Rocky Mountain National Park

We're way behind in getting travel posts published because we were having way too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

July 25, 2023

We've visited Rocky Mountain National Park before, but it was while camping near its eastern gate city of Estes Park, Colorado. Because we are big fans of the national park system, we just had to make a quick trip up to Rocky Mountain to see it from the western gate near Grand Lake, Colorado. We had read that more wildlife hang out on the less-visited west side, so we wanted to be there very early. We were up at 4:45 a.m., and on the road while it was still dark.

The valleys in the foothills were filled with fog this early morning. The valleys did not appear to be filled with wildlife, however.

We had a cloudy sunrise as we drove through Byers Canyon.

The first rays of sunshine were turning the clouds and the water of Lake Granby to gold at 6:00 a.m.

By the time we got to the entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park it was day light, and we still hadn't seen any wildlife. What we did see was miles of charred tree trunks, where a fire decimated this area several years ago.

During the busy summer months, the number of visitors allowed into this national park is controlled. Reservations are required for any vehicles entering between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. We had gotten a reservation for today, but we certainly didn't need it because we arrived at the entrance gate three hours before they started checking for reservations. We got some of our first early-morning glimpses of the big peaks inside Rocky Mountain National Park at 6:30.

We had read some information about the best places to spot wildlife in this national park, and we made those stops. While we were the only car in most of the parking areas this early, we still hadn't spotted any wildlife. But it was a beautiful morning to hike the lonesome trails with some majestic views. We have wandered into another of God's wonders!

Even though the animals weren't hanging out here this morning, it was an interesting stop at Holzwarth Historic Site. The old cabin is still standing where it has enjoyed the views of the Rocky Mountains for more than a century.

The next stop gave us a view of a valley that should be a perfect place for a herd of elk this summer.

Even though we got up much earlier to see the elk, we finally spotted our first cow in the distance at 7:30 a.m. We spent too much time watching it move across the valley to get this blurry picture. At least we weren't skunked in our mission to see wildlife!

A deer greeted us at our next stop a little before 8:00. We don't usually take pictures of these more common animals, but we were still grasping for any wildlife pictures to make us feel like our early morning alarm clock was worthwhile.

That early rising did allow us a glass-like view of Lake Irene all to ourselves.

Walking further past the lake we saw another deer in the trees.

It seemed to be curious about these visitors, as it even walked closer to us while we were taking pictures.

We were gaining altitude as we drove deeper into Rocky Mountain National Park. We crossed the Continental Divide at an elevation of 10,759 feet. This is the ridge that snakes its way across America. It separates whether the rivers flow east toward the Atlantic, or west toward the Pacific. We would see the divide many times over the course of the summer of 2023!

Now that we were up higher in elevation, we were on the Trail Ridge Road that follows the ridge of the mountains.

The Alpine Visitor Center was just opening up for the day when we arrived. The parking lot was getting full, and we saw that the crowds were walking up the Alpine Ridge Trail. We no longer have the national park to ourselves! This was a steep trail at high altitude, so we needed to stop and catch our breath. Signs along the trail explained why we were out of breath. The percentage of oxygen in the air doesn't change as you climb higher, because it's always about 21% of our atmosphere. But the air pressure does decrease at higher elevations. The air molecules are more spread out so you don't get as much oxygen with each breath. So at 12,000 feet in elevation, we were getting 30-40% less oxygen with each breath than we would get at sea level.

That explained why so many people were taking lots of breaks and walking so slowly up those steps. We also had to stop to see another wildlife sighting close to the top. 

We continued to the top of the steps for 360-degree views of the high-altitude tundra around us. We made it to the 12,005-foot summit of the Alpine Trail, where we were glad to have our coats and gloves. Another sign explained that for every 1,000 feet in elevation gain, the temperature drops about five degrees. That's because the lower air pressure holds less heat.

Mark wouldn't just settle for a picture standing beside the sign indicating the highest point. He climbed to the very tip of the top of the Alpine Trail.

From there he had the best view of the elk bulls that were just below the ridge.

It looked like a Hartford Insurance commercial from Mark's perch on those rocks.

While you couldn't see the big bucks while standing at the crest of the mountain, this younger guy was moving closer to us.

We finally headed back down the trail. But when we stopped to talk to a nice couple from Texas, we noticed that the whole group of elk were heading towards the top of the mountain. So we climbed that steep trail to the top once again to get better wildlife views.

A group of bulls was close enough that we could see them behind us in a picture taken from our second trip to the summit.

