It rained overnight but this morning was dry, cold but dry. After breakfast, no fire alarms thankfully, we set off for Big Cottonwood Canyon. The temp there was noticeably cooler, about 15C. We explored a few areas, following animal trails nod checking out beaver dams. We saw some signs of life coming from under the water but didn't spot any beavers. There were clear signs some big animals had slept there though and what looked to be moose scat.
Once we were at Silver Lake it was just 8C in fact as we changed to hiking boot there was very light snow falling.
We walked around the boardwalk to about half way, there were some ducks on Silver Lake but not too much else by way of wild life. We found a trail up to another lake and headed off. It was hard going mostly straight up following a dry rocky water way. We kept hearing the sound of running water but it was just the trees rustling. Pete with his much longer legs went ahead. I was most of the way up,when it started snowing much more solidly then before, it was actually settling on the ground to a degree. Pete came back to say he'd got as far as the dam wall but didn't have what it took to go the extra to climb to the lake. We watched the snow and chipmunks for a wee bit before making our way back down to the boardwalk.
Completing our circuit of the lake we drove back to our hotel for lunch.
A twenty minute drive after lunch took us to the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium. Seeing there were youngsters on the ticket booth I thought back to being asked if I was a senior (over 65) last year & decided I'd be cheeky and asked for one senior and one military discount. Pete showed his id for his but I didn't and they didn't question me lol I've decided to take it as a win vs an insult!
It's not a large aquarium but it's pretty good, they cover a few areas, Asia, Utah, Sth America and Antarctica. The reef tanks are pretty good, the only thing I'd fault them on is they have a lot of fake coral in the big shark display. IMO no coral would be better.
As we returned to our hotel we could see the big dark clouds dumping snow on the top,of the mountains and it's still officially summer here!
We had dinner and a couple of drinks, again no smoke detector problems and crashed out early, both tired after our mountain climbing efforts today.