ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK

The park encompasses more than 60 peaks above 12,000 feet in elevation, 450 miles of streams and rivers and 150 lakes.  (Most of them cannot be seen as they are deep within the park.  

As we entered the park, we saw the Mother Moose

and her young just across the river.

We drove the 48 mile Trail Ridge road winding for 48 miles to the Continental Divide between Estes Park and Grand Lake .  

Steep inclines

Water falling from the melting snow on the mountain

Bicyclists working their way to the top

and others riding

"On the Edge"

This road reaches a high point of 12,183 feet, ]

making it the highest continuous road in the U.S. 

We stopped here just before reaching the summit

It was 40 degrees here

The snow plow drifts on the side of the road

This best way to share this park is just to show some pictures of what you see on your drive.  There are fewer pull-outs to view the surroundings (than in the other parks) and it was very busy which made it difficult.

 Let’s just finish the drive together. 

Elk with her young in the meadow

and a thirsty moose

Trail ridge road roughly follows a 10,000 year old trail; prehistoric people once hunted where you drive.  You pass Ponderosa Pine forests thorough the zone of spruce and fir to the open tundra with views of valleys, lakes rivers and mountains including 14,259 foot Longs Peak, the parks highest summit. 

At one pull-off, Ton took a trail up the mountain.

These are called Mushroom rocks

Beautiful view from the top

a height of 12,340 feet

Back from the hike we were off again

The highest we drove was 13, 112 feet

In this scenic area we enjoyed the wildflowers

and the view

while we enjoyed a picnic lunch

The parking lot taken from our picknic area

The stream nearby

and birds overhead

A ranger took this picture of us at the Continental Devide

On the way back home we stopped at an old ranch

Where the elk grazed in the field - and sometimes running through a campground

W did stop at Holzwarth Historic Site, a dude ranch dating from the 1920s.  By that time it had become clear that the real gold was in tourists’ pockets, according to the parks brochures.

A newborn elk laying in the grass on the ranch property trail

where the headwaters of the Colorado runs through

and Female elk graze in the meadow

near where the fawn lays in the grasses

I made myself comfortable waiting for the tour

of "The Never Summer Ranch"

Our day in the park ends with this little note of interest

This can is in the ranch house

Coors Beer was the only one that made it through the prohibition

years because they switched from making beer to making Malted Milk.

When the prohibition was over, they switched back to the beer

Back at the campground we prepared to go to our next place