Endless Views, High Altitude, Wildlife, WildFlowers, Woodlands, and Alpine Tundra!
Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
-Psalms 90:2
-Glacier Basin Campground
Rocky Mountain National Park covers a vast section of Colorado and we were able to book a site at this campground inside the Park for our home base for the week! This was very helpful for getting around in the park as we avoided the long lines and timed entries of this busy and popular park! Bonus, the deer liked our site too!
Lots of Lakes
A trip on the park shuttle took us to the busiest area of RMNP, Bear Lake, for a wonderful easy hike around the Lake. The trail is very accessible so this stroll attracts big crowds, but everyone goes at their own pace and soon the crowds diminish a bit. Lots of benches invite people to linger at great viewpoints along the way.
We enjoyed this walk so much that we came again one night just before dusk, hoping for a less crowded walk. The trail was more peaceful and we enjoyed a fiery sunset during our walk around the lakeside trail!
Part way around the lake a red fox crossed our path and shared the trail with us for an exciting encounter!
On our first visit to the Bear Lake area, before taking the shuttle back down the mountain, we took a trail that led up the mountain to a delightful destination called Nymph Lake. The hike was a challenge but a rest beside this little lake covered with water lilies refreshed us for the easier hike back down the trail!
Near our campground was another lake called Sprague Lake. This lake also offered a short stroll lakeside, with Mountain View’s all around. We had heard that a moose and her calf frequented this lake, but we did not get to see them.
On the East Side of the Park we visited Lily Lake. As we arrived and started our walk around the lake another couple pointed behind us and asked if we had seen the moose and her calf. Turning around we saw crowds of hikers and about 25 yards from where we joined the trail was the moose and her baby along the shore! We almost missed them! What a special time to observe these beautiful creatures up close in the wilderness!
On the Mountaintops
Driving Old Fall River Road to Trail Ridge Road, and the highest visitor center in the National Parks we passed through every kind of biome, from meadows, through sub alpine to Alpine and a land like the Arctic Tundra in about 30 miles.
Old Fall River Road
“To drive along Old Fall River Road is to travel back in time. The slower pace of driving on a winding road recalls a time when traveling in a national park was both challenging and enchanting.”
“From 1920 to 1932, Fall River Road was the only motor route across
Rocky Mountain National Park. Today, this road is open to uphill traffic only. Steep grades, narrow lanes, and hairpin curves still challenge motorists as they ascend more than 3,000 feet to Fall River Pass and an elevation of 11,796 feet. In 1932, the more modern Trail Ridge Road replaced Fall River Road as the main route between Estes Park and Grand Lake.”- info from a road side sign
Old Fall River Road ends at the Alpine Visitor Center, which already felt so high at 11,769 feet above sea level. However, across the parking lot the Alpine Ridge Trail challenged us with a short but steep round trip which led us even higher through the amazing tundra, filled with tiny flowers, small lichen and moss and rocks.
Our elevation gain would bring us to our destination 12,005 feet above sea level, but the journey would be memorable! We headed upward, stopping often on the incline and stairs, as the altitude and the views took our breath away.
We finally arrived at the highest peak, to enjoy very windy and cold 360 degree views of the Rocky Mountains! We were looking forward to a return to the visitor center cafe for some hot chocolate!
Trail Ridge Road
After our hot chocolate, a light lunch and some shopping in the extensive visitor center, it was time to make our way back down the mountains.
Trail Ridge Road is a paved road that is 48-miles one-way. Since we started at the visitor center and headed downhill back to our campground, we explored half of this distance.There are many pullouts and scenic overlooks to enjoy along the way.
Time in Town
Estes Park
As the gateway city to Rocky Mountain National Park, this busy community was a fun place to explore. With lots of shops and art galleries there was a lot to see and do.
Concert in the Park
An evening of music at the central town park brought out the crowds of locals and tourists alike. Two musicians brought cowboy tunes on their guitars that sparked lots of sing along fun. Appropriately the finale was Rocky Mountain High by John Denver!
Another great event that we enjoyed was held at an historic cinema. The Park Theatre in Estes Park, Colorado was built in 1913, and is the oldest operating cinema in the western United States. Designed by Clyde Anderson, it features an 80-foot-tall neon-outlined tower, added by Ralph Gwynn in 1922.
A Silent Film Festival with live piano music was like a trip back in time! We saw three shorts with actors such as Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and other well known actors of the silent film era. The Pianist who accompanied the films spends weeks and weeks creating a musical score to enhance the atmosphere or mood of the movie. While silent films would have gone to theaters with a musical score or script to be played, many films no longer have a record of the musical score, so for our festival this talented musician creates and plays his own score! He was fabulous! The historic theater, classic films and fantastic live music made for very fun event!
The Stanley Hotel
Built in 1903 by Yankee inventor Freelan Oscar Stanley, and restored in the 1970’s the hotel sits upon the hillside with a commanding view of the town of Estes Park, which owes much of its development to Stanley. Yes, that’s the Stanley who developed the Stanley Steamer!
We visited the hotel for a fabulous charcuterie board, served on the front veranda, where we enjoyed views of the mountains and a brief rain shower! A wonderful leisurely feast for our stomachs and our eyes!
Our first time to visit Rocky Mountain National Park and the town of Estes Park, far exceeded our expectations. We saw so much wildlife, experienced so many varied landscapes, enjoyed a multitude of wildflowers and found a town that offers so much to do!
Colorado has so much to explore! We had a brief stay in the area of Redstone, a site that mined coal and produced a lot of coke for the manufacturing of steel. Lots more to learn about these intriguing “coke ovens”.
We also found the nearby small town of Marble, population in 2020 of just 133, where for the past 100 years fine marble has been quarried and used in buildings and monuments throughout America, including much of the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Memorial, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers in Arlington Cemetery. The marble of the quarry is considered to be of exceptional quality, praised as one of the purest marbles ever quarried and a rival to classical Italian and Greek marble.
We actually were able to drive up the narrow company road along the mountain side to the gate of the still active quarry.
Within town we walked along remnants of the Yule Quarry Mill site. Towering pillars of marble blocks, which once held up hoists and the walls and roof of the buildings are all that remain of what was once a vast workshop and processing center for the marble brought off the mountain to be shipped to far off destinations.
If you wonder why we like to travel with our RV for such long trips, it’s because, the more we explore on our Adventures on the Road , the more we discover that we still want to explore!
Just some special sighting of God’s Creation along our travels over the summer:
ANIMALS
Elk
Moose
Muskrat
Deer
Bear
Red fox
Bison
Coyote
BIRDS (hard to photograph!)
Owl
Eagle
Kingfisher
Magpie
Red winged blackbird
Turkey vultures
Crows and ravens
Hummingbirds
WILDFLOWERS
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