Rocky Mountain National Park

This past weekend we made our first camping stop - Rocky Mountain National Park, a large area of protected wilderness in Northern Colorado. The park boasts 72 named peaks over 12,000 feet and one over 14,000 (Long's Peak). It also includes the highest continuously paved road in North America which tops out at 12,183 feet.

We entered the park from Estes Park, a quaint mountain town that basically services park visitors. We found our first camp site, set up all our new gear (see previous post), and set out to explore the park.

Our first stop was an area called the Alluvial Fan, created in 1982 when a dam at a high mountain lake failed and millions of gallons of water rushed down a narrow valley to the flood plain below. Where the water entered the flood plain, tons of debris was deposited creating a massive scar on the landscape that almost 30 years later has still not fully recovered.

After a short hike where we saw some deer up close, we headed back to the camp site for traditional campfire food - sausage, beans, beer, and s'mores (for you non-Americans, s'mores will be explained in detail in a later blog post). After dinner we watched a ranger presentation about nocturnal animals in the park and settled in for our first night under the stars.

Early the next morning we cooked some breakfast on the camp stove and headed up to Bear Lake, a picturesque mountain lake:

We then hiked up to a nearby waterfall called Alberta Falls:

We attempted a longer hike that afternoon, but were turned back by weather and hitched a ride back to te campsite in the bed of another friendly park visitor's pickup truck. We weathered the storm playing cards under our tarp and called it an early night.

The following morning, we broke camp, packed up the car, and headed up the pass on the aforementioned road. The drive was mostly above the tree line in snowy alpine tundra. On the drive we froze our asses off and saw some amazing vistas and wildlife, including the largest set of antlers (elk) either of us had ever seen and some cute little marmots.

We descended over the continental divide past Grand Lake and headed to Vail for a relaxing weekend at Nick's aunt's house and some whitewater rafting on the Colorado River. Next stop, Moab, Utah and Arches National Park.

Location:RMNP