Magic Meadows...?

Before I begin my trail story I have to tell you of my "bird" story this morning :)  We downloaded a free phone app, called "Merlin," last year.  You just start recording and it lists every bird it hears with a whole lotta information about each one it identifies.  It is an impressive program, IMO.  This morning I  caught a very large bird flying from the ground to the top of a tall tree in my peripheral vision.  I then heard it make a weak call out and heard a return call from another location.  It was as big as a hawk but the call was unfamiliar so I went in, got my phone, and started a recording.  As my luck would have it, by the time I had the app running....no more calls.  I never did find out what it was, but while recording, other calls were detected and Merlin started doing its thing.  By the time I finished my cup of coffee, Merlin had detected 23 different types of birds!  Western Flycatcher, Black-headed Grosbeak, American Robin, Dark-eyed Junco, Red-winged Blackbird, Yellow Warbler, Warbling Vireo, Pine Siskin, Northern House Wren, Lincoln's Sparrow, Northern Flicker, Western Tanager, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, European Starling, Song Sparrow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Goldfinch, Northern Mockingbird, Orange-crowned Warbler, Fox Sparrow, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Barn Owl, and a Violet-green Swallow.  Later, on our hike that day, we recorded a Mountain Chickadee and a Hermit Thrush.  I do not proclaim to be a birder, and I did not see very many of these different birds, but it is so nice to get away from "noise" and hear Nature sing :)
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Well now.... we decided to try hiking the Magic Meadows trail.  We'd heard there was a huge and beautiful meadow, full of wildflowers, as your reward at the end of your hike. The trailhead is a very short distance from our campground.  On the way to the beginning of the trail we passed this lovely collection of  wildflowers.

At the trailhead we came to this sign.  The trail we wanted was traced in yellow and we discerned it was 8.5 miles with a loop approximately halfway.  Was it 8.5 miles total, or just to the meadow?  We decided we would re-evaluate at the far side of the loop, and if that was 2+ miles, give or take, we figured 8.5 would be the total length.  So we started our journey:)

The Aspens were big and beautiful!

And tall.

We came across 3 young National Park workers and asked them how far Magic Meadows was from our, now 2.5 mile, point.  They pulled out their devices, that didn't show the loop, and guessed it to be another mile or so.  Yay!  But where was the loop we should have passed by now?  Maybe the trailhead sign was wrong!  So we plugged along for another half mile or so and came to this meadow.  We were at the 3 mile point by now and decided that if we didn't find any help at the end of this meadow we were turning back.  We finally found the beginning of the loop and, according to the All Trails app, it was .8 of a mile to the turn around point and a little longer back to the sign.  We went on.....and came back the other side of the loop.

I didn't realize the uphill slope for the first 4 miles was ALL UPHILL!  I rate the trail on the challenging side of a moderate slope with a climb of 1250 feet in altitude, according to the altimeter app we have.  So we attained an altitude of 10,300 feet and were "pooped" at the halfway point.  As you can see with this last picture, DOWNHILL IS A GOOD THING!!!!
​Sorry for the shouting!  We still got in 8.4 miles :)

While it was a little disappointing to not reach our goal, it was still very magical along the way!  We're so very thankful to enjoy our journey together!!!