Rocky Mountain National Park Entrance
We decided to take a fall trip to Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. The trip started out very rocky (pun a happy accident). When I went to drop the boys off at the kennel I was told I didn’t have a reservation and they were fully booked. Fortunately, they were able to move some things around and get them in. We spent the night at a park-sleep-fly in Detroit just like we usually do since our flight left at 6:35am the next day. Kyle set his alarm for 4:15am and we went to bed. During the night he woke up and checked the time and it was 5:38am. The alarm had gone off but was very faint and we could not hear it over our sound machine. We threw everything together and left in such a panic we didn’t even get to brush our teeth… The hotel shuttle had already left so our best chance was to drive to the airport ourselves. It was dark out and we ended up missing our turn for the airport parking. We ended up going all the way outside of the airport and by the time we could turn around we were 15 min away and ended up passing the hotel we had just left. We finally got parked and ran all the way to the check in desk (kiosk); Kyle towing 80LB’s of suitcase with him. We got checked in and rushed to the security line. We had 20min before our flight left and asked people to go in front of them. Our line had stopped moving when I decided to go try another line. In the meantime, our line got shut down and I was not allowed back in. I went to try a different line while Kyle stayed in the shut down one. I got through just before he did and took off to our gate which was fortunately very close to security. We made it just in time! We flew Southwest so we each got stuck in middle seats in the back of the plane five rows apart.
Denver Zoo
That was the closest to missing our flight we had ever come and it is not fun. After that, the trip was pretty smooth sailing. We landed in Denver at 7:30am, got out car and decided to make a stop at the Denver Zoo on the way to our hotel. We stopped off at a bakery where we brushed our teeth and got a quick breakfast. The zoo was alright. The best part was seeing a baby gorilla who was playing with its mother. We also got to see a kudu for the first time.
We stayed at The Inn at Silvercreek in Granby, CO, about 20 minutes away from the parks west entrance. The room had two sides to it. One side was the bedroom with a bathroom and the other side was a kitchen with living room and second bathroom. It was pretty nice to have a spacious room like that. That evening we went and got a few groceries and figured out our plan for the next day.
Sunday and we decided to head into the park. I had downloaded an app the night before to use in the park but it was a waste because the app required data and you hardly get service in the park. The man at the entrance didn’t give us a map either so we were kind of blind going in. The main road in the park is Trail Ridge road. There are various points of interest and hikes off the road that you can stop at. The first one we stopped at took us by the Colorado River and a meadow. It is supposed to be a good stop to see wildlife but we didn’t see anything. As we continued along Trail Ridge road we saw a group of elk laying down on the inside of a curve. We counted seven females. They could care less that we were watching them and one of them even had a tracker around its neck. Our next stop was to Lake Irene. The lake itself wasn’t very exciting but we did see a fox trotting along
Overlook
the trail which was really neat. Halfway through the road is the Alpine Lodge where you can get something quick to eat, shop for souvenirs or use the facilities. We stopped for a break and a bite before continuing on. We hit several lookout points before exiting on the East side of the park. They tell you to be careful because of altitude sickness and we think Kyle may have been impacted as he did not feel well at all. We stopped at Lily Lake before deciding to head back to the hotel. It takes a good two hours to get from one end of the park to the other and this time when we entered we were given a map. On the way back we got to see a few elk which was really exciting.
Bear Lake
On Monday, we headed back to the park to stop at various places we had looked up the night before. Our day was spent mostly around Bear Lake. I wasn’t looking for very long hikes so my plan was to take the park and ride to Bear Lake, take a photo, and then take the short hike to Nymph Lake. We ended up walking around Bear Lake which was very pretty and stopped to eat our PB&J’s there. We then hiked to Nymph Lake which is a small quaint lake full of lily pads. Dream Lake was only 0.6 miles away so we said “what the heck” and continued on. It was a little rough because you are hiking up this time. You even get to look down on top of Nymph Lake. We made it there and it was well worth the hike. Dream Lake is a very long and pretty lake with boulders and trees surrounding it. Emerald Lake was then only 0.7 miles away so again, we went for it. It was just as grueling if not more. Once we saw the lake it was amazing and is my most favorite lake from the trip. The water is a beautiful dark green and was so still the surroundings reflected on it. I wished I would have taken more photos. We ate our other PB&J’s there and Kyle came close to having a chipmunk run up his
Alluvial Fan
shorts. We decided to head back into Estes Park and get a real lunch. On our way back to the resort we took the Old Falls River road. The road goes by the Alluvial Fan which is a river/waterfall flowing over rocks and boulders everywhere. It is the result of a dam failure many years ago but was really cool to see. Once we actually got on the Old Falls River road, which is a one way unpaved road, we stopped to see another waterfall. The highlight on the road was getting to see tons of elk and fat critters. The fat critters were my favorite. They are actually yellow bellied marmots and are so cute. They just bask on the rocks and scurry around. As we continued out of the park we saw more and more elk. There were 10 of them walking through a camp ground and cars lined up on both sides of the road to watch them. We also saw a bunch of big horn sheep on the side of a mountain which was really neat to see.
Copeland Falls
The next day we headed back into the park to finish up what we didn’t get to the day before. We started out at Sprague Lake which was pretty and uneventful. We then headed to Alberta Falls which was neat to see. After that we headed back to Estes Park for lunch and stopped to go go-karting. We had the whole place to ourselves and it was cool because each time you came around the corner the mountains were in the distance. We then headed to Copeland Falls which have an upper and lower part. Those falls were very pretty and there was nobody there really except for a fisherman. On the way back we saw more elk. We saw so many of them I was pretty over them.
On Wednesday we went for a change of scenery and drove to Pikes Peak, known as “Americas Mountain” because that is where America the Beautiful was inspired. The scenery was very pretty as it mixed mountain with red rock. The
Overlook
summit is 14,115ft and has panoramic views. It was really neat because there was a storm in the distance that you could see. At the top there is a rest area that sells “World Famous Donuts” so we bought a bag. When we came out it started snowing. Kyle was having some more altitude difficulty so I got to drive down. You tend to use your breaks quite a bit they actually have a mandatory break check where if your breaks are over 200 degrees you have to take a timeout. We were good to keep going. On the way we saw some more fat critters. They’re so cool. Heading out we stopped at Garden of the Gods which is a free park you can drive through and hike. It features various rock formations and was pretty neat to see.
For Thursday, we had booked a white water rafting trip in Glenwood Springs on the Colorado River. We got to take a different route to get there. One of the roads was a dirt road through the desert for 13 miles. It was one of my favorite things we did because it was so different and there was hardly anybody out there. The rafting trip was okay. It was class two and three rapids so were tame from what we had previously experienced. The trip left us wanting more so was kind of disappointing but still fun and very scenic. On our way back we had stopped for something to eat when it started storming. We saw lightening and snow. They get some pretty wild weather there. The drive back was pretty stressful for Kyle. It was pitch black, raining, foggy, uphill, downhill, twisting and turning. Oh, and never knowing when animals were going to pop out.
Grand Lake
Our last day we just chilled. We drove into Grand Lake for lunch and dinner and bought a couple souvenirs. We watched Law & Order re-runs and took a nap just like we did on our last day in Utah. It was a nice way to end our week long trip of hiking and driving. The next morning on our way to the airport it was snowing it the mountains. It was kind of cool to see some snow on them amidst the yellowing of the aspens. We had a pretty good time out there and got to do some new things. We didn’t see any moose or bears but saw at least 30 elk.
