Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

July 18

We headed east through the town of Granby, CO then north by Grand Lake, CO and then into Rocky Mountain National Park. The park has 72 named peaks above 12,000 feet of elevation. Longs Peak rises to 14,259 ft). About 70 million years ago the Rocky Mountains were thrust up and three major glacial episodes from 738,000 to 13,750 years ago sculpted the scenery. The drive along Hwy 34, the highest major highway in North America, was just breathtaking. It features tight hairpin curves and narrow roads with steep drop offs and no guard rails. This very scenic road winds through dense subalpine forests and across alpine tundras with incredible views of valleys, rivers, and mountains along the way. Nearly 1/3 of the park is above the treeline – above 11,400 ft.

We wanted to stop at the Alpine Visitor Center and hike the short and popular Alpine Ridge Trail through a part of the tundra, one of the most expansive areas of alpine terrain in the US. Unfortunately, the parking lot was full and the area overrun by people. We continued on, marveling at the scenery and passing over the highest point on the road at 12,183 ft. The alpine tundra was completely treeless, only hardy, low-growing plants and a few wildflowers braved these conditions. It is similar to the conditions one would find in Siberia or Alaska. We saw several large bull elk resting on a slope and a while later a large herd of mostly female elk. We stopped at a few overlooks with amazing views. The road gradually descended with another round of hairpin curves. At Deer Ridge Junction we picked up Hwy 36 which heads in the direction of the Moraine Park Campground area (elevation 8,150 ft) and continues to Estes Park, CO, the nearest town to the east of the park.

Shortly after setting up, an incredible lightning storm arrived with earsplitting thunder. It rained the next several hours. We took this downtime to visit the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center and explore Estes Park to buy a t-shirt for Liam that says: “Bring a compass. It is awkward when you have to eat your friends”.

After dinner we took a quick walk from the campground to the Cub Lake trail head and about ¼ mile up the trail. Later it started raining again.

July 19

We got up early to drive down Bear Lake Road which is currently undergoing road construction and is closed to passenger vehicles heading south between 9am and 4pm. Even at 8am, the parking lot was already almost full. We started our hike at the Glacier Gorge trail head (9,240 ft in elevation) where many gorgeous hikes begin. The hike began in a dense aspen forest among large granite boulders, followed a rushing glacial stream, and continued upward to beautiful Alberta Falls 0.8 miles in. Still following the stream upward through dense evergreen forest and boulders, at three miles we came to The Loch, a pretty high-elevation lake (10,230 ft) surrounded by sheer cliffs. At a split in the trail we decided to go to Andrews Glacier to the west at 5.3 miles instead of the southerly trail to Timberline Falls, Lake of Glass, and Sky Pond, at 4.9 miles. Thinking a glacier would be something new, we continued climbing through forest and finally came to a treeless boulder field on the slope of the mountains. The scenery changed often with almost every view outdoing the last. We started to see patches of leftover snow along the trail, in the middle of July! Several yellow-bellied marmots whistled a warning call as we passed. They are quite big. We were surprised that there were lots of mosquitoes at this altitude! Thankfully, they weren’t very aggressive.

After scrambling up for a while, Esther and Ethan stayed on the rocky slope enjoying the scenery while William and Liam continued on the remaining trail over a crest to Andrews Glacier at 11,750 ft. They returned about an hour later, having stood on the glacier. Evidently, that part of the trail increases in intensity quite a bit and first leads to Andrews Tarn, a glacial lake at the base of the glacier.

In the meantime Esther and Ethan had lunch an saw several pikas scurrying among the boulders. One could hear them chirping in the distance everywhere, but they rarely stayed still and close long enough for a picture. Pikas collect certain plants for food during the upcoming winter and lay them under rocks in “haystacks” to dry. The pikas tunnel under the thick snow and eat. We found one of these winter food stashes.

After 6 ½ hours and over 10.6 miles we returned to the trail head and then to the campground to relax for a while.

July 20

We planned to hike to Emerald Lake. The trail starts at the Bear Lake trail head and passes two additional lakes on the way. Since it was Saturday there was no road construction and everyone could and did drive to the trail heads. By the time we got there, the parking lot was full. We ended up taking the park’s shuttle service from the Park and Ride area to Bear Lake. People were everywhere. We do appreciate when we are virtually alone in the woods, like the day before.

A park ranger was at the stop with an alpaca. He explained that they use them as pack animals to do trail maintenance.

We began our hike to Emerald Lake, 1.8 miles away. The trail runs through evergreen and aspen woods with large boulders and affords great views of the surrounding mountains such as Flattop Mountain (12,324 ft) and Hallett Peak (12,713 ft). At 0.5 miles we came to Nymph Lake, a small glacial lake with lily pads. Continuing on a more difficult trail upwards we came to the second lake on this trail, Dream Lake, at 1.1 miles. We passed it by, wanting to reach Emerald Trail before the crowds did.

Emerald Lake is beautiful and sits at the base of the two mountains mentioned above. We found some boulders at the shore to hang out on and enjoyed the scenery for quite a while. Several impressive glacial waterfalls, fed by the remaining, slowly melting glaciers, cascade or plunge down the mountain sides. The boys went exploring on the boulder-covered slopes. The steep trail had weeded out most people at this point, thankfully.

We headed down the trail a bit and back to Dream Lake, another beautiful place. We saw several trout (speckled, maybe) cruising along the surface of the cold water, eating small insects that had fallen in. We selected another few boulders with twisted evergreens at the water’s edge. William teased a trout with his bare toes as it continuously swam back and forth. Obviously, it preferred insects but always came by to inspect the splashing. It is interesting what can entertain and amaze when you are far removed from the daily grind of city life. We don’t want to go back…

Heading back down the trail, we encountered lots and lots of people coming up and going down. It really was too busy. At the trail head lies Bear Lake which we ignored when we arrived. We walked the quick and easy 0.6 mile loop around the lake before taking the shuttle bus back to our truck.

Later William and Ethan drove into Estes Park to get gas and a better fitting t-shirt for Ethan. It was all a ploy to give Esther and Liam time to bake a birthday cake for Ethan, wrap some presents, and get some of the decorations ready.

July 21

Today is Ethan’s 10^th birthday!!!

Ethan wanted a Minecraft-themed birthday. He woke to a strangely decorated camper with balloons and streamers everywhere. We had a leisurely breakfast and went on our hike of the day. Since it was Ethan’s special day, we picked an easy and shorter hike. We walked to the Cub Lake trail head (about ¾ mile) from the campground. We saw a different kind of woodpecker hammering against a small tree. There were also three hummingbirds flitting around. One of them was licking the sap from the hole in the tree just made by the woodpecker. We continued for 2.3 miles to lily pad covered Cub Lake. It is a pretty lake but its surroundings were not so nice. We saw extensive damage from the Fern Lake fire that roared through the area. The nearby Fern Lake trail is actually closed to hiking because of erosion and debris problems due to the fire.

Back at the camper we celebrated Ethan’s birthday with a Minecraft TNT cake that didn’t turn out exactly as planned and some ice cream that was on the soft side. It was all yummy anyway. Afterward we had great fun with a new game Ethan received.

We enjoyed our last few hours knowing we had to start our long drive home early the next morning.

Here are the pictures.