We started at the Glacier Gorge trailhead. Already it was looking like it would be an epic day. Just the name sounds great. Way better than the "Mailbox Peak" trailhead, right?

The trail wound through the trees in fresh snow. We hiked with a bunch of the other junior ambassadors as far as Alberta Falls. Unfortunately, Alberta Falls is a pretty big letdown in heavy snow. It's not a big enough waterfall to show its ice in deep snow like Franklin Falls so it just looked like a steep hill covered in snow. Bummer.

While the smaller kids (and their parents) turned back to the trailhead and had some awesome slipping and sliding down the trail, Henry and I continued into Glacier Gorge. The trail wound up through trees before coming up to the face of Glacier Knobs (East). The cliffs aren't more than a couple hundred feet higher than the trail, but cloaked in clouds and dripping with ice it was an impressive sight.

Around the shoulder of the peak we were treated to half of Half Mountain. The top of the mountain was lost in the mist so I guess we were looking at about a quarter mountain. Still cool. And a bunch of the trees were larches. No needles at this time of year, but any place that has larches is a good place indeed.

Beyond Half Mountain the trail descends into the trees and to a number of trail intersections. While we studied the map a couple came by. They'd been to The Loch. Ha. How pretentious. "The Loch." Like it's "The Enchantments" or something. Pfft. However, they said The Loch was better than Mills Lake. Who were we to doubt some locals?

(Plus, the sign indicated no unicorns were allowed to continue and if The Loch was too special for unicorns it was clearly going to be really, really good.)

Before we could get to this magical place we traversed through the trees above the creek flowing out of The Loch. It was a perfect opportunity to teach Henry about snow stability. We found a weak layer below a stack of snow on a rock and did a modified column test so he could see how the top layer would slide on the layers beneath. We also rolled some snowballs down to the creek below us to watch how they followed the fall line and grew in size and became the dreaded, "snow rollers" as they picked up snow.

And then, we were at The Loch. By this time we were in snowshoes instead of crampons because the snow was deep enough that we were both postholing. (Reports that I might have been punching through a little more frequently than Mr. Lightweight are completely unfounded.) We could see the clearing where the lake must be, but not too much more. The clouds that had been dancing among the peaks all day had settled directly over The Loch.

But not to worry. The clouds cleared to reveal we were in the 10,000 foot Loch Vale, surrounded on three sides by 12,000 foot peaks. The Sharkstooth directly across the lake dominated the view. It stood alone with valleys on either side. Thatchtop was on our left and Otis Peak on the right. And we had it all to ourselves.

That's not to say it was bluebird and warm. The clouds that had cleared blew back in and then out and back again. We saw only a single sucker hole of blue skies; the rest of the time it was gray or white. The wind that whipped the clouds forced us to take shelter in a nook of the rocks on the north shore of the lake.

Henry grabbed the camera and pointed me out onto the lake. Who am I to say no to a photoshoot? That'd be awfully unfair given all the times I've told the kids to smile or look epic or even do the Instagram pose. That doesn't mean I had to be serious, though. Clara wasn't there, but she has taught me there's always time to dance.

Unfortunately, other adventurers began to show up. Some were even coming from the lakes and tarns above The Loch. We were sorely tempted, but we had a date with the Deuter truck so we turned for home. But not before we were treated to a sighting of a red fox.

It was only earlier this year we had our first foxy encounter in Mount Rainier National Park. Two foxes in a single year? Awesome! Is it any coincidence I was with Henry both times? That we were in National Parks? That he was carrying a Deuter Fox pack? Things to think about.

This red fox didn't have much to say to us. He traversed the south shore of the lake while we watched. I wish I could have gotten closer, but the Rule of Thumb had me keeping my distance. (Unfortunately, I don't think I can justify an even bigger lens at $16,000, but that doesn't mean I won't try...)

Our walk out was easy compared to the way in. Almost all downhill on a now-packed trail. Even the uphills I was dreading weren't that bad. I knew it was a good hike because Henry still had sufficient energy and excitement to goof around on the way back. We flicked snow at each other (pro-tip: always have the high ground), found more of nature's popsicles (pro-tip: avoid the brown icicles), and maybe got a little goofy thanks to the lack of oxygen (pro-tip: make sure you're the one with the camera).

At Alberta Falls I sent a text through my InReach to our transportation (Thanks, Matt!) and even though we had no cell coverage the satellite communicator did its job and we arrived at the trailhead within seconds of each other.

From the Glacier Gorge trailhead to The Loch really was a hike that got better and better with each step and each turn in the trail. Part of what made it good was that it was new and different. Part of it was the somewhat challenging conditions that forced us to struggle in a high elevation, slippery environment. The biggest part was sharing an hard hike with a little that's coming into his own on the trail. Taken all together, it was a great day and one I'd gladly repeat, but with more time to explore the sections above The Loch.