These three bulls were traveling as friends today. But when mating season begins this fall they will be less friendly. The elk rut begins in September, and we have great memories of watching the bull elks competing for the attention of the ladies during our last trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. We also remember the unique sound of the elk bugles from those love-sick bulls.

But today the three bulls with their impressive racks were so close together it was hard to tell where one antler started and another stopped.

We went down the mountain (again) and made a stop at the visitor center for its interesting displays on the flora and fauna that can survive at these extreme elevations. Then we drove on to the viewpoint close to the highest point on Trail Ridge Road at 12,183 feet.

At this point, Trail Ridge Road has steep drop offs that might make some drivers uneasy. We were in the pickup today, but several years ago Mark drove our motor home on this narrow road all the way through the national park. We saw some movement on the side of the mountain close to the road, and saw the back side of yet another type of wildlife.

This coyote was kicking dirt up in the air as it was digging its way down a burrow in search of breakfast.

It was 10:20 by the time we started the Tundra Communities Trail. Signs along the way explained the mushroom rocks that were found up here.

The dark-colored tops were made of a very hard rock called schist. Over time, the softer and lighter-colored granite eroded more than the schist, leaving a light mushroom stem under the darker mushroom cap.

Further down the trail we found more rocks with some dramatic views.

We also found more wind that made it hard to stand at the very top. Mark was almost blown off the top from the gale-force winds that pelted the top of these high-elevation mountains. We had on our coats and gloves and were still shivering on this late July day.

We could only imagine how cold it would feel up here in January! That's why the alpine plants grow so slowly and must be so hardy. This alpine sunflower hugged the ground, but is by far the biggest bloom at 12,000 feet in elevation. With a very short growing season, this plant will grow only leaves and roots for the first twenty years. When enough energy is stored, it will bloom only once, sets seeds, and then dies. So this tattered bloom was twenty years in the making.

We continued driving on the Ridge Trail Road, and enjoyed being at eye-level with the snow-covered peaks that were almost 13,000 feet tall. We could see a herd of elk cows that were sprinkled below us.

This time of the year, the elk cows and their calves were hanging out away from the bulls. In September, the bulls will start claiming harems of cows that they will try to protect from the other bulls. 

It was fun to see the calves that were the results of last September's rut season.

Visitors have to make another hard-to-get reservation to enter the southeastern section of Rocky Mountain National Park that leads to Bear Lake. That area has some great hikes, but it's also the most congested. So we decided to turn around at the Deer Ridge Junction, and circled back towards home on a less-traveled road. It was noon by the time we started up the Old Fall River Road heading back towards the west. This is a steep, one-way gravel road that is only open July through September.

Almost immediately, we started seeing marmots on the road.

By rolling down the pickup window, we could get close pictures of these friendly creatures.

We were used to seeing marmots among the high-altitude rocks, but it was unusual to see them on the road. We watched as some of them were eating the little stones. We read that they eat stone lichens and lick mineral salts from stones, in addition to their usual diet of grass and seeds.

It's hard to find a parking spot near Chasm Falls. But we were lucky to get a place to park so we could take this short hike.

While we were shivering in our coats at the highest points of this national park, we were comfortable in rolled up sleeves for this hike at a lower elevation.

The Old Fall River Road is a winding gravel road that hugs the side of the mountain. We could look down and see two more levels of road that zig-zagged below us.

Marmots hibernate for more than 200 days of the year, so they were busy eating and socializing during the warmer months of the year.

It's a slow drive up Fall River Road, but we made it back to the top of the world near the Alpine Visitor Center by 1:00 in the afternoon.

While we were used to seeing bull elk grazing in meadows, we have rarely seen one in the water.

The water got deeper, and he was treading water to get to the other side of the river.

Their fur must be very water proof, as he didn't even look wet when he stepped out of the water. With snow in the background, that water had to be very cold!

This was an abbreviated national park tour, since we had spent many days exploring it several years ago. Thanks to our early morning alarm clock, we had already been out wandering God's wonders for 9 hours by the time we were pulling out of the national park at 1:55 p.m. It was five minutes before the magical hour when no reservations were needed to enter then park. As we exited, we saw over 100 cars lined up at the western entrance, waiting for the 2:00 hour when vehicles without a reservation could enter. With this big in-flow of vehicles happening at both the west and east gates, we were glad to be leaving the park.

All those cars were filled with people starting their day at the national park, while we were finishing our day. We had an hour-long drive to get back to our campground in Kremmling. It's always a pleasure spending the day at a park, and we were just too close to not visit Rocky Mountain National Park again.