Editor’s Note
Last winter, my husband and I snagged one of the last spots in the Bear Lake Parking Lot at Rocky Mountain National Park, the skies overcast and threatening snow. By the time we’d strapped our snowshoes on and shuffled several hundred feet up the trail, I was already regretting our decision. The popular path up to Dream and Emerald lakes was packed. So far I’d pocketed two abandoned wrappers and jumped aside for some backcountry skiers coming down the crowded trail like it was the Giant Slalom. I was annoyed at the sheer number of people and the lack of etiquette. “We are so not national park people,” I remarked. Then, we turned a corner to see a Justin-Timberlake-circa-2001 look-alike. This kid was dressed head to toe in denim: jeans,…