Rocky Mountain National Park

After hiking at the Vedauwoo and Happy Jack trails and seeing various sights in Laramie, we drove down to Estes Park which is located just east of Rocky Mountain National Park.  On the drive down we saw numerous Pronghorn Antelope which are quite common in eastern Wyoming and Colorado. Driving through the Big Thompson Canyon area to Estes Park, we saw two different flocks of Bighorn Sheep up close.

We stayed in a cabin in Estes Park and ventured into Rocky Mountain National Park two different days, each for a half day.  This was due to the weather forecast calling for severe thunderstorms each afternoon.

On our first day we drove to the Moraine Park Visitor Center, parked our car, and then road the park shuttle to the Glacier Gorge Trailhead.  What a view just from the trailhead!

View from Glacier Gorge Trailhead

We hiked a somewhat short yet very scenic trail (about an hour) to Alberta Falls. We were not disappointed.  The falls were beautiful and we spent some time enjoying the beauty and trying to get pictures without too many people in the picture.

Alberta Falls.  Notice all the people to the right.  Popular place.

A RMNP Panhandler

We then hiked a half mile connector trail (all uphill) to Bear Lake, one of the most popular places in the park. We took in the view but decided not to hike the short trail around the lake.  Instead we opted for a 3.6 mile  hike that took us to Nymph Lake, Dream Lake and ended at Emerald Lake.  What an incredible hike!!  Besides the beauty of each lake, the trail wandered alongside streams and small waterfalls, in and out of meadows with wildflowers, and gave us incredible views of the Rocky Mountains surrounding us!!   Words and pictures just can't describe or show you the beauty of this area.  You will just have to visit it yourself someday.

Bear Lake

Nymph Lake

Dream Lake

End of the trail - Emerald Lake,  What a reflection!  See the waterfall cascade behind the lake?

Once we reached the end of the trail at Emerald Lake, we began our descent back to the Bear Lake area for the park shuttle.  As we did, large thunderclouds began to move into the area and we picked up our pace of hiking.  We heard thunder numerous times and even had a slight sprinkle of rain, but we made it back to the shuttle pick up area in time.  As the shuttle took us back to the Moraine Park Visitor Center, the lightening and rain began.  Later that day we read that the Fern Lake Trail (one I had thought about hiking) experienced a mudslide during the storm, injuring one person and was now closed.  A hiker on the Ute Trail (high elevation, above the tree line) was struck by lightening during the storm.

One of my favorite pictures along the Emerald Lake hike.

View of the Rockies from the trail

On our second day into Rocky Mountain National Park, we spent most of the time driving but did manage to squeeze in a couple of short hikes.  We entered via Highway 36 again but headed up towards the Trail Ridge Road that crosses the entire park.  We saw a rafter of wild turkeys and then came upon a 4 elk in a meadow area.  What beautiful and large animals!

A beautiful bull Elk

The Trail Ridge Road climbs high in the Rockies and offered us incredible views of the mountains and valleys.  It was really amazing!  We did stop at the Tundra Communities Trailhead (at over 12,000 feet) for a short hike and got to see Yellow Bellied Marmots and Pikas, along with numerous high elevation (alpine) flowers.  There were also some very interesting rock formations along the trail which included the Mushroom Rocks. After hiking we ventured a little further up the Trail Ridge Road to see another herd of Elk along the road.

Mushroom Rock on Tundra Communities Trail

Yellow Bellied Marmot on a rock

On our return drive we took a different route to exit the park and before leaving made stops at the Alluvial Fan Trailhead and hiked another short trail to view the Roaring River.  Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

The Roaring River along the Alluvial Trail

Although we saw so much in just those two half days,  there is still so much of the park that we did not see.

We never got to the west half of the park with its large lakes, the Colorado River, the Continental Divide and abundant Moose population.  Guess we'll just have to go back sometime.

But speaking of Moose.......well, we'll leave that for our next posting.

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol