08/12/17 - Day 131 - Denver, CO - Rocky Mountain National Park
The four of us got an early start Saturday morning for a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park.
Established in 1915, the park is enormous, over 265,000 acres with more than 300mi of hiking trails and one of the most diverse plant and animal environments in the United States. It's also pretty easy to get to which means it's insanely busy during the summer months. Most of the popular visitor center parking lots fill in the early morning and even the shuttles to the satellite lots fill up as well. We choose to visit the Alpine center first as it hadn't reported as full yet.
The Alpine visitors center is at the foot of a hill that leads to a point 12,000 ft above see level. Similar to the Mt Evans climb, even a small hill can take your breath away at that altitude. During our little sojourn I experienced hail for the second time this month. There's nothing quite like getting hit in the face with shards of ice at 35mph.
Just below the visitors center is Ute Trail. We followed it for a couple of miles. The trail begins well above the treeline but it wasn't that cold. It gradually descends until bushes and trees reappear. We got a good look at the surrounding country side and some of the local fauna.
There were quite a few Colorado bluebirds flying about.
We also came across a small group of elk having lunch. A few of them appear to collared for tracking purposes.
Elk selfies were of course necessary
Along the trail we came upon some alpine lakes surrounded by animal tracks, likely elk waterholes.
There were more than a few future Christmas trees in training. This one would have fit right into the Charlie Brown Christmas special.
There wasn't any snow but there were a few ice packs in the area.
Also some sweeping views of the surrounding peaks and valleys.
That afternoon we drove south to the Bear Lake visitors center. This is one of the most popular spots in the park. It's a little below 10,000 feet above sea level so it's not as cool as the Alpine area.
The trail has some pretty steep areas, but it leads to a nice looking waterfall.
No bears, but we did see a gorgeous Stellars Jay flying around.
Eventually we all got worn out and headed back to town. We only saw a portion of the park but visited to very different environments so I still feel we got a good taste of what it has to offer.
Established in 1915, the park is enormous, over 265,000 acres with more than 300mi of hiking trails and one of the most diverse plant and animal environments in the United States. It's also pretty easy to get to which means it's insanely busy during the summer months. Most of the popular visitor center parking lots fill in the early morning and even the shuttles to the satellite lots fill up as well. We choose to visit the Alpine center first as it hadn't reported as full yet.
The Alpine visitors center is at the foot of a hill that leads to a point 12,000 ft above see level. Similar to the Mt Evans climb, even a small hill can take your breath away at that altitude. During our little sojourn I experienced hail for the second time this month. There's nothing quite like getting hit in the face with shards of ice at 35mph.
Just below the visitors center is Ute Trail. We followed it for a couple of miles. The trail begins well above the treeline but it wasn't that cold. It gradually descends until bushes and trees reappear. We got a good look at the surrounding country side and some of the local fauna.
There were quite a few Colorado bluebirds flying about.
We also came across a small group of elk having lunch. A few of them appear to collared for tracking purposes.
Elk selfies were of course necessary
Along the trail we came upon some alpine lakes surrounded by animal tracks, likely elk waterholes.
There were more than a few future Christmas trees in training. This one would have fit right into the Charlie Brown Christmas special.
There wasn't any snow but there were a few ice packs in the area.
Also some sweeping views of the surrounding peaks and valleys.
That afternoon we drove south to the Bear Lake visitors center. This is one of the most popular spots in the park. It's a little below 10,000 feet above sea level so it's not as cool as the Alpine area.
The trail has some pretty steep areas, but it leads to a nice looking waterfall.
No bears, but we did see a gorgeous Stellars Jay flying around.
Eventually we all got worn out and headed back to town. We only saw a portion of the park but visited to very different environments so I still feel we got a good taste of what it has to offer.
